Year 12 (4): The one where they're pondering what to do next

[Numbersaremything]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3491933-year-12-3-open-days-and-predicted-grades-beckon

Let's try this

Apparently my DH is going to apply for another geography degree after today's trip to Durham, as they gave him a free pen and said they like mature students.

Sorry, you'd dropped off my TIO.

DS2 now has his shortlist of 5.
He was not able to visit one of these (was not possible to get to the open day) but it meets all his criteria so he will apply unseen; if he gets an offer he can visit it on an offer-holder day.

He is currently at the same summer school as gospa's DS. There are only 35ish students, so they probably will have met each other. He applied by participating in an online physics challenge, open to anyone in Y12.

He didn't apply for Sutton Trust or UNIQ as he doesn't meet enough of the eligibility criteria.

He found out about the online challenge (and the summer school) at a Cambridge Masterclass he attended last autumn.

eat My dd is at Bath this week doing a Biology summer school (there are other subjects going on as well). She just looked at uni websites to find out what was going on and applied directly with them.
The cost is about £250 but she qualified to go for free due to widening participation criteria (our postcode here in Cornwall is classed as a deprived area and neither me nor dp went to uni).
She's living in halls there and having a great time apparently and made lots of new friends.
She's a quiet, anxious girl so I'm so proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and doing this. I think it's going to be such a great trial run for the real thing next year.
And if her work she does this week meets 2:1 standard she will have a lower grade offer if she applies there.

That's really encouraging Snozzle. I love Bath. It always reminds me of Truro with more tea rooms!

snozzlemaid that's such a great opportunity for her; I'm glad she has settled in.

Completely knackered after looking round all the Oxford colleges today. Anyone else?

We are going tomorrow , any top tips ?

My top tip to DS was to make sure he has all the postcodes of his various destinations in his phone, on the unlikely (ho ho) circumstance that he gets lost...

I have also chased him off to bed in the hope that he will be firing on all cylinders after a 3 day cricket festival!

DD did a subject talk, then we targeted 3 specific colleges for tours with current students taking DD'S subject. She did a couple of Meet the Tutor sessions, where the tutors dealt with a couple of stereo typical helicopter parents very effectively. We finished off with a couple of college tours deliberately chosen to confirm her first choices. All in all, a busy but efficient day.

DS is back and seems to have liked Oxford. He has an idea of the colleges he may be interested in. All in all he had a great couple of days.

Another DS here who had a great day in Oxford. Missed the nice lunch he’d booked at St Johns as he got chatting to a current undergraduate on his course, so had to inhale a Greggs as he ran to his next event.
More cricket tomorrow, then up to Durham in the evening.

Pretty sure DS didn’t see St. John’s despite seeing quite a lot of colleges. He mentioned lots of lovely cricket pitches so he’ll be in his element. He liked the college he stayed in overnight but preferred others. Everyone he spoke to urged him to apply which is great for his confidence.

Cambridge today. Visited the faculty and three colleges. Preferred the course to Oxford but very impressed by both unis.

Hilarious encounter with a dad and daughter. The dad had planned to visit 11 colleges today!! Said he has spent 2 hours planning the day to get round them all. He took loads of photos on the one tour we shared and left the tour early. Surely research before you go negates the need to visit 11 colleges!!

That doesn’t surprise me at all spababe. Some of the parents are really intense!

Quick question, in the new Linear A levels is the top grade an A? I ask as dd starting Y12 in sept and she was looking at preceding books titled "How to get an A in A level physiology, Biology etc."

No top grade is A* still

I think the AS level grades only go up to A, but A-level definitely goes up to A*

Just marking my place here

Yes, it's the AS that stops at A, ie no A star.
No more open days for us at the moment but planning to do a Southampton open day in September as they indicate a slightly lower offer for the A levels DS is doing, and I've heard rave reviews from colleagues about the philosophy degree and employability afterwards. DS needs to check it out for himself, though.

DS3 liked Cardiff yesterday. Unfortunately their offer of AAB for maths is dependent on choosing them as firm, otherwise it’s AAA, and DS3 preferred Birmingham whose standard offer is AAA. So no good for an insurance place.

Having not done this before, a question for the Second-Time-Rounders (or third time...)

Do most students end up accepting a firm offer that matches their predictions and a reserve that’s one or two points lower?

MillicentMartha

It is still useful to put a Cardiff offer as Insurance.

This year, Birmingham have filled their places for their Maths course. Cardiff have not, and are offering places in Clearing. Although the offer from Cardiff is AAA, on results day they will be accepting applicants with lower than AAA.

The same thing might well happen next year.

KingscoteStaff:

Most people accept the following:

• Firm offer: slightly above predicted grades.
• Insurance offer: at (or maybe slightly below if you're a cautious person) predicted grades.

It's worth checking this year's Clearing Lists, as many courses are undersubscribed this year, even at high-ranking universities (Durham, Exeter, Leeds etc). On results day, these courses will drop their entry requirements by at least one grade.