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

Are you able to share which uni that was, Fruity? I would really value any info people have about this, as the unis themselves are often rather um.. opaque about it as described.

I think Sussex, Sheffield and Southampton were 100% f2f from the beginning of term, so presumably those are uni- wide policy decisions and fairly reliable?

@singingstones one of the problems is that at most universities it seems to be at departmental discretion, hence Leeds where the Psychology student had 11/12 hours/week on line. It may be particularly a physchology issue as St Andrews also stayed on line in that dept.

It is not quite true that schools are normal everywhere, Bristol has just moved back to masks in all common areas and I am not sure that Wales ever stopped wearing masks.

Most university websites have a facility to chat with a current student on line, if you are worried, I would do that.

Quick shout out for anyone who is considering UEA - they are doing EPQ related scholarship of £3000 to those completing EPQs on certain topics - see link below and A level grades do not need to be stellar think its BBB.

www.uea.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/scholarships-finder/scholarships-a-z/bright-spark-undergraduate-scholarship

Sorry @Monkey2001 I meant schools are not doing online lessons.

Very very few are wearing masks (know a couple of high schools in south Gloucestershire with masks in classrooms) but mostly in corridors which from an infection control perspective is largely pointless if the kids are then in classrooms with multiple different groups of teens maskless. Knowledge doesn't extend to Wales.

@singingstones it was Cardiff for biosciences (as @Monkey2001 says can be different according to course so make sure you ask department and check with students) Subsequently found out currently fully online only and students DD has spoken with on Student room are not recommending as a result.

I will admit I was quite taken aback by how rammed bath was on Friday and how no one (except tour guides, most of the visitors and some lecturers doing something with students in the canteen!) was in masks, including on the packed, unventilated UniBus. Not all students, and visiting parents are OK with this. DH was really uncomfortable and DS actually surprisingly struggled quite a lot with it!

However, cases in uni age popualtion do seem genuinely to be low according to ONS.

Think I spotted a MNer or two in the audience at Q and A time!

That's interesting fruity. DS doesn't have UEA down but it could be of interest to some of my students!

Oh that is disappointing about Cardiff Fruity, especially for a STEM subject, so no labs. Good to know - DS has finished deciding on his courses but this is definitely a question for future offer holder days, should there be any 🤞
In Wales schools, masks are not recommended in the classroom but should be worn on school transport and it's up to the school what they do about communal spaces. My DC's school do enforce masks in corridors.
I can't see the justification for 100% online at all. You might as well go to the OU. Lectures I suppose at a push, if they are trying to keep some semblance of social distancing and the spaces aren't big enough. But they should be live with recorded versions available afterwards to revisit.

@Fruitygal thanks for Leicester feedback! It will be good to meet some students and lecturers- she won’t have done anywhere else unfortunately. I went to Leicester and so did my mum, so it would be very odd if dd did too, and certainly not planned! It only came into the equation when we realised it did a dual registration course with leadership training, which sounds interesting.

How do we find out about online/F2F? And how would we find out a bit more about course structure/length/contact hours/assessment in general as the online info is quite sparse? Would dd need to email the course leaders?

@crazycrofter ask at open day re f2f - some will volunteer the info in the course talk. Most nursing courses will be mainly face to face I imagine but I suppose we shouldn’t assume. Leicester seemed keen to get back into labs etc back in June. DD has emailed departments before and asked but an in person open day is definitely a good time as you can see the dynamic between staff and you get a verbal response that is not able to be carefully scripted. I hope you like Leicester 2021 as much as we did. Have a friend that works there not in the subject area we were looking at and they are happy with the uni and their job which I think bodes well.

Nursing courses should be fairly generic for contact hrs as they are underwritten by the professional body/NHS. If would be cool if you had generations of the same family at the same uni.

@Piggywaspushed we are very very pro mask wearing. Loved Sheffield as only a small number in the talk without masks but they were whole families. All staff and students wearing masks. At the end before we stood up to move around the room to go to speak to students and staff - head of admissions said I can see some people have taken their masks off while seated can I ask you to put them back on to move around. He got 5 stars for showing up the non-masked in a clever way.

That's good.

