DD wants to drop an A Level as she is overwhelmed, won't consider Btec

@micellargin There's nothing amazing about my DS. I was screeching like a deranged banshee at him, yesterday morning, about pulling stuff together to go back to uni. 🙄😊 A shared house, Y2.

Luckily, tho credit to DS and his mate, they Done Good. Nice house! Because it's 'local', nice parents dropped 75% of his kit there, final drop off Thurs.

I know people who were forced out of A levels and went to college to do Btecs. They ended up at top universities like KCL, Nottingham and Warwick.

Hi. Another annecdote. My son is similar to your daughter, just not really academic and absobloody useless at exams. He did Btec in three subjects. You have to be really on the submission dates and work consistently. They aren't easy.

What your daughter needs to understand is UCAS points. Each qualification comes with points. A Distinction at Btec is worth the same number as an A grade at A level. On an extended Btec - where you do just one subject, if you get three D for each part, that is worth MORE points than three A at A level ( no clue as to why that is bold). There is snobbery about Btec amongst students but son got four unconditional offers and actual scored D*, M, M which gave him 120 points.

She needs to give her head a wobble because a merit is worth the same as a C grade, which it sounds like she's not going to achieve. So the choice is an Extended Btec in one subject or an extended plus one or two subsidiary Btecs which, by the sound of it, will give her what she needs for lovely unis ( and face it, she's not looking at Oxbridge, Durham, Bristol, UCL, Kings) or a couple of Cs at best but most likely lower which will mean a Foundation degree for nursing. College is a great preparation for uni. I know my son's opinions on the drug use and he has had to do far more himself than hand holding school so I feel a bit happier about his maturity levels going to uni.

She will be brilliant so don't let her try and compete with the uber academics - they find A level hard too and the Biology A level is soooo hard now. At my school no one is allowed to take A level Maths unless they got an 8 or 9 at GCSE.

The hardest decisions we make in life are usually the bravest too.
My best friend at school way back a million years ago did not do well at her GCSEs at all and left to train on a vocational course while the rest of us stayed at sixth form for A levels. Every weekend we would all meet up - the whole group of original friends. I’m still friends with her now.
What I’m trying to convey is that it’s scary leaving a friendship group but true friends will always be just that.
It sounds as though she has had good advice from you and from school so now it’s down to her to make the choices. Hopefully she’ll decide soon so not to waste any time getting started on the BTEC course. If she leaves it to Christmas she’ll be a year behind her peers and going off to uni a year later than them.

I agree. Your DD's self esteem will plummet massively if she doesn't move to college now.

What does she hope to achieve by staying at school? Struggling for three months, being asked to leave, then kicking her heels until September 2020 to start at college. It's a no brainer. She needs to come to terms with reality now.

And I still think the school was irresponsible allowing her to register for 6th form in the first place.

Difficult situation as you say. My dd went to a 11 to 16 school so everyone has to choose the next place to go and some are going quite far and wide.

Sounds like she's the sort of girl who makes friends easily?? Could you sell it to her by saying she will make new friends while still being able to meet up with her old ones.

She is having difficulty in separating from her friends and admitting she’s not suited to A levels. The school should have said she didn’t qualify for their 6th form and then you would have not had this issue right now. She still would have wanted to stay with her friends but the school chose the “bums on seats” model of 6th form admission and that is very wrong.

If she’s not going in for a 100% academic degree, then BTec is just fine. Doors won’t be closed and could actually be opened over applying with virtually failed A levels.

Is there anything she really wants? I bribed DD1 with a rescue dog ( don't worry, we already had two and I was planning to get a 3rd anyhow) to stay at her school's 6th form. The other ones she was looking at were miles away and involved precarious travel plans.
I agree that a Btec sounds like a much better idea.
DD2 got pretty good GCSE results and has still elected to do a Btec becuase she doesn't like exams.
I did start talking to her about her options at the end of Y10 though and we went to visit colleges in Y11.

She has to cut her losses now. Right now. Or....

