Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other

[BlackBean2023]

A survival thread for Y12 parents (24/25) now that GCSEs are over and our young people move onto KS5

Oh, that is interesting! Thank you. We will soon have a UCAS info event in the school and I will ask if they would do the same for us. It would make total sense as it is during schooltime.

Thank you @JustHereWithMyPopcorn We would not even need a bus.

Had ds’s full report this week and it’s great to see that he is doing really well and on track for 3 A grades at AS level.

He is really loving his subject choices and it definitely shows in his level of commitment to them.

He’s also really enjoying his school sports and choir as well as his out of school activities. Sixth form really seems to suit him. I’m so pleased but we really do need to get organised with deciding which open days to go to!

DS' girlfriend is going to the UCAS Discovery event with her school too. DS' school are not going and will not give them any time for these types of events until the last half term of the year. He has booked his first open day though! LSE during Easter holidays.

He has a [not so] short list of others which all seem to have open days from late May to early July. A lot of clashes though so he's going to have to prioritise which he wants to attend.

DS is doing an Economics for A Level Students event at Uni of Cambridge next week. I am driving him and his friend so I'm going to have to find something to do in Cambridge for 8 hours - shouldn't be too hard

Morning, I can see everyone else is having the same thoughts as me on open days and clashes. I think DD has finally settled on looking at biomedical science which gives the option of choosing neuroscience at various points along the course. I feel this might be better than a specific neuroscience course which is what we were originally looking at.

Now the difficult choice of where to look. DD will most likely get whatever grades are required so it is more location/course that she needs to consider. Problem is atm she is so taken up with revising for test after test she doesn't have much time to be scrolling through endless uni websites and she gets fed up as she just doesn't know (or do we) which uni will be best. We are starting with the best ranking unis which are not too far away (we are north) so no London. So far we are going to open days at Warwick, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, maybe Lancaster (but I'm hoping school are doing a trip there). She has also talked about Oxford but that will be a total aspirational have a go, so not sure if it will happen, we are going to their open day in July.

I am keen for her to actually see the unis as I know how much they vary but it is a big commitment for us taking her, public transport is awful where we live so she won't be going on her own 😁.

Alongside these decisions DD is currently up and down navigating her part time job (which she loves and doesn't want to cut back) new boyfriend (who is not ideal for her) friendship wobbles and upcoming mocks..... 🙄if only it was academic stuff I had to worry about 😂. And ofc I know nothing and can't give any advice at all....

Does her 6th form have a careers service she can use to help? Dds have basically said don’t worry yet, which isn’t terribly helpful but reassuring in a way, she can make an appointment anytime and discuss options with them.

When I was choosing it helped to narrow down a little, I remember visiting a couple of unis and deciding I wanted a campus rather than city, after that it was really down to distance and number of bars on site!

Of those you list I only know Lancaster sil works there, the campus is nice, similar to other 60s unis, I went to Sussex and it felt similar, the town is cute and you’re not too far from Manchester, but it is going to be a very different experience as it’s a small town you’ll be very much in a uni bubble. I liked that at Sussex, but I know dd, having grown up in a little village is craving a city experience.

It’s so difficult I think. Dd wants to go to London, but she hasn’t really got experience of other cities and I think it’ll be more difficult to make friends than outside London? But what do I know?

Thanks @wonderstuff , you are right, there is a lot of time still. I think because she was previously considering dentistry the time frame was shorter so things were more important to do before summer. Now she has longer to decide/visit so maybe we'll just take a step back and let her concentrate on her endless subject tests.

dd had a uni event at college last week, lots of stalls from unis for post 18 options. She really enjoyed it, and is starting to get excited about post 18 options.
She is getting all excited about Leeds for Chemistry, for some very good reasons, but my heart sank. I suspect she is going to need support and if I could go and take her out for lunch once a month in first year, that would help a lot. (autism etc) Didn't do that for my older ones, but I think dd is going to need it.
Leeds is 3.5 hours from us.
It is also asking for AAB, and while she might get the AA (if she puts her mind to it) she is not likely to get the B in her third subject, and I am very much afraid that as stress ramps up next year, she will only just keep her head above water and end up with lower grades overall.

Really hard to know how to support her!

@steppemum they can apply for a few unis though can’t they, I wonder if Leeds as an aspirational application as well as somewhere nearer with a lower offer would be a plan. I would also talk to her, maybe nearer the time about practicalities of you visiting. It’s so difficult. My dd is the opposite, completely dismissing high grade courses because she’s not feeling confident and also would rather less pressure (and less work). I’m sure she’ll be fine but worry she’ll look back and wonder if she could have aimed higher.

How much difference do grades and particular universities make? I honestly don’t know. I know nothing about the subjects and fields she’s looking at!

It is hard isn't it?
My next one up is studying at Falmouth.
They visited and applied to several high level unis, Cardiff, Swansea etc. All asking for AAB. For computer science.
They had straight 8s and GCSE so AAB was not unrealistic.
They also applied with an interview for Falmouth, which was quite a different course. No end of course exams, lots of practical stuff, and a big crossover with the arts department, which is unusual for Computing.

In the end they did not do well in A levels, but Falmouth still took them, based on their interview.
They have come to realise that they are not good at exams, and that Falmouth has been a perfect fit. They are flying and loving it. And have changed course slightly to something quite niche.

