Thread 30 Covid Cohort, Mad March Hareing Towards Exams

[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 29

I've made this one a little bit earlier as things are so busy, at home and on thread, so please feel free to use up previous thread first

@Oblomov22 are you still waiting for an offer from Nottingham?

UCAS predictions are what students tend to emotionally blackmail teachers for and are fine jn end of year 12 often. They go to unus. Every school has ever evolving internal predictions. Because DS is solid and works hard his won't be much different but I teach kids with ABB UCAS who now have predictions of BCD.

DS's poor lovely friend who applied for economics at Cambridge, UCL, Warwick, Leeds and York so far only has one offer from York. Cambridge rejection. Rejected today by Leeds. State school, on quite a few contextual lists. All 8s and 9s at GCSE and 4 A * predicted. So harsh.

Aargh. The typos! Sorry!

My mind just boggles at some of these Humanities rejections @Piggywaspushed

@Piggywaspushed Leeds were hit very hard last year by over-recruitment so they may have deferred a lot of economics applicants, putting pressure on this year in addition to the generous grades pressure. But that is really tough, I think Economics is super competitive though because so many kids want to go into banking. I am sure all the highest ranking universities have reduced offers across the board.

He can join DS with all his 8/9 at GCSE and A*s predicted for A levels and no offers, all good training for resilience!

It's sad isn't it? Plus it seems to me that all the able economists apply to the same set of universities, further exacerbating the problem.

Accommodation provisionally allocated (UO Reading) , I'm not sure I can take much more anxiety. I'm sure it was easier when he was a toddler!

I was thinking of doing a week in the summer where Dd budgets and cooks for herself only ...also washes up. It will need to be a week when I can give her freezer/fridge space!

I loved being catered at Uni DH didn't like the food...I'm sure that is where Dd gets her fussiness from. It was a lovely sociable experience from the off.

Yes Heifer. PwC will let him know next Friday if he's got a place on their Flying Start linked degree. He then gets to choose whether it's Mary's, Reading or Nottingham. If he doesn't get selected, none, nothing, ziltch. Saying that the unis may offer him another place on another course, but he wouldn't take that, because he only wants the PwC, plus he has good offers from Durham and Southampton.

@Oblomov22 thanks for the explanation - it's hard to keep up :-) Good luck for next Friday then. Does he know which his prefers from the 3 when he gets an offer from PwC? :-)

Good luck to your ds @Oblomov22! Has he got any apprenticeship offers? Sorry, I’ve also lost track!

@heifer I asked the accommodation office whether there’s a chance that dd could get offered a 39 week contract even if she only puts down the 31 week halls and they said no. The cost difference between the 31 week catered and Broadgate park for the most basic room is only £900 which is £30 a week. I think dd could easily spend £30 a week on food, even in Lidl, so I think the catered is better value really.

The girl who took us to Raleigh Park lived there in the first year and studied on the main campus and she said it was fine. I guess you make friends in your accommodation and then other friends on your course and it’s easy enough to get between the two campuses.

@Monkey2001 thank you for such a detailed answer, this thread is amazing . DD is definitely stronger in Biology than Chemistry and has a brilliant biology teacher (will be the same one if she stays put). So I think her choices probably are the right ones for her but it is reassuring that she hasn't completely ruled out the medicine option if that's what she decides later.

Still keeping fingers crossed for DS and DH to stay negative for an offer-holder day on Sat. DD was virtually negative today and can go back to school on Mon. I did the most positive LFT imaginable this morning so I suspect I will be WFH next week.

@Piggywaspushed @Monkey2001 Yes Economics has become very popular in Ds school as an A Level subject to the extent that the class was really too big at the start. Not sure how many of his year have applied for Economics at uni.

Rejections seem quite random this year. Ds had his offer from Leeds very quickly but he’s applied for Economics & Politics rather than straight Economics so that may have made a difference- I think it’s administered by the Politics Dept too.

Enjoying the Nottingham chat on here today 😁

I'm not enjoying the student finance application. DS's part was easy but I've fallen at the first hurdle. I had a Student Loan in 1990/1. It was applied for on paper, I didn't have email back then. The paperwork was thrown out years ago when it was paid off. I phoned SFE and they managed to locate my account (once I got past the maiden/married name) but then they asked for an address they would have on the system. I've lived at nine addresses since 1990 and they give you one chance to get it right. I now have to write to them to get access - they won't accept email. DH is going to hit the same problem - we filled in our initial application forms together 32 years ago. He can't remember what he did yesterday! I only got the loan to go on a ski holiday 🤣

@mummyinbeds that’s so frustrating! I think dh must have been lucky - he gave his date and place of birth and despite not knowing either of the two addresses on his loan account, they let him re-set the password?

@crazycrofter I gave her those two bits of information, and my NI number. So frustrating!!

Glad DH is older now - he had a grant to go to uni back in around 1979/80 I guess. I did his form for him and just said no account, it's all worked fine. DD received a letter in the post today confirming her loan.

@crazycrofter interesting re 31 weeks. I was thinking it would be too risky to only put those on the application and was going to suggest to DD she adds some 39 weeks too to make sure she got an offer on campus but maybe not..Good points re RP and you're right they will make friends where ever they live.

He can't decide between Nottingham, and Reading which has the Henley Business school that is very well respected.

Yes he's got a job offer. An apprenticeship with BDO.

Re Nottingham ds would be on the Jubilee Campus where the business school is, rather than the main campus. I looked at the 2 accommodation blocks 10 metres from his lectures!

When we are going to get the chance they visit Nottingham. With no offer days, I have no idea!

@heifer they said they didn’t expect Rutland/Sherwood to fill up that quickly so it should be fine.

Also - @Piggywaspushed @BlueMarigold and other Birmingham applicants, you probably know but the accommodation portal is now open.

Have any of you Nottingham people had the chance to look at Sherwood. DS wants Rutland which we did look round but Sherwood would be second choice because of the 31 weeks. I'm guessing they're quite similar?

I thought it had been open ages tbh crazy!

Haha it probably has @Piggywaspushed! I just noticed and was surprised as there’s been lots of talk of Nottingham and York opening early, but not Birmingham.