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

A question about placement years (or return form) if anyone knows!

How easy is it to get accommodation after the placement year? I sort of wonder whether students can find it difficult to sort accommodation and to settle back in when they are working and living somewhere else for a year? I wonder whether sometimes the cons of placement years aren't aired.

Anyone know anything about them??

I have no idea how DS plans to fill the last two places on his UCAS. Bath was nice but there are some issues, not least cost of living.

@Piggywaspushed Ds1 is currently on a placement year. The main advantage seems to be that the placement employer very often offers them a graduate job. Which is good unless it’s not really what you want to do as a graduate... It doesn’t add much to the overall cost of the degree as the salary should cover their rent & living expenses.

I think there will be some issues with finding accommodation for next year - normally the student leases run from July but those who are in different cities for their placements won’t be keen on paying two lots of rent over the summer. Whereas Ds is sharing with students as he only got his placement offer at the last minute & had been preparing to go back into 3rd year.

It’s early days yet but tbh if they don’t go for a standard student let & manage to find somewhere starting in September, they will then be paying for the summer in final year anyway!

There were only about three degrees with year placements when I did mine, I had lived with someone from my course in year 2, we kept in contact through the placement year and moved in with one of her friends from another 4 year course and two of the friend's friends also on a 4 year course. It was a disaster but that really was down to personalities not circumstances. I'm not sure at what point in the year we organised it though. In fact without mobiles phones, internet etc it must have been quite a feat. I do remember my friend and I used to surreptitiously fax each other from work (her placement was overseas).

I am assuming Bath is organised about this since 2/3 of their students do placements but it does seem to add a layer of complication!

Piggy quite a few placements can be local - DH's company takes a Bristol placement student. There are loads of private halls available now, so they could live in one of those when moving back if they didn't have friends from other years to share with, but students often mix across years, I had flatmates from different years through social activities.

Don't think Bath does have private Halls but I may be wrong. All the students seemed happy enough !

@Piggywaspushed DS1 is on his placement year. He's already booked his accommodation for Sept2022. He booked it with the same private student halls he was with in second yr. Rent starts from September, no problems.

The benefits for ds1 doing a placement are massive in my opinion. Apart from earning a very good salary with lots of staff benefits thrown in, DS1 had hardly any work experience before going to uni, it's a good break for him to develop some work skills. This might not be significant for those who've been doing holiday work or taken a gap year already. He's really enjoying the work and is now even clearer that he chose the right course to study. They've been giving him training in a new programing language even sent him on a time management course last week! He is living with other students in a house for the first time and loves his flatmates! lots of socialising going on both in the house and arranged by the placement company.
There's not been a single drawback I can think of to be honest.

At Bath the placement year is after first year, I think . I should have asked about how it was all done yesterday but I didn't want to be 'that woman' in the talk!

Very reassuring though, guys, thanks!

The accommodation issues probably explain why some unis think summer holiday placements are easier.

Went to Reading open day today, really well organised and engaging speakers. It seems the more prestigious the uni the dryer the lecturers for some reason. Accommodation was lovely too in a beautiful green campus. Went there as a back up but now a serious contender.

Piggy DS hasn't visited Bath yet. Was it a proper open day you went to or a self visit? What was your impression of the campus?

We were very impressed with Reading last week too.

Whats Sounds like when we visited Birmingham. It was meant to be as a possible backup, but DS absolutely loved it and now it's a serious contender.

Excellent news, singingstones - you must be relieved.
What’s his second choice, after Nottingham? Is Exeter the highest grade requirements?

DD is considering Exeter, QM and Sussex but can’t decide between them.

@whatsnext2

Went to Reading open day today, really well organised and engaging speakers. It seems the more prestigious the uni the dryer the lecturers for some reason. Accommodation was lovely too in a beautiful green campus. Went there as a back up but now a serious contender.

We went today too, DS loved it!

@Shimy

Piggy DS hasn't visited Bath yet. Was it a proper open day you went to or a self visit? What was your impression of the campus?

It was a 'Bitesize Day' so a tour and a generic talk. The campus is nice. More compact than I expected and, as others have told me, less greenery than you might hope for in a campus. Sport facilities are out of this world. It's a bit odd being somewhere so unartsy, though, for me!

It's got a nice community feel, though.

I think Exeter is second favourite, Also, the campus there is lovely. Nottingham has the highest standard offer of AAB. Exeter, Sussex and QMUL all ABB, Aston BBB. Not much wriggle room!
They all have pros and cons, in the end Warwick got the elbow because the course wasn't quite right. Shame in a way as he might have had a very generous BBB offer from there which felt like a bargain, but the right decision. Just the predicted grades to sort of we can, and then I'll be glad when the form is finally submitted, I must say.

@EerilyDisembodied

We were very impressed with Reading last week too.

Same joint honours degree as Swansea but Swansea seemed Spartan (nowhere to eat except burger van for example and tiny rooms in hall) plus no inclusion of joint honours in subject talks and no response to my follow up email asking for information.

@singingstones there is much unhappiness over on WIWIKAU about the unacceptably low amount of F2F teaching at Warwick and Leeds. Something to look out for if DC still considering those ones. Somebody doing Psychology at Leeds has 12 hours/week timetabledonly 1 hour F2F. Warwick students were complaining about pre-recorded lectures which sounded dreadful. Non Russell Group seem to be doing better.

[quote Monkey2001]@singingstones there is much unhappiness over on WIWIKAU about the unacceptably low amount of F2F teaching at Warwick and Leeds. Something to look out for if DC still considering those ones. Somebody doing Psychology at Leeds has 12 hours/week timetabledonly 1 hour F2F. Warwick students were complaining about pre-recorded lectures which sounded dreadful. Non Russell Group seem to be doing better.[/quote]
Everywhere we have been has had online lectures but f2f seminars I think.

Piggy I think community feel is definitely important. It's difficult to get an idea of it without seeing it. I thought the campus was very green but it seems not.

The complaints about Warwick are worrying too and those are DS's 2 top choices especially for his subject.

Dd has a Christmas temp job at a make up/beauty outlet...currently upstairs in the bathroom dyeing her hair bright pink.. I've made it clear I will be supervising a clean up.
She is really bright and happy, I can hear her practising xmas songs. It turns out she had some really positive validation from her new manager (why they chose her etc).

They all need that external validation I think. It doesn't matter how much I say she is great and wonderful, she doesn't believe me! It is amazing what some kind words, from someone outside the household can do.

@Piggywaspushed no idea if it is similar but when I went to Bath (a long time ago!) and did a placement year we were able to get a university flat in town for our final year. This was just because we were a group that had been abroad for the year I think. I would be surprised if there is not an established way that placement students sort accommodation as so many are in that situation there.

Yes I saw that unhappy mum of the Leeds student - I'm sure I would feel the same. I think Nottingham are doing ok, but definitely something to check at offer holder days (hoping there are offers! 🙏)

That's lovely, Orange

Hoping there are offers here too, DS won't stop refreshing his UCAS screen.