Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Original poster

support thread for those of us who have DC submitting UCAS applications in the next few months

815 replies

mumoverseas · 21/08/2010 14:53

Thought we should all get together and calm each other down/mop fevered brows/hand around glasses of wine etc. We've seen other go through it over the past few months and it will be our turn soon.

DS has just got his AS results which were not too bad. AAAB. The B suprised him as it was for maths and we'd expected a B for french which he had not studied for a few years as sat his GCSE early. He says he will re-sit one of the maths modules and one of French ones to get a higher A Hmm

He (we!) has been considering various Unis over recent months and has visited 4.
PS is all in hand as is extended project (whatever all that is about) but time is creeping by and not long now til his mid Oct deadline (one of his choices is Oxbridge)

There has been so much in the papers over recent days about the lack of places at University at the moment and stories of how so many good students did not get places as they didn't put 'insurance' choices.

How is everyone else coping and how do we get our children to make realistic choices?

OP posts:
eatyourveg · 26/01/2011 07:09

Got all this to come in the autumn so have been lurking. Figured you lot might be able to answer a nagging dilemma we have here.

Is it better to do a naff course at a good uni or a good course at a naff uni?

DS1 isn't a straight A student but should get around 3 Bs or 350-400 pts overall. Generally looking at middle of the road places such as Hull, Keele, and Aberystwyth. Looking at possible insurance places and Sunderland comes near the bottom of the overall tables and requires much lower grades but in the subject tables (Law) it is always within the top third of all results! How does that work then? Confused

PS ds1 doesn't want a career in Law, more into working for Serious Organised Crime Agency or similar

nickschick · 26/01/2011 07:30

Ds1s exams begin todday Shock.....after acceptance at all 5 of his chosen unis all he has to do now is get the results.

Fingers crossed for everyone Smile.

Original poster
mumoverseas · 26/01/2011 08:24

eatyourveg my DS has applied to read law and 4 of the courses he applied for required AAA and his insurance which is law and a language is ABB. We struggled to find somewhere with much lower grades but maybe he wasn't looking at the right Unis. I think perhaps law on its own requires higher grades but pehaps law and a language or law with business might have slightly lower requirements. Perhaps that might be an option to look at rather than naff courses/naff Unis?

OP posts:
IShallWearMidnight · 26/01/2011 08:26

I'd be tempted to go for a better university, and try and change courses once there tbh.

webwiz · 26/01/2011 09:31

nickschick DD2 finishes her exams today and they seem to have been going on for ages. She has a study afternoon today and I will be taking her for a very large hot chocolate and a cake to celebrate getting through them! Good luck to everyone still doing exams.

eatyourveg I'd always pick the subject first as that is what you've got to study for 3 years. Maybe work backwards from what he wants to do and see which degrees are relevant. If he's interested in the Serious Organised Crime Agency then he could contact them and ask. Criminology may be more useful than straight law and has lower entry requirements (I know nothing about this by the way!).

nickschick · 26/01/2011 12:45

Webwiz hope she enjoys her treat x

webwiz · 26/01/2011 17:26

Thanks nickschick - no more exams till May now. The only problem is Me, DS, DD1 and DD2 all have exams in May. I think I will be the most stressed as the last exam I took was in 1990!!

nickschick · 26/01/2011 23:25

Youll be fine I wish you all good luck.

What a studious family.

webwiz · 27/01/2011 14:01

DD2's Bath offer arrived todayGrin

Original poster
mumoverseas · 27/01/2011 15:11

webwhiz fab news, I sort of wished DS had applied to Bath but you can't tell them. Feel sad that he wasted a choice on Oxbridge to be honest.
He appears to be favouring Exeter at the moment but we will see how he feels after our visit in 3 weeks.

OP posts:
webwiz · 27/01/2011 15:30

Its difficult to know how its going to turn out at the start of the process though mumoverseas especially for competitive courses and universities.

