
This morning, around 8am, thousands of UK 18-year-olds awoke in a frenzy to hurriedly scroll through their phones. Not to open TikTok, nor flick through Instagram stories. Instead, they logged into the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service website (UCAS) to receive their A-Level results.
For some, it’s a moment of triumph. A gold medal, if you like. Those months of diligent revision have paid off, and a university place has been secured. For others, they are met with overwhelming, crippling disappointment: grades have been missed, papers sent off to be remarked, and plans for the years ahead in disarray.