Parents of Year 12s - exam time again! (oh no!)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Just noticed we were running out of thread!

Well we have 7 open days booked.

Result.

Panda, we're off to Warwick tomorrow. Looking at the Maths department.

Well done Ursula!!

Wish I was going to Warwick tomorrow, we could have had a mini meet up!

Maybe we will unknowingly see each other Puffin. First open day I will have been to, I only went to interviews not open days myself back in the mists of time!

Is there a lot of walking at open days? I can't walk far and I'm painfully slow. Unless I wear my wellies.

We are currently sat on the train on the way to Liverpool University.

Ursula - unfortunately a fair bit of walking is involved.

DD and DH have set off for Manchester.

She's preregistered for Exeter in September. I think Warwick will be a location visit on the way back.

We've booked or preregistered for:-

Liverpool JM
Newcastle
Sheffield
Lincoln
York
Nottingham

And she is going to Leeds today with school.

All on the East side apart from Liverpool.

We have a few of yours on our list too Ursula. We are at Newcastle, Nottingham and York next week, Sheffield the week after.

DS said "he isn't feeling Liverpool" and much preferred Leeds. We have only been here 20 minutes!

that's hilarious StarFleet. It's a bit like buying a house!

Though if I'm entirely honest, part of the reason I chose my own university was because I could see hills from the campus.

Dd has london,york and Newcastle next week

Dd has York next week.

Ursula I also have walking difficulties. Open days were challenging though campuses are usually easier than city ones. We didn't actually do any of those on your list with ds so I can't talk about specifics.

Ds who has ASD wouldn't go any where on his own but if your dd is willing to go to some bits herself then there are always plenty of coffee shops and benches to have a sit down.
I would suggest you ask for an individual tour of halls rather than join groups as you can then go at your own pace. There are usually masses of student helpers so that shouldn't be a problem.
Also we didn't do campus tours as they show you everything even if it isn't relevant to you and so involves unnecessary walking. There are loads of maps and student guides so it is better to work out your own tour.

dd has done most of them herself, or with college. I think it's only UCL and Bath that we are doing together. I'd have like to have gone to more of them.

Well I got the

"I don't like it"

text from Leeds. Which sent me into flashbacks of her first Guide Camp, first day at Y7 residential, first day at sixth form college. Sigh. I have suggested looking at the local uni so she could stay at home - and she agreed!!!!!

DH had this face

However she then sent me a text saying she had found a course she likes the look of.

Honestly she is such a wuss. If she does go away to Uni I will probably have to book into a local B&B for the first couple of week to be available for hand holding.

O hang on. She has just phoned to say she likes it and could she take the horse with her. I give up.

lol!!!!! It's going to be a long summer Ursula!

Anyone else's dc not considering uni.
She has has a "transition" week and they have been looking at post-18 options. She would really prefer the apprenticeship route but disappointingly the person booked to give the talk didn't turn up! She went on a job interview workshop instead. There have also been some A level subject related workshops "careers in ..." etc. so there has been some usefulo info.
Am slightly of those of you looking at unis as I would know what to do with this option but the apprenticeship path is much less clear.
In the meantime driving lessons have started.

cats DD isn't sure about uni. If she does go, she says she will take a year out first. I'm not sure that she will ever go - I can't see her being capable of leaving home in a year, and her anxiety means that she just can't handle exams. I'm not going to panic about it yet to be honest - if we can get through the next year without her self-harming, and without her dropping out due to anxiety, I will be very happy indeed.

Predicted grades have been released,and I'm actually surprised that the head of sixth form stuck to his word and rang me often it's me chasing phone calls up. We have ABB. dd needs AAA with AAB been the lowest she needs. Head of sixth form was really nice and said he's more pleased she hasn't had AS exams due to her ill health. The BB comes from exams which have covered most of the material she missed over her 8 weeks of been 'ill' hence the low marks in exams. Dd has to work hard over summer and resit exams the first week back in September which she is disgruntled about but knows it will pay off.

Catslife College here say that the apprenticeship information comes out "later", university applications kick off first because of the deadlines.

Ursula We've been on two open days where they have sent out a programme of events in advance and you build your own day according to what you want to see. The result is that there is some walking between one venue and another to see the different presentations but you can take your time. You may want to dip out of any departmental or accommodation tour because ours have been a route march taken at student speed and with lots of stairs. Our open days are getting shorter, DS has now reached the stage of not bothering with the introductory talk or anything on accommodation.

Chocolateworshipper I think taking a year out and applying with actual results is a great idea as it removes the uncertainty that comes from predicted grades and conditional offers and the corresponding pressure to perform in exams.

DS liked the course and the teaching staff were very helpful and enthusiastic but he said he's not sure about "actual Liverpool"......?!

DS1 is considering university (he is looking at the tier below Russell group) but isn't yet sure whether he will apply this year or next year. I think it will depend on his predictions, which we are expecting to be in the range BBC to BCD.

dd really liked the maths course at Warwick. Looks like it could be a top contender. I'm really pleased at how positive she is viewing it.

DS liked the maths course at Warwick too...but engineering looks more and more likely to be his choice. MEng at Warwick looks really fab. Accommodation seems v expensive to me, but that is the case anywhere.

We would have loved dd to do an engineering apprenticeship. She was really fired up prior to GCSEs but then had a shite teacher who put her off it.

I keep telling her that university is not a prerequisite to life but she is not buying that.

She has found a course she is really interested in. I am not convinced it is a runner.

DS liked Warwick too, and is now beginning to see the point of open days, just when i was beginning to see the benefits of not bothering! (Kitten and Panda, did you get the same speaker as we did - "And did I mention, Maths is HARD!").

I thought the accommodation looked expensive too; the top-of-the-range flats (we looked just out of nosiness) are £176 a week, and look very similar to what my DD paid £116 a week for two years ago.

We enjoyed the various musical acts in the piazza. Anyone else see the pole dancer?