Year 13 2023/2024 - General support thread

[Rollergirl11]

It’s now the time for our young adults to sit their final year at sixth form/college. Everyone is welcome!

DS list keeps changing but currently Lancaster, York, Warwick, Loughborough and Nottingham (swapped with Bath). Personal statement with form tutor for a review.

On the discussion of accommodation costs DD is going into year 2 at Cardiff and has turned out to be a good price for accommodation. First year in halls was £5600 for 43 week en-suite and this year in a student house of 6 with 3 bathrooms £3960 plus bills for 12 month let. It’s definitely something to consider and makes York look very pricey in comparison.

@MrsAvocet that's fabulous news on the driving. DS has his theory test on Monday but I gather waiting times for the practical test are still long locally. We will then have the dilemma of whether DS buys a car!

So far Durham is the only firm option for DS but we have several open day visits lined up & he's just identified Sussex as a potential insurance choice too so that's good as all his other choices have very similar grade requirements.

@Lightsabre I can see the merits of getting the personal statement & applications. A bit irritated that we don't have visibility of school's deadlines for the PS or for final predicted grades. In the meantime DS is still hoping to add some super curricular reading etc to the PS...

I'm really pleased with DS's positive attitude so far this term. He's joined two subject specific WhatsApp groups with his classmates & a group of them did an extra economics task together after school today. School also shared the feedback today that they gathered from the company where he did his work experience, which was excellent...a nice proud mum moment!

Sounds like your ds has an excellent attitude @legosunqueen, you must be so proud. I think it's positive that there isn't any pressure re; deadlines as your ds can add bits and take his time to really think the PS and UCAS choices through. Ds's will probably compare unfavourably with the later ones so I hope the uni's don't make it a focal point of their decision making.

Those Cardiff accommodation costs are very reasonable @PaddingtonPaddington , some of the cheapest I've heard of.

Warwick seems to be a love it or hate it place. We weren't too enamoured with Coventry but Leomington where a lot of the second years live is nice. For me, Bath has the edge but ds thinks Warwick is ahead on reputation (for STEM). Not sure how true that is? Perhaps @poetryandwine can help?

@Lightsabre this attitude is a new development after a few bumps in year 12 so all the more pleasing!

My worry is that we'll suddenly find out about a deadline & DS will then have a mad rush. It's great that the students are treated as responsible but last year this meant that parents had a lack of visibility as updates were sent to students but not to parents..as an example, DS was allowed to drop Maths A level without any engagement with parents by the school, which seemed very odd to me!

Hi, @Lightsabre Warwick and Bath are both topnotch for STEM. Historically Warwick has the edge but Bath has come on strong recently and was the Times University of the Year for 2023.

Most importantly, an individual DC will do best where they are truly thriving. Sometimes one place will utterly captivate them at Open Day or Offer Holders’ Day or even by reputation. Usually intelligent DC benefit from following these instincts.

If it is an excellent programme with strong links to employers and PG programmes as a STEM programme at Bath and Warwick is likely to be, I would simply encourage the enthusiasm and try to use it to encourage best performance at A levels.

@Lightsabre
my ds graduated from Warwick two years ago and lived In a shared house in Coventry in years two and three. Leamington is much more attractive but taking the bus from Leamington to campus can be a painful journey. You really need to stay on campus all day, even if you have lectures/seminars only at the beginning and end of the day, as it is too time consuming to go there and back again. Accommodation is also considerably cheaper in Coventry.

Well DD is already stressed out and they have only been back a week!

She has a different teacher for one of the History strands. She has set the work going forward and they have 3 essays to write and hand in every week. That’s just for 1 out of the 3 strands for History. One of her English lit teachers has given them their homework up until Feb which DD says is daunting. College have now also introduced 3 sessions of “Directed Study” periods per fortnight. They will have additional work set for these sessions that is more then the time allotted so this then becomes extra homework to complete.

