Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other (Thread 2)

[BlackBean2023]

You’re a chatty lot… continue

That’s what ours are too @JustHereWithMyPopcorn - or a bargain £380 for 10 hours!

It was £32 per hour or £300 for 10 hours when ds1 learnt 2 years ago.

That's exactly what our instructor offered for 10 lessons too! Do we have the same instructor?? 😄 For my DS1 we paid £34 three years ago so looks like inflation has hit your area harder.

DD loved Exeter today

That’s great! What is she interested in studying? (apologies, you’ve probably said up thread somewhere).

So glad Exeter was a hit @BlackBean2023! DD is now regretting not going (today or tomorrow) although we have visited the campus in the past. She will now have to pick from the competing charms of Edinburgh and Exeter for their clashing 4 October date.

Was it teeming? Well organised?

It didn’t feel too busy but I suspect tomorrow might be busier. I didn’t feel like it was a particularly good ‘sell’ but she was sold on the location; weather probably helped as it was glorious and we had time to get dinner by the quay.

She wants to study history and the modular make up of the course at Exeter is appealing. She’s applied to Exeter Scholarship but won’t hear until next week - if she’s successful for the summer residential it’s a guaranteed contextual offer so I suspect she’ll end up firming Exeter.

She’s decided to drop her 4th A Level today - the admissions team were clear they just need three good grades and that subjects aside from specific subject requirements don’t matter. She’s wanted to drop RS over business studies because of the fact it’s content heavy and she’s also studies history and sociology but I’ve been reticent for her to drop it over business studies- it was reassuring today and I think it’s given her the motivation to really get her head down for the high grades.

Sounds like a really good, positive day @BlackBean2023!

DH and DS go tomorrow. Their train arrives at 9.15am and DS is booked on five different talks - history, PPE, law and flexible combined honours - which seems quite unique to Exeter (from what I've seen anyway).

That sounds like a very worthwhile day @BlackBean2023.

we’re heading down tomorrow, hopefully it won’t be too much busier! 🤞🏻

@Waspie I’d be really grateful to hear what your DS thinks of the Flexible Combined Honours talk. How that really works is one area you can’t really get a full sense of from a website.

I will @JessyCarr . I agree, it's hard to get a good understanding from the website. Hopefully, while DS attends the talk, DH will be able to find an opportunity to talk to the staff about how the course would work in practice. DS would be looking at combining three subjects, which the website says requires discussion with them in advance before they would accept the application.

Absolutely @Waspie. If we go to the October open day it will really be to ask similar sorts of questions (and in particular how the year abroad would fit in - one strand would be a non-European language). Other course options are available, but the dream combination would be “bespoke” and feels a bit risky!

We have enjoyed Exeter yesterday. It was buzzing but well organised and didn’t feel too busy. Economics was the only talk we did which was prospective students only, I could sit in in all the others (PPE, law, politics and IR). Very good impression overall and the weather definitely helped!

DS and DH had a great time at Exeter yesterday. They were complimentary about the organisation of the day, and the approachability of the staff members and students. They both really liked the campus and Exeter itself. DH said one of the best interactions they had all day was with the student working at the cafe in the theatre who had just finished her history degree and has enrolled in a law conversion course for 2025/26!

DS said that the talks were mainly just repeating the content of the website, but were fine nonetheless.

@JessyCarr - DH said the FCH is aimed squarely at students wishing to take MFL with another subject strand. The year abroad for study is organised, facilitated and encouraged by the university. Degrees are awarded as either Subject X and Subject Y, if the subjects are studied 50:50, or as Subject X with Subject Y, if the subjects are 75:25. They are single honours. They can also be awarded as Subject X and Subject Y with specialisation in Subject Z, if appropriate.

Lectures and seminars are around 6-10 hours per week in the first year and timetabling for FCH students is managed by the faculty team. In the unlikely event that there are clashes the lectures are recorded and posted to the student intranet/teams channel within minutes of the end of the lecture.

DS said he felt very safe and the campus was warm, welcoming and friendly.

He said accommodation was a bit "prison block" but I suspect that will be the same at all universities. He has also never visited a prison so I suspect his comparison is way off!

DH said that there is campus security and if a student gets lost, or feels nervous, coming back from town alone late at night, that they can ring security and they will follow them on the CCTV to make sure they get back safely. He also said that the university security also have an arrangement with the local taxi companies that if the student needs to get home but has no means to pay, the taxi company will bring them back and security will pay (presumably recharging the student later). Overall DH said that he was very impressed with how well looked after the UGs would be on campus.

Next open day for us is Bristol in two weeks.

Good luck to those returning to exams tomorrow!

LOL at prison block accommodation @Waspie
Both my nephews are in Glasgow, when the eldest went the youngest wanted to see photos of his "apartment" he was sadly disappointed with halls

We aren't doing open days until the autumn, DS was booked for the UCAS discovery day, but school have booked a history trip to the university library for history course work the same day 😡

Also LOLing at prison block! (Anyone want to time-travel with me back to my 1970s school boarding house?).

