Thread 22 Covid Cohort - Creeping towards the Future - Personal Statements and Interviews

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

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/4370509-Thread-21-Corona-Cohort-Nervous-waiting-so-frustrating
Role Call below
@20newnames / DS / Engineering
@Alsoplayspiccolo / DD / English + Film
@AnneofCleavage / DD / gap year? Primary Education
@BlueMarigold / DD / Biology
@crazycrofter / DD / Child (?) + Mental Health Nursing
@Decorhate / DS / Economics + Politics
@Delphigirl / DS / Oceanography
@DoggerelBank / DS / tbc sciencey
@ealingwestmum / DD / Middle Eastern and European Studies
@EerilyDisembodied / DS / History or Environmental Management
@estherfrewen / DS / History
@EwwSprouts / DS / Biology
@Fiddlersgreen / DS / Journalism
@Fruitygal / DD / Biology
@Hattifatteners / DD / Vet Med
@Heifer / DD / Biology
@Hopeful201 / DS / Medicine
@Horace123 / DS / Classics
@icanbewhatiwant / DS / History + Philosophy
@Isthisjustnormal / DS / Comp Sci
@KingscoteStaff / DD / Medicine
@mummabear74 / DD / Environmental Science
@mummyinbeds / DS / Law + French Law
@Nard75 / DS / Maths
@NCTDN / DD / Liberal Arts
@Oblomov21 / DS / Accountancy
@OrangeCinnamonCocktail / DD / Music (uni)
@PaddingtonPaddington / DD / Music (cons)
@Piggywaspushed / DS / Social sciences combo
@ProggyMat / DD / Classics
@SandyBayley / DD / Medicine
@Seeline / DD / Liberal Arts
@singingstones / DS / Neuroscience
@Wheresthebeach / DD / gap year? Marine Biology
@whoamitojudge / DD / Cabin crew training
@Zebracat / DD / Liberal Arts or Anthropology
@ZittiEBuoni / DD / applying next year

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn

No, not that centre. The ceiling leaking is terrible.

The centre didn't want to let him in as he looked too young on his driving license - quite what they expected him to do about that I have no idea. And then there was a huge argument between the staff and another candidate (not LNAT) in the exam room. Strangely the centre no longer appears on the LNAT booking system.

@Monkey2001

They don't get the LNAT score until February so he has no idea how he actually did and whether a resit would be worth it. The uni's do have the results but I'm guessing won't be able to tell us. I'm just relieved he has offers already from none LNAT uni's so it's not the end of the world.

DS has finally started his personal statement. Not run out of characters yet...

How stressful for him to have faced that mummyinbeds, what an absurd and very personal challenge to have before an exam.

I hope you get a positive outcome.

@mummyinbeds what the heck? Did they think he was having someone else sit it for him?? Also that other candidate should have been removed immediately! Fingers crossed he gets the outcome he wants.

As an aside, I haven't looked at what they need to take with them to the test, better look that up sharpish.

Can I ask where he has offers from? Are they interviewing?

@Monkey2001 that is awful for your DS on the UCAT, again that must have been so stressful! Glad he got the scores he needed in the end.

Oh dear @mummyinbeds that's a shame, I hope it doesn't affect his score and/or he can retake (but that's just adding extra stress isn't it!).

Dd has had 2 of her three mock results back. She just scraped a C in History in the summer - she had a meltdown in the exam and cried for 40 minutes. The teachers still predicted her an A but she wasn't sure why, think she was suffering imposter syndrome! She really wanted to justify their prediction this time, so she was really pleased to get one mark off an A. And she managed an A in RS, so all good! Ironically she probably won't need more than B/B/B for the course she wants to do.

@mummyinbeds that must have put him off his stride ☹️. I suppose they have to be wary of "ringers" such as older siblings who may look similar taking the tests but they should be sensitive to exam nerves in an exam centre.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn

He has offers from Birmingham and Kent. No interviews and the grades are as published.

All they need to take to the test is ID. And don't wear a hoodie

well done @crazycrofter DD - those are great mock results :-)

@crazycrofter does that mean she might have AAA predictions for BBB course 😆? Well done her!!

Thanks @heifer and @monkey2001 - not sure if they'll change her current predictions of A/A/A* but maybe?! I'm hoping it means at least they'll all interview her? If she ever gets the form off...

