Thread 38 Covid Cohort, After Results Day

[CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee]

ALL our children are heroes of their own stories, they have thrived through a once in a century catastrophe and they will succeed

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results (life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). 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 Sept?

Previous thread

www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/4613457-thread-37-covid-cohort-2020-results-thread-heroes-of-their-own-stories

@PhotoDad LOL. Yes, FB is not for the yoooth!!!!

Ds has joined the FB (he had to sign up specially too) but its very quiet so far, the downside of a small uni I suppose. Need to remind him to check it again. He's not keen on the idea of talking to "strangers on the internet" though and neither is DD, they both worry about saying the wrong thing and have largely avoided SM so far.

Can anyone calm my rising panic, please?
DD is off to Reading today, so off grid until Monday.
Is there anything she should have done to confirm her place at Birmingham? Or is it an opt out, rather than an opt in, ie you have a deadline to decline your place, rather than a deadline to confirm?

She hasn’t registered yet, but has booked and paid the deposit for accommodation.
Im terrified she should have done something to firm her place and will miss a deadline somewhere!

That's fair enough about not wanting to talk to people online in case you mess things up! But it did help my DD (in fact she went camping over the summer with a future classmate and they went hillwalking and birdwatching together, which was nice).

@Alsoplayspiccolo My DD (admittedly a different uni) didn't do anything to confirm, and just the other day got a bunch of "now please register with us/set up your email/etc" emails with no further action. I think that's the case for most people!

What great news to log into - well done @cheninblanc, @Zebracat & @mango0 .

DD loves to go out to parties & small clubs but she has admitted that she is worried as she keeps hearing that Nottingham Uni is party central and crazy and isn't into that. I've told her not everyone will be like like at all. She is definitely anxious about going is worried about lectures - not being able to concentrate for hours at a time, being afraid she will be picked on to answer a question in front of hundreds of people, not being able to cough, sniff, having to be silent! I've reminded her that it won't be church quiet, people will be taping on keyboards etc which made her feel better.

4 of her friends who are going to Manchester Met haven't found accommodation! They are talking about having to defer....

@Takeittotheboss Thanks for the heads up re Rutland, is there anything else DD should know? Are the room super hot/cold? We have about 5 on here I think in Rutland this coming year so any further info would be great :-)

Well done to @Zebracat - your determination has paid off! I really hope you can change things for future kids in kinship care. @cheninblanc - great news about your dd too!

dd is supposed to be off to a friend’s tonight and Reading tomorrow, but we still need to track down a rucksack, which she’s hopefully borrowing from a non-responsive friend 🤞 But she also feels unwell - sore throat and headache 😬 I know she’ll still go as she won’t want to let friend down, but I wouldn’t like to feel ill at a festival.

I was very sheltered before uni - not allowed to go to pubs/parties etc. I was good with public transport though as I’d been going shopping in the nearest city since around 14. It was fine, maybe just a bigger step up for me than it will be for dd. I was talking to my sister about her experience which wasn’t so good - she said she should have just said yes to all the nights out in the first few weeks, even though she wasn’t keen, as she ended up being a bit excluded. To be honest, for me, starting work at a big 4 accountancy firm was similar. You just have to push yourself out of your comfort zone initially.

When my second child (quite shy) was getting ready to go, his older sister told him that even if some people appear confident & know what they are doing, inside everyone is the same, slightly anxious about making friends & coping with a new situation

DD has chosen not to join any Facebook stuff - she’s spotted that the group for her accommodation isn’t very active, so she’s unlikely to find her flatmates (somewhere, buried in an email, she has her exact flat and room details). And I think I know what else is going on in her head - a picture of someone is very different to the living breathing individual. I know I’d hate to be presented with a picture and some text chat from a person I’d be living with in 2.5 weeks; I’d rather wait for the real thing.

We went to Bristol Ikea, on Wednesday; I was amused by the number of middle-aged adult/late teen combos buying duvets and cheap saucepans. I particularly liked the woman telling her teen not to buy the translucent pop-up laundry bin as everyone would be able to see her knickers.

Also - DS hasn't done anything to accept his place and they're still emailing him as if they're expecting him! I don't think there's any rush to register, for Nottingham anyway, they said there would be an email at the beginning of September.

Would she give you her login so that you can check each day for anything that needs sorting immediately? Even if you didn't make any decisions you could reply to say she's away and back next week.

