Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other

@JessyCarr I know our school do early for med, dentistry and vet med (plus Oxbridge) but otherwise it's by end of the year - I think so anyway, trying to remember back to when DS1 did his but he applied early too just because.

If only you were in my driving area, June would have been amazing. I'm so sick of taking him out practising almost every day! I've signed up to an app and also a website which charges a fortune but nothing yet.

He's back at school today and straight away into a maths exam. Had texted to say it hasn't gone well which is bad news if true. I don't understand though as he revised all Easter and did many past papers getting between 85-92%, our school does like to give them international papers as exams though which seem to be trickier. Oh well, we shall wait and see..

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn Not going for Oxbridge here, though DD will apply early-ish (i.e. just after the 15 October early-entry date) as that is her school’s policy.

I hope your DS is able to get a driving test cancellation date sooner than September. We have just released DD’s June test date as it’s clear she won’t be ready.

Just catching up on the thread, I see other DCs are changing their minds on subjects as well as mine. We went to an open day a few weeks ago at a uni close by and he did the subject tour and then a day later said that it wasn’t what he thought it would be and no longer wanted to do it. Part of me was celebrating as he was choosing between two subjects so I thought he’d narrowed it down but no, he’s now added Chemistry or maybe Pharmacology to the mix! 🤦🏼‍♀️ He went to the Manchester stem open day this week which he quite enjoyed so I think it is useful for him to go out and see what’s out there.

DS took his driving test earlier this month and didn’t pass, new test now not until end of September - a year after starting driving. This chaos with test availability has to be sorted somehow, especially when you live in an area with less than 50% pass rate. 😫

Good luck to those on the med route, it’s a tough journey. Anyone else’s DC thinking Oxbridge?

Honestly, shes still been attending both med and law soc at school and found med soc more interesting. Time will tell which ever she decides to go for, shes better at essay based subject rather than STEM so that may sway it. She needs to decide by july at the latest tho.
Previously, she read the doctorsuk subreddit and was put off, it was overall very negative. Also , she said that GP was regularly described as the worst speciality , although i did tell her this is subjective. But now she wants to do paeds ( she is very good with kids tbh). I think this is a last minute panic as she doesn’t want to close any doors that even a tiny bit of her wants

Hi @JessyCarr thank you. I have already had a lurk on that thread, trying not to scare myself too much 😂.

I have had some assistance from the lovely mumsneedwine who has sent me her spreadsheet which has saved me a lot of time looking at which unis need what. Thank goodness we have such dedicated mums willing to share their knowledge.

I am also now practicing my own situational judgement skills on practice UCAT questions, it is actually quite interesting especially due to my profession and resonates with work situations in real life so I'm happy to play along and be quizzed. Trying to keep it all good fun for now!

I'm not brave enough to launch the 2026 thread as DD will change her mind the minute I do 😁.

@PinkChaires and @bluefineliner - you probably already know this, but every year there is a very insightful and supportive series of threads for medicine applicants over on the Higher Education board. The current one is here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/5233924-medicine-2025-entry-part-3

There are some very knowledgeable Mumsnetters, especially the amazing mumsneedwine, who join the threads each year and can assist strategically with picking the right universities to maximise the chances of a medicine interview based on an applicant’s particular circumstances (e.g. grades achieved and predicted, UCAT scores, any WP factors, being resident in Scotland/Wales/rUK etc).

Perhaps it’s time to launch the “Medicine 2026 entry” thread!

@PinkChaires ah interesting because my DD seems to have made the decision to go for medicine over these holidays. What do you think has changed your DDs mind?

We have talked at length about med school and today I took her to meet a GP friend of a friend so she could talk directly to them about their job/training etc which was very helpful for her. So we have started to look at UCAT and she is reading some recommended books for now. She's got some volunteer experience already, some lined up and fingers crossed some hospital shadowing in summer.

Time will tell but I can only reiterate how much she now has to do for her application and how focused she will need to be. I work in healthcare too but will not give my opinion as I am not a doctor. She is a perfectionist so will have to find the resilience to fail too 😂. She can always take a gap year if if doesn't go her way and go to uni a year later.

It feels like things are starting to gain momentum now which is scary and to think this time last year she was only days away from starting her GCSEs! Seems like it was only last month. Not sure I'm ready for uni applications yet!

Dd is now apparently considering medicine, despite wanting to do Law before. She was considering medicine in y11, but ultimately decided against it as the conditions are dire. She wanted to do GP , but they are basically being taken over by PAs. Shes now thinking paediatrics. I dont think medicine is the career for her tbh, as shes quite an anxious person by nature and i dont think she could handle failing any exam which is the norm in med school apparently.

@wonderstuff - would a very structured timetable help your daughter? It has helped my son not to fritter away his "free" periods at school and the early evening hours when he would previously watch TV or doom scroll is now timetabled. He got a pair of good sound cancelling headphones at Christmas which helps him concentrate when he's in the sixth form common room, or library at school where it can be very noisy and distracting.

I agree about sitting with them for their driving practice. I am a nervous wreck doing this. DS thinks it's a slur on his driving but it really isn't, for his stage he's really not too bad, it's just me!

Thanks @bluefineliner. I'm glad your daughter enjoyed her first driving lesson. It's so liberating to be able to be able to drive, and a huge life skill.

DS is refusing to think too much about university at this stage. He wants to concentrate on mocks and his NEA. His only stipulation has been that he doesn't want to go too far away and anytime someone has asked where he wants to go he just says "London". Those universities sound great. I tried to get DS to consider York (I went there back in the day and loved it) but it's too far for him.