But the last straw came yesterday when she finally managed to get some time with her English teacher for him to review her PS. She sent it to him at the end of last term and he was supposed to have provided feedback but he never did. The internal deadline for early apps is next Friday. She basically sat with him for over an hour after college whilst he pretty much rewrote the entire thing. It wasn’t even a collaborative effort with him suggesting alternative wording and phrasing and explaining what might work better. He just sat and wrote. She came home totally disheartened. I am really annoyed with him. It doesn’t seem right; are they supposed to do this? Seems totally at odds with the application process and not in the spirit of things. DD doesn’t even like what he has written and she is supposed to be able to potentially talk at length about it if she gets an interview. Plus it’s just given her more work to do on it now for an already very tight deadline next week. Also there was absolutely nothing wrong with hers other than needing a few tweaks here and there. Both DD and I have read lots of English PS and have a fair idea on expectations. The teachers effort just read like pretentious cringey waffle.

We were supposed to be going to the Lancaster open day tomorrow but DD couldn’t get the time off work. I don’t think she’s in the mood for it at the moment so think just as well we’re not going!

@Rollergirl11 that's awful re. the PS.

It's supposed to be her statement and the Oxbridge interviews are on what is in them, mostly speaking, especially if she is applying for History or English.

My DS is just finishing early entry for History at Oxford.

His school has been fantastic with his history teacher available for PS advice all over the summer. It's a state college but was in the Times Educational Supplement for being one of the best at Oxbridge in the country. I can see why.

His application will now be submitted on Monday, relieved to have it out of the way.

Mm, that's tricky @Rollergirl11 but does she feel able to point out to the teacher that that's not the language she would have used? Or will she let you contact the teacher?

That truly is aeful, OP.

The PS should be in your DD’s voice and I cannot imagine that waffle will help. Are there any redeeming features to the revisions that she can adopt? More interesting or complex sentence structure? Any good ideas (that she could put into better language)?

Agree with PP that if she gets an interview in a Humanities subject it may circle back to any intellectual content in the PS. The PS should not delve into areas where she lacks expertise.

This guy has defeated its purpose.

Thanks for all your comments. I think she is going to cherry pick items where he has taken her content but used more sophisticated language and sentence structure. He removed the majority of what she had written on Shakespeare which is just bizarre. He’s even slightly changed the subject and research of her EPQ that she references, i assume so that he could make it sound more academic and like a research paper. But it’s not what DD wrote about in her EPQ and she would not feel confident talking about if it were picked up in the interview. In essence she is taking bits she likes and slotting back in to hers. She will have a meeting with the Early apps coordinator and deputy head of college during the week where they will review her application (PS included). So there will be one last sanity check but thankfully not from her English teacher (something I thought I’d never say!)

@Rollergirl11 that's shocking & very poor for your DD's confidence. Cherry-picking but keeping it true to her own views & EPQ topic & expertise is definitely the right approach but you both could have done without the stress caused by his arrogant approach.

DS still hasn't had feedback from school on his first draft. His Economics tutor offered to review it...but rather than rewrite it will give him some verbal feedback & pointers over Skype next week.

There has been a left field development on uni choices, in that DS has decided that he doesn't want to put an insurance choice down in the initial application. His rationale is that if he doesn't make the predicted grades, he would rather retake & apply the following year. He has also decided he shouldn't arbitrarily rule out London universities so we now have an a Open Day at Kings College in the diary.

It's been a brutal week for DS with a lot of homework plus he did a extra shift at the restaurant to cover for a colleague which ended up being a late night, so is tired. Needs to revise this weekend for his driving theory test which is on Monday...I will also be revising over this weekend & the next as I have a professional exam at the end of the month, feels slightly ridiculous at my age 😂

@legosunqueen he should ensure that the universities he would like to go to will accept any retake. It might only be MN or I might have come across this somewhere that for some unis grades have to have been achieved in the same sitting - so he would have to retake all of his A levels together rather than just one. I don’t think it applies to all unis though, so worth keeping in mind.