@Heifer DD going to NTU(1st choice was York so quite different) and is worried about party/wild rep. Lots of people have reassured her but I think they just have to see for themselves. Plenty of of all types everywhere. She was also worried York would be too quiet so I think they’ll just worry if that’s their nature.

@Alsoplayspiccolo we’ve done the registration but didn’t see a deadline on it. It said ‘we recommend you do this as soon as possible so that you can start to enjoy being a student of the university!’ Just as a tip, though, having seen you’re in Wales too, they ask for a Student Support Number which is supposedly on the student finance documentation. Maybe it is from Student Finance England but it wasn’t on anything we could find from Student Finance Wales - we had to ring to get it & DD had to be there for that call.

benji, have you got accommodation sorted at NTU yet?

Anyone got a recommendation for a ca. £500 laptop? I find the choice so overwhelming.DS has a huge clunky thing. Perfectly solid but very slow and wants to use some savings to get a new one.

For Notts Rutlanders. My Dd was one of those club going folks, but her advice for meeting people was to go to the Rutland organised events in Freshers Week. Also mealtimes, make an effort to sit with different people and have a few words,plus go to the common room.
People are allocated rooms randomly remember so may not gel with immediate neighbours( she was on an entire corridor of boys, which was intially off-putting both socially and for toiletries).

No @Piggywaspushed we havens heard and I’m a bit concerned. She had to request 3 choices in order but they were price points/type of accommodation not names of. She’s at her friends and I’ve just text her but probably asleep. I can see this all going wrong and she then won’t go!

It's a bit of a bunfight at NTU - but that does suggest there are at least spots available.

Poem accommodation isn't all that close to the uni. But the stuff at the uni is a) overpriced (nice though) and b) one specific halls is indeed partaaaaay central. Doubt there is accommodation left there, though, tbh.

There is also some good private stuff near the actual uni site.

Several kids I have taught ended up in the cheaper further away Hall and actually really liked it.

Loving reading all of the updates on here!

We're away, leaving DS at home for the week. Really regretting choosing this week for our holiday as worrying that DS may not be checking emails etc. Accommodation was all sorted before we left, but I'm guessing there could be communication from Uni - he hadn't really heard much from Reading before we left.

Life admin has never been his strong point, maybe now he'll sort that out!

poem = some!

Should have asked... which campus is sociology on?

Delighted to hear all the progress from everyone and shopping plans. Particularly pleased for you and yours @Zebracat - amazing news.

Ds is very chilled. He has been donated a pack of kitchen stuff from a friend whose Dd has just graduated. He is happy with that. Really just bedding and maybe a big cushion to get. He got his first choice accommodation confirmed yesterday so that was a real plus especially as Bristol sent a pessimistic email about allocation a couple of weeks ago.

It’s at City. How do you know all this @Piggywaspushed ?

DS1 applied there and we actually got to accommodation booking stage.

It was util v recently the most popular uni destination for my school.

I'm getting increasingly unchilled!

Got to sort

laptop
CTF
savings account transfer
bedding etc
new clothes (he has none!)
forcing him to look at freshers' stuff

and I go back to work next Thursday at which point trips to banks become a write off.

The banking thing is never as straightforward as they make it sound!

I am so pleased to hear Zebracat's update. It really is an area that needs to be looked at for others.

And glad your dd has a plan she is happy with Chenin. Stuff Falmouth.

I was amazed yesterday at how easy it was to open a student account with Santander - no ID required, just the UCAS status code, is that normal?

My DS and I have Asus, my DD has Acer. The DC both have entry level "gaming" laptops (about £600?) -- DS is a gamer, DD isn't but needs strong graphics for art/design apps. All very happy with those systems, no problems over several years.

@singingstones dd said she opened an account with NatWest and they didn’t ask for anything in terms of ID. Maybe she put in her passport number? I’m not too worried as I think student finance have her existing current account details so her loan will go there. What issues are you having with banking @Piggywaspushed ?

Dd doesn’t think she’s had any uni emails since results day. Generally speaking she’s pretty independent and manages her own admin, so I think I’ll leave her to it. I do want her to book moving in day soon though. Do any Rutland folk know if it’s possible to move in on Saturday? I’m out of annual leave with the move and so is dh. Plus I’ve just realised I’ll have to take time to drive her back to Bham for her driving test on the Thursday.