Class of '18 nervously waiting.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

They've left college, now we are trying not to think about a certain date.

thethird are those DS specific lists or general "what should be done" lists? If the latter any chance of a share as I have no idea!

Ooh yes flatmouse, I agree. Thethird I'd love to see your lists.

How did everyone sleep last night?

Actually, slept rather well but it was our wedding anniversary so wine was involved!

I was looking at the Telegraph and noticed most of the online articles seemed to be about GCSE results. It was like A levels had become old news. Very strange.

5 more sleeps (or sleepless nights) 'til the waiting is over.

So, my first results day dream (nightmare) last night. I dreamt that we were driving to school to get his results because Track was down. We got stuck in traffic at a roundabout (in my mother's town, 200 miles away ), and then it went really dark (like, eclipse dark) because the whole town was on fire and the smoke was really black. Then all mobile signal/internet went so we couldn't contact anyone.

At this point (in real life) I got up to go to the loo. I then seem to have carried on dreaming because somehow DS had made it into school but I had gone into work and because of the mobile/internet issues we couldn't contact each other until I got home that afternoon (home now seems to have become some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland). At which point he informed me that he had got an A* B C, instead of the required A star AA and couldn't get into any of the courses he wanted. I felt really sad but cheered him up by telling him it was great that he could cook.

flatmouse

Things that can be done before results day:

• Phone supplier to arrange delivery of equipment funded by DSA.
• Research student bank accounts, choose one, make appointment for Friday.
• Find login details for UCAS track. Find login details for school email address where results will be sent.

Things to do on results day:

• When confirmation email arrives from UCAS, save/print AS12.
• Save/print results slip before you lose it.

If going to insurance choice:

• Phone insurance choice to apply for accommodation.
• Login to Student Finance and change uni to insurance choice.

Things to do soon after results day:

• Contact disability services at the university.
• Open student bank account.
• Login to Student Finance and update bank account details.

When equipment has arrived:

• Contact training provider to arrange assistive technology training.

When accommodation is confirmed:

• Find out if there's contents insurance and what it covers.

For many of your DCs, the above would be obvious, but DS1 gets easily overwhelmed by admin and struggles with breaking it down into manageable steps.

DS has forgotten that results day is next week. Have I mentioned the jeckell and Hyde mentality he has to anxiety.....

Thethird I think we are all feeling overwhelmed and I'm not sure what would get done if its not on a list!

I have been wondering how it works on results day if DD doesn't get the grades she needs, but say just misses 1 by a grade. Will her firm and insurance (both the same grades) have already decided if they will still take her or not, or does she need to phone them and plead!?

lol Banquo! Sounds a bit traumatising.

That's helpful Third. Thank you :)

I did not sleep very well at all last night

I have been wondering the same Drink. If it's a near miss type situation, what happens?

I've been awake since 4am after tossing and turning. Worrying about DS and also thinking about work as I've been off for the last two weeks and go back on Monday.

DS's entry requirements for firm and insurance are high so just in case we have just made a list of the university clearing telephone numbers. DS is also in the process of signing up to his top 5 online. He has also printed out his personal statement and has collected together all his results certificates so far, someone he knows had a mini interview for a clearing place and he said it would be good to have them ready. Positive vibes here today.

You should ring. DDs insurance has already said to ring and talk to them if near miss.

DD won't do anything like choosing bank accounts/making appointments until she knows if it's needed. Still firmly ostrich!

Friend’d DD missed her grades by one (in the subject the degree was for} and found she had been accepted by insurance on Track despite this when she logged on. I think there is a fair bit of flexibility in some places. She’s completed first year and has got a first in exams.

Her sister ended up in Clearing the previous year after an incredibly rare cock up with the exam board not passing on her new Maths grade from her resist and submitting her previous year’s . The new grade was still one off but she would have been accepted. She had to ring the University and did have a mini interview so Marmie your DS is doing very sensible preparation. They were happy to accept her with the lower Maths grade but unfortunately by that time all the places that were in clearing for her course had been filled so it got very complicated with correct grade having to go over, UCAS having to reverse rejection so University could accept her.

