Year 13 -2025/26 - Support, discussion and looking after each other (new thread from y12)

Oldest is on the final push - feeling fairly confident. They should easily get the grades for any of the offers from places they want to go, but I know they won't slack on that account.

Trying to get them to arrange their post-exams trip with friends, I was worried they were going to give up on it. Also they have changed the probable dates they are doing to a time that I think will work better generally, but might make it tricky for us to arrange a family celebration for their 18th birthday, which comes a few days before their final exam.

Thanks all. We’ll be able to visit DS pretty easily / vice versa for the first couple of years of his apprenticeship, so I’m sure we’ll see him. Just different I guess!

@ComingInByAnsible we also have simultaneous GCSE and A level revision going on here - think the GCSEs are proving the more demanding of the two! I’ll be very glad when it’s all past us. Have sorted out a family holiday shortly after the reserve exam date, so will look forward to that!

We were away with family for three days of Easter and now back to revision. I felt like we were all a bit more involved with GCSEs and now it’s DD sitting in her room learning!
@bluefineliner exactly same here for DD, we had a discussion about just going for exams, but she would rather not write than settle for low grades. @MiniMidiMaxi wow! That’s a really good offer and nice problem to have! Apprenticeship is like gold dust these day and good that he is happy about it, and now worried about missing out uni. In the end after uni they all need a job and he is getting a head start there. Is that too far from your house?
@ComingInByAnsible Thank you, yeah, all good offers :) and I was worried about cost and other general expenses in London. congratulations to your son on passing driving test, No idea about Insurance, we are not there yet, just did the theory. We have three young drivers on our road, probably should go and ask for driving instructor details soon.
We still haven’t done anything on UCAS DD thinks she may change her mind on insurance later! Basically leaving it for last minute

Hope everyone had a good Easter and managed to get a bit of downtime, whether celebrating or not!

We were all on our last legs at the end of term. DS went down with a cold on the last day of school, just before his driving test. We had to dose him up on lemsip on the day. Thankfully he passed, which he is overjoyed about! He can’t wait to start driving by himself but the insurance seems horrendous! Anyone managed to find a good deal? None of us are hugely keen on a black box, but I am guessing we might need to bite the bullet…

@hels71, accommodation offer, wow! That’s pretty momentous. Did your DD get what she wanted?

@bluefineliner, congratulations on the decisions made! And thank you. How did the NCL accommodation booking go?

@Newlease, sorry to hear about the imperial rejection, but it sounds like your DD is in a great position with four great offers and the bonus of being able to drop chemistry if she wants to.

@MiniMidiMaxi, that’s a fabulous curveball, congratulations to your DS! Firming and deferring Bath seems like a great backup plan. Is the apprenticeship based far away from home? Would it be feasible for him to come back on the weekends and/or for you to visit him?

@Lalux, good luck with the decision making, it’s fantastic to be in this position with dentistry! Has your DS heard from their last option?

@MamOfTwo, well done to your DD on getting those NEAs in, DS was so relieved when his went in!

It does really feel like we are in the final stretch now, with exams really looming. For us it’s a double whammy this year of A levels and GCSEs. We are all so looking forward to it being over!

Aww @MiniMidiMaxithat’s an amazing offer but very bittersweet. I know we want them to grow up and fly but doesn’t make them leaving any easier.

@bluefinelinercongrats to DD on her offers that’s amazing. Your MIL would have been so proud.
Still trying to make some decisions here. OHD next weekend at Sheffield but missed the one at Glasgow as it was on 31st and just couldn’t manage it due to work and school etc.

Hey all, good to hear more offers coming through at the tail end of the ‘season’ and choices being made and finalised. @bluefineliner your DD has done so well in getting her offers, and Newcastle is a great city with great hospitals.

I mentioned it on another thread but we’ve had a curve ball - DS has been offered a very well regarded degree apprenticeship in engineering, which he plans to accept. I had genuinely assumed the odds were so against him that I hadn’t really thought a lot about it. The A level grade requirements are a little lower than the grade offer he has for his favoured course at Bath. We’re just working through the strategy - think he will accept Bath as his firm anyway, just to keep his options open, and potentially request a deferral after results to give him an alternative if for some reason he hates the DA. I think he’ll be fine - he doesn’t seem remotely concerned about giving up the uni lifestyle.