DD has decided if she does go to Exeter she’s applying first preference to Rowe House (small, friendly, centrally located) but we were shown some very snazzy new rooms in East Park and some even snazzier previews of the not-yet-built West Park. (Birks Grange is also in line for a big update, as they convert chunks of catered accommodation to the much more popular self-catered arrangements).

I think it was Lafrowda they were mostly showing at open days.

Here’s a single room at Rowe House, and some contented-looking prisoners.

Dh took dd to Exeter on Friday and she loved it. He said it took her a while to settle into it - she’s currently very daunted by it all (was similar in year 10 about leaving school a year later so it’s the same pattern). Anyway, she came home absolutely buzzing and it excited about university. She’s looking at biological sciences so the under ground aquarium fascinates her.

Dh found it really helpful too and felt it was very well organised. He also asked a question in the subject lecture and dd was trying to disown him 😂🙈

Our next visit is Bath and Bristol Friday after next. Two in one day 😳

oh look at those happy prisoners (although they seem to have misplaced their orange jump suits and ankle shackles).

DH said he eye rolled at the prison block comment in a reverse teenage moment.

DS may have a problem with some of the rooms though. He is 6'6" and (please please no) possibly still growing. The 4' beds would be okay as he could sleep diagonally but a built in bed like the one the happy prisoners in Rowe house have would be really uncomfortable as he wouldn't be able to lie flat.

Yes, Lafrowda was shown I think and also Pennsylvania court as a catered option.

Wow @Waspie you have a tall one on your hands! He’ll need to consult this table for rooms which could comfortably accommodate him:

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/specificsites/accommodation/docs/UG_Accommodation_Comparison_Table_2024.pdf

Whether they give preference to tall students for spacious beds, I do not know. DD (5ft 4in) seems to think she “needs” a double bed as well as an ensuite. Maybe she is dreaming of a tall boyfriend!

Thanks so much for the FCH-specific feedback, which sounds very promising. DD thinks she might send an email enquiry once the staff have had a chance to catch their breath after Open Day weekend.

Wow @Waspie your DS is tall my DS is tinny 5'4. Gp said it's genetics DH is only 5'7 and I was 5'1.5 thought he would at least be same as DH.
Mocks start tomorrow got account s and business same day then nothing till Wed morning and that's him done.
Reading all the info about uni for later on for DD as DS has decided to go back to apprenticeship think he is fed up about not having a job.
@Babbits nice that a teacher picked your son hope he has a good time.

Sounds like Exeter has been a good trip for those who went. It is a shame most of the open days are in the same few weeks in June! Ours don't start until 21 June but are crammed in from then on.

Mocks start for DD tomorrow too @Tebheag , she is currently sat talking to herself through psychology topics now, she has chemistry and psychology tomorrow, so starting with a busy day. I think she'll just be glad to get them over and done with now! Good luck to all doing exams this week too.

Predicted grades come out 2nd of july, and school ends on the 1st apparently.lots of stress about that.
anyone elses dc doing aqa history coursework?dd is a bit lost

My DD is doing aqa history coursework but hasn’t started yet!

That is a very helpful .pdf @JessyCarr , thank you. DH mentioned that some of the beds are 6'9" long but wasn't sure how to identify where these would be. These long beds would be perfect for DS (although I'm not sure how I would buy sheets for it!)

@Tebheag boys carry on growing potentially until their early twenties so plenty of time for your son to overtake his dad! DS had overtaken me by the time he was 13 and DH by the time he was 14. He hasn't had a growth spurt for nearly a year so I really do hope he has reached his full height and will not grow again. Good luck to your son finding an apprenticeship!

Two in one day is impressive @TeenLifeMum. At least Bristol and Bath are close to each other. We are doing two in one weekend later in June and I think that will be exhausting, let alone two in one day. I'm glad your daughter enjoyed Exeter.

DS is doing AQA History too @PinkChaires and @BlackBean2023 . He hasn't started on the NEA work yet. I'm not sure when they are going to do this. He would like to do the French Revolution option but will be steered by the school as he's not sure if they like all the students to do the same topic.

Good luck to your daughter @bluefineliner for her mocks this week.

@Waspie DS1 is 6' 2.5" and we applied for him to have a room with small doubles (he has a double at home) at Notts for all hall choices and an ensuite. He got none of them, got a single bed in a small room with corridor toilets and showers. He was fine though, just had to get on with it. Luckily his private accommodation for yr 2 and 3 has a large room with double bed! DS2 is just under 6'2" so will probably end up a similar height to his brother. 6'6" is another matter!

DS has his first exam this afternoon - Maths. i am praying it goes better that the January mocks and he doesn't panic. Physics tomorrow then Chemistry on Thursday morning and all done. Good luck to everyone taking them this week!

We’re going to Bath on the Friday and Bristol on the Saturday. I was shattered after going to Exeter on Saturday so 2 in one day would be really hard work.

DS is having a couple of weeks off timetable now and is feeling chuffed that his AS exams are behind him. Back to music practice, sports etc and the usual level of socialising! It’s funny how the set up varies so much at different schools around the UK.

Good luck to those doing exams, whatever type they are.