Thread 21 Corona Cohort - Nervous waiting, so frustrating

[Monkey2001]

Continuation of OrangeCinnamonCocktail's threads

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.

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/a4354626-Corona-Cohort-Statements-Scripted-Grades-Predicted?msgid=111487286#111487286

Thank you crazy - he wants to do neuroscience. The course at Aston seems very practical and has a compulsory year in industry, both of which I think he would like.

He has narrowed his choices to Nottingham + 5 others, so just need to eliminate one. (Hopefully Sussex, where we have been today - it's got a good rep but such a pita for us to get to and he didn't like the campus or Brighton that much.)

I guess it depends what he thinks of Birmingham! My ds hates it But then he said he hates all industrial cities (this was when we were looking round Liverpool for dd)! Aston has a medical school too now doesn’t it.

I suggested to DS that he could be responsible for recycling to become a popular flatmate, but I can't say the idea was met with enthusiasm!

He can already cook everything he likes to eat and has shopping experience from going away with friends - they had great meals, one of the friends taught him how to make Cajun chicken but DS realised that biscuits were much better value than fruit - a LOT of biscuits were purchased, I think they had 2 packets a day! Sadly the Tesco delivery person (quite rightly) refused to let them have the little bottle of wine he had bought for his Bolognese!

His original rules crazy were "no London, no Scotland, no Birmingham", which is why it hasn't been in the running before really. (NB he has never been to Birmingham apart from the Y5 trip to Cadbury World, so not sure what that's about.)

According to the Times it's top 10 for producing millionaires so that might help! Presumably many of them graduating from the business school which looks very good.

Hope it’s not our accents singingstones!

I don't think so ealing, he's a big fan of Peaky Blinders! Plus he likes Nottingham and Warwick. When I asked him what's wrong with Birmingham, he said he didn't really know
Anyway all of the early rules have gone now except no Scotland (too far) and no Cardiff (too near) so Aston is now a contender and hopefully he will make his choices and finish the form this week.

I was only kidding. He really is nearly there though and it’s his process of elimination that makes sense to him, which is what matters.

Well done @mummyinbeds for the offer!

DS had/has a "No London, no Scotland, no Wales, no big cities" rule (which also cuts out Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham etc). We currently have Bath, Durham and Warwick as his top 3 and his rule is definitely contributing to why we are struggling to find universities to put as number 4 and 5!

Thank you for the well done's

DS wasn't at all interested in Birmingham until I dragged him to the open day. After 10 minutes on campus he decided it was amazing. It's a good job as he had already applied 🤣 He is limited by the number of uni's offering this course and avoiding London.

That should say 'his' course, not 'this' course - blind as a bat when typing on my phone

@20NewNames I can imagine ds being the same! Although we’re hopefully moving to a small country town next summer before his sixth form, so after two years in the sticks he might be longing for city life again He’s already realised that public transport will be almost non existent and he’ll lose all his freedom!

What is the course? How about Surrey? Aberystwyth?! Loughborough!?

@crazycrofter it's an MEng in hopefully general engineering or if not, mechanical engineering. He loved York but sadly the course has a different focus.

Aberystwyth is in Wales so that's a no and Loughborough needs the same A*AA that all his other 3 do and we need some lower options as insurance. Surrey however is somewhere we hadn't considered at all and at a first glance seems worth a look - thanks for the suggestion.

We live in a village so DS is used to no reliable public transport!! Mum taxis were often in use until he passed his test!

I'm nodding away to all the domestic stuff . The other day I was on a zoom and DS kept interrupting me for help with cooking a frozen pizza FFS. When he did his bronze DoE he did cooking at home with me as his skill section, he had to find recipes, make shopping lists, go and buy the food as well as cook it, I was giving myself a smug pat on the back. Seems he has regressed. He knows how to use our washing machine but they are all different, I sometimes struggle in holiday lets. Both him and DD (15) like me to either do their clothes shopping or at least come with them, never done it by themselves. I was so different at their ages, I wouldn't have been seen dead clothes shopping with my mum from about age 14.

@mummyinbeds well done to your DS!
Is his 3 x A offer the ‘norm’ entrance grade ’ ( WTF that is these days, as an aside) for the degree he wants to read?

[quote ProggyMat]@mummyinbeds well done to your DS!
Is his 3 x A offer the ‘norm’ entrance grade ’ ( WTF that is these days, as an aside) for the degree he wants to read?[/quote]
Yes, 3A's is the standard offer for four of his five options. His insurance, if he gets an offer, drops to 2A's and a B. Doesn't seem like much of an insurance 😱

I haven’t done kids’ clothes shopping for years! Since at least year 7 I think? Definitely from 12 anyway when they got their allowance. DD’s main social activity was shopping in town with friends from years 8-11.

@20newnames how about Exeter (AAA) or UEA (AAB) or Sussex (AAB) as back up?
Disclaimer: I know nothing about engineering so these might be terrible courses

@mummyinbeds what subject is he wanting to read?
There’s quite a lot of us waiting at the ‘bus stop’, so to speak, for the ‘offer bus’ to come along and it would be helpful to know?
Apologies if you’ve already said as this is a really fast moving thread!

Neither of mine has ever shown any interest in shopping as a leisure activity. They come with us if we go to the nearest big town but never with friends unless its for cinema, trampoline park, fast food or similar.

DS has zero interest in shopping beyond sports kit and he does that online.

@ProggyMat

He's applied for Law and French Law. Birmingham offer one grade lower than straight law. I'm not sure about his other choices.

Thanks @singingstones. Exeter is too far away but will check out UEA and Sussex. In reality, if all goes to plan, he should get the grades for the higher courses but he just needs to get the offers in...

Oh crap, now she’s losing interest in Liberal Arts and moving towards anthropology. We really need to get this form in. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

Anthropology is a great subject!

@Zebracat could she start with Liberal Arts and then choose modules from Anthropology in first year to see if she liked it and switch to an Anthropology degree in second year? I did that , moving from Combined Arts to History. A long time ago though!