Corona Cohort: Statements Scripted, Grades Predicted

[Monkey2001]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

From OrangeCinnamonCocktail:

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4339233-Thread-19-Corona-Cohort-Enrolling-on-Year-13-hopefully-NOT-unlucky-for-some?pg=1

I went to get petrol on Friday afternoon at a supermarket. My first thought was oh crap they're out of petrol as there was not a car in sight and the shop looked dark. But it was just quiet! There's definitely a north south divide. Rob Beckett the comedian had a thread on twitter yesterday.

I popped to Sainsburys in my own car last night for a few bits and was majorly surprised to see the petrol station open and no queue - turned out they only had super unleaded so I filled up with that, it's more expensive but meant I didn't have the stress of needing to find petrol tomorrow (I only really had enough left to take DS to football this afternoon and back to school for the week tomorrow).

Apologies if this seems like a really daft question but can the universities you choose see all of your other selections you've made plus in which ranking order you've put them in?

You don’t put them in a ranking order @Onlypostnowandagain. And they can’t see where else you have applied.

I think see your other choices once you have chosen Firm and Insurance, but definitely not before then.

@Delphigirl and @Monkey2001 Brilliant! Thank you

Went past 3 petrol stations that were put but 4th time lucky. Expensive but can't get DS to station otherwise as no public transport.

@Onlypostnowandagain Not a daft question at all. We’ve all asked all kinds of questions here .

Just watched some clips of Johnson on the Marr programme. How have we come to be lead by such a blustering, inadequate, dishonest charlatan? Surrounded by inadequate sin almost every cabinet position? What kind of a country is this becoming where we can’t go about our daily business because of petrol shortages? And this is just the start of the post-brexit economic meltdown. Next year and onwards is going to be horrific.
I am so depressed and giving increasingly lengthy glances to my Canadian passport. Maybe uni (and a life) in Canada should be my DC’s first choice rather than a back up plan to a UK degree.

Got to get the PS wrapped up today, all those awkward bits we said we would come back to.

We also have some friendship group drama that I thought we’d left behind. I really don’t know how they get any work done when their heads are full of who said what and mock moral outrage. It’s boring.
I can’t help thinking that if she was taking the trouble to check all the entrance requirements etc on her chosen courses, she’d have not stayed up half the night worrying about who had and had not been invited to the next birthday.
Although, at least she isn’t the person fomenting the difficulties, she’s just not wanting to get burnt in the ensuing meltdowns.

Still really struggling with the fact that no 2 of the five courses are the same, so a personal statement that speaks to all of them is near impossible, and I’ve just found that it seems she may need maths Alevel rather than computer science for The Combination she wants at Exeter., but not sure.Does anyone know how it’s received if you email with specific questions like that?
Randomised caps dunno why!

Zebra - we've got an assortment of courses to cover in the PS too. Advice I've been given is to look through the specs of all the courses and highlight the skills and attributes that they are looking for, tabulate it all then look for common factors amongst them. Then relate those to your studies, hobbies, work experience etc. Also look for general commonalities - my DS is interested in countryside management and history, which seem unalike till you consider how much of countryside management is based on historical cultivation, management etc, heritage is going to be a keyword for him.

Sorry if I sound really dumb but this is all new to me. Am I right in thinking that you have your firm choice then 4 insurance offers which should be asking for lower grades than your firm. Also when do you get an offer and is that only dependant on if you get the grades in August? Also what happens if you change your mind and don't want to accept what you get in August do you have to go to clearing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

@Nard75

You choose five now (closing date for making these choices is in Jan unless your DC is doing medicine / dentistry / vet / oxbridge, in which case it's in about 10 days).

Actually I say you choose five now but you don't have to make your choices all at the same time. You could apply to three places now and then add another two later if you wanted. Same closing date would apply though.

Then the unis you've applied to will either make you an offer or reject. This can happen at any point between now and well into next year.

Once all the unis have decided (or you can do it earlier if you want), you choose one firm and one insurance from the ones that have made you an offer.

If you make the grades for your firm choice, you are going there. If you don't make the grades you might still be going there, it's up to them whether they let you in or not.

