Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other (Thread 2)

Oxford is the dream - she's doing a Latin A-level and has been teaching herself Greek as a supercurricular. She also likes the look of St. Andrew's, Edinburgh, Bristol and Birmingham, plus a few others she's mentioned in passing. I don't think she's mentioned Southampton but it could absolutely be worth looking at.

She's a bit nervous about absolutely locking in and choosing Theology, but more and more it seems to be where her heart lies. She likes the way it combines sociology, anthropology, literature, languages, history and philosophy while still providing more focus than she thinks she'd get from a general liberal arts degree.

Her big 4 are Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and considering Southampton as well. Edinburgh and Bristol both big for Buddhism which she wants to look at. Durham ruled out as course seemed very Christian without a much on other religions. And Oxford is very big on studying ancient languages as part of the assessment which wouldn't suit her. At Bristol and Exeter they're options but not essential. I think she'd also benefit from somewhere with more coursework assessments rather than final exams - Bristol and Exeter definitely do this. We've not got predicted grades yet but I'll be surprised if they're not AAB.
Where is your DC looking?

I have a DC looking at Religion and Theology as well! Philosophy or History also possibilities; she'll need to make a final decisison this summer. Where else is your DD thinking of applying?

We went to Durham University Business School today. (It would be my choice for DS.)
Economics was very impressive, finance was good as well. I might be too harsh on accounting, as it seemed very basic to me. I have been doing for almost 40 years, started before uni.

We are back from Bristol and Bath, had a very nice time. DS is more impressed by Bristol city and buildings/location, he was a bit disappointed by the Bath campus. But we all did think the Bath placement program looked excellent, and if he does apply to Bath it will be for a course with a placement year.

@ellieinfrance- and anyone else who has knowledge of Southampton or goes to an open day - I’d be interested what you make of it. I am trying to persuade DS to add it to the list of options because it looks good in principle.

Went to Bristol today, DD really enjoyed the subject talks. We've done Exeter which was also great. She's off to look at Edinburgh on Friday, then Southampton. Clocking up the the miles on open days at the moment! She's looking at religion and theology.

Mine might see yours there then 😁 he's going for aero with IMEE as a backup as the grades are a little lower.

He’s been thinking of mech engineering but the integrated mech and electrical eng degree has caught his eye. Everyone we spoke to was emphasising how broad and therefore flexible the first year or two are though, so scope to steer towards different specialisations depending on how interests develop.

@MiniMidiMaxi what course is your son thinking of applying for? X

Thanks for the info - I think I will send him in October with my husband
Wonder whether it's better to book earlier or later talks.

Just back from Bath (went early and didn’t stay long as it’s not too far for us and DS is in the middle of exams). Overall impression was positive, DS liked the sound of the courses from the talks he went to, and thinks he’d be happy enough with the campus set up. Lots of talk about the placement year, it seems to be their top selling point.

@SilverBlue56 the engineering departments were very good and had a lot organised - as well as the talks (I didn’t go in but DS and DH were both very positive about them), they had lab tours and a large display of project posters, and plenty of students and lecturers to chat to. Very busy though - and a lot more people in mech / aero engineering than electrical.

Bless your DD @bluefineliner she must have been bottling that stress up but at least they are done now.

DS has successfully made it to Bath uni according to find my phone! Fingers crossed he navigated the site and made it to his talk on time. Him and his friend then have to get to Bristol for the afternoon.😀

Hi all

That is interesting @Waspie about unis knowing which schools overpredict grades, I never considered that because there will be quite a range depending on the schools outlook on this. I'm not sure on DD's school but I think she's been told they will predict one grade up from mocks taking their achievement to date in to account.

DD's now finished her mocks, biology was yesterday and she's been surprisingly positive and calm about them all until then. So I got the tearful phonecall after the exam which was only based on her not having time to complete one question she knew the answer too 🙄. She was also thrown by another student sitting back looking smug for the last 15 mins of the exam when she ran out of time. I think the adrenaline of the past two weeks finally caught up and she needed a good cry. Once we had established the logical facts and reality of what might happen she is ok. Tbh I'm surprised this mini breakdown took so long, her GCSEs were peppered with tears and meltdowns, the downside of having a perfectionist drama llama for a DD 😂.

No open days this weekend for us, ours starts with Manchester next Saturday. I'm looking forward to reading all your feedback on other uni visits.

At least lots of your son's classmates found paper 2 difficult as well @SunblockSue - that implies it was a tough paper and the grade boundaries should reflect this. Good luck to him for paper 3, and the following mock.

