Year 12 - 2025/2026: Support Thread 2

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for us to keep chatting on!

We did Loughborough Uni open day - weren't wowed by the campus but department put on a very good show in the end and she'll be happy to go there.

Have to wait and see what grades she gets this summer.

@NotDonna my foster daughter had much the same reaction to warwick two years ago as your dd did.

Shame as I really liked it! Guess campus isn't for everyone. She's now very happy at Sheffield.

DD2 managed to make herself ill after the mocks/diploma combination (nearly two weeks of tonsillitis) which has not been great for all the other end of term stuff. Couldn't do her end-of-year performance assessment which is supposed to give her her music funding as she couldn't play (or speak). She's hoping they'll take the progression from Grade 8 to ARSM diploma in a year as proof of progress. I reckon they'll still make her do it later.

She's also missed a lot of lessons that are vital for coursework - and now has two weeks of rehearsals which will heavily eat in to the final ones. Trying to encourage her to email teachers for catchup work is hard going. I think now the weather is nice she just wants to laze around. And who can blame her?

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest oh no your poor DD. Tonsillitis is hideous. And to be fair it’s way too hot to do anything other than laze about!

We got a much more positive reaction to Sheffield than we did to Leeds. Lets see what opinions arise from our open day road trip of Imperial, UCL, Warwick and Birmingham... its going to be hot 😭

I remember disliking Leeds when I looked round so did DH - don't remember why.

DS just finsihinhg up his first year in Sheffield - he loves it so far. I went to Birmigham for masters - nice campus but very easy to get to city center DS didn't like how they were structuring the engineering courses - so said no that one.

We also went to Sheffield this weekend and it was a positive visit dds top choice at the moment.
Having two dc going through the process (and wanting different courses/unis) we've visited a few and one thing I noted they didn't overly sell how many awards/how brilliant they are (compared to some universities) it sort of sold itself with what they provide. Spoke to a few students