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

[mumoverseas]

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

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?

whoknew (and any other ladies in the know on here)

quick question. Up late last night/early am discussing DSs insurance choice. He is now thinking of perhaps maybe applying for law with french at one of his choices in the hope that less applicants will go for this as may not have the required A level in French. He got an A at AS in french. Views?

I would do this if it's what he wants to do but it is a lot of extra work - both french language and french law and means he gets to do fewer options in law (eg human rights, family law, corporate, whatever). Often Law and french is quite heavily subscribed (law and german less so). Often a few native French speakers, bilinguals etc.

If you go to the open days and ask them what offers they usually make many places will tell you (where I work we have gone from AAA to AAB and if desperate ABB). So two AAA choices may work if the insurance Uni will in fact take AAB instead. Does that make sense?! You need to ask each Uni individually though and times may be changing ... You could try phoning but they may still be dealing with or reeling from this year's applicants.

Thanks for that but think I got a bit confused.
Think what I meant is that he is thinking of a course that is law but with a year out in france so not strictly a degree in french and law (probably makes even less sense) - sorry, am sleep deprived

DS passed his theory test

Ponders - any news on your DS, I hope he did well too.

woo hoo for JGBjunior

oh hooray for JGBson!

yes, mine passed too, thank you (phew)

Yay well done ponders son.

Can I join the gang? Going through this for the 3rd (and last!) time. DS3 wants to study German, possibly with History. 1st choice at the moment is Leeds, but still have Durham, Bristol and Liverpool to go round. Have already seen Manchester and Sheffield. Want DS3 to get started on PS, so will have to nag.DS1 & DS2 both still at uni, so we will really be broke when they have all finished their (5 year) degrees!

Welcome to the club mumof3teens. You must be an expert at this having been through this twice before so you can do a lot of hand holding

ponders well done to your DS.

Listen to Wilf. She is wise!

Oh, and as someone who has the unenviable task of sorting through the UCAS applications (for interview or rejection) to my (top 4 rated) department, may I make a little plea?

Please - if you have any influence on the matter at all - encourage your DC to write as fully as possible in their PS about why they want to study the subject they're applying for, what motivates them, why they love it, etc. With information (e.g. books they've read, exhibitions they've seen, experience they've gained, etc.) to back up their claims.

DO NOT waste too much valuable space blithering on about all the teams you're on or the extra-curricular stuff you do. Fine, a short paragraph at the close to give a fuller, impressive picture of yourself is good. But I've lost count of the number of times I've read a PS and got no sense at all about why I should offer a place to study X to a candidate, but have a very full picture of their sporting prowess.

Schools have a LOT to answer for in continuing to perpetuate the nonsense that the PS should be all about stressing how "well-rounded" you are. Do you think the academics who are reading these statements are well-rounded?

Penthesileia you give me/DS hope
DS has done quite a bit of research and work experience about the subject he wishes to read which will be set out fully in his PS.
He has no sporting prowess. He is the boy whose cricket report for his old prep school read 'x has progressed from making daisy chains to standing in an upright position whilst fielding, great progress'. I will frame that report one day.

Thanks, Wilf and Penthesileia - I have printed out your advice for my DD2, who wants to study history and politics/international relations - somewhere that will take her with (probably) an ABB

mumoverseas Yes I am pretty clued up on applications to Medical or Dental school - not so much for applications for a language course

ok, so todays choices for DS are
Cambridge
Durham
Southampton
Exter (I think?)
Cardiff (insurance choice)

wonder what tomorrow will bring

How is everyone else doing? frantic countdown til they go back to school?

DS2 is at Leeds - they went off yesterday (early bird tickets), won't be back till Monday & college starts again Tuesday hooray what a shame

We need to do a bit of intensive uni website surfing next week to decide if he wants to go to any dept open days in Sept (they are all termtime of course but college are ok with time off for that apparently).

I'm still a bit sad that there aren't any courses he wants to do at Oxford. (But with that D at AS I think it would all be academic hahaha anyway now)

btw Penthesileia, I C&P'd your wonderful post at 22:08 on Tue to DS2 with the important bits highlighted so he won't waste too much time in his PS on D of E, Young Enterprise, playing football etc

He wants to study mostly politics, is dead keen & interested, reads the Guardian at college every day, joined Lib Dems in March, helped local candidate with campaigning during the election (including a visit to a neighbouring constituency to see Nick C)(boo hiss) & has our local MP (Tory) on his Facebook friends

Is that all good stuff for PS??? Would it make you you go "oh yes, I'd like to see this one"???

That all sounds fine for a PS (except maybe the FB stuff ) if he can find a way to translate that experience into academic language.

