Year 13 -2025/26 - Support, discussion and looking after each other (new thread from y12)

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Hello
I have started a new thread following on from this one
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/5340007-year-12-202425-support-discussion-and-looking-after-each-other-thread-2?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Fantastic news @bluefineliner Leeds is an excellent school. I’m sure the others will flood through now too!

It’s always scary when they head out on their own @JessyCarr I’m sure your daughter will do well, and be well supported, wherever she chooses.

Lovely to hear all the offers coming in! @bluefineliner fantastic for your daughter - still a few medic friends of DD waiting to hear & a few who may have to reapply.
Huge congratulations @JessyCarr @Newlease !
DD best friend got a no from Cambridge & is very upset - its so hard when they've set their heart on a particular place/course.
They're so young & everything feels so monumental at 17/18.

@bluefineliner Fabulous news about Leeds! I heard their interviews were especially tough. Congratulations to your DD - that's a great one to have in the bag 🎊

Congratulations to your DD @bluefinelinerwhat great news.

Congrats to all those with offers!

Mocks all done and went ok as far as DD will tell me . No results for a few weeks though. The Art coursework is on track to be finished by next week but then the Art exam work will start pretty much immediately. The EPQ work is still ongoing. We are definitely not going to any offer holder days unless Edinburgh makes an offer - still waiting on that. Some post exam celebrations booked in the form of Harry Styles.

Good to hear about offers coming in and great mock results. These YP have got this.

What brilliant news @bluefineliner, @JessyCarr and @Newlease, congratulations to your DDs! 💐

@bluefineliner, it looks like your DD is doing similar A levels to what my DD is thinking of taking (bio, chem, psych, plus MFL AS and EPQ). She is in year 11 and an aspiring medic too. Is your DD happy with her choices? Does she like psych (it would be a new subject to my DD)?

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn, DS’s 5th (well actually 1st) choice was Oxford PPE, but sadly it was not to be. On Bath accommodation, we looked around during the open day and it was quite mixed tbh. The nice ones were more expensive!

@englishmummyinwales, DS had an OHD invite from Exeter a few weeks back. This was for Econ and Politics and he’s booked to go. He applied in September though and had an offer ages ago, so hopefully your DS will hear soon.

We're not planning on any offer holders days, we visited Sheffield and Leeds on the Open days.
DH and I know both cities quite well, having lived in Rotherham and some of our oldest friends live outside Leeds. We live on the coast near Newcastle.

DS got a no from Newcastle, which we were sort of expecting, he's sitting on BCC from Leeds Beckett, Northumbria and Hallam.

Patiently waiting for a yay or nay from Sheffield and than he'll make a decision.

Well done on all the offers, some clever kids in your lives.

@ComingInByAnsible DD is doing chem bio and psych. She started an epq but gave that up at the end of y12 as she wanted to concentrate on her A levels to get the grades. DD did start with bio chem and maths but swapped to psych within a week when she realised how hard it would be to get an A in maths as well as the other two. DD had never done psych before and loves it! She finds it the easiest of her subjects and just got 92% in her mock so is on track for an A*. Swapping was the best decision she made. It doesn't seem to have made any difference to her med application as she got 4 interviews. I honestly think UCAT is the key and that is a whole other nightmare in y12 summer to get through 😂. Good luck to your DD.

Many congrats all on the recent offers, feels like it’s coming together for them all!

Interesting about A level choices and psychology, my ds2 is in y11 and wondering about it as an option (not an aspiring medic, mind!). Good to hear your DD has enjoyed it @bluefineliner.

DS1 now has offers from Sheffield and Southampton too, just Warwick to hear from. He’s also applying for a couple of engineering degree apprenticeships atm but treating them as long shots!

Dd is just waiting for Bristol now. We’ve been surprised the grade offers are lower than expected. She’s heard from Exeter today and was expecting AAB but it’s BBB offer. Reading is BBD (D for history, which they clearly don’t care about for biological sciences but want Bs in biology and chemistry).

she’s got OHD at Exeter and Cardiff, which she’s planning to do. We need to revisit Reading as that’s the course she likes the best.

That’s great to know about psych @bluefineliner, thanks. And well done to your DD - 92% is an amazing mock score! My DD is adamant that she doesn’t want to do maths A level, despite (or perhaps because of) doing further maths GCSE. Yes UCAT doesn’t sound like fun but it’s also good to know that dropping the EPQ didn’t make a difference as it sounds like quite a heavy load (on top of A levels, work experience, UCAT).

@MiniMidiMaxi, @TeenLifeMum, congrats on the offers and good luck with the remaining ones. @gingercat02, good luck with Sheffield - is it your son’s favourite?

