Thread 28 - Corona Cohort Awaiting Offers, Advance Notice, Gap Years and New Jobs

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

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 27 Here

Thank you Heifer, Crazy and Fonty for DD's offer.

You are right, and I know that their circumstances have exasperated their lack of engagement. I just put to DD a short weekend trip to Dublin and she had a near melt down (jeez, is our company THAT bad?) and then admitted it's because she's scared we are wasting our money if she doesn't get a place in Aug.

So, a little repositioning, as some of us (me) have not as much as stepped out of the door beyond 3 miles for over 2 years, and we have a 2 night mini break booked in late April. The lure of 2 x dinner/cocktails did the trick

That sounds lovely @ealingwestmum, hope you have a fab time! Dublin is a great place to visit anyway, it certainly won't be wasted even if she doesn't end up going there.

Making a reappearance, after an emotional couple of weeks, followed by losing power/internet, thanks to the storms.

ealing, DD has been to one open day and no offer holder days. She keeps saying she feels too young to be dealing with A level exams and uni, so I’m guessing that explains her lack of enthusiasm.
Difficult for us parents. We’re trying to gently push her through the process, hoping that visits might make the prospect of going in the autumn (or not) a bit easier to imagine.

Thanks guys and congratulations on the offers for Leeds @scabby1 and Durham @ealingwestmum.

We used both Testi and Driving test Now apps but never seemed to be quick enough and the autobook never seemed to work. In the end we used a very dodgy looking website that DS driving instructor told him about and got a date in about a week. It cost £30ish which I was a bit reluctant about but it was worth it in the end.

@ealingwestmum that weekend away sounds lovely. Is you DD applying to Dublin? How does that work in terms of fees etc?

I do feel much better today, Thank you everyone. I was at the point of one more person talking about resilience to me in RL, I was going to punch them.

And then duck and hide, claiming lack of control due to post menopausal crappiness

@ealingwestmum we haven’t looked at any, mainly because we were pretty sure DS wouldn’t get an interview-we we’re correct. He is now waiting on his 5th choice, which is Exeter, it’s too far away to pop along. So no point going unless he gets an offer.
We are staring at zero offers, which seems crazy with A* predicted grades, but we have heard about ucas extra, but have to wait to be rejected again. It is taking so long, but on the flip side I have never seen my DS working so hard for his mocks. It’s incredible.
@JustHereWithMyPopcorn glad it wasn’t a top choice for you, but is an indication of what is going on because of the mad grades given out.

sazzy5 I don't know how you are all holding up. Even with the knowledge of how competitive medicine is and the 2 year stuff (hope I have remembered correctly?) it just doesn't seem right that students like yours may end up in a no offers with those grades/work ethic.

Really hoping for Exeter to come off for him.

On my way home from Birmingham offer holder day. No freebies or food but generally a good day. DD is happy she chose it as her firm.

@sazzy5 Hope you get good news from Exeter soon

JustHere, TCD was always one of DD's preferred choices, but the offer issuance post their highers/A levels was always the draw back.

There are pros and cons to their system though. All country exam education systems get converted to CAO points (Central App Office), the maximum is 600 with additional requirements for medics, or an extra 25 points for Irish citizens if they do the extra Maths paper etc to 625. But, no PS, nor any further info needed on a student. DD, with her mix of subjects (3 x A levels, one AS) will only be able to get a maximum of 589 points so other systems can attract higher point ranges.

UK students still benefit from same terms as before Brexit. So they pay 3k EUR per year Student Contribution, and have tuition wavier (circa 4.8k EUR) per year due to Free Irish Govt Initiative paying them. Cost of living is higher, but given some of the room rates for UK res halls of late, not huge massive difference over 8 months. Years 2 and beyond, much like UK, but student rents are capped to give them some landlord protection. But DD can't apply for UK Govt loans for support.

So it's first to the post on points ranking only, and dependent on supply and demand per course across 3 issuing rounds mid Aug, as to whether you get a place. You can put up to 10 places on their CAO (like a UCAS form) across one or multiple Irish unis, so DD for example, as 3 courses ranked in order for TCD only. If she doesn't get on her number 1, it drops down to offering on the next one. But, you never know how strong the cohort will be until the results are issued for that summer, nor the volume that apply so it has its risks. And now that Ireland remains one of the few english speaking countries for the rest of EU students where they don't attract International fees like with UK, their applications will increase further.

