Year 12 (4): The one where they're pondering what to do next

We've looked at train travel for all ouf dd's visits but the cost was phenomenal. We stay in YHs, and the petrol + overnight stay (where we've done that) for two is cheaper than the train cost for one in all cases. Plus, it has been nice to spend the time with her.
I also know from experience that dd is very indecisive, so I think us being able to prompt with "What about...." or "Do you remember..."

I know Interail have given concessions out for 18/19-year-olds so they can travel either free or at reduced rates during the summer period before they start Uni and I do think the train operating companies should step up and give these young adults a helping hand.

I think the universities could play a part in setting up a scheme with the train operating companies - register for the open day - get free travel....

oneteen that is a very good idea (free rail travel to open days). Perhaps we could get an MP interested?

DD gets free rail travel but with the exception of Warwick we have driven to the Open Days - I did Bath which was probably £20 in petrol and DF did York - probably £30 in petrol...but we live in the Home Counties so pretty central.

We will cover Scottish Uni's whilst on holiday ...We are fortunate because travel tends to either be free or I can fit in a business appointment to cover petrol costs.

Warwick was quite kind in giving out drinks vouchers to anyone visiting Life Sciences faculty... the food within the department was cheap and incredibly good.

Perhaps the train operating companies should "step out" and offer these youngsters FREE travel during this period of time given it is mainly weekend off-peak travel.

@sandwich - that's great news

Numbers, I don't mean this as criticism, but are you sure you want your DD to go so far away if you're finding the train fares just for visits to be too painful?

DD got to London & back, peak time, for £80 (with YP rail card). That was the most expensive outing. I gave her a tenner each trip to buy food etc. I didn't have to go with her, no parent to her Open Days has saved a lot.

I think it is quite a good idea if you can do it to travel by train. My DS will have to do the journey a lot and it’s important to give it a trial run in my view.

Wow that is a lot of expensive numbers and yes positive step... Hoping if I back off, she will tell me eventually what she did for her work experience.

I've found out open day dates of uni's within 2 hour car distance from us, but DD doesn't seem bothered. Only that criteria because DD hasn't looked into anything and I'm not taking her miles away if she isn't interested

We have every railcard going. Disabled, young persons, family and friends, two together. We rely on rail travel a lot and it works out much cheaper.

Not been to any Open Days with DD.... but did this news item. Sister in law (plus her DH and other DS) took her son to two Unis on South Coast and all of them stayed over...

I arranged last minute work experience for DD at local school, typically not heard anything about her day but she is going again tomorrow

Lots of the individual unis have funds to pay travel costs to uni for open days. I wish they publicised this more.

Well it turned out very expensive for us, but only because the car broke down on the way to Warwick, was not fixable and we had to but a new car.

Definitely can relate.
We've done four open days in the last five weeks. We've driven to all as train cost would have been huge. We've had to stay overnight for two of them - cheap travelodge had to suffice.
Because of our postcode Dd gets a bit of help from Next Steps South West - but this has been a £40 MasterCard. Obviously every little helps but we've spent a lot more than that!
Dd isn't keen on applying for any unis she hasn't visited so we've made the effort and thankfully can afford to do so. But I bet there are lots of families where this just isn't possible.

I try sunburnt but she likes to be independent and mostly pushes me and DH away. She can go a couple of weeks without taking her vitamin d tablets which if course doesn't help but when I try to talk to her about it, I'm 'having a go'. In fairness though, she has been much better at taking the vitamins more regularly, hopefully is feeling the benefit of taking them.
Talked to her about bedtime routine, you can guess how that went...

Thanks for the tip about vit d spray, I'll look into that

Sandwiches as per the post earlier I do think the focus needs to be on just basic daily routine - going to bed at a set time and waking up at a set time, some Nourishing food, a little bit of fresh air outside the house even if it is the garden. Vitamin d deficiency can cause mental health issues too and if you can get a vita d spray (can get from amazon), you could add this to her drink. Also having a shower once a day and maybe spraying something that smells nice will make her feel good about herself. These are Simple things but can help.

numbers encouraging DD to look at other options, even took her to the local college open day... But no, she has decided to do an EPQ over the summer holidays along with revision instead....

Realise it is only day 1 of the summer holidays for DD, but she has spent most of day in bed and not done any revision...

She does not want any help from me......

I think it's reasonable to put one or two that are slightly below the grades they're likely to get, but don't be too cautious. It's still a low birth rate year, and most courses at most universities were undersubscribed this year.

DS2 is hoping for predicted grades of 4 x A*
His 'safety' choice has a typical offer of AAA / AABB.

It might be worth checking to see what's in clearing for 2019 admissions. It doesnt guarantee they will be in clearing next year but it should give you an indication of whether an offer would be likely/how competitive places are.

If there are lots of clearing places then the only reason to look for a lower grade alternative is that you/she is worried about meeting her predictions. Also it's not unusual to be accepted on results day even if you have missed a grade.

DS’s college advises Oxbridge (if appropriate), one lower insurance offer and the rest RG universities. I think this is pretty standard advice.

After some advice please...
We've now visited four open days and dd has a good idea now of what she likes.
All of the ones she has picked so far have entry requirements of either AAA or AAB. Her target grades are A's and she got 8s and 9s in those subjects at GCSE so we're unsure of how much lower to go for entry requirements for one of her 5 choices.
Should she try to find a course with much lower entry grades in case she gets no offers from those who want those higher grades? And if so, how much lower?