DS has a JISA (changed from a CTF years ago) which can cover either his undergraduate maintenance costs or a deposit on a flat. We will put as much in as we can and meet our obligation but we can't cover the cost of London accommodation entirely. Although there is that risk that he will blow it all on designer clothes and tennis rackets I don't think he will. He's been used to depositing birthday/Xmas money into it and watching it grow. If anything he will be upset at having to take funds out! It automatically changes to an adult S&S ISA when he's 18 - he doesn't just get a large deposit into his current account.

Hi all,

It is really comforting to read all your posts as everything is so familiar! @Waspie well done to your DS on the theory test, my DD has just turned 17, booked her theory in a month and had her first lesson. I wasn't sure how she would be as she is huge perfectionist and like to be very good at everything she does, which clearly isn't the case driving initially. Well she loved it, and was v positive for future lessons 😀.

Now the reality of doing everything in the coming weeks, theory test, mock exams, sorting work experience is dawning and stressing her. I just keep trying to help her tackle one thing at once. Then on the other hand am asking her which uni open days she wants to go to in June so I can book work shifts around them 😂I'm not helping am I!

DD was v stressed last year for GCSEs so I am used to it and it is just how she functions. Not much fun for those around her but I keep telling myself it is not forever.

So far we are looking to go to Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and York open days, all within 3 weeks in June. I'm still steering away from London unis due to cost and DD seems ok with this as wants to stay closer to home.

And us. We've been fortunate to be able to save for them but into accounts that they don't know about. DD1 is going to use her CTF towards driving lessons (once she gets around to them!) and I suspect DD2 will do the same but hopefully sooner than her sib!

Us too @TeenToTwenties
We'll pay for uni or whatever and help out with a property deposit when the time comes. His CTF will just be a nice birthday present. I don't even know what it's worth as we just put it in a low risk S&S.

We made a conscious decision not to add to the CTF as no way did we want them to have automatic access to a stash of funds at 18. So we have saved but not in their name.

Mine won't 🤣

@wonderstuff DS is also July for test keep getting emails from Dvla telling me only about 50% pass the test.
It is definitely strange being driven by your kid.

@JessyCarr 😂 I wish we could have saved that much even for 1 year. More like about £8k fir the whole 18 yrs had terrible return on our kids accounts.

Ah I’ve looked up the CTF. Parents had the option to add up to £9,000 per year, so some DC will be having a very happy 18th birthday!

No child trust funds here as DC were born overseas. How much do they get out of it at 18? Or was it a question of parents having the option to top up, so completely variable?

One thing that we realised was that DS’s child trust fund matures when he’s 18, so the value of that is worth looking at. May well be several thousand to contribute towards costs.

Teenagers are soo expensive! We have DS in independent school for various reasons, which is eye-watering, but he is in year 10 and going to state 6th form (provided he pulls his finger out and actually passes his gcses) and dd is taking a year out, so we will have a year to save again before hit with her uni costs. Having spent on DS I feel we have to support her in whatever she wants to do at uni, she's talking about London and to me that feels ridiculously expensive, especially as she isn't looking to get grades for top universities there, but having spent on her brother I feel I can't say no. At the moment she's very indecisive, so hopefully will land elsewhere. DH worries we'll never afford a holiday for ourselves again!

@gingercat02 I'm 45 and don't feel like I've ever really 'known' what I want to do, I've fallen into a reasonable job having worked out a few things I really DIDNT want to do! She is enjoying economics and wants to earn lots of money, so that's a sort of a start..😂

@wonderstuff I'm trying to roll with the indecision for the moment as DS genuinely has no idea what he wants to do.
It's a huge decision for them to make.
I did a profession specific degree so there was little choice to make, but he could do almost anything.
One of our neighbours 2 daughters, have just left Y12 and 13 respectively, the youngest to go and work as a groom in an Eventing yard and the older one to be a hairdresser
It takes all sorts to make society work and we can only help with decisions.

@Tebheag my dd is also not doing revision. She's gone to London with her friends today and seems much more motivated to socialise than work. She is very focused on passing her driving test - I agreed to take her our yesterday to the next village along and back, I found myself having to remember to breathe, it's so stressful. She's wondering if she can drive to Brighton in August (test is in July) I'm saying no, it's at least 2 hours and involves the M25! I really hope she passes in July, currently she's still finding gear changes tricky, so there's work to be done.

I don't think she'll be ready to put in her UCAS form this year, I have suggested we plan to go to some open days, but she hasn't really engaged. She's coasting at college and I do worry she'll regret this, but her argument is that she doesn't want to put herself under lots of pressure. She is struggling with anxiety, she says school where she knew everyone was more comfortable, the learning was not as interesting, but she felt more secure. She's finding the amount of free time hard, she says she becomes a bit overwhelmed with what to do when she has so much choice. Again I think she's prioritising her friends, she wants to spend her free periods with mates, rather than going and studying!

I wonder if she will be better on an apprenticeship than traditional degree, she'll have more structure, but she's convinced herself it's too competitive. We'll see. I have to keep reminding myself it's a marathon not a sprint, she doesn't have to get every decision right, plenty of people are successful who take a slightly different path.

@Waspie congrats to your son. Remember to log in Monday 6am for booking the test.
😂 I wish he had done some unfortunately he told me he has done zero hours, he is currently at the gym and his college bag is exactly where he dumped it when he got home from College on Friday.
The friend on 8 hrs a day is a high achiever so wouldn't be surprised.

Did have words with DH that if DS doesn't do well in mocks he might as well try applying for apprenticeships there a couple in our area for accountancy from GCSE level.