Thread 24 Covid Cohort - Oh Come, Oh Come offers from Emmanuel - and all other universities aswell!

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

I tried to sing the title... It kind of works...

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 posts 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 goodwill continues.

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

@Monkey2001

In case they don't cancel exams, the Boards are issuing high level guidance about the kind of information which will be released in advance. We have a mixture of OCR, AQA and Edexcel, can only see OCR so far. For science subjects they will tell you which areas of the curriculum will be examined in order of the value of the content. Maybe the grade boundaries will go whizzing up if they actually happen! As someone who believes in the value of education, acknowledging that exams are the tangible outcome, I worry about how much they will learn, but at least they will know how to get the grades which will take when to the next stage. If they happen.

For the subject I teach ,what they sent out was about as vague as it gets. There will be a list of topics as found in the spec....

@mummabear74 our school said they would not use anything from before Christmas in the "very unlikely event that exams are cancelled". They would use Feb/March mocks, timed work done in class after Christmas and any assessments they may have in the summer.

Thanks @Wheresthebeach @Monkey2001 that's interesting to know. DD has a terrible problem with revision and is awaiting assessment just before Christmas for ADD/ADHD. To be using mocks from September just gone and given she's just missed a chunk of school too I can already see her motivation slipping.

@AnneOfCleavage I posted just before you did to say he wasn't up.

I have just paid, he skimmed past the PS so I only saw the last paragraph. It's been sent back to school anyway. When can we see the reference from school? Ds says those who went through it with the teacher he did it with can't see references. Those who went through it with the head of 6th form can see them.

I hope the interviews went well today.

I don't think you do see the references unless the school choose to show you them? Dd was shown her references from her subject teachers back in September by her form teacher and then that teacher was responsible for combining them into one reference.

Glad it's gone anyway @icanbewhatiwant, this is earlier than you expected isn't it? Or do you think it will be sent back for editing?

@crazycrofter no I don't think it'll come back to Ds anymore. Just waiting for school to send it now. Ok thanks re. references.

Oh and yes...I was expecting him to finish it all before Christmas.

I think judging A level results on attainment in year 12 is really unfair. Students like DD can be slow burners, taking longer to grasp things like exam technique or different styles of writing needed for A levels, so assessing them on tests done 9 months before they would ordinarily take exams is harsh.
I know from DD’s incredible progress in the second half of year 11 how much difference time can make to outcome.

@icanbewhatiwant he can phone UCAS and they will email the predicted grades and references to the run k registered email address on the account.

I think it is ridiculous that they don't just make it all available to the applicant, it is their data and they should see it. Some medicine applicants have had problems where predicted grades were missing or weren't AAA.

I agree @Alsoplayspiccolo. This current obsession with predictions based on past performance makes assumptions that people learn at a steady pace. But I have seen children make sudden huge leaps too often to think that isn’t quite common. That’s not even counting the students like ours who have a massive change of circumstance., one way or another. I just don’t want the college to close. She could not cope with the isolation last year and came perilously close to chucking it all in.

I agree @Alsoplayspiccolo, as my ds who has ADHD has suddenly made huge progress (in attitude/commitment as well as understanding) in the last few months. I anticipate more progress after Christmas - if he's given the chance. He's half way through GCSE mocks just now and they seem to have gone much better than his exams in September. He's young for the year too (August birthday), and I'm sure in an ordinary year he'd be going up at least a grade across the board between mocks and the real thing, so I'm not particularly happy about these mocks potentially 'counting' either.

@zebracat she might find it easier to focus of she has a nice set of offers and a goal in mind. None of them want to go back to on line learning. ☹️

@Zebracat
Hi! The most useful places to look at the differences between the variety of engineering disciplines are the Institution web sites. So The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engjneers, etc. Details of what each profession does will then be obvious. There is also the over-arching awards body, the Engineering Council, that will give you a lot of information too. There are lots of branches of engineering and having a look through all of them is worthwhile, not just the most obvious ones. The Engineering Council also lists accredited courses. You must do one that’s accredited.

For someone without maths A level, I would look at the best universities for the subject and work down the list. If I read that she’s CCC in the A levels she’s doing (is that right?) I don’t think you could look at RG university foundation courses. So I would be looking at former polytechnics and universities like Lincoln to see what level of qualifications and subjects they might take. There will be some universities where it’s not competitive to get on the courses but RG might be a stretch too far.

