Page 30 | Year 13 2023/2024 - General support thread

Rollergirl11 · 2023-07-17T11:44:46+00:00

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

aramox1 · 30/11/2023 06:31

Been ages since I checked in, sorry! Good to see so many offers. We're way behind as ds's school UCAS deadline is not till today. At 3 am he texted asking if I had his GCSE certificates! I guess the form wasn't quite as complete as he promised a month ago.

Original poster

Rollergirl11 · 30/11/2023 19:08

Feel like I haven’t been on here for a bit. DD is absolutely shattered and is very much in need of a break over the Christmas holidays. This term has been full on and feels like it has lasted forever! 3 weeks left!
She has coursework due in before Christmas for both English and History. Her English teacher has given DD a couple of weeks leeway because of the prep she has had to do for Cambridge so she can hand in just before they break up rather than next week. She has her Cambridge interview next Thursday and I think then she will be thankful not to have Cambridge mentioned again until they hear in Jan.

We had her parents evening tonight in person. The last one. All her teachers said that she’s doing really well and has risen to the challenge of a stressful term that’s included UCAS application submitted, Cambridge assessment and interview and additional admin, mocks and first drafts of coursework.

She’s off to Winter wonderland on Sunday with her boyfriend and then a much needed inset day on Monday.

Cant believe it’s December tomorrow!! 🎄🎄🎄

OP posts:

ShanghaiDiva · 30/11/2023 19:59

@Rollergirl11
fingers crossed for your dd on Thursday; my dd has her interviews on Thursday too. She has heard from all five choices, so if it’s a rejection from Cambridge in January then it will be Bath and Exeter. She loves Bath and spent a week at Exeter in the medical micology department so whatever happens she will be happy, I feel.

MirandaWest · 30/11/2023 20:22

DD also worn out….but they have mocks after Christmas so she will probably be working most of the holidays no matter how I try and suggest otherwise.

She has Spanish part of Oxford interview on Monday and then the History part on Thursday. And then can hopefully forget about Oxford until 9th January when there will be the decision and she’ll be doing mocks.

Part of me hopes all her friends get in or none of them do. And definitely not all of them and not DD. Next week I think every day there’s at least one of them with at least one interview.

There's also DDs last parents evening (sadly online) on Tuesday and as she’s my younger one it’s my last parents evening ever…

IThinkIMadeItWorse · 30/11/2023 20:30

Well done to your DS @NeverForgetYourDreams he must have impressed them!

All the best to your DDs @Rollergirl11 @ShanghaiDiva and @MirandaWest DS has his Cambridge interview in person on Monday but he seems to be coming down with a cold, bad timing. Really hoping he's better by Monday! He has exams the week after so hopefully he will be able to properly relax over the Christmas holidays.

Aaarghthepancakes · 01/12/2023 07:09

After all the talk about UCAS, DC is finally getting their art portfolio ready for submission. It won't go in formally until after Christmas, but it's all go here as that, plus January Mocks, is making everything feel frantic. No real break for us until mid January now.

QueenMabby · 01/12/2023 08:57

@MirandaWest - my dd has mocks after Christmas too. Opposite to you, I'll be encouraging as much work as possible on the basis that he's probably actually doing about half of what he's telling me he's doing!

Best of luck for all Oxbridge interviews in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed all round.

@NeverForgetYourDreams - amazing news for your ds. Sounds like he's really done himself proud.

spacechimp79 · 01/12/2023 11:36

Good luck to all those with interviews over the next few weeks.
DS has his on Monday and seemingly doing no prep whatsoever so what will be, will be. I’ll be inwardly cross if he’s all stressed and panicky at 11pm on Sunday night.
No sign of any revision for January mocks either. Perhaps poor grades in those, will be the kick up the backside he needs.
Have a good weekend all!

MirandaWest · 05/12/2023 14:00

Keep worrying I’ll forget about this parents evening (DD won’t even be here to remind me as she has choir so won’t be here) so I have set myself an alarm for a few minutes before. Hopefully will remember what the alarm's for….

SooperOuting · 05/12/2023 19:06

All four offers in! 🎉🍾🥳🎉🍾🥳

The Marmite place we went to last week was a “no” so the fifth place remains empty. May fill it after mocks…

Lightsabre · 05/12/2023 19:13

Glad to hear more offers coming in and that interviews have started.

Ds has some offer holder emails through so we'll be back out on the road again. I need to double check the dates with him and he may need to go alone or with dh as I have very little leave left until April unfortunately. We'll need to drill down into things like the accommodation costs, timetables etc

IThinkIMadeItWorse · 05/12/2023 20:04

Congrats @SooperOuting has your DD got an idea of firm and insurance yet?

DS had an email today about "offer holder days" from one of his offers so that is something he will need to think about soon! He has mock exams at the beginning of next week so I'm hoping he will put some work in but he seems a bit too laid back about it all.

SooperOuting · 05/12/2023 21:26

IThinkIMadeItWorse · 05/12/2023 20:04

Congrats @SooperOuting has your DD got an idea of firm and insurance yet?

DS had an email today about "offer holder days" from one of his offers so that is something he will need to think about soon! He has mock exams at the beginning of next week so I'm hoping he will put some work in but he seems a bit too laid back about it all.

Has firm down to two, so will go to offer holder days. Insurance will be likely Lancaster.