Oh bless him @gingercat02 a walk on the beach and treat tea sounds like the ultimate soul repair to me. I hope he enjoys the uni library trip and the perfect beach weather through the weekend.

When DS went to the UCAS Discovery event he found the admissions people he spoke to knew which schools tended to over predict on grades. It's clearly something they bear in mind when making offers. It does seem very harsh to me, given that there is a year to go, that a student a mark or two away from a grade boundary wouldn't be predicted the higher grade. Fingers crossed for him @JustHereWithMyPopcorn .

I didn't go with DS to the Exeter open day so tomorrow's trip to Bristol will be my first time too @MamOfTwo. DH and DS said that at Exeter they ended up not going to the final two talks I'd booked as they found that the presenters were mainly going through the info easily found on the website. So instead they did the accommodation, library, theatre and sports facilities tours, then went into town to explore, which they said was very helpful. I've also been told not to bother going to more than one of the Finance or Applying for university talks as they are fundamentally the same for each university. The other thing everyone seems to agree on is that you must wear VERY comfortable shoes! 😂

Mine is doing four and he's not in a studying groove 🤣 more like an avoiding studying groove

He is doing FM alongside Maths and has found that although FM is hard it has really helped his standard maths and he comes out with around 90% all the time in tests but doesn't seem to have done much work at home 😱 maybe this won't continue next year, he will be in for a shock in Y13 I think.

I miss living by the beach. It really is a reset for the soul.

Question re Open Days - what's the best way to get the most out of them? DD has booked on to talks at some we have coming up. What should we make sure we check out? I just don't want to be wandering about vaguely and realise we missed a load of stuff afterwards!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn indeed the beach is our go to when you just need out.

@Waspie our school is so mean with predictions I imagine he'll just be given what he achieves in these exams. They don't like to 'over predict' for their reputation, they were the same with the Covid grades, marked everybody harshly while the rest of the country got 9s! 😂

@SunblockSue I'm sure it wasn't as bad as he thinks, Paper 3 will be the dream I'm sure.

@gingercat02 good idea for the change of scene, it usually works for DS when he get's into that kind of spiralling. How fabulous to have a beach nearby, I would love it.

DS had his usual pre exam breakdown yesterday. I came home to him almost in tears because "nothing is going in"
We went for a very windy walk on the beach had a treat tea and a chat. Seems happier this morning. He's off to the uni library today with his history group to do some coursework research, so a change of scenery should help.
This school stuff is harder the second time round 😪

Well Maths paper 2 was tough - lots of people struggled. I think it's knocked his confidence a bit. Fingers crossed for a good paper 3 next week. The final maths paper clashes with a mock exam so those affected are having to sit that the next day. Not sure how they are ensuring no one cheats.

There are quite a few advantages of sitting maths first leaving FM to year 13 but the main downside is that he is not in a studying groove as you would be if you were doing all subjects. Though that might just be that my DC is a bit lazy and is already giving all the excuses! But I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

To slightly counteract the hoards heading towards to Bath there will be thousands going out of town and up to Twickenham on Saturday for the Premiership Rugby final!

I'm sorry your daughter's predictions are not what she wanted @BlackBean2023. At least there is another chance to get those A's in the Autumn - fingers crossed for her.

Well done to your son @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I hope his predictions reflect his high scores. Surely being so close to the grade boundaries they will push them to the higher grade for predictions? DS' school have also said not to even think about appealing the grades or predictions. He has had one subjects grade prediction back so far and the exam scores, but no prediction yet, for a second. Looking okay so far though.

I hope Maths paper 2 went well despite his cold @SunblockSue and that your son enjoys the UCAS event tomorrow.

Good luck to your son @Lalux

Work experience that results in paid work sounds like a great outcome @Tebheag Still plenty of time to do open days if he wants to in the Autumn.

Well done on those having already got their mock results. Everything seems to be happening so fast.

My DS has his Maths a level paper 2 this afternoon - he has come down with a cold so let's hope he can concentrate for long enough as he is prone to making silly mistakes. The grade boundaries were fairly high last year and the general consensus is that paper 1 was fairly straightforward. So every mark will count as I think he may be on the boundaries of two grades.

He has a UCAS event tomorrow so I'm hoping that will inspire him.

DS has messaged got a high A for Chemistry so thank goodness for that.

DS is doing Bath in the morning so hoping to miss most of the Robbie stuff.

Anyone heading to Bath tomorrow or Saturday, in what seems to be spectacularly bad planning both days clash with the Robbie Williams concert in the evening so Bath is going to be absolutely heaving. You have been warned!