To cover herself she did get a space somewhere through clearing which she could hold until sometime the next day. There was a lot of phoning involved due to the cock up which as I said is incredibly rare. We learned a fair bit such as try to make all calls on landline as mobiles can drop the call then you’re back to square 1, have all laptop , phone and tablets chargers available and lots of food and drink on hand as we all ended up starving She did all the ringing but in day 2 hit a bit of a brick wall with exhaustion trying to sort it against the time pressure of the other place, Against all the advice of it has to be them doing the talking I did grab the phone (her parents were at work, I pretended to be her Mum) explained the situation and finally got through to someone higher up who was brilliant and things started happening quickly at that point and she was fine to take back over again, just needed a little help for a few minutes. She’s completed second year now and is doing a year out somewhere extremely competitive so that day totally forgotten now.

What I’m trying to say in long winded way and apologies I’m still rather sore from Surgery this week, is there is often a fair bit of flexibility and even if things do go momentarily pear shaped, they do get sorted.

I didn’t sleep well last night either and can only imagine it’s going to get worse as The Day gets nearer. The waiting is excruciating, worse now I know that the universities know. I’ve had several ominous dreams too. We’re not really talking about it at home although my Mother asked this morning if he wil take a year out if he doesn’t get his firm!

its weird reading everyone's anxiety about the results. Despite being anxious about almost everything I'm not feeling anxious about ds's results - perhaps I've given up all ambition for him..
I feel more anxious about various displacement activities. The house is filthy. Ds2 wants me to take him to Translations this evening with Merlin in it at NT, we queued for a ticket first thing this morning, and I now cannot face going back again this evening! Ds still hasn't got out of bed. I'm worried about ds2's A levels which he hasn't even started yet. An email from Parking Services has sent me into a frenzy of terror, something to do with setting up new accounts and scanning documents and creating new passwords..

Just not about the wretched A level results. Interested to know, but not worried... I feel life can take many courses from this point but all of them are equally valid..

Banquo fantastic that ds is cooking

Banquo your dream sounds very similar to the ones I've been having intermittently. They all revolve around communication problems and either DD not being able to get to the school to collect her results, or me not being able to contact her to find out.
I haven't yet had one where her results are known.
Excruciating is the word. Even my subconscious is reluctant to make any predictions!

DH and I took ourselves off to Asda and mooched round the homewares. The cheap pans aren't suitable for induction hobs which seem to be standard in halls.

DD1 recommended a few good sharp knives but in sheaths not in a knife block as work space is scarce.

Didn't buy anything except instant jelly for the rainy day box. So all in all just killing time.

Good advice from The third and Post thank you. Important not to make a mess of things at this late stage.

Well we've just booked a holiday for October half-term. It'll be our first family holiday without DS1; it felt a bit weird booking for five rather than six.
We deliberately chose somewhere that he has already visited on a school trip, so he won't feel too deprived.

Arrived back from Somerset at 2am thanks to numerous overnight motorway closures.

I didn't think that DD would be able to do the eulogy as she was in tears before we even arrived at the crematorium. The celebrant then made a comment that, despite FIL having eight grandchildren, he had a very soft spot for his eldest grandchild (DD). Despite sobbing at that point, she took a deep breath and gave her speech beautifully composed without hesitation. I could not have been more proud.

Now the countdown feels more real; unis have the results and will be deciding on whether to give places to candidates. I would be shocked if DS1 got his firm (a mixture of health issues and not working hard enough/soon enough) but if he just misses out and doesn't get a place he has decided to ask his reserve to release him and go in through clearing

There is such a thing as an induction convertor, it's a flat plat that the pan sits on. At £15 a time it is cheaper to buy a steel pan.

Hobbit I was thinking about you yesterday, your daughter did amazingly well.

Nettles breathe in, breathe out. I got to grips with a backlog of housework yesterday and I feel better for it. I will be starting decorating come September, some parts of the house are well overdue for some fresh paint.

Knitting you are right about cost plus I wouldn't trust DD2 to remember to use it!

Well done to your DD hobbit. Not an easy thing to do.

Not sure if anyone has already seen this, but I stumbled across this Which article about results day. I found it quite a useful read university.which.co.uk/advice/clearing-results-day/a-level-results-day-grades-what-to-expect

Is anyone else thinking that we might need a brand new thread for results day