UCAS Extra Bread- Edinburgh redeems itself after access course fiasco
After receiving rejections from LSE, KCL, St Andrews, and Edinburgh for modern history, my ego was crushed. Applying as a transfer from Cambridge* with exemplary grades, I had believed that I'd get at least 2-3 offers (if I'm being honest, I expected a full house). As you can imagine, being forced into UCAS Extra wasn't on my 2026 bingo card.
It was upon applying to Extra that I found out that universities had been making a mistake in assessing the validity of my access course. My extra choice informed me that I had a weak application due to my access course results not being QAA certified, which simply wasn't true. After appealing all of my rejections with copies of my certificates, I received an unconditional offer from my dream uni! Whilst a history degree from Cambridge would have stood me in good stead for graduate life, I believe that the opportunity to learn Mandarin alongside my History degree will equally- if not more so- help me gain an edge in this horrible job market!
* before anyone pipes up and tells me i'm making a mistake, pls know that this decision wasn't taken lightly. Unfortunately, due to the intensity of the 8 weeks terms coupled with a crippling chronic illness, I found that I was unable to thrive in this environment. Nothing against Camb, it just wasn't for me.