DS has his offer for UCL - yay! That was the last one and one of his favourites. Standard offer (as expected) of AAA.

He’s going to watch out for the offer holder day now.

Fantastic news @Ventress- congratulations to your DS!

We have now booked our trip to France to settle DD there in August. She will be here for results day and then it will soon be time to pack. Feels weird to know where she is going before she has even done her mocks.

@bluefineliner well done to your DD on that mock result, excellent mark!

@MiniMidiMaxi great news on the offers, fingers crossed for Warwick soon.

@ventress great news on the UCL offer, that's them all in now, do you think he'll go for UCL?

@JessyCarr How long will you stay in France with her?

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn We’ll be there for about 10 days - some family time but also getting her set up in a flat and local admin (registering with a medical practice etc). There isn’t a residential campus setup there, or even private student halls, so it all has to be organised separately. Once she has everything needed, and welcome week begins, we will clear off and stop cramping her style!

Thank you @JessyCarrand @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

France sounds amazing! Your daughter will settle well and enjoy her time there I’m sure @JessyCarr

DS is very taken with UCL @JustHereWithMyPopcornbut I would like him to go to the offer holder day. DH may go to OHD for UCL as I went to the open day in the summer 😊

Brilliant news @Ventress, congratulations! Is it between UCL and Durham for him now? What a fabulous choice to have. 🙂

@JessyCarr sounds like a major bit of organising but also exciting that you can all start planning already.

Thanks @ComingInByAnsible! Yes, I think he will firm one and insure the other. Not sure which though! He going to speak to his tutor at school about options.

@Ventress great news on the UCL offer for your DS, nice to have everything back now. It is a lovely position to be in being able to choose now, well done!

@JessyCarr you sound very organised, it all sounds so exciting and scary that you know exactly what your DD will be doing already. Although time seems to pass so slowly when we are waiting for news, I can see September flying towards us as we start to think about our YP leaving home.

Are there many people waiting for offers still other than med/dentistry?

@JessyCarr My DC1 will be in France in September as well Not to study; she's doing a gap year. But she's over the moon about living abroad, improving her French, taking art and cooking classes, etc.

In more mixed news, she and her girlfriend have split, which is rather sad although I do think she'll have more fun being single in Paris than she would have done if she had to rush home to FT every evening. Still, it's the end of her first real relationship and it's hitting her hard; they were together two years and friends for quite a while before that. Hopefully she'll be able to concentrate on mocks coming up.

DC2 had a lovely chat with some alumni from the Oxford college which made her an offer and I must say it sounds like an entirely different universe from anything I've ever known. I would have found it extremely intimidating at 18, but my girls are far braver than I am!

@bluefineliner well done to your DD great results, also got a younger DD considering Psychology.

DS just finished 2nd set of Mocks yesterday so got couple of days off while others are doing Mocks.

Anyone's kids doing Further maths ALevel DD being told by school to do it just curious on any feedback.

I’m sorry to hear about DD1 @temperedoliveand her girlfriend breaking up. DS and his gf broke up at Christmas- it’s hard for them. I hope she enjoys Paris though! The chat with the alumni sounds good for dd2.

thanks @bluefineliner. Your daughter will get her other offers soon !

DS did psychology GCSE. Not sure why, he’d never shown any desire toward the subject previously. He didn’t have a teacher for almost a year (which didn’t help). He had no desire to take an A Level although ex-gf did and has enjoyed it. It was very stats based.

@TebheagOf the kids starting further maths A level at DS’s school only about 25% are still doing it. They will only let you take it if you get a 9 at gcse and keep maths a level grade at A or A star. This could be DS’ s school though.

My DS is doing FM A-level @Tebheag - he loves it, prefers it to normal maths, and has taught himself the extra module in algorithms. But his brain is very much wired that way (unlike mine - it's all waaaay beyond me!) and he works hard at it constantly. I think if someone is more so-so about maths, then they can hit a wall where it gets beyond their interest or aptitude level. It's required on some degree courses if your sixth form offered it (and even if they didn't, a lot of kids self-study/take it privately), but if your DD isn't going for one of those subjects/unis and isn't keen, then go with what she'll enjoy and excel at.

@Tebheag my son is doing FM. His school does maths a level in year 12 and FM in year 13.

I'm not convinced by this split as he was not mentally ready to sit an alevel so soon after his GCSEs. He got a A for his maths and was disappointed but is resitting it this year to try and at an A star.

If you're doing a maths related course at uni I've found that having FM is a real advantage but the grade offers are all so high.