If your grades aren't good enough for your firm and they reject you, but they're good enough for your insurance, you go there. If they're not good enough for your insurance, again, they might still let you in.

If you change your mind after you've firmed I think there's a window where you can swap firm and insurance around, but other than that if you change your mind you would have to go into clearing.

I hope that all makes sense and is accurate, someone correct me if not!

@Nard75

Sorry meant to say - the offers come before August. The unis decide whether they want you (based on your application) and then if they do, they'll make you an offer which will usually be conditional, ie it will depend on you getting certain grades.

Excellent explanation Singing. The universities have to make an offer or reject you by 19th May. If all your decisions are in on time, you have to choose Firm and Insurance by 9th June or any offers you are holding will lapse.

You can't choose Firm and Insurance whilst you have decisions pending, but if you have offers from the ones you want to Firm and Insure, you can withdraw from the others so that you can record your choices. People do that if they want to secure accommodation and it is allocated on a first come first served basis.

@Zebracat I suggest you call the admissions departments with your questions. I did this when my DS was applying to both Oxford for one subject and another Uni for a completely different subject. They were so helpful and explained he could submit an additional personal statement directly to them. They also answered other questions about admissions.

@EerilyDisembodied and @Wiifitmama. Thanks so much. She likes history and Computer Science, and all science really, but we’ve steered clear of joint honours because we don’t really get it, and she wouldn’t meet the criteria for Computer Science, and likes the idea of interdisciplinary courses, so her choices make perfect sense to us, but are complicated by the plain History Course at Southampton, because she is on their access programme. And likes the place, and Cambridge foundation because she loves the place and fits the criteria. The heritage as a keyword example is so helpful. We will email admissions.

Hey all: just checking in really as this thread moves so fast:been catching up on everyone's theories around what might happen in uni offers this year: it's a minefield!

DS is Oxbridge so needs his application in for 8th for his school. PS still needs a bit of refining but nearly there after more feedback from a few people. He's fairly definite on a couple of his other choices, but resisting putting them in yet: having got all excited and engaged I think the reality is suddenly hitting. We saw family this weekend and he was talking to his favourite (young) aunt about how hard it is to imagine what uni will actually be like. He's done a few uni visits out of term, and online open days, but Warwick next weekend will be his first visit in term time on a proper Open day: I really hope he likes it as I think it's possibly his most 'sensible' choice - great course, should (hopefully!) hit the grades; campus/lots of green space; near to grandparents if he needs to 'escape' occasionally (or get treated to lunch!). My only concern is I've heard Warwick isn't great on student support: anyone heard the same?

Talking about student support, how do you find out which unis are good and which are poor?
DD definitely needs to go somewhere that has good pastoral support/ALN support, and I remember reading an article by a father whose son had killed himself while at uni - he implored all parents to delve deeply into support offered.

This is so hard as they all claim they offer excellent support. I guess word of mouth is the only way. But that's not very satisfactory.

This is a worry for us too, DS will be applying for Disabled Students Allowance and need a fair amount of support. One bit of advice I was given was to look for the ALS departments on Open Days, if they are absent or token effort that should ring a warning bell, ideally they should be properly represented alongside Admissions, Accommodation etc.

@AnneOfCleavage it was a dreadful day wasn't it? We stayed the night at our Airbnb then went into Brighton today. It was warm and sunny. A complete change to yesterday. Ds was fascinated by all the quirky shops, graffiti etc. Brighton is so different to our quiet part of Suffolk. I planned to visit my mum who lives near Hastings before lunch, then leave by 2pm. But we spent too much time in Brighton, didn't get to my mum until 2pm. Left at 3pm. Home at 5.30pm. I have 120 miles of fuel in my car. So we made it 150 miles to Brighton then back on a tank with plenty to spare. There were lots of fuel stations on the a12 on the way home with hardly any cars...so I'm assuming they were out of fuel. I didn't stop to find out.

Eerily, DD will be in the same position. That advice is a great starting point, thanks.
Southampton have asked for anyone with additional needs to contact them ahead of the open day on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see what they offer.