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

@EwwSprouts is she closer to making a decision now?

@EwwSprouts How does one get ‘faculties’ mixed up with facilities they’re two completely different words.

Also just back from York! Agree that the morning talks weren’t great (we left one early!) and the lack of tour/guides in the morning was frustrating. We had some useful conversations about colleges and disability support though. Loved the lake on the main campus and overall the campus felt very green and welcoming. Afternoon (comp sci) was extremely well organised and impressive - great facilities - couple of talks including one on their placement scheme which sounded great and much more hands on from the uni than any others I’ve heard. Students went off and did some coding whilst there was a parents Q &A. The afternoon definitely made up the morning but the morning felt disorganised - although all the staff and students we actually talked to were lovely, engaging and knowledgeable.

@BlueMarigold No final decision yet as still fingers crossed for a St Andrews offer York won't be insurance.

@Shimy I don't know! She spoke very clearly.

@Isthisjustnormal As parents/carers we were supposed to go back to the central hall for a talk on student support and Q&A but no-one was enthusiastic hence the director putting on at no notice a parent tour. I agree felt green and welcoming. Will it make the final two?

Ds is still keen @EwwSprouts - although prob as insurance if Bath ever comes through with an offer. He really likes the course and the department does seem really impressive. He also liked his fellow applicants a lot more - they seemed much more diverse (in gender, background and ‘look’) than those when he did the comp sci tour at Warwick!

@Isthisjustnormal Interesting there was more diversity. We noticed a number of other languages spoken, mainly European. I've just remembered DS has a friend in yr1 CS at York. It was his insurance but by all accounts he is thoroughly enjoying it there.

Oh that’s interesting! Ds would be comp
Sci and maths as he likes the theoretical stuff but good to know your Ds’ mate has enjoyed it. It is fair to say that comp
Sci is at risk of being a bit of a white male ghetto…. Our Q&A with comp sci staff and students - they made a question time panel of 6 of them, and parents fired questions at them! Some really interesting stuff came out around the unis approach to covid; how they anticipate teaching approaches changing; how kids with different A level contexts find the course; swooping between courses etc. We had our dept tour led by the students. Interesting how different the approaches are across the uni!

Piccolo, are you over the worst now of storm impact or still at risk from high water/flooding?

There is a shiny new thread on the link below for when needed

Sparkly New Chat

@Isthisjustnormal Your afternoon sounds so much better planned and informative. The comparison makes biological sciences seem complacent.

@Isthisjustnormal I think the sister of one of DS's godsons is doing Comp Sci at York. White, but female, feisty and Liverpudlian so not from the slightly nerdy male comp sci mould!

[quote Shimy]@EwwSprouts How does one get ‘faculties’ mixed up with facilities they’re two completely different words.[/quote]
That would have annoyed me too! Hate the way young people and even govt ministers say nucular when they mean nuclear!

@EwwSprouts - thanks for the feedback. Food for thought! I'm hoping DD gets what she needs for Nottingham (AAB) as i really don't think she has the headspace to think about another back up right now. I am just going to print all out the info (again) and let her decide.

@Piggywaspushed thanks for the info re accommodation. It's a minefield. DD wants catered but for York I just don't think it's worth the money as it's only mon-fri and lunch isn't covered. Whereby at Nottingham it's all week and lunch is covered as they put £5 on your card each day. Accommodation looks great on East but everything DD will be doing is on West..

Oh, you might want to look at Alcuin then which is West and self catered.

I think adding lunch is a bit odd actually . It feels a bit like you might be rushing back and forth to Halls to get fed?

@Monkey2001 I don’t like it when people say “pacifically” instead of “specifically”

@Monkey2001 - yeah, I think the boys need some of that in the mix to shake them up! The dept talk overtly mentioned that they have a number of targets in place around female student and staff representation and also a number of initiatives and programmes to support and mentor female students. Both the student tour leads were female too (assisted by some white blokes ;-) I hope your ds’s sisters godson (?!?) is enjoying it!

[quote Isthisjustnormal]@Monkey2001 - yeah, I think the boys need some of that in the mix to shake them up! The dept talk overtly mentioned that they have a number of targets in place around female student and staff representation and also a number of initiatives and programmes to support and mentor female students. Both the student tour leads were female too (assisted by some white blokes ;-) I hope your ds’s sisters godson (?!?) is enjoying it![/quote]
😂 DH's godson's sister! I can try to find out.

@Piggywaspushed

Oh, you might want to look at Alcuin then which is West and self catered.

I think adding lunch is a bit odd actually . It feels a bit like you might be rushing back and forth to Halls to get fed?

@Piggywaspushed - thanks. Re lunch at Nottingham, £5 is added to acard that you can use anywhere on campus, including Costos and in the food shop so she could eat lunch whereever.It's recommonded that you spend whatever is left on the card each Sunday as it's wiped clean each week, so we don't have to give DD anymore money for food as it covers everything.

What are the reasons that DC might prefer catered? DS is set on self-catered and it does seem better value for money at Nottingham at least - cheapest room self catered is £117pw vs £196 cheapest catered on campus. I can't imagine he would spend £80pw on food but what are the other advantages he might be missing out on?

My DS is inclining towards catered, he thinks it will be more sociable and avoid the worst of the filthy student kitchen scenarios. Also take pressure off having to shop, manage food organising etc.

DS1 has had 2 years catered at St Andrews. The advantages are that you meet a lot of different people at meal times and you don't have to worry about shopping and cooking, and with a heavy workload it helps. For some people it also helps budgeting as any money you have after paying rent is pocket money.

There are also disadvantages. They all pay for a lot of meals they don't eat (DS rarely makes it to breakfast and often misses lunch), some of them don't like the food and end up getting a lot of take-aways as catered halls often have terrible kitchens. A self catered flat which works socially is fantastic and, particularly during Covid, provides a ready made friendship group. SC is a lot cheaper.

...... and some sporty boys find quantities inadequate in catered accommodation. DS2 would not consider it as he needs at least 6 eggs a day and lots of meat!

Thanks ED and Monkey, yes I would be worried DS will miss meals and end up on takeaways, which seems a very expensive outcome!

Good point about meeting a wider group of people. I think he's hoping to bond with his flat/corridor mates through shopping, cooking and eating together, but I suppose that's only a positive if they all get on. Oh well, he's determined to look after himself, although he never cooks for us