Corona Cohort Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave

Mid September for DD to turn 18 😊

Can I join you please? I have been lurking for a while, but would be lovely to join the chat. DS is off to uni in September after having a gap year and DD is currently in Y12. I am hovering between this forum and the Higher Education one.
We have seen Bristol and Nottingham with DD and still wanting to see Liverpool. Edinburgh is too far to visit .
I think my DD might be one of the first to turn 18 as her birthday is the first of September.

Mine isn't 17 until the end of this month!!

October for us to turn 18. Gulp.

Seems funny talking about being 18 when some are still 16!

I think Kings or *Sandy’s DDs are first to 18?

I slept really well last night, I think I was so mentally exhausted after that game I was wiped out!

DS is mid academic year so he won't be the first to turn 18.

Thanks all. We will try and remember when making new thread.
Went to bed with toothache and tension pain in jawline last night due to football!

The surprise trip for Dd 17th to London for SIX is on Saturday and I have day off tomorrow...shaping up for a good weekend fingers crossed.

Whose will be first to 18 then ?

@KingscoteStaff good luck to your DD, love the fact that it's early as so many of my friends children seem to be taking it late Aug/Sept so their summer is lost in preparation.

Happy to move to FE - I haven't ventured into there as DD most of the schools here have 6th forms so I still consider it school.

I will follow the crowd :-)

Kingscote I hope your DD has had a fabulous day. Gutted about Federer.

Monkey Thank you for thread link. Really useful!

@KingscoteStaff - that may well have been the same open day at Bristol that we went to. DS1 was completely turned off by the torrential rain.

so true what you’re saying about the visit day being influential - I’m sure DS turned down Bristol because it rained all day on the Open Day and the train was delayed by a good hour…

I remember having a terrible audition / interview day at Manchester, mostly due to falling off a bus into the road
I didn't get an offer, but even if I had, I wouldn't have gone there!

I had interviews for all my potential courses (late ‘80s), but I had already visited a couple - on the train with my rail card!

@Orangecinnamon21 so true what you’re saying about the visit day being influential - I’m sure DS turned down Bristol because it rained all day on the Open Day and the train was delayed by a good hour…

Ds has had more further education talks at school today...university is back on. He no longer wants a degree apprenticeship. I can't keep up!

Still no intention to look at universities and no intention to think about anywhere other than Sussex. DH's dd lives near to Brighton. So we could easily stay with them and do a visit.

Hello, lovely to hear about everyone's plans beginning to take shape. We'll be visiting a few uni towns / cities over the summer - DS has some ideas about where he wants to go based on course info but I think they might change when he has a look. I don't think he'll do any official open days or tours until the ones for offer holders (🤞🙏😬) and even then I'll be surprised if he goes to many. He's so laid back, it drives me mad because I do like to plan and chat about things. 😁
I've learned to just keep my mouth shut! 🤭

Yep, I visited all my choices in the early 1990s too.

DS is considering the Step into Bath programme, it's only an hour a day but he is still at school for the first couple of days of the engineering one!

So much can depend on the environment on the day I find. A visit to a quiet campus in June or a busy campus in October, a rainy day a sunny day etc
I'm not interested in looking at lecture theatres or facilities so will leave Dd to do that on her own. Interactions with staff are important , we did a self tour at Southampton but met someone in admissions who was willing to pull out all the stops to get us on a prebooked tour and noted that Dd was a bit reticent so pointed out how we could go and peep at Halls rooms if we wanted. A clear sign of 'we want you to come here' makes all the difference.

I love exploring the UK don't do it enough!

I had a lovely time visiting universities in my own. Started university in 1994 - did some visits at the end of year 12 and then either interviews or visits in year 13. My mum and dad gave me a railcard, bought me train tickets and off I went.
Some people’s parents drove them there but there weren’t many parents actually at the talks from what I remember

I visited at interview, not before, and went on my own to all of them. I thought everyone did that.

I don't think I have ever looked on FE as I see 6th form as part of school, but will follow you wherever you end up! We have raced through this one!

Ah, see I live in a county with virtually no state 6th forms so pretty well everyone goes to college and we think in terms of FE I suppose.

*Glasgow !

To continue the visiting unis discussion. I applied to Glasgo where I lived (as do many many Scots) so didn't feel the need to visit. Every other university back then interviewed so I visited by default : or didn't because I was rejected by Manchester (their loss!!), and didn't fancy Bristol in the end when I realised how very very far it was. Ironically my original reason for applying there was to put 500 miles between me and my toxic family!

Oh, that'll teach me to read threads backwards.

Easier to say what Cinnamon said...!