She does loads at our local theatre! Helps with props, costumes, stage management and ushering. She also dances. She's not sure about whether to do a degree of try and find an apprenticeship. She's looking for stage management/prop making type degrees.

Ah yes, the open day dilemma! DD has ones booked for Glasgow, Hull York, Sheffield and Leeds for Medicine and DS is off to LSE, Durham, Warwick and UCL for Law.
We will get some financial help as it’s an expensive business ferrying twins around!
Both want to fit in Manchester too.

@Curlyshabtree can you point us in the right direction of where to look for financial help to attend open days?

@Muchtoomuchtodo when DS booked an open day last week the info was on the booking page https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/meet-visit-and-discover-LSE/visit-lse/LSE-Travel-Fund so I think you must apply to each university individually.

@bluefineliner we are similar, except in the South, so DS wants to go everywhere as the courses he thinks he is interested in are offered at most universities in the country. His long list is currently: LSE, UCL, KCL, Warwick, Bristol, Oxford, Exeter and Surrey.

His school are running an LNAT workshop event today so he will go to this. They do seem to be ramping up the post-school options information now. The year 12 History class had a Q&A session with a former cabinet minister last week which DS really enjoyed. He wavers between Law and History/Politics. I have suggested he look at PPL or PPE.

Thanks @Waspie . DS has just started looking and has several different universities that he’d like to visit but most will need an overnight stay and the train fares are eye watering. We’re just starting to get back on track after DH was made redundant and was out of work (well, delivering for a supermarket rather than his usual professional role) so I will definitely look into what is available.

Finally, back to school today. Iceland trip, half term, and work experience have made it a long break.
Progress checks are due today and parents evening next week. DS is not thrilled, which probably tells a tale.

If you have a bursary from college then check there is funds available. On the uni pages there is a section whereby you can claim travel expenses if you meet the criteria. Hope that helps

We’re visiting 2 unis in Scotland over 2 nights (1 open day, 1 self guided tour), and it’s costing £900, of which half is a dog sitter as the usual person isn’t available.

DD has reluctantly accepted she will have to visit the English unis alone, as day trips. The furthest one would have cost nearly £200 for my train fare. And we couldn’t have managed it in a day trip as the trains here don’t start early enough. If she goes alone it costs £60 on the train and I can drive her into London to get the first train (and no dog care required). DD is grumpy about going alone but I’ve pointed out she’s thinking about living there so she should be able to manage a day trip!

DD is doing a couple of taster days at Oxford (already done one and loved it), and will go to the open day. I am not looking forward to the application process for this.

Luckily that is one she can get to alone with no worries! Except the one she’s done so far ended up with cancelled trains, so I had to drive to get her , and ended up getting a bus lane fine 🤦‍♀️

@Countrylife2002 DS has also done a taster day at Oxford and really enjoyed it. He wants to apply but realistically hasn't a snowballs chance, I shall remain supportive though.

Interesting you are both mentioning Oxford as DD was considering it until this weekend when she had a crisis of confidence and decided against it. Yesterday she was told she could have a place on schools trip to Oxford at the end of this month as someone had dropped out, so now she is going, but seems to be losing any confidence she had from the fear of failing to get in (which she knows is the most likely outcome).

It is hard to advise because she is capable of getting grades but as @Countrylife2002 says, the application process will be awful. We will have to see what she thinks when she has visited I think.

DS is going to apply to Oxford. He knows that, as @JustHereWithMyPopcorn says, he doesn't have a snowballs chance really, but has the attitude that he has nothing to lose from the experience.

His careers teacher said that students need to decide if they want to go to Oxbridge, or if they want to study the subject they want to study. If it's Oxbridge for Oxbridge's sake they should tactically apply for the course with the highest acceptance rates (Classics with MFL was cited as an example).

We are lucky that it is quite local to us so there is no big expense involved in going to the open day in July. DS has ruled out Scottish and northern English unis so, with the exception of Exeter, open days will be days trips.

He has booked an open day at Birmingham. It's further away than he wanted but it's DH's old uni and he desperately wants to take DS to see it!

He has managed to get work experience though -Yay!

DS ruled out Oxbridge, but LSE is still in play. He is surprisingly mature and worries about costs (mostly his food 🤣). He will look at the actual courses he is interested in and student evaluations.
Warwick would be DH's suggestion.
I support Durham or Edinburgh.
No trips booked yet, because DH doesn't want LSE to be our first open day. 🤦‍♀️
Train ticket prices are extortionate, but I am looking forward to it. I didn't do anything like that as a student, as I just went to my home country's LSE - which I visited many times before.
DS also doesn't want to miss any schooldays before mocks. He missed enough for sports already.

DD’s top 3 are all ridiculously competitive and she could well get none of them. No 4 she should get and no 5 is insurance . So I’ve made it clear she really must be completely happy with no 4. Unfortunately as no 4 is in Scotland we’re going a self guided tour of it instead of the open day to save costs so that we can combine 2 Scottish uni visits on one trip.

@Waspie how I wish DD could take your DS's pragmatic view on applying 😂.

I have been spurred on to contact her biology teacher to see her view of DD now too, so she will advise her from a different perspective, which will be great as DD holds her in very high regard and will listen to her over me any day!