End of Year 13: Results, Summer and plans for September and onwards

[Rollergirl11]

Noticed the current thread is almost full so thought I better start a new one for discussing results day and our DC’s plans for uni/gap years or anything else!

Sorry should have tagged @TenSheds in my Nottingham essay 🤦‍♀️

@TenSheds Newcastle is our nearest big city and lots of local kids go there. They don't do the course my DS is interested in so he didn't apply but I'd have been very happy for him to go there if he had wanted to. I can't tell you much specifically about the University but I know the city and surrounding area fairly well. It's quite a compact city centre so it's fairly easy to get around on public transport (there's an underground system as well as buses) It's pretty vibrant these days, lots of cultural stuff and lots of nightlife, plus good shopping both in the city centre and at the Metro Centre over in Gateshead.There are some lonice green spaces in the city to escape to if need be though - Jesmond Dene is a really good place to while away a bit of time - and there's easy access to the NE coast and the wide open spaces of Northumbria if you're into outdoor stuff. There are areas of deprivation like any city of course but overall I'd day it's a good place to live. Quite a few of my friends' childrenand my children's friends have been or are currently at either Newcastle Uni or Northumbria Uni which is also in Newcastle and they seem to have had broadly very positive experiences.
My SIL went to Royal Holloway and loved it but it was a very long time ago so probably things have changed a lot.

@TenSheds Newcastle is our nearest big city and lots of local kids go there. They don't do the course my DS is interested in so he didn't apply but I'd have been very happy for him to go there if he had wanted to. I can't tell you much specifically about the University but I know the city and surrounding area fairly well. It's quite a compact city centre so it's fairly easy to get around on public transport (there's an underground system as well as buses) It's pretty vibrant these days, lots of cultural stuff and lots of nightlife, plus good shopping both in the city centre and at the Metro Centre over in Gateshead.There are some lonice green spaces in the city to escape to if need be though - Jesmond Dene is a really good place to while away a bit of time - and there's easy access to the NE coast and the wide open spaces of Northumbria if you're into outdoor stuff. There are areas of deprivation like any city of course but overall I'd day it's a good place to live. Quite a few of my friends' childrenand my children's friends have been or are currently at either Newcastle Uni or Northumbria Uni which is also in Newcastle and they seem to have had broadly very positive experiences.
My SIL went to Royal Holloway and loved it but it was a very long time ago so probably things have changed a lot.

Sorry, don't know why that posted twice!

It's all feeling a bit stressful now. We have plans A-D as follows:

Plan A - gets grades - goes to firm choice

Plan B - just misses grades and goes for plan B choice - they are in clearing and ds interviewed and had an offer from there - they just lost out to firm choice due to no year in industry.

Plan C - insurance choice. He has a big gap grades-wise between firm and insurance.

Plan D: All has gone to pot and he's missed everything - year out, re-takes and apply again. Both current firm choice and plan B choice unis take re-sits.

I feel marginally better now we have a plan but ds currently in the "I've failed everything" part of the run-up which isn't helping!

He's out playing golf this afternoon - I'm encouraging him to keep busy.

Thanks Louis We are also keeping very busy so no time to think. DD is working today and tomorrow.

Thank you @Rollergirl11 @stoneysongs and @MrsAvocet for all your really helpful info! DD isn't one for nightlife but would like some amenities, so that might rule out RH. The others sound good though. She'd be thrown by a change of plan, but doesn't really want a year out. I can hear her raving to friends about her firm at the moment (they're all so excited about their new lives) so I guess she's feeling pretty confident.

Newcastle - nice buildings, fab city, good nightlife, (tho stag nights etc at weekends). Definitely worth considering! Sounds like a great list @TenSheds .

@TenSheds Im from Nottinghamshire, and DD2 is going to NTU (nottingham trent) this September (on a gap year currently). Nottingham has really great links to the city centre. Theres a tram thats from Uni of notts campus to the city. Nottingham is great for clubbing, but also good for non clubbers like my DD. Shes done with friends, bowling, iceskating, escape rooms, adventure golf, cinema at the corner house, arcades. Walks at the arboretum and wollaton park, and the canal, nottingham castle, the caves, galleries of justice. lots of restaurants in the city as well. Nottingham uni is out of the city on a leafy green campus, its a really nice uni.

