To not allow dd to take a gap year?

[indiraisindiaisindira]

She wants to retry getting into Oxbridge.
She has a conditional from a top 5 uni.
Fees are going up after this year from £4.5k to £9.25k (welsh govt).

The only reason to let her is that the conditional she fancies at the moment is 4 years instead of 3, so she wouldnt be any older moving on from university.

AIBU?

"However, if a gap year entails of living at home with parents and getting a job in retail, then no. That is not worth delaying Uni and getting into extra debt for in my opinion"

Also unlikely to make a huge difference to oxbridge retake, unless she was just having a super bad day on the interview day.

www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/finances/brexit-maastricht-university-warns-uk-students-to-apply-as-soon-as-possible-while-tuition-fees-are-a7119231.html

Agree with op that if she wants Oxbridge her gap year will not be well spent at home working in retail. It is extremely competitive and although another post says her gap year was not mentioned at interview, this will all depend on the course and the interviewer. Advise her to get decent work experience relevant to her course, but also any experience that will develop her understanding of how the world works, e.g. politics and travelling

It might be possible to glean from this how "close" her application was to being selected. Every year there'll be some interview candidates who are definitely yes's, some definitely no's and a bunch in the middle who are probably good enough for the course but there won't be enough space to offer all of them places to.

Afaik at this stage, those who got as far as interview are still in limbo waiting to hear, so - correct me if I'm wrong- she wasn't that close? The percentage they interview and then ultimately accept obv depends on course and whether ox or bridge, so the numbers in my head may not be applicable.

It depends also on how certain she is about what she wants to study. A gap year can be good for helping a young person to properly decide on their degree course.

Hecantbeserious -

http://bfy.tw/9Dfb

I did search.

Top article from yours states:

"No date has been given as to when new arrangements would start from although it is thought that the earliest they could be introduced is 2018/19."

And that they're only recommendations.

Perhaps you should have written slightly more then?

If you only type "huh?" Its hardly unsurprising that people interpret that as "I don't know anything about this subject" rather than "Op I think you might be mixed up about both the dates of this proposed change and whether it is absolutely set in stone."

But you are right - OP unless your daughter has been told something else, all information currently available seems to suggest she would still receive the grant even if she deferred for a year - she would have to defer two years (2018/19)to be affected by the change, if it does definitely come in.

Well she'd be starting university in academic year 2017/8 if she went straight there so it would only be one year.

I think you can't force her to do anything OP but I'd be confused about why she is so set on Oxbridge. Also if she didn't get in first time why would she do so second time?

You cannot reapply via UCAS while holding a deferred offer.

I haven't heard of anyone transferring to Oxford for 2nd year after studying elsewhere.

Reapplying during a gap year is pretty common (lots of public schoolboys seem to do that). If she gets good grades it's certainly worthwhile & she would increase her chances of she did something subject related during her gap year.

Maybe I am being the ogre she's trying to make out!

I don't know about ogre, but - going from your threads about her university choices & decisions - you're a tad over-invested.

Do you really want to set up her resentment of you for the next several decades of her life? Why shouldn't she aim high? and you can rest assured that Oxford is a "prestigious" university, so that's one worry off your mind

As an academic, I'd much rather teach someone who positively wants to be here, rather than thinking about missed opportunities or telling me in the umpteenth personal tutorial about lack of attendance that "I'm only here because my parents made me."

Let her try for the best university she can enter.

And BTW, it's very difficult to transfer into any other university in 2nd year - we teach 1st year for a reason! We also can't take the random numbers this would generate. Don't think Oxford or Cambridge are any different.

"not allow"

Really?

How would you stop her, I don't understand? Is she under 18?

I don't see how either of you can make the decision now, and you certainly don't need to.

If she wasn't a good enough candidate to get an Oxford or Cambridge interview this year (as someone above said, those that did are currently waiting to hear whether they got offers), surely she will need to wait until she has her A2 grades in August to see whether they are sufficiently stellar to make a reapplication realistic. Just agree with whatever she says between now and August, then see what happens and talk to her about it then. If you haven't alienated her along the way then you can help her make her decisions then.