@Piggywaspushed my DSs in 20s always wear masks on transport. Got all their mates to have the vaccines. Never went near the lecturers without masks as know that they do party and go to gigs and it’s not fair on staff.

Thanks @fruitygal, she’s planning to ask lots of questions at the Leicester open day. I was wondering about all the others, where she missed the open days because she changed course plans quite late.

@BlueMarigold I don't think Ds has even started on his PS or looked for other universities (he just has one as first choice) I've asked why he hasn't started, he says school have said they will be sent off in January. So he's in no rush. He says he's got months.

Ds1 is at UEA his f2f is mostly back to pre covid levels. He's there quite a bit. He's doing biology though, so he needs to be hands on, he's missed out on so much lab time over the first 2 years (strikes jan-March 2020 then obviously covid)

@icanbewhatiwant

My DD wants to do Biology too! She’s having a general wobble about everything at the moment. What are the job prospects like for a Biologist?

She is also having a wobble about which uni to pick. She might want to change her top 5 list. But its too late for any more visits now. Not sure what to do!

@BlueMarigold - My DD is the same - had a massive wobble re Biology last month. Started looking at related job links and found Clinical Scientist has a good salary and very interesting role and that calmed her down. She finds it hard as isn't sure which way she wants to go with Biology - also interested in genetics for sustainable plants but not sure of the job prospects there. I've said Biology is a good transferable degree for a lot of jobs later, as she doesn't really know what she wants to do right now - to keep it flexible, don't worry about specialising right now.

I guess this is the time for wobbles! I keep saying to dd that decisions aren’t irreversible. If they change their minds by August, they could try to get on a different course in clearing or take a year out. You can often change courses once you’re at university too. And in any case, careers aren’t for life anymore!

@BlueMarigold ds1 is enjoying it. But says he doesn't want to work in a lab when he's finished his degree. As dh is a retired farmer and the dc's grew up on a farm, ds had thought about going into agronomy next. But he spoke to the boss of quite a big company who said he prefers to employ graduates that have also worked on a farm. He suggested ds spends a year on a farm first, tractor driving and learning about crops. Ds does have a bit of tractor driving experience. But not much. Ds isn't starting to look for anything yet really. I think he should.

I just asked Ds2 if he's actually started on his PS. He said "nobody has started on them yet"

@Piggywaspushed when we looked round Sussex hardly anyone was wearing masks. I felt a bit silly in the lecture hall wearing mine.

When I go in our local supermarkets almost everyone wears masks. Yet when I was in Norwich while Ds2 took his driving test (back in august) I went into Tesco and a few other shops, most people weren't wearing masks. The Norwich instructor never wore a mask, yet the local to us one did. ds1 said when he has his haircut in Norwich no one has a mask on, yet when he was home for the summer and had his hair cut in our local town he was expected to wear one. In Brighton centre hardly anyone had a mask, is it a city versus village/town thing? Maybe just certain areas.

Feeling much better after reading this thread! Thank you

[quote icanbewhatiwant]@Piggywaspushed when we looked round Sussex hardly anyone was wearing masks. I felt a bit silly in the lecture hall wearing mine.

When I go in our local supermarkets almost everyone wears masks. Yet when I was in Norwich while Ds2 took his driving test (back in august) I went into Tesco and a few other shops, most people weren't wearing masks. The Norwich instructor never wore a mask, yet the local to us one did. ds1 said when he has his haircut in Norwich no one has a mask on, yet when he was home for the summer and had his hair cut in our local town he was expected to wear one. In Brighton centre hardly anyone had a mask, is it a city versus village/town thing? Maybe just certain areas. [/quote]
It's funny isn't it how places vary? My town was badly hit when Delta first arrived so tends to still mask up in supermarkets.

Birmingham has been badly hit by every wave, but people don’t really wear masks now, they haven’t for months. Well except for a few people, but it’s not common.

Still manadatory to wear masks in shops etc in Wales, but it seems to be very variable as to whether people actually do - Waitrose: yes….JD Sports: not even the staff.

Very variable on mask wearing here too (SE market town). Some days it seems hardly anyone is wearing one, others it seems most are. We've stopped at work, although with agreement that anyone with cold symptoms or a positive household member will mask up again (we're not public facing and quite spread out in our building).