New Batch of Year 13 parents this way!

Anyone else off to Exeter tomorrow? Just finished planning events to do there & reading course structure again, so back on the Uni bandwagon again! Not sure about DD's predicted grades now though, until school starts back & get some idea from her teachers after her AS results.

Personal Statement draft number 2 been done, but not had any time to look at it. I think the next 9 months are going to whizz by!

First draft of the PS done. That lasted all of five minutes to be quickly replaced by draft two which had the advantage of being complete. It's only twice as long as it should be which is not that bad.

It took him about half an hour to come up with something reasonable, it's taken months to get him to sit down and start it.

DD has already had a bollocking for her Festival Hair.

Oh joy.

It is hard!

The course DS wants to do is (in my opinion - although not sure if that counts for much!) a better structure for him at Liverpool but he prefers Newcastle as he likes the city more. If they are going to spend the next few years away they need to be where they are happy.

I'm going with the flow - I'm sure he will make the best choice for him. He just needs to put the work in now....

Bristol is lovely though.

It's hard isn't it. Bristol is 5 hours away, and it would have to completely trounce the others for DD to really want to go there. They offer a course that she is really interested in that the other unis don't though.

Warwick is definitely out of the picture now.

But how much can you really learn from an Open Day? And we are cramming them in so I am sure they all will meld into one! I think probably the course itself is the most important thing.

I can't see DD settling wherever she goes.

DD doesn't mind the thought of being a distance from home, but wants to be able to see family or close friends when she wants or needs to. This has left us with a bit of a distance mismatch on the surface, but to her they make sense.

A very close family member had a breakdown in first year, and family were a flight away. That has swayed thinking somewhat, and means e.g. she's not considering Durham even though it rates highly for her course, because she just doesn't know the area at all, and it is a long and expensive journey from any of her 'important people'. Edinburgh on the other hand has family and friends on tap, despite being several hours drive or by train. She feels comfortable in the city, and knows her way around.

It's such a complicated balance, isn't it. She's seeing from her friends too, that everyone is coming up with their short lists using different criteria. Personally I'd like her to go to the one on her list that is closest to us. It will be interesting for us as a family to see how different an approach we take with DC2 and DC3!

Is anyone else here going through this for a second or third time? Do you find it very different?

I think it would be daft not to Ursula. Especially for DD as she wants to do medicine. If she gets in she would be there for 6 years, so it needs to be somewhere she wants to be.

Dds school were quite insistent that they should try to visit all Universities to which they intended to apply.

Hello all just checking in. Dd had plans to go to lots of open days up north far from us, but has now changed her mind and wants to go to a local one. Have to say I'm relieved. Going to open days she gets offers for makes sense.

Also glad to hear personal statement doesn't have to be done and dusted yet! Thanks guys very useful thread.

Would highly recommend park and ride for Sheff University, I live there.

Personal Statement still under way here, though board gaming and Hobbit watching got in the way today...

Or park in Nunnery Square (just off the Parkway) and use the yellow line tram to get to the university. The multi storey car park is new and is used mainly for the children's hospital so I wouldn't be confident of finding many spaces there.

MrSlant - DS only did the summer ones as we also have a Sport that takes over!

If anyone is going to Sheffield (if you haven't already been). There is a multi storey car park virtually opposite the main campus that you can pre-book online - it's £5 all day over the weekend.

How do you all feel at the prospect of them being so far away from you? DS1 only wants to go to the nearest uni which is in our nearest town (we are pretty rural). It's a niche course but his extra-curriculars and job should put him in good standing for a place as long as he doesn't fail his A levels completely. I hope! We haven't done any visits at all because Sport (yes it gets a capital letter ) means we never have any free time. Is it really necessary or should we wait until he has some offers and we have an idea of where we should look. To be honest I don't think he is likely to get many offers.

Impressed with the 3 day laundry turn around. I still have things in the car from our holiday and we got home on monday .

OYBBK I was going to say that maybe our DC's should make with Scooby-do type disguises and swap taking the tests so they both play to their strengths but that's probably not a very safe idea when it comes to driving is it .

Starfleet, that is really useful to know, I'm not a big fan of the walking thing!
Ds2 is doing his practice bronze this weekend, I only found this out on Tuesday - it's going to be an interesting experience. The groups are all being rearranged when they arrive at camp, they have start and end points but no meet points until they are there so haven't yet been able to plot a course.
His backpack broke this afternoon so he has a spare with no pockets and he has confessed his map reading skills are a bit rusty.
If he gets through the weekend in one piece I will be seriously impressed.

Lonicera - we got there just before 9am. I can't remember which way we went in but there are gardens at the side/back (sense of direction appalling) of the campus and we were directed onto the road that runs through.

I hope so too Ursula. DD really liked Newcastle. It helps that we have family in Northumberland, and 2 of her cousins went to uni in Newcastle and know it really well.

Dds Leeds washing is still waiting!

We are stay at Jury's in Gateshead.

I'm hoping my blue badge will get me close.

Welcome back MrSlant - that sounds like an excellent set of results for your DS

Welcome bekabeach

Welcome bekabeech