It ticks so many boxes for DD. Just got to hope her particular choice of course isn't going to be as heavily subscribed as others, as they also have high number of deferred and Govt recently announced they will mark home students generously this year to allow for covid. The prospects of working, internships etc are very good due to the nature of businesses based there.

Sorry if too much detail! But helpful I hope for younger DC if wider options are on the table.

Just chosen York accommodation so that's a job ticked. DS now says he wants to go to Birmingham offer day!!

@Piggywaspushed that’s great!

@Piggywaspushed

Just chosen York accommodation so that's a job ticked. DS now says he wants to go to Birmingham offer day!!

which did he pick Piggy? we need to look at that too

David Kato en suite. The whole world will apply for this as it is cheap!!

He also put Alcuin, Halifax en suites and some shared bathrooms. Cheapest was 6118 and priciest 7260. Could have had a lot cheaper to be fair.

They all seem pretty nice. I do know the grotty ones are Vanbrugh (my old college!) and Derwent and they are both catered.

@sazzy5 Everything crossed for Exeter. It seems like madness to me that you're in this position.

@Piggywaspushed How nice to have accommodation chosen.

The stress of it all is definitely getting to DD. School has announced they are doing optional weekly exam practice. Girls sign up for the topics they want to do (day/time slots announced beforehand) and they sit 1.5 hour exam. DD won't do next week, but will start the week after once she gets her head around it. I've said it's revision practice, not a prediction of her grade so she should use it to focus on the areas she needs to work on only. We'll see.

@Piggywaspushed I only realised recently that the catered is all on West side so DD may have to do a rethink. Was all DSs on East?

@Wheresthebeach doing practice papers is a good idea I’m sure, but I’ve never in my life (and I did professional exams too) been able to motivate myself to do a single one! It just seems such a lot of wasted effort! I would just look through the answer paper. I suspect both my kids are the same!

Dd is realising she’s started her revision too late (as always) and getting a little stressed about mocks next week.

Glad the offer day was reassuring @BlueMarigold and that you’ll be getting a day out in Birmingham @Piggywaspushed

Fingers crossed for Exeter @sazzy5. I found all that very interesting @ealingwestmum despite the fact that ds doesn’t want to do uni and we couldn’t afford to support him without loans!

No, he put an Alcuin. And some Halifax which is kind of in limbo.

@ealingwestmum well done to your DD on her Durham offer!
My DD hasn’t done any ‘in person’ open days or offer holders days but has firmed and insured.

@scabby1 Great news about Leeds! I also wish Bristol would hurry up but they have a reputation for being slow at the best of times. Ds claims not to have had a holding email but who knows, as he also claims not to have heard about Sheffield applicant days which I am very sceptical about!

Thank you Proggy. I hope your DD is getting quietly excited about Oxford now, and that her college is welcoming in their engagement!

@ealingwestmum DD r

Lord! @ealingwestmum DD realises she is very fortunate to hold an offer from Oxford and indeed the college she applied to which was an even bigger punt!
We’ll wait to after A level results day and then get excited!

We're back from York offer holder day @Heifer and any others interested in biology. Bit of a mixed bag. I thought the morning talks were underwhelming and DS was bored. The young employee from outreach kept referring to faculties as facilities despite it being there on her slides. The campus is appealing though with all the water.

The dept visit was okay as the buildings are spacious and new with impressive laboratories and lots of study pod areas. The director was good on the hoof and took most of the parents on an impromptu tour. The but is that compared with other universities there was no mention of undergrads having opportunities to work on the projects of academic staff. They didn't show the offer holders any of the research facilities just the teaching ones. In DS's eyes, in a nutshell, Sheffield knocked York out of the park.

Back from Nottingham (very late thanks to the M42, my least favourite motorway). I think probably 75% positive and still top of DS's list but we'll see how Exeter and Aston compare.
Campus still good, course good, optional modules from other schools good (thinks he might do history and / or biology), practical demos partly good, partly boring, accommodation "dreadful". But his gripe was that they showed them a studio flat and the bed, toilet and kitchen sink were very close together. He would prefer a shared kitchen and bathroom so I don't think it's too much of a problem.