We'll be waiting for results in March to make final decisions though as Bath want an A* in Maths and although DD2 did think C3 went well and she may be in with a chance she wants to know for sure before she makes her choices.

nickschick · 27/01/2011 16:36

Well 2 down 1 to go and thats not for a few months yet ......ds did law today and is quietly confident Wink that hes done ok.

He will be visiting a uni just to confirm his first choice and back up are the ones he wants - fingers crossed for 3 As for him though cos hes got his heart set on Manchester.

nickschick · 27/01/2011 16:38

YAYYYY to bristol webwiz Grin.

IShallWearMidnight · 27/01/2011 18:38

congratulations webwhiz - I'll join you in March for the nailbiting "is the Maths an A* for Bath?" (although DD will need to resit C3 in the summer as she only did C4 this time round).

webwiz · 28/01/2011 08:08

Has your DD started STEP preparation Ishall?
STEP I is on the same day as the year 13 prom and DD2 is worrying now that she won't have time to do her hair properly (yes the exam is in the morning and the prom is in the evening Hmm)

FrumpyintheFrost · 28/01/2011 08:58

DS sat his C3 exam on Monday, his take was that it was all ok, except the last question which involved 3 equations that "never" come up, and then all 3 ame up in the same question Hmm

He has an offer for Bath too, A*AA for Aeronautical Engineering, but he says it's too close to home (about 7 miles away).

Like MOS, I wish he hadnt wasted the choice, but had applied to somewhere else!

He has his last exam today, M2, and then the wait for results begins.

larry5 · 28/01/2011 09:04

Seimum

My dd is in her first year at Keele studying Maths and loving it. It is quite a compact uni. She has started working at a local secondary school as a classroom assistant one day a week as part of the Keele link scheme which is paid as a bursary.

She is in halls this year but is looking forward to house sharing - only disadvantage is the need to get a bus to lectures.

seimum · 28/01/2011 11:50

Thanks for the info re Keele, Larry5. I will pass it on to DD2. Glad to hear your DD is enjoying it there.

We're going to have a look at it in mid-March - if DD2 likes it, it will be her insurance choice, I expect.

Original poster
mumoverseas · 28/01/2011 13:23

Frumpy I'm sure its C3 that DS said was awful and said that no-one 'got' one of the questions. A bit odd that they haadn't covered something that was in the exam Confused

OP posts:
IShallWearMidnight · 28/01/2011 13:49

M2 was apparently OK this morning, better than M1. Only FP1 on Monday to go, then we're done for the next few months.

DD1 has looked at a couple of STEP papers, but hasn't done anything more than that yet - its' a completely differnt style of paper, isn't it?

IShallWearMidnight · 28/01/2011 13:50

webwiz - even mathematicians need to spend
hours on their hair Wink.

tomhardyismydh · 28/01/2011 13:53

just wanted to say good luck, waiting for my own letters for me not dcs. seems a few of your dcs have heared Envy . I hope I hear soon.

sparklyjewlz · 02/02/2011 19:41

DS1 has yet to hear from Leicester or Keele. I wonder what the latest is that interview invites can arrive?
I remember last year we heard nothing from Aberdeen until March and then it was a rejection. Sad

Original poster
mumoverseas · 03/02/2011 03:41

DS finally got his LNAT results yesterday and got just above average. Pretty obvious that is why he didn't get an interview at 2 of his choices which were both LNAT.
To be honest, I think its a daft system, they sit the exams from about September and don't get the results until after the UCAS deadline. I read about some DC on TSR that had applied for all LNAT unis which is a worry.

Thank god he has 3 good offers and I get the impression he is favouring Exeter. Looking forward to our roadtrip there in two weeks and assuming that if there is a good local chinese/thai restaurant close by that will be his firm Wink

OP posts:
thekidsmom · 03/02/2011 09:30

Good to hear you're nearly all sorted, mos

My DD likewise heard her ELAT results which explained her rejection from the Dreaming Spires.... but we are still waiting for 3 and the wait is doing my head in!!!

By now with DS, for physics, it was all done and dusted - he knew where he was going and which residence he wanted to live in!

Must practice my calm breathing....