Everyone has 'anecdata', here's mine:

DS1, academically 'OK', but lazy (I don't distinguish. If they're 'rilly bright', but 'layzee'- they've still failed to get adequate marks.). To be fair, he got AABBBBBBCC. But 2 Bs were in his A level choices, Maths and Physics. Third was the Geog, an A.

Sixth form did the commendable 'we really value effort' thing. 'Best' sixth form option (okay, Peter Symonds, Winch) would (correctly) not allow a B grade onto their Maths A level. His chosen sixth form- did.

He 'soldiered' on from Sept-Dec; all suggestions that he was struggling met with an eye roll, Maths turned to (soft)'Use of Maths'-then, parents evening, Feb, we were summoned. By this stage, he, and I- knew it was all over. 3 very low grade A levels aren't worth the paper they're written on. But I think the shock to him was that his tutors werent that bothered. So used, was he, to the ra ra squad of teachers urging him on, to have teachers saying 'you're failing, sunshine'- came as a surprise to him.

However, in the interim, I had forensically researched BTECs. To the extent I forced him to learn to drive as the closest appropriate college was a 25 mile drive away! 😊 He, during that (abortive - yet, not) year had mentioned 'Computing'.

But, for the OP, the biggie- I worked with a young, degree qualified radiographer who told me he'd screwed up his ASs, transferred to Applied Science BTEC (3A level equiv) thence into uni to do radiography. Which is where I learned about these 'A level' BTECs.

Luckily, our closest tech suddenly offered this 3 A level equivalent BTEC in computing, literally last minute. But by the time DS was applying, Feb-ish, he knew it was all over for him and A levels.

It wasn't a total epiphany- we had midnight deadline sessions with him and DH sniping at each other- but he achieved D star D star D in this computing BTEC and is now heading into Y2, software engineering, looking at a 1:1.

25% of uni entry is with BTEC. Okay, we're not talking Oxbridge, or even that many RG. But there are solid degrees to be had.

As for the 'not wasted' lower sixth. DS achieved a D in Economics AS, E in Geog. And a year's maturity. And a recognition A levels weren't for him.

And a first year 'cruisin' at uni as the BTEC had already covered much of the ground in computing...🙄😊

Google the national diploma in health studies. Its equivalent to 3 a levels, theres no exams and you can go on to do various healthcare degrees or i think strightaway as a paramedic. It looks absolutely brilliant.

Yes i agree the school has been negligent. Poor kid, i know she wants to be with her mates but she'll be so grateful shes done it when she gets inti a good uni to do nursing

Or i think theres an applied science btec

I honestly think the school is negligent allowing her to take A levels. 5s 4s and 3s really aren’t the grades to do A level. She’s far more suited to BTEC. Our school is very strict that students need at least 6 x 6. Any less and they say it’s too hard for them. Maths is very very strictly no less than a 7 and actually my son who is got a fairly high 7 was told he could do maths but that they were concerned it would be too much and they preferred an 8. There really is no point doing poorly in A levels when you can do really well in a BTEC

She should go to college and do a 3 A level equivalent BTEC in Heath and Social care. It is perfect for nursing! She wouldn't have been allowed to do a levels with those grades at dds school. Not to do her down but she's silly to put herself through this when there is a great and better alternative.

You can't start a btec 3 months behind. You are assessed almost straight away.

Staying on until Christmas is a really bad idea. Would college even allow her to start BTECS in January?

Does she even need Maths for nursing? Why not psychology? Could she not switch to a different subject?

What about a nursing apprenticeship? There are also some different routes into it. It might be worth looking into it.

I was very academic in school. As and bs at gcse. And I did a btec and 1 a level. Got into university of Birmingham. Got a 2:1.

Not saying this to gloat. But maybe she can hear this and know a btec is not the end of the world.

However since graduating, I have wished I did an apprenticeship. This leads straight into work. Everyone has a degree these days! Something to consider.

Tough for her now but I hope she comes to terms with the Btec route quickly. She sounds like a daughter to be proud of.