WombatChocolate · 06/12/2023 08:14

We’ve had some offer holder day invitations too. Probably not planning to go to them as we visited in spring and know the rank order and what will be firms and insurance given different outcomes from the remaining options. I can see they are useful for those who did t get to go before applying and anyone uncertain ir changing their mind. I imagine you look at it all a bit differently too once you know you’ve got an offer.

SooperOuting · 06/12/2023 10:40

We visited both of the top two at Open Days and although DD has a slight leaning for one there’s not much between them. One the dept seemed friendlier so we want to see if the other one dept was a one off on Open Day or if that they are really a bit detached and not as engaging!

mondaytosunday · 08/12/2023 16:33

In the end my DD only went to visit one of the universities before she applied as we went to a few open days when she was going to do Animation, but as she switched direction after results day there wasn't much time this past Autumn - she rejected Exeter and Bristol after their open days. She's been informed about Durham offer holder days - one a month starting Feb. And Bath if she gets an offer. Unless she gets an offer from C she'll be heading to those offer days for sure. She's got an offer from Glasgow but that's fourth on the list (course seems great and beautiful buildings but so far away and four years).

MrsAvocet · 08/12/2023 16:50

DS has finally submitted his UCAS form. A fairly eclectic mix in the end as there are only 3 places that do the exact course he wants so the other 2 he has selected are only vaguely connected. They may be a bit confused by his personal statement which is clearly aimed at the course he really wants, but what can you do?! He's only been to one open day, at his top preference, but we will go to offer holder days if he gets them. My elder son didn't get to go to any open days at all due to Covid and things have worked out ok so I am trying to persuade myself that it doesn't matter that DS hasn't visited places either. He went to a couple with school but they weren't places on his shortlist. I feel a bit guilty as I was ill throughout the open day season and I think he would probably have gone to more otherwise. Not that I actually stopped him, but it did make things more difficult. Ah well, que sera, sera.

TenSheds · 08/12/2023 20:23

DD's planning to go to offer holder days for all but one, but like @Lightsabre I have minimal annual leave left. Fortunately one is a day trip that I don't need to tag along to, and one (yet to hear) would be Edinburgh and therefore probably in the next financial year. DD was pleasantly surprised by Exeter at the open day but wants to get a better feel for the place, while we went to Edinburgh over a year ago and she'd like to take another look if she gets an offer, so she can confirm her preference.

QueenMabby · 09/12/2023 07:54

We're likely to do a couple of offer holder days. DH went to all the open days with ds but I'm allowed to go with him on the offer holder days which is lovely.

Just had end of term grades for ds. A mixed bag. How do you get an A star in one half of a subject and a C in the other half????

Original poster

Rollergirl11 · 09/12/2023 10:24

DD has had emails about offer holder days too. She hasn’t done anything about them so far. I know she wants to go back to Exeter (despite us already going to the open day) as that is in the front running and she’s had an amazingly low offer from then. She was planning to go to Lancaster offer holder day as we didn’t get a chance to go to the open day. It was supposed to be her insurance but Exeters offer is actually lower than Lancaster now so there seems little point. I don’t know if she’ll go to Warwick or not. Still waiting to hear from Durham but it’s anyones guess if she’ll even hear before the offer holder days.

She had her Cambridge interview on Thursday. She doesn’t think it went well but there’s just no telling. We will forget about it now until January.

DC’s still have 2 weeks left at school which feels like an absolute age.

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sheepdogdelight · 09/12/2023 13:01

DD wants to go to an offer holder day at York (which was a her 2nd choice after the Open Day). It's too far to do as a day trip so we are torn between taking her up in the car so we can spend some time looking around York outside the campus (where the shops are; where students live in their 2nd and 3rd years etc) and suggesting she goes on the train as it will give her a taste of independence and travelling on her own.

StColumbofNavron · 09/12/2023 16:21

I think offer holder days will give something different to an open day, so if he gets offers from his top 2 and maybe 3rd I will encourage him to go as I think he will get far more sense than the 30 mins subject talk. I don’t expect him to want to go though, so perhaps that won’t happen.

Silkierabbit · 11/12/2023 17:13

DD had both her Oxford interviews with her chosen college for Economics & Management and knew today she wasn't being pooled to a second college so now its just wait until 9th Jan on that one. She enjoyed both interviews and liked the tutors but will have to wait to see if that results in an offer.

She's only applied to two others at the moment, LSE which only has a 5% offer rate for those without FM though so far they are only issuing rejections and she is still being considered but some excellent 4 A star candidates with FM being rejected. And Bristol which she put in late and needs another form doing by her lovely tutor who has gone long term sick but hopefully will be back in January and can get sorted then. They offer to 80% overall.

MrsAvocet · 11/12/2023 18:04

First offer received here. It's his fifth option so he isn't wildly excited, but it is emminently achievable so could be in the running for insurance choice depending on what other offers he gets. It's nice to have one in the bag so to speak anyway!

StColumbofNavron · 11/12/2023 22:08

DS1 has apparently now sent his PS to one of his history teachers. You would have thought that he might have approached them about it before, given he is planning to read history, but apparently not. Not super impressed with them to be honest, or maybe him for not sharing, but he did his EPQ on a historical subject and they had no idea! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway, he says he will submit this week.