New Batch of Year 13 parents this way!

Tell me about offer days

We've been lucky in that DH's parents live bear the furthest away one from us, but it's partly why she has done some as a self guided tour.

I just realised yesterday offer day's are going to be expensive!

I'm driving and putting my faith in my map reading skills. And my blue badge for parking. Yeah. Go me.

Agree, train fares are ridiculous. As are bus fares here.

A friend came to stay from London. She gets free rail travel and discovered that she could get a train to our local station. I laughed at the notion. She was determined to prove me wrong. I was right. I ended up picking her up from one of her changes as she was stunned that our trains are only once an hour. And we are not particularly in the sticks. Just the NW.

We have a ridiculously busy 2 months ahead. Dd has realised she can only work one Saturday in that time.

The train fare that was a shock came in at £89. I knew the train fare to A was £20 and B is twice as far away so I was expecting it to be about the £40 mark. I couldn't believe £89.

It's something to factor in when comparing study at both A and B

No overnight stays here although it's a possibility later in the process if he needs to be there early for an interview. There was one where the train ticket was a ridiculous price for the distance involved but I didn't fancy driving into a city centre that I didn't know so I drove part of the way and he took the train for the last leg.

The courses that DS is looking at all interview so he could be looking at visiting three times if he gets as far as the offer day. So far open days have eliminated one course, if he'd looked in detail at the course information on line then he would have seen sooner that the emphasis wasn't what he wanted.

Is anyone finding university open days an expensive business?

We have had two overnighters and have another one next week, plus expensive travel costs.

It's a Friday start here, it seems an odd day but I think it's a Monday start for everyone with a UCAS/jobs day tacked on at the front for Y13. I don't know yet which day the college bus service starts on, I'd love for my suspicion about this to be proved wrong.

As DD doesn't start back until Wednesday, I'm hoping for at least a paragraph of PS by then.

Exeter was a hit today apparently.

You fell off my threads I'm on again.

Back to school on Monday :( Dd has roughly half a personal statement, but it's random sentences with no sort of order yet, so it's nowhere near finished. I really hope school have more success in getting her to write it than I have.

Thanks MrSlant. It sounds as if your ds is keen and knowledgeable about his area which is a great start. I have the feeling that because my ds was very good in some areas of his course, the staff were more willing to help him in the bits he found difficult (ie anything that wasn't maths or coding!).

You must be so proud NoHaudin, it must have been very hard for both of you this time last year. When I think of how scared I was of him going to secondary school I can't even contemplate uni! Your DS must feel so strong for getting through the challenges and thriving. Good luck for this year.

Thank you for all the info, I'll have word with him tonight when he gets in from work (I love saying that! Also as it's connected with what he wants to do it's going right at the top in capitals on his statement )

Hi. I am just dropping back in. Dd went back on Tuesday. She has finished her first draft PS but says it is unbalanced in terms of her two subjects so needs a lot of refining.
We are going for a remark of her history AS. I know that it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but it will encourage dd and her teacher thinks it is worth a try.

MrSlant you asked further up about having dcs a long way away. Ds has just finished his first year about 3&1/2 hrs away by train. He has quite significant additional needs. I can't pretend that it hasn't been tough at times (and I know that railway journey far too well now) but he has survived and in some ways thrived and is looking forward to going back. I think the two important factors where that it was the right course for him and that he had a good support system in place at the university.

Ps not started at DDs school.

I do hope they know what they are doing.

DS brought home a slip at enrollment that said that A2 students start a day before the others and it's a UCAS/apprenticeship day. They got as far as filling in the educational section at the end of term, I suspect they are starting the PS when they go back.

MrSlant he can submit the form with one or two unis on it and add more later. He can stick with one or two and go through clearing when he has his results if he needs to, he can take a year out and apply with his results. There is most certainly someone at school who will help him with this and it's still early days in the process except for the Oxbridge and performing arts candidates who have much earlier deadlines. You may find that it's one of the first things they do once school starts up again.

The spent the last four weeks concentrating on the Welsh Bacc, although I found out after the fact DS1 spent the time gazing out of the window wishing he wasn't there rather than completing the actual work. I love him dearly but sometimes...

MrSlant the school/college should be providing guidance with personal statements and applications, especially if your son has extra needs.

DD's school has already gone through the ps process with them at the end of year 12 and everyone has already written their first draft. They spend the last four weeks of year 12 concentrating on UCAS stuff.

OK this might make me look very stupid but to be honest I'm clueless, you are all talking about the PS and we haven't even started the application process. Should I sit DS1 down tomorrow and get going on the online application business? I think because of his SEN we are going to be limited but this means his PS is more important, he won't ever get grades that reflect his actual intelligence and some of the courses he's going to apply for ask for more points than he is likely to get so should we persevere and try and write an amazing PS or just apply for the one course he wants to do and leave other slots blank. Is there someone at school who should tell us this? I'm completely in the dark!

inchyrablue this is our first time but I know already it will be completely different with DS2, he isn't as intuitively clever as his older brother but is very academic and will want to stretch his wings, I'm dreading it because I think he will want to go off and away. I think the first time I do a campus visit will be with him! (He A*'d the hell out of the exams he took this year, it was so strange/complicated to give him the praise he deserved without making DS1 feel he hadn't done well with his GCSE grades. Why is having children so difficult and confusing!)

inchyrablue DD is my second DC and it does feel.completely different. Very different personalities, different courses, and different ideas of the ideal uni.

I'm trying very hard not say to DD that any PS would be better than a nonexistent PS!

DD is going to her second open day tomorrow, but we have visited a few unis to get the feel of them. This has excluded At Andrews but included Liverpool.

As I type she and DH will be looking at Warwick, they've also just had a look at Birmingham.