The job of university admissions offices has been likened to landing a jumbo jet on a postage stamp. If it over-recruits, it will have overcrowded seminars, a worse staff-student ratio and discontented students, hitting league table positions. There is an appeals process, but individuals cannot appeal directly and the grounds for appeal are limited, plus, where an appeal succeeds, it may be too late to get the university place you want. Many challenges posed by the pandemic are the same across the world, but the UK’s university admissions round has one important difference. When our university admissions system works well, it is like the Sorting Hat process at Hogwarts, finding the best match between person and place.

Source: The Guardian August 16, 2020 08:15 UTC