Thread 36 - Covid Cohort from GCSE 2020 - The Final Countdown to Results Day for Some?

[CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee]

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. It's all relative!
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 continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will find a thread within the Further Ed board.
Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future? Post Results?

Previous Thread

DD is working Mon, Wed and Friday this week. She's also at a friend's house Wednesday evening, and boyfriend is staying the night because he can't get to school to collect his results due to the train strike. So not much time for prepping...
Not sure what happens if she doesn't get her first choice and we're still sorting clearing on Friday if she's working.

I hope you all remember that you are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst!

Most of your DC will be accepted by their Firms unless their predictions were really aspirational. I think that places like Durham might end up being more flexible than usual as they have made fewer offers and are not set up for doing Clearing, so they will have to be flexible if many miss their offers as they need the numbers to balance their budget. So it is a good idea to have a plan, but don't let the process of making a plan distract you from the fact that most will get their Firm (and I am estimating over 80% based on reduced offer rates).

Thank you @Monkey2001 you have grounded me.😊

Yes! Very stress free. Neither of us knows anything about cars so we thought we might as well just pick one instead of wasting time pretending to various dealers that we know what we're doing before just picking one.

Re what’s the lowest grade drop. time for a story!

DD1 - severe processing disorder, can’t get stuff on paper fast, full extra time but exams still horrendous - but v high iq and presents as v competant. Chose landscape architecture (hardly anyone does it at undergrad). Firmed Edinburgh, Insured Sheffield, both ABB. Sheffield interviewed and looked at portfolio, Edinburgh did not. Greenwich also interviewed and made her a u/c offer. Sheffield is best course in Europe.

She tanked A levels - BCD. Rejected on UCAS by both. Greenwich in clearing said would have her. Phoned Edinburgh and Sheffield - clearing nos - they said no way Jose. She then found the phone no if the professor at interviewed her at Sheffield. Said “do you remember me? I tanked and here is why and I really want to come to Sheffield”. Prof said she did remember, still had access to her portfolio, said she would be happy to take her but needed to get uni consent as her grades were so low. She fought with uni who finally said “If you can get whole faculty of Dept to agree by 5pm you can take her”. This was 4.15.

well bless that professor, she convened meeting of faculty and they agreed to take her. She did brilliantly, graduated with 2(I) (2 marks off a first).

moral of the story - if you have been rejected somewhere that interviewed, go the back door route and persuasion might work. And unis take kids with 2,3,4 grade drops sometimes, but depends in uni, course and a smattering of luck.

Anyone know anything about deposits? DS1s landlord is keeping £112 of a £200 deposit but no explanation. Everyone in the house is the same so it's not specifically DSs broken door and damaged wall. They aren't allowed to charge a cleaning fee anymore are they?

I wonder Monkey if you think there will be more people who have to wait to find out whether they're in this year - eg if unis have made fewer offers, but then fewer people have achieved the grades they need, will unis wait to see who comes along in clearing/adjustment before making final decisions?

Blimey you lot post a lot! I am struggling to keep up with the thread.

DS's required grades are possible, plausible, realistic but not guaranteed. In an ordinary world I would say he should get them but who knows this year.

I think sometimes knowing too much can cause unnecessary stress, and I wonder if it would be easier not to know as much about what is going on. That said. I think I do need to sit him down on Wednesday evening and talk about the grades being lower than expected generally and plans b,c and d.

DS is working 8-6 all week apart from Thursday so is occupied at least. I suspect it will be me looking through all the clearing options (not that there look like there are that many good ones for him right now but I know it may change).

Results by email here at 8am, so no trips to school. DH plans to go in to work later than usual so that he'll be here. I am flexible both Thursday and Friday as needed. The only thing I know is that DS has asked for a favourite treat food for lunch on Thursday, something we only have once a year or less, but otherwise I would expect he may well be drunk in a pub somewhere by mid afternoon...

Fantastic story Delphi, well done to your DD not taking no for an answer

If it comes to it I don't think DS will be great at selling himself on the phone or persuading people 😬
I can imagine him picking clearing unis based on where he can apply via email / online form / live chat instead of having to talk to an actual person 🙈

@Piggywaspushed lots on this over on the Graduates at home thread.
DD1’s household had £40 each deducted for cleaning and repainting a wall due to damage from LED light strings. Originally it was £80 each but she negotiated it down.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/parents_of_adult_children/4581147-graduates-returning-to-the-nest-a-new-start-for-all?page=15&reply=119253494

They can't keep any part of the deposit without explanation. The landlord needs to tell them what the deduction is for and if they disagree they need to dispute this with whichever deposit protection scheme was used.

