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

@mummyinbeds congratulations to your DS ! Love the fact he’s not sure where Kent is 😂-my DS2 thought Exeter was in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland 😂

I have a really good app on the iPad called radius on map. You can put pins on the university you like and set the radius. It is a good way to compare how far the campus is away from town and from the accommodation. I set a radius of 2 miles and you can see what shops, supermarkets etc are within half an hours walk.

@mummyinbeds congrats on your ds’ offer. I went to Canterbury for the first time a couple of years ago and thought it was beautiful - like a sunnier, southern version of York, which I also love.

We’re off to Nottingham tomorrow - somewhere I’ve not visited since I was at uni in Leicester.

Congrats to DS @mummyinbeds.

Good to read about good support for SENs, DS has NHS diagnoses plus a wad of professional reports from Ed.Psych etc from his EHCP, so will definitely be going for DSA, we might get a letter from the GP too but hopefully no more assessments. I have about three boxfiles of paperwork on him . We may need an updated one for DD in future though, she had a diagnosis of dyslexia in yr 5 but nothing else on record.

Anyway, Chichester today was a great success, it's definitely staying on DS's list. We had a walk round the city centre too, it's not too far from home so we know it a bit already but good to get a feel for location relative to campus I may have spent £50 in Lakeland.

@EerilyDisembodied Good news on DSA when DS1 was doing A levels had to have him reassessed for dyslexia before uni for DSA because first assessment was before 16 (15) so annoying as expensive BUT have been told this is no longer the case by Dyslexia Association so DD’s assessment from year 8 can be used to apply with no reassessment required. Checked when at Sheffield uni open day and they confirmed it is the case.

I’ve just heard some pretty shocking news about a lad I know who was at school with Ds when younger. Now facing a prison sentence. Makes our concerns about uni applications etc seem so insignificant....

Oh dear @Decorhate that sounds like a nightmare.

Yes & I feel so sorry for him in spite of what he has done - the case mentioned the neglect & childhood violence he had suffered. We never know what is going on behind closed doors.

@Decorhate so sad that lives take awful turns

@Decorhate that is sad. I did jury service years ago and the defendant who was early 20s had had a horrendous upbringing. A friend who is a police officer says I'd be horrified if I knew what he does about some local families (no names ever mentioned) .

@Fruitygal that's good news. DD has had some extra assessments done in school for her GCSE access arrangements which I'd forgotten about, it was this time last year as she took one in y10, I must ask the SENCO if that's something we could use too.

@EerilyDisembodied I suspected things were a bit chaotic at home when I knew him but had no idea it was that bad. I feel dreadful at how it has turned out & can’t imagine his life will be anything but miserable

Just back from Bath. OMG. Knackered. All a bit stressful doing this kind of thing with DH!

Parked at Charlotte Street, ambled around (DH des not amble). Went to Abbey Square and then Pultney Bridge and Parade Gardens/ Rugby Club. Then it started pissing it down as we were waiting for bus to campus! Sun came out when we got up there so tour was good. But the talk finished at 4, which was a stupid time as the queue for the bus back down was huge and all the buses were stuck in town. So we walked (DH strode) down the great huge hill. Not fun.

DS liked the uni , I think.

I do think its campus is a bit isolated, having to get that bus everywhere , including when living out. It was telling that a lot of first years hardly leave campus! They obviously know they have a reputation for being expensive because they kept emphasising that the cheap accommodation was nice. Everyone looked very sporty!

@Piggywaspushed Yes ds1 only left the campus once in his first week (to go to the supermarket!) The bus service is pretty good though. He is not at all sporty so don’t worry if your Ds is not!

He likes sport as it goes! I think the bus must have been extra mad today perhaps.

Coming to the end of half term, I feel like we're in the calm before the storm - lots coming up for our DC in the next few weeks: offers, rejections, interviews, aptitude tests, mocks...
I've hardly seen DS since we got back from Brighton but have an appointment with him tomorrow when he's going to make his final choices and put those and his PS into the UCAS form. I am providing chocolate croissants in return for being allowed to read the PS and see which unis he picks

@singingstones

Coming to the end of half term, I feel like we're in the calm before the storm - lots coming up for our DC in the next few weeks: offers, rejections, interviews, aptitude tests, mocks... I've hardly seen DS since we got back from Brighton but have an appointment with him tomorrow when he's going to make his final choices and put those and his PS into the UCAS form. I am providing chocolate croissants in return for being allowed to read the PS and see which unis he picks

Yes all feeling a bit ominous...

I think we will be having trouble getting Dd Ucas submitted by the college. Herbtutor keeps saying it doesn't go off until December anyway. Dd quite anxious to get some of her auditions book in as early as poss. They will be happening Jan to April at three of her choices. I'm not sure if it is a good enough reason to convince them to send off earlier than normal though what do you think?

Yes, DS has been off for two weeks and its flown by, leaving a lot to think about. PS still not finished, we're planning to try and crack that this afternoon. Final choices still not agreed on, we are down to 7 courses at 6 unis still in contention. He only has mocks in one subject as his other two are BTECs but the work for them is pretty full on. School are planning to send him on some work experience soon too. Then DD has her GCSE mocks straight after Christmas and needs to be making a tricky decision about where to go for 6th form.

@OrangeCinnamonCocktail is your DD's college the one on top of the hill? Just wondering as its where I went and had a chat this week about it with one of my fellow former students whose DS is there now. Most of my friends DCs are at the partner one further north.

@EerilyDisembodied how did you go about finding out if universities accept the single BTECs? Year 11 ds may take one or maybe two. I’ve had a look at university websites and they usually only mention the triple BTEC. I know some accept UCAS points so they’re ok but have you looked at any others?

I’m working on the basis that dd won’t have her form submitted til December at least. She needs to decide if she wants to do a dual registration- Leicester open day in a couple of weeks is key to that. If she does I think she’ll apply to Southampton, Leicester, Plymouth and then two single mental health out of Manchester/Nottingham/Leeds/York. If not she’ll ditch Leicester as it doesn’t do the single course. So I think we probably need to visit the other 3 places after Nottingham today (Plymouth and Southampton already done).

I need to double check again @crazycrofter but most of DS's choices are UCAS points, he's not an A grade student (more like BBC). We haven't considered any RG unis. I think checking with admissions depts is the way to go.

Orange I think you should ask for an "early" submission as it will be so helpful to have auditions out of the way well before exam season kicks off. Maybe it's fine for non interview / audition subjects to submit that late but it's tough otherwise. Keep pushing until it's easier for them to just submit rather than be pestered by you!

@OrangeCinnamonCocktail Thank you for mentioning me in the roll call…..
I have news!!!!!!!!
DD has been accepted onto her training course for RyanAir! She’s literally only just turned 18 too and is so happy as are all of us.
It means she’ll be moving away for 6 weeks which is going to be strange but I know she’ll be ok ( me on the other hand might not be 😂)

DD doesn't have mocks until after Feb half term, so with her UCAS submitted and offers beginning to trickle in, it feels a bit calmer at the moment. She has just started driving lessons, so has a bit of time to do her theory, and has what will probably be her last dance exam (grade 6 tap) in a couple of weeks. She's been dancing since she was two, so that's a bit of an end of era event too! Still, she has been asking at unis about dance societies so will hopefully continue with it in some way or another!

@whoamitojudge - fabulous news!!

Fantastic news, whoami!!!
She must be over the moon and should be super proud of herself.
Gosh, that’s made my day - lovely to hear of someone’s dream beginning to come true.