To insist DD goes to local 6th form

[Smileatalltimes]

DD having previously been keen to do A levels at her current excellent school, has now decided she wants to go to college 35 miles away in London to study media.
This will involve a long walk to the station in the dark (in winter) and significant travel costs.
If she stays at school we are letting her choose her subjects (mainly creative subjects she likes). She can also continue with the extra curricular activities she enjoys here.
If she really wants to leave there are 6 other schools and colleges nearby she could go to. She's refusing to consider the other schools and says they're all rubbish, without even looking at them.
Are we unreasonable to tell her that she must stay on in 6th form and at least give the A levels a try? If she hates it after a year she can drop out and possibly try the London college (she will be 18 by then).

Set her a challenge. Easter holidays are coming up. Every single day for two weeks she has to get up and travel to the college and back again. Must arrive in plenty of time for the first lesson of the day. Might make her realise how hard and tiring it will be

That is indeed true (I have never worked in TV) but tbf the OP did says "something in TV" so I guess that's where this is coming from.

'Something in TV could be fun'. Before she goes any further she really needs to read up on what's going on in the TV industry at the moment because it is on its knees.
I'm 20+ years into a successful career and still only worked for slightly over a month last year. Many of my peers have given up all together because there isn't enough work to pay their bills. It's always been precarious, as an almost complete freelance industry, but it's a whole other level now.
I'd suggest she joins the TV Runners group on Facebook to get an idea of the number of other people who 'think it could be fun', how few jobs are listed, what industry professionals advice in terms of work experience, CVs etc. I'd also suggest looking more broadly at social media, branded content etc as similar industries that aren't struggling in the same way.
Finally I'd say that thinking something could be fun isn't going to be enough when trying to get into an oversubscribed market. It really needs to be a success at all costs approach. This college could be a good test of that. I'd argue that if she is willing to put in the longer hours on the commute, to work out how to fund the extra travel costs etc then she's starting to get into the freelancer hustle mindset.

I have spent much of my teaching career in the Sixth Form College sector. Students and their parents often assume they will be funded if they need to resit A-levels, but that isn’t the case. The funding is only there for two post-16 years of education.
I have also done the commute from London out to a commuter town. It was tough, I had to leave home at 6.50am and didn’t get back until 6pm.
If you’re used to inner city London, it can be quite a culture shock working outside of London and I’m sure it works the other way too.

It sounds like a very teenagerish idea that sounds fun but has not been well thought through. There will be nothing fun about the daily half an hour walks in the rain and cold. If push comes to shove you could tell DD that you won't be offering lifts or travel costs, but she can go ahead and apply to the college if she wants to on that basis. You could add that the time for being in London is when she's at uni and can live there full time.

Tbh I think studying this is a total waste of time.

there are many and various roles in ‘TV’.

if you dictate which course and where, what levers will you have to ensure enthusiastic engagement rather than coasting through on ‘just enough’ ?

I coasted through uni, Joint Hons BA, MSc. and MBA making sure I did exactly enough to not fail, until I saw a course that really really interested me. It was completely outside the track my parents expected me to follow so I paid for it myself (long time ago, reasonably modest cost). The first day of that course saw me sitting in the front row, having already read everything in the reading list for that year plus as many of the references I had been able to get hold of. As a student, no one would have recognised me.

It may not pan out as she currently expects, that doesn’t mean she won’t be successful.

With the benefit of hindsight, I’d honestly encourage her to ‘follow her dreams’ with the minimum opposition to keep all the avenues open for her to return if it turns out to be less than she is expecting.

I’d absolutely encourage you to support her in making it a success, and that starts with wanting to do it. Good luck

@Smileatalltimes can you tell us what the media qualification is? There are people on this thread who could advise as to whether it will lead to a job or be necessary for a future career in the media.

@PinkArt has some excellent advice there too.

Of course vast numbers working in tv at many levels have not studied media in the 6th form. Many have traditional degrees, or are actors or have specialist skills. Often their media training is post grad. Not a specialism at 16.