But but - this means he’s v likely going to leave home in September and may never live at home again! Hadn’t quite appreciated that situation, and the difference in DA holidays vs uni holidays. Ah well, will deal, as we do!

So, we are on the final stretch! Good luck everyone x

@bluefineliner great to have the decisions made. Good luck with Newcastle accommodation today.

So DD has firmed Newcastle and insured Leeds which is a relief to get some decisions made. Today she is going to try and book accommodation at NCL but I feel it may be a bit chaotic when everyone logs on at the same time to try and do it! The later OHD make it more difficult for YP to make decisions sometimes because in DD's case she knew she wanted NCL as her firm and their accom opens today (first come first served as I understand) but she had to firm to be able to book it, her final OHD would have been end of April for Liverpool. She decided to choose another insurance uni though so didn't need to go, but had she wanted Lpool for insurance she wouldn't have been able to choose accommodation early. It is a minefield of dates and deadlines atm!

@ComingInByAnsible I'll happily offer any info I can if your DD does decide on med. It has been a bumpy year, feeling like we have been on a knife edge waiting at times but ofc all worth it now.

@Newlease difficult decision on dropping chem, I guess it is whatever your DD thinks will be best for her. It does seem a shame to not sit after she's done all the work, however I know how hard chem is, and I think if it was my DD she would rather not have the a level than a grade she wouldn't be happy with, but she is a stressy bessy perfectionist 😂. I didn't even get my GCSE chem so it all seems hideously difficult to me!

had few stressful week and Mumsnet crashed on my phone, so left long before coming back to thread! Went for 2 OHD so far, looks like insurance would be Southampton, after at some point I thought, Bristol is on top list. Leaving it for DD. Got rejection from Imperial, so that’s us with 4 offers and all uni’s happy for her to drop Chemistry. It’s very late into the year, but I guess DD would like the extra days between exams. Teacher emailed us to ask about it, I guess my honest answer would be to take exams, knowing that you have done enough to pass, but that would add up to a 4 exams in one week!
@bluefinelinercongratulations on offers, very well done your DD!! @ArchitectureMumEPQ I heard is not for the easy going people, well done for getting it done!
@TeenLifeMumwe are very close to REading Uni,but didn’t know much about the courses until recently. DS brought a booklet with courses i medicine and chemistry which looks really impressive!! Hope your DD would love it here.
we haven’t selected anything on UCaS yet, as ICL only came in last few days.

DD has just got her accommodation offer through. It's all starting to seem a bit real!!

@MamOfTwo, it took us by surprise! I guess it makes sense as deciding sooner could potentially free some offers for those still waiting. And it would be good to decide before the exams begin.

We had a lovely day yesterday at the Exeter OHD. The campus really is stunning, especially all in spring blossom and sunshine. Everything was super well organised, the course seems great and flexible, and unlike at Bath, we were able to learn about both Economics and Politics sides. Plus there was an abundance of freshly baked cookies and hot drinks for both applicants and guests! And the lunch we bought on campus was much better quality than what we got at Bath. All in all, it confirmed to DS how much he likes the place, and it looks like it will be one of his two choices. We are now waiting for the Warwick OHD at the end of April do see if it will be firm or insurance.

@ComingInByAnsible Eek, thank you! We also hadn't realised about having to make decisions earlier if all offers in.

Two hefty NEAs handed in here, phew.

Just need to find right balance for next few weeks now.

Well done to your DD on getting the EPQ in, ! Good luck with the art stuff. Is she looking forward to getting it out of the way or is it a nice therapeutic distraction from the other A levels?

She does love Art really but has probably had enough now. It is so time consuming. It will be a big relief to have it off her shoulders so she can concentrate on the other two.

Brilliant news, @bluefineliner and @Lalux, congratulations to your children on the medicine and dentistry offers! @bluefineliner, if DD16 continues with her medicine aspirations I might be asking you for tips!

Well done to your DD on getting the EPQ in, @ArchitectureMum! Good luck with the art stuff. Is she looking forward to getting it out of the way or is it a nice therapeutic distraction from the other A levels?

@Muchtoomuchtodo, thank you for the tip about induction. We have recently upgraded our pans for induction following the building works and saved our old pans for kids to take to uni. Maybe this wasn’t such a clever plan after all!

@TeenLifeMum, that sounds great about your DD and Reading. It’s wonderful when they find their place and know what they want to do.