So, if an applicant were to say, "I want to study Politics because I am interested in it. I channel my interest into pursuing local politics... Etc." I would think, "Ok, probably good enough, I might see this one; but I still don't have much of a sense of their mind or the way they think; but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt." (Still much better than the countless PS which witter on at length about all the brilliant leadership and organisational skills they gained being treasurer of their Young Enterprise committee which produced mugs, or some such... Yeah, ok, sure. I'll take your word for it... ).

An even better candidate would think about how to convey their interest in an intelligent and original way. So, instead of just telling me that they are interested in a subject, they show me, by explaining why reading The Guardian every day/joining the Lib Dems/volunteering in local politics means something. What does it mean? You can tell me you read The Guardian, and I'll think, "Fine. So??" But if you talk about the agenda of the paper/the role of the newspaper in British political life, etc. etc., I'll think "Ah-ha. An applicant who thinks deeply about what they're doing, rather than just writing what their teacher told them they think will "look good".

Do you see what I mean? That's what I look for in a PS.

Oh, and even the FB stuff could be interesting if he talked about the role of social-networking sites, etc., in politics today.

Oh, and for anyone who is freaking out because their DC learned a squazillion instruments (actually, music is often a good indicator of commitment and determination, so I do note that), is captain of the basketball team, head boy, and President of their YE committee, and now it all seems wasted, I am not saying don't mention these things. Do so, but don't let it take up the majority of the PS. At the end of the day, they are applying to study a subject, so I need to know they're up to that task.

I would echo what Penthesila said as someone who also sorts these applications for an arts based subject. I need to know why you want to study the subject, what you have done to support your interest outside of coursework (reading, theatre, etc). Wittering on about the rounders team, Christian choir and retail experience makes no impact.

Oh and if the student has had difficulties to overcome during their studies I would try to ensure that the person writing the reference understands this and ackowledges it in their statement.

ooooh, thank you again, Penthesileia.....(would love to abbreviate your name fondly btw but can't see where to)

That is all v v v helpful I suspect his PS would be quite like that anyway, his college is v good at helping them all in the right direction, but advice from someone on the other side is invaluable!

(He was far from being treasurer in YE, he & his best mate march to a different drummer & were sidelined rather by the Keen Squad, so I think that was only going to be mentioned in passing anyway )

Oh, and, he does do some music too - had piano/horn/cello lessons years ago, dropped all that, then much later taught himself guitar & is now playing in a kind of band, is it worth mentioning that too?

I'm sure that all of you mum's are very well informed anyway, but I applied and got a place in medical school 5 years ago (not so long), am now in my final year and would be very happy to offer any advice that I can to help students applying for medicine.

I teach sex education in many comprehensive schools and always say at the end of the class that if anyone is interested in studying medicine they can come and have a chat with me. I am really surprised how little support is offered by the schools. Pupils don't find out that they need LOADS of work experience until they begin to apply and then it's nearly too late.

If anyone wants me to answer any questions that I can - I will.

Good luck to everyone's children!

Can I also re-iterate what has been said about the importance of the PS? DC1 had an awful A2 year, with a major illness causing a protracted absence and consequently poor results. Took a year out to 're-group' and found a job to for the year. Decided that Uni really was what he wanted and found that though he could get in to a few based on the results he had, the one he really wanted had a much higher requirement and in fact, his results were even slightly below what was required for their foundation year. He applied anyway and got offers from the first 4. The fifth, the one he really wanted, invited him for an interview. At the interview, he was told that it was the quality of his PS that had got him that far. Fortunately, school references and GCSE results confirmed that A levels were a major 'glitch' and he was offered a place on foundation year which he accepted. His results since have all been solid 'firsts', confirming he was right to go for the higher rated uni and confirming they were right to have faith in him as well.

One of the comments made about his PS was that it was nice to read one where the writer did not think that they had to use every character avaiable, but had the confidence to stop writing when they had said what needed to be said. he was told that a goo PS gives good information whilst still leaving some subjects 'open' for the interview.

we are starting this now with Dsd and are all of a flutter! she has wanted to do French and Politics/Int Relations for aeons but although getting brilliant grades at GCSE (mix of A*, As) and a Bdidnt do so well at AS (ie AACC) and one of the Cs was French. I wonder if she took her eye off the ball as she struggled much more with her AA subjects!

Anyway with Bristol, Exeter, Edinburgh, Kent and another as yet undecided she needs an A next year. Can she still get an A assuming that she works her socks off? Should she resit - what do you all think?

Overthemill DD1 took French A level, she got a B at AS(she was predicted an A) and resat in January. Her teacher said that she would find the AS easier then as she would have done more french and because of the type of exam involved ie skills that have been built up rather than particular knowledge to revise it didn't cause too much extra work.