That's what I thought. Ta!

DS won't get any school ema as their school was cyber attacked... in fact, there are a few jitters about how results day works without any school Web access...

DD1 had £20 deducted in year 2 for cleaning also. It’s a sore point as the houses were absolute were holes as far as decor and furniture and don’t get me started on landlords and rent for the facilities. 😡

I cant get onto our school website either @Piggywaspushed

Our school is not guaranteed to get the results either although the famous contingency plans are in operation with exam boards. Just keeping fingers crossed !

@Delphigirl brilliant story. As working people we all know that exams do not test the things which matter in life and need to be thoroughly overhauled. Sounds like your DD has much more useful skills for success in life than the ability to excel in A levels!

@singingstones it will vary by university, but nobody knows!

Hope the people with school IT issues get resolved, that is another layer of stress you really don't need.

My DS had this - they demanded an itemised bill, which they got. Some of it they argues over and got reduced, some of it related to specific things that obviously where the responsibility of just one of them so each agreed to pay. They did get some reduction just by haggling. If they'd pushed further it would have been referred tot eh deposit holding company, but they gave up before then.

I think they can charge for cleaning if it can be proved that the house isn't in the same state as when they moved in. Ds ended up paying for a specific room carpet being cleaned and the oven. The LL dropped the window cleaning bill!!

To be honest I think a professional cleaning charge is fair (seeing DD’s house 😳)but should be made clear upfront. They cleaned it before they left but it needed a good going over by a professional.

What a brilliant example of leaving positive first impressions. You must have been very proud Delphigirl.

Hello deuxgarcons

DD is away (again) right now. Did have a wobble last weekend asking if she should start to look at clearing. I think I am struggling with the whole idea of contingency, as we’ve already got the lag from 18 Aug to 8 sept between UCAS and CAO offers. It may also be because languages/MFL plus subject always tend to be in clearing, she really should be able to pick up an alternative with ease (I hope) if she tanks. The nerves not helped by those who’d received their PreU results and not done as well as they’d been predicted. Her school have held onto results until 18th. Thankfully.

I have just read the article linked by @Decorhate and thought this section was worth pulling out:

Universities will be urged to be flexible, and will – as they do every year – admit many students holding firm or insurance offers that do not quite make the grades required. Offer making is a very subtle science – admissions offices have a very nuanced idea of just how many students offered a place with A, A, B will actually get those grades, and the “lower than expected” 2022 grades (if that prediction comes to pass) simply means that more of this flexibility will be used to recruit the “right” number of home undergraduates for a given course.

Universities are generally happier to recruit people who have accepted their offer as their firm or insurance choice. They prefer to take a student that has already committed to the course and campus who had a bad exam day if the alternative is a clearing student who is more likely to drop out of the course. And we do need to bear in mind that Ofqual reckons A level results are accurate (whatever that means) to a grade in either direction – so a B could “really” be a C, or an A depending on who marked it.

wonkhe.com/blogs/what-to-expect-on-a-level-results-day/

Well I was certainly bloody relieved @ealingwestmum! I don’t know what she would have done otherwise. She didn’t want to go to Greenwich and there was no point in wasting a year on retakes, which she would have hated. She has since got a masters (part time while also working) and her professional exams - I am v proud of what she has achieved! Her work LOVE her 💕

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/14/a-level-pupils-should-brace-disappointment-watchdog-warns/

Another doom and gloom one I'm afraid . My DS is swinging back to university at the moment as his apprenticeship applications haven't been successful. I think he's realising it's not that easy out in the jobs market at the moment and at least university will give him some breathing space .

Interestingly @Monkey2001 at the Plymouth open day for marine science they say they are flexible on dropped grades and pay more attention to references, PS’s etc, because they say they have found no correlation between A level entry grades and how students do in the degree. They put up a graph of entry grades vs degree classification for the past 10 years or something and it was, indeed, a random distribution. So I do think that kids that scrape in to unis can do just as well as those who easily meet their offers