@gingercat02, that’s great news about the offer reduction, must be a relief to have some peace of mind and certainty.

@Ventress, how did the Durham OHD go? Hopefully it was helpful for your DS in his decision making.

We are off to the Exeter OHD tomorrow at the crack of dawn, doing a day trip from Surrey.

One thing that we only realised yesterday is that now that DS is in a fortunate position to have received all his offers, he must make UCAS decisions by the 6th May, or the offers will auto-decline. We thought the deadline was early June for everyone, but if you’ve received all your offers by the 31st March it’s a month earlier. Which suddenly puts pressure on DS to decide pretty quickly after the Warwick OHD on the 29th April!

Wow @Lalux well done to your DS, the competition for dentistry is insane!

So DD got her last decision back today and has an offer from Liverpool. So that is 4/4 offers for med which is completely unexpected but of course DD is delighted!

Now she has decisions to make, think Newcastle will be her firm but between Leeds and Liverpool for her insurance. What a lucky position to be in after all this time.

@AuntyBulgaria that timetable sounds good. DD has 2 psych exams before spring bank holiday then all others after with one tough week. At least there are so many fewer than GCSEs though. Strange to think it will be over so soon, last push now DD can't afford to drop any grades with her offers all being the same.

@ArchitectureMum once art is over it must be great to know that one subject is already done and dusted.

Exam timetable came home yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised about how spread out the exams are. Think I'm used to GCSEs when they started later and there were so many subjects.

So spread out that I can see my DS thinking that he can do all his revision in the couple of days between each exam!

We did the student finance and DSA application on Monday and it's all completed already (well, DSA needs an assessment but we will have an appointment shortly)

It was suspiciously easy for a government website!

Well done on getting the EPQ in @ArchitectureMumand hoping all the Art goes well.

it really does feel like the final stretch now with a lot of ‘lasts’.

@Muchtoomuchtodo I know what you mean about having another year. We were fully prepared for that if DS hadn’t got any offers this year and DS is also summer born so I don’t think it would have done him any harm at all.

DS got another offer for Dentistry from Glasgow earlier in the week so just waiting for the final one before making some decisions. Didn’t really expect to be in the position to have a choice.

The EPQ is in! One step closer. 4 weeks and a day until Art A level is over. Then it’s a 5 week gap till the first exam in the other subjects. That is going to be a strange time. Lots of Art for the next month though

That was one thing I checked - these ones work on any including induction but most of the Reading halls don’t have induction… year 2 would be unknown though so I’ve gone safe.

@TeenLifeMum thst sounds fantastic for your dd!
Be careful with the pans - at Warwick OHD our guide was very keen to tell us that all halls there only have induction hobs. Some of his flatmates had arrived with pans that wouldn’t heat up 🤣🤣

I’ve been dipping in and out of this thread but bimbling along. Dd received offers for all of her choices but her favourite uni has offered the lowest grades so I think she’ll only be putting down one choice - Reading. It’s a much more flexible course for her and the news that the natural history museum’s bug collection is moving there is a big pull (biological sciences with a focus on insects is her interest). They only want BBD (D - clearly not interested in her ancient history alevel, and Bs in biology and chemistry) she’s predicted AAB so it feels really safe. She has an offer day in Cardiff next week so wants to go to that before making the final decision but seeing her walking around Exeter and Bristol (our nearest to home unis) and comparing that to the excitement on her face in Reading is really making the decision easy.

Mocks were last week and she’s already got grades back. Feeling like things should all fall into place for her (although I know life isn’t always that straight forward). I ordered her some saucepans in the sale today 🤣

Feels like we’re on the home stretch. Hope everyone is getting offers they’re dc are excited by.

Well done on all who have got Uni offers places decided. Some great mock results there. DS had B C C last C he just missed B by 1 mark. Still further with applying for apprenticeship. Geography NEA deadline tomorrow and he ain't printed it off. Asked him show me to prove it was finished no contents page or front cover so pointed that out then went of to scream didn't even read any of it as that was more than I could handle dread how bad what he did is 🙈

DS has just informed us he has had his offer from Northumbria for Business and Marketing reduced to Distinction and 2 Ds! He has known for a while but only decided to tell us now.
He is worried this will demotivate him, but hopefully that's a guaranteed place.
I'm delighted, but get where his thoughts are.