I think playing in dens is neither here nor there. Also unless you are a site engineer, you won’t necessarily work outside as a Civil Engineer. Civil and Structural Engineers do the designs for larger built environment projects but they are designed in an office before site construction takes place. Sometimes the design phase is years, eg major roads, bridges, high rise buildings, tunnels etc.

If she has Geography I might be inclined to look at Environmental Engineering. All engineering disciplines require maths. Physics is also very useful so if she has high grades in these at GCSE, there is hope. However I do think there is no point looking at any engineering course unless she really understands what it’s about. As you don’t, does she? It may well be the case that foundation course applicants do have to make a case to study engineering. After all, they didn’t when they chose their A levels! So writing a coherent PS, getting some work experience and talking to engineers would be of great benefit. Otherwise is looks like an uninformed choice.

I would also look at Town Planning and Building Services degrees. Certainly less maths in the former. If she has Geography, that could lead to surveying.

My DHs consultancy designed road amendments and highway strengthening design for the lorries that carry the wind turbines to the sites. Older houses with shallow foundations need evaluation before huge trucks come by! The roads to the wind turbine sites are designed by civil engineers. The turbines themselves by mechanical engineers. Hope that helps.

Wow @TizerorFizz. Thank you, that is very helpful. She’s not mine, so I don’t know what she knows.we will look at those sites. She isn’t looking at Russel group unis, and she is on course for the requirements at Lincoln, and the other places. I think she’s just become increasingly sure over the past year, that she wants to be making things.

@Zebracat
In that case I would research Product Design degrees. Mechanical engineering is usually seen as engineering “big” things. But of course could be as small as car parts! I think you will need to talk to her about her interests in more detail and see what is truly possible.

Another thing...the ucas application didn't ask for my occupation. I'm pleased it didn't. Just asked for the main earners occupation. Ds put farmer. But after he had sent it I thought, hang on dh is a retired farmer. I don't suppose it matters.

@Zebracat just lost a long message I was typing!!!

Basically an engineering foundation year will help for any type of engineering and the more technical side of product design. Given that she has a month to get the application in, I would just go for it as it will not close any doors, you don't even have to stay at the institution where you do the foundation. She should, if she hasn't already, Google stuff about jobs in engineering and speak to some engineers. PM me if you don't know any and I can put you in touch with one of the young female engineers DH works with.

@Zebracat I don't know anything about engineering but I do know UWE have just opened a brand new, state of the art engineering building. It looks amazing! (DS is there doing a surveying degree, so get their news items!)

I think several of us would say UWE, Lincoln and Swansea would be a great starting list for your friend.

That’s @Monkey2001 and @Seeline. This is all so helpful. I’ve been looking at the institute of Mechanical engineering website, and looking on different university websites. Feel much more prepared now. I’m really hoping that I just need to tweak the PS ,but I& it’s more, I’m ready!

Amazing news on the unconditional @BlueMarigold!

@Zebracat I have just caught up and seen that you have been given loads of advice re engineering. The only thing I would add is to be very careful about picking which 'general' engineering degree as the course content varies massively. For example, York is an amazing place but their general engineering really focuses on electrical/electronic/robotics and very little of what most people would call mechanical or civil etc.

Congrats to others on the offers received too, they seem to be coming through nicely.

Slightly scary news from @crazycrofter re SQA internally saying no exams, eeek. Fingers crossed that is not the case.

Can I join in the offers 😁 It seems so long since DS's first two offers in October. Today he got an offer from Warwick - A in French plus AB. I think that will knock Kent out of the running but he hasn't visited either so will wait and see. Just waiting for the much wanted Nottingham offer now....

Well done to your DS on Warwick mummyinbeds

Evening all, had to skim through the last couple of pages as I'd got so far behind but at teacher mix-ups.

@Zebracat I signed up for the RHU Open Day specifically for the history talk but it was 4.30 to 5.30 which is when I'm finishing work / driving home so I missed it, they said they would send out recordings though.

With regard to the CCC grade unis, I would have to respectfully disagree with @Monkey2001 about them reading the PS, every one we have been to and asked has assured us that they do read them and take account of them when offering (Reading, Chichester, Winchester, RAU,Bournemouth).

No further updates from us. Now the application is with school I need to turn my attention to the DSA application for DS as I think I might need to get some assessments done (he hasn't had any standardised assessments since the end of primary school) and apparently his EHCP and diagnoses might not be enough.

@ExquisitelyDecorated. The history talk was good. The Liberal Arts talk less so. Made me think, could just all be about slick presentation, but I don’t think so. The other presentation we watched was a prerecorded segment on Welfare, which was also encouraging.