Year 12 #3: Open Days and Predicted Grades beckon

[whistl]

Yikes! The title has just hit me! It's too soon! I'm not ready!!

Thread number 2 link: https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3443840-Year-12-2-Carols-commutes-a-few-stocking-fillers

My brain must have subconsciously connected spreadsheets and whistl
Easily done...

DS3 had a lovely time in Warwick (Coventry) with his big brother and his mates. Very Inbetweeners (without the girls or sex!) They took him to a Wetherspoons where he was obviously too young to get served but he had a bottle of Kopperberg beforehand which he didn’t really like. Bless. But he enjoyed being treated like a student and DS1 got him on the coach home today.

I’m liking the reviews, TheFirst. I could do some maths ones for you all from around 4 years ago.

There is a basic spreadsheet in the making!
Here are the column headings so far...
University
Course name
Degree
Degree length
Entrance grades (the stated ones - real ones would be better but v. Hard to identify)
Additional entrance requirements (admission test etc)
University type (campus, city centre etc)
Distance from home (miles)
Distance from home (train times)
Distance from home (driving time)
University ranking
Course ranking
Switch courses (Y/N)
No. Of years guaranteed in halls

We'll add more after DS has done some open days.

Anyone got others? Likelihood of seeing Downton Abbey actors would be interesting for me, but is highly specialised!

Price range of preferred room type in halls.
Price range of private student let’s for 2nd and 3rd year.

Neither of the above did I really consider last time but they’ve been really important in governing DS1’s enjoyment of life outside study.

*lets

Cost and type of accommodation.
Size of uni
In our case we also look at bursaries.
For instance at Cambridge if you do a BA/Bsc and want to do a masters if you get a first c in each year of your degree they will fund you fully to do your masters. Not sure about PhDs.

RG are good with some bursaries.

On another thread this was posted. It also shows unis targeted by graduate employers.

That’s a good list although some things will be more or less important to different dc. For eg cost will be key for some and not for others. My DD1 and the first DS want accommodation close to uni but others may not be bothered where accomm I s or what it’s like. Some want access to big city for nightlife and music scene, DD1 wanted a small city she felt safe in etc etc A key thing for all though is info on type of course and how it’s taught and thats what the dc really need to research themselves even if we provide the info. I could look at a course and think it sounds great but DS might look at the same course and hate it. A clue is often what dept a course is run in, for eg some CS courses are in maths faculties and some more linked with engineering and that reflects the content too.

Link here:
www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2019/graduate_market/GMReport19.pdf

DS2 has a column ready to add the actual grade requirements each university drops to in Clearing 2019.

That’s a very interesting report, something. It would have been even more useful for DS1 a couple of months ago. The starting salary info and the (rather random in some cases) list of 100 companies in particular. He seems to have managed interviews in quite a few of them plus a few other big names not on the list, though.

Our spreadsheet includes most of the above but also ranking for the uni, ranking for the course, and of course size of Primark. . Poor Durham has been ditched for that reason.

I'm not sure how much notice to take of rankings. Are they nonsense like school league tables?

The rankings are interesting but to be more than empty words, there needs to be some sort of consensus about what university is for?
For some it's about knowledge and learning and that's the only point. For me, it's about being able to get and do a satisfying job at the end. I'm sure academics would find that distasteful.

It's the reason that I see no point in spending £29k + living costs + missing 3 years of learning on the job and the salary that goes with it, only to end up with a degree that's of little use in the real world and consequently low employability and probably end up in a job unrelated to what you studied.

The loan is more like an extra tax but who happily volunteers to pay higher taxes for the next 20 years?!
University is about the experience of being there too, and so maybe the student satisfaction rankings are more meaningful (as long as they are properly polled).

I think rankings are broadly helpful as in knowing which uni s are reputable as most of our dc want to go to higher ranked ones And although we know most if those already some less obvious institutions have climbed significantly recently sometimes for specific courses.

I wouldn’t take them too literally though, just part of a number of factors. It’s also surprising how the different tables vary for some subjects

Ie some apparently lower ranked uni s may be very highly ranked for your course so worth a look. Also for eg the same course for cs is no 10 on one guide and no 25 on another !!

Just picked up a copy of The Good University Guide 2020 in Padstow.

Just picked up a copy of The Good University Guide 2020

I didn't know that they still publish an actual book.

Very reassuring to look at an actual book!
Right, I have been shamed by you lot into pre-registering for open days at 3 unis DS has expressed an interest in. Another one is quite far away and he's happy to look at that one on the Internet!

Is it worth getting, TheFirst? Does it have stuff that isn't easily available on the web?

It was me Whistl. It contains lots of lists & a parents section. Otherwise haven't looked at it yet, as I've been too busy walking a cliff path whilst the sun shines.

I went to Warwick for open day in my youth & had an interview at Swansea. I hadn't visited a single other city, Let alone Uni, I applied to.i don't think my approach is still that uncommon today Loose.

DS1 only went to one open day - at the university he ended up going to.

DS2 is at the other extreme of research / preparedness and wanted to start going to open days last summer / autumn.

I expect most young people will be somewhere in the middle.

If we can keep most of it to virtual tours online I'll be very happy!

DD has coursework due in by Monday. Procrastinated by sending off for too many prospectuses.