She sent me her draft PS and I said I had some feedback on it, but she wouldn't listen to it, because she'd already sent it to the careers lady at school and was listening to her instead!

DS's personal tutor said she didn't like the beginning of his PS and rewrote it for him. He made a few other changes as instructed and resubmitted it to her. She said she didn't like the beginning (that she had written), it needed to be redone 🤦‍♀️

Well done to @crazycrofters Dd. They are brilliant results. So we had 2 predicted grades for History, an A and a B , and she needs the A, so she sent her teachers a message asking and he then messaged the whole class to explain that of course it was normal to have 2 different predictions, and then asked her if she understood now. She had to say not really. aApparently he thinks she will get a B because of her ALPs score, but they’ve told UCAS that it’s an A. She gets As for all her work. Clear as mud.I wish they would be more careful. Her educational experience was so terrible before, always getting into trouble for not having equipment, permission slips, homework, uniform because she lived in chaos, and then not being able to go at all. So she got really worried that he was going to hate her now, having experienced that exasperation and then dismissal from so many teachers before. ( Really not criticising teachers, they had no idea what her life was like). He doesn’t hate her, of course, so it’s taught her that it’s ok to ask, but she did get in a pother.

@Singingstones, irrationality reigns!
Will he resubmit the original or try something new

Well done to your dd, crazycrofter, hope she can maintain her level of confidence.

DD is thinking she might be OK to go in next week and sit mocks - they're just mini-mocks really, one paper for each subject. I'm waiting for the school to call me back so we can discuss the options. Doubt she'll score much over a C for any of them, given how much she's missed now, but it will help her make decisions about the immediate future at least.

He is right @Zebracat, the school should have explained that it is a fairly normal policy to have a working prediction based on your current work and a UCAS prediction of what you could achieve on a good day. That is what our school does and I think Piggy said they do too.

@Zebracat I really don’t understand that at all! It sounds like the B is what they think she ought to get based on prior achievements (GCSEs?). But she’s in a much more stable environment now and is getting As in class so surely an A is what they think she would get and a B would tick the ‘expected progress’ box? At least the A is going on her UCAS form!

@singingstones that’s ridiculous!

@ZittiEBuoni that’s good that dd is thinking of going in for exams - a big step. I hope she manages it and gets some clarity about how to proceed.

I'm not surprised it confused her Zebracat, I still don't get it. Thankfully we only get one grade from school. Predicted is what goes on to the UCAS form. That's it.

@Zebracat He asked what she would prefer him to write, she said to leave it with her and she would have a think. So we are waiting for her to correct herself. I would have said "you know you wrote that yourself, you daft mare?" But he is too polite and to be fair does have her for maths so probably best not to offend. Their whole UCAS / predicted grades process is absolutely shambolic, slow and unfair, and I have a hard time trying to keep calm about it.

@ZittiEBuoni Honestly if your DD can go in to take her exams next week and gets anywhere near Cs, I think that will be the achievement of the thread after everything she has had to deal with. Good luck to her 💪

@mummyinbeds DS has Birmingham in his list but they've put their grades up to A* AA I think and he's got 3As predicted so not sure if they'll offer. He needs to send his UCAS application off first though!

@crazycrofter those are fab mock grades, well done to your DD!

@Monkey2001

He is right *@Zebracat, the school should have explained that it is a fairly normal policy to have a working prediction based on your current work and a UCAS prediction of what you could achieve on a good day. That is what our school does and I think Piggy* said they do too.

Our school will only put a predicted grade based on what you achieve in school, so to get an A predicted you have to be achieving As in your school work / testing. DS was predicted a B for Biology because that's what he had been getting in school, he upped his effort and started getting As (and an A*) so they agreed after discussion to move his grade up to an A, they then had to right a proper explanation to the person who manages all that as to why it should be changed.

*write

crazy, at least there is someone that she is listening to. A local school told their DC NOT to share their PS with their parents with the subtle implication that their interference was not helpful (and perhaps not relevant given how long ago their applications went in)?

It's a fair point, unless you have teachers like poor singingstone's DS. However I do think the format that's recommended these days is very dry, and strips out any actual personal (oh too flowery). I didn't actually understand much of DD's...