Year 12 #2: Carols, commutes & a few stocking fillers

[Stickerrocks]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3410431-year-12-1-gcses-are-sooo-last-year

I think Birmingham was one of your choices. Halls and flats for first year are on campus generally 10 to 15 min walk from main teaching blocks. DD has got a house for next year in the midst of main student housing area and it’s probably 25 to 30 mins walk max to her lectures. Some are closer

Oratory1 the proximity of accommodation is one of the reasons why Birmingham is a definite as far as he is concerned; along with the well-equipped labs and the fact that the lecturers were all patient enough to answer his many questions in detail.

That s great 😂. We hadn’t really considered it before for either DD but were hugely impressed on offer day and so far it’s more than lived up to its promise. Perhaps because it s not trying to just live on its reputation alone and is having to modernise and reach out a bit.

I must say you are all very organised. DS has got as far as narrowing it down to law or philosophy! Oh, and he thinks he'd prefer a city.

LooseAtTheSeams don't worry, at this point in Y12, DS1 had only recently decided on his A-level subjects. Not many teenagers have a five-year plan like DS2 does.

TheFirstOHN We went to the Autumn open day at Warwick and whilst DS loved the campus and course and everything else his major item on his "con" list (in fact only item) was the fact you had to live so far off campus for years 2/3. As a Cambridge resident he is used to cycling everywhere and indeed the 25 min trip by bus from Leamington is along a major dual carriageway and therefore rules this out as a means of transport.

I suspect Warwick will still make his final 5 because its status would warrant an application but it will be a backstop choice rather than a potential firm from the outset.

Stickerrocks Get DS to write up her decision and points in favour, her plan to ensure she would dedicate time to catching up and how both as a prompt sheet and to hand in at the end of her meeting. she should also say that she has your backing. This is what DS did when he asked to drop Maths before half term (rather than end of year 12) but he also did so with the luxury of the school having the sensible system of start 4 drop one at Christmas or end of year 12 policy, for which we have been very grateful.

sticker DD also switched to Politics at Oct half term. She said it took less than a week to catch-up. She's also politically engaged so knows a lot about UK and US Politics whereas some in the class were starting from scratch....your DD should be absolutely fine - it's just a matter of persuading the school!!!

TheFirst that's a relief to hear! I'm open to the idea of him taking a gap year and applying once he has his results if necessary!

TheFirst there are definitely a few individuals who stay on as hall supervisors at Warwick, but not groups as far as I’m aware. It might make 2nd and 3rd year a bit lonely. Canley is within a mile or 2 though and there are student houses there. It’s getting a group organised enough when the houses become available online in Nov to reserve one quickly might be the issue. Most of DS1’s friends get the 11 bus in, though, from Earlsdon. Leamington is definitely a 25 minute bus ride away, but more than half do just that.

sticker your DD sounds pretty determined and capable. I took Eng lit A level and regretted it. I should have swapped to Chemistry.

First to give Canley some context, the campus is a 20 minute walk from end to end!

Uni in black, Canley in blue, Earlsdon in yellow.

Leamington

Thank you EllenJane I will show him the maps.

Loose DD1 has got as far as "probably Physics, maybe Maths". She is interested in attempting Oxbridge, definitely doesn't like central London and is generally extremely apprehensive about the whole prospect of growing up.

Suffice to say that we don't have any spreadsheets or game plans yet!!

Interesting about integrated Masters. DS has discovered Bristol one of his preferred unis is now offering integrated masters for subjects combined with "innovation" so he would be able to apply to do a 4 year MArts in History with Innovation which definitely would tie in with his desire to go into Management Consultancy.

Thanks all. She originally wanted to take politics, but switched to English Language despite our reservations, swayed by lots of talk of analysising speeches. She thought it was taking a while to get into the flow, but now she has decided it isn't what she expected. The most frustrating thing is that she didn't say anything earlier and I'm expecting them to say that it's too late.

She considered taking AS English in the summer, then cramming politics in 1 year. However, that is absolutely out of the question for her desired university route. I'm frustrated, annoyed and disappointed to be honest that she really thought she could put off a decision until this stage AND not talk to us sooner in case we said we told her so. Still, we've discussed plan A and a plan B, neither of which are ideal. Now it's in the hands of the college.

Back to school tomorrow !! How did it cimectound so quickly !!

‘Come round’

Wow, EllenJane that's really helpful. Thank you!

Its made me realise that there is so much to learn in order to make the right choice. I am feeling a bit daunted!

Happy New Year all - a bit late to the party but have been working ++

Here is ds's provisional plan:

Maths - integrated Masters
Aspitational: Cambridge/Oxford - going to both departmental open days
Others: Warwick (went in Oct - really liked it), bath, Nottingham, Southampton
A levels Maths FM Physics and Geography.

Back from meeting at school. She wasn't made to sign anything and it won't go on to any references from school. Not sure if she fully understands the full benefits of this to her. Glad to have got that over and done with. Just 18 more months to get through.

whistl as far a feeling daunted goes, we didn’t know anything much before he filled in his UCAS form. He’d looked at the course topics etc and liked the campus but we didn’t get into the nitty gritty about accommodation costs until he’d chosen Warwick first and Exeter as insurance. It was only then we found out how expensive Exeter was compared to some of the cheaper options at Warwick. Exeter isn’t actually that expensive, it’s just that Warwick has some really cheap choices. Also we only then found that Exeter give firm candidates the first choice of accommodation. DS might have ended up miles from Exeter campus in expensive accommodation!

When doing this with DS3 we’ll be exploring accommodation choices and costs much more thoroughly. It’s the main lesson I learnt. I’ll also be looking to see if I can find stats of what A level grades current students have. They may be lower than the standard offer, implying they’ll either accept if you drop a grade or they give out unconditional offers. I really dislike the notion of unconditionals, it would make my DS3 give up working I think. With so many 1st and 2:1s given now, (75% of students get 1st or 2:1) A level grades may well be of interest to employers.

Anyway, don’t be daunted, your DS can investigate the courses and mumsnet will help with the rest!

Kilash, your DS sounds a lot like my DS1. That’s pretty much the list he had! He went to both Oxford and Cambridge open days, preferred Cambridge, started doing STEP and swiftly ruled Cambridge out!

That's good Veiled, I am glad that school have taken a measured approach and not been overly punitive.

Agree wistl it is daunting but the final choices don't need to be made until next march and its almost an iterative process of narrowing down so not all done at once - ie pick course and a few must haves to narrow down to a few to look at (now to June), visit some and further research to narrow down to 5 to put on the UCAS form (June to Autumn/winter 19), then the real nitty gritty starts - to pick which of those they get offers for will suit them best before next March.