I really hope everything goes well on alevel results day. Had to go through it last year with gap year DD2, and the emotions during the 6 weeks were from one extreme to the other. I was part of a 2020 mumsnet thread with DD1 and thats been and gone now as they all graduated; but do remember on results day, as well as the lead up to uni the thread just flew. They kept running up to the 20 pages and having to start a new thread lol. It got to 13 threads in the end. This one will also fly so I will definitely remember to placemark lol

Sounds like a great place to be! Thanks to you and @aramox1 .

DS hasn't even looked at clearing. Since his insurance have dropped their offer it would take some kind of major disaster for him not to get in there. He says that if he's done that badly he wouldn't want to go to anywhere that would have him, and he'd need to resit or think of something totally different. I guess that makes sense, but I think I will encourage him to have a quick look next week as it can't do any harm.

Am I right in thinking Clearing is not available now until Results day because of the embargo? UCAS and the universities have the results now?

You can still browse the courses that are available, but there will be some significant changes between now and Thursday as places become confirmed or not. Yes, unis have the results now 😬

I’m sure UCAS/schools/universities get results only 24 hours before. Actually midnight. So 32 hours before they become public.

UCAS/Universities got the results from yesterday afternoon - there is a lot of work to be done. Schools get them the day before results day.

Exeter is dd’s insurance and she would be able to live at home so plan b is considerably cheaper than meeting her Bath offer. Her course at Exeter was in clearing when I looked last week.

The info from my DC's preferred University said that they received results "a day or two" before results day, so I was assuming they'd get them early next week.
I had a nosey at clearing last night and neither my DS's firm nor insurance have his course in clearing currently. Obviously things may change on the day, but I was a bit surprised as I had assumed his insurance had reduced their offer because the course was already under subscribed. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems strange.

I'm going into pointless over analysis mode now though...what will be will be. I just want it over now though. Fortunately we have a busy few days coming up to provide distraction.

My son remains quite relaxed. I think he will be OK, but am a bit worried he has over adjusted from his mocks in January. He felt he did terribly on one of the maths papers (and to be fair he did for him) but did well in the other
paper and still got an A star. In Latin (which he also wasn’t confident on) he only missed the A star by 2 marks on the basis of the 2023 paper and was so much better, particularly at the translations after a full term’s extra practice and revision time. He did think he did well in History and was a bit disappointed to only get an A, but it turned out the mark for one of the papers was entered incorrectly (by 10 marks!) so he should have had a very secure A star for that.

I’ve had a quick look at clearing and there are definitely some options if things don’t go well. We also came up with a plan Z - stick at his current job and do a 4 year evening degree at Birkbeck. Kind of a home-made degree apprenticeship but one where he still gets to do a History degree rather than something more vocational.

What do we think the results will be this year. Weren’t the Scottish results lower than expected? If so, I don’t reckon this will be a bumper year for results. Last years weren’t great either from what I remember and universities had to reduce their offers.
Obvs hoping for the opposite!

I think your DS will be just fine @Jaxx and will get what he needs.

DD hasn’t prepared any other plans or looked at clearing but it’s unlikely she won’t make her firm offer.

I have literally just remembered that she is eligible for Cambridge’s summer pool. I don’t think DD will want to reapply on Thursday but if she meets her predicted grades (higher than course requirement) or gets higher then maybe she might consider one last push…

That is quite exciting @Rollergirl11 . I’ll keep everything crossed for her!

Can I ask a stupid question. If my dds choice is in clearing does it mean they lower the points needed?

My eldest didn't go for clearing so I don't know what to expect if we need to go down that route

Hi socks

Not necessarily. Things can change in clearing - the best thing to do is look on Wednesday evening, that should give a better idea.

If they have dropped the entry requirements Weds evening/Thurs morning for the course in clearing, then they would likely accept that lower grade for existing offers.

Thank you that's really helpful!
She should be ok but planning just in case