I am not sure if DS1 will end up with an insurance, he has shortlisted AAA-AAB but if Edinburgh or Liverpool are his front runners then he won’t have a back up.

I've been so scared by the number of people this year who seem to have had their insurance choice at only one grade on one subject below their first choice who then missed both form and insurance on results day that I've said to ds that he ought to look at one choice that's a bit lower.
We're off to Keele next month. Think it's BBB so much lower than bath at A star, A A!

Nothing back on the PS either although ds had a double enrichment lesson this week on the Ucas process.

@StColumbofNavron I didn't realise that, thanks for flagging...it's a minefield!

@QueenMabby that happened to my DN (missed both firm and insurance which was only one grade lower) They have now found a course they're happy with through clearing but it was a bit stressful on results day I think!

DS has a meeting on Monday afternoon to go over his personal statement and UCAS form stuff. The deadline for early application is around the beginning of October I think and it would be good if it was out of the way by then as he has assessments then as well.

@Rollergirl11 can't believe that teacher was so unhelpful. Surely it is dishonest if you submit a "personal statement" which has been written by somebody else! Glad she is going to adapt it back into her own voice.

Is this the last year that the PS will be used? DC is convinced it is. They've cobbled something together but because they want to apply for art school, they don't think it's required, so the amount of effort they've put in isn't huge. It'll be reviewed next week so we'll find out.

Yes I've heard that too - that this is the last year of using the PS.

Precisely to avoid things like that teacher. I’m glad DD feels able to stick to her guns though, this whole thing says more about him than her.

I’m so angry and want to say something to the teacher but DD has forbid it. She feels quite sad about it all. This teacher (and his wife) have taught her English lit since Year 9. They have been immensely supportive of her over the years and have been her best ambassadors. They started DD on her Oxbridge journey back in Year 10 by putting her in touch with an exe student studying English at Cambridge (but they have talked about it even before then). Even back then I thought it was a bit too early and intense and I know that DD feels pressure to live up to their expectations. Up until now I have always said that this teacher only wants what is best for her. But it is now evident that he is completely fixated on DD going to Cambridge. He isn’t interested in talking about any of her other university choices and he poo poos any of her concerns when she voices that she’s not sure if Oxbridge is the right environment for her. I think it’s safe to say that the rose-tinted glasses have come off for DD and she has lost a little respect; which is what she is most sad about.

That’s very bad, OP. Even if DD gains admission - and most fully qualified applicants do not - she will need to assess whether Oxbridge is the right environment for her. It is a fantastic opportunity and it usually is right, but not always. Teachers who fail to recognise this do pupils a disservice.

That is shocking @Rollergirl11 and I can see why you want to say something - not least to make him think twice next time. This kind of pressure / expectation from teachers and schools, when DCs' best interests are not their main priority, can be really harmful I think. It makes it all harder, even for your DD who understands what is happening and has you backing her up. (Especially if they don't get a place.) Others might not be so switched on and well-supported.

@Rollergirl11
blimey that sounds completely bonkers and unsettling for your dd. DD’s teachers have offered advice but not attempted a complete rewrite. Thankfully your dd has one last sanity check.

@Rollergirl11 that sounds all a bit much from the teacher.
DS got feedback on his PS from his form tutor with some suggestions of adding a few more examples and to take out the paragraph about his part time job as it took up valuable space. Hopefully the second draft will be it all done fingers crossed.

Anyone else’s DC debating between BSc 3 years and the integrated masters 4 year courses? It looks like you can swap between the 2 once you’ve started (or so they’ve said at open days).

@PaddingtonPaddington - we're in this situation. Ds wants a year in industry too which would make the integrated masters course 5 years!

I think he's going to apply for the BSc with a year in industry and see how he gets on when he gets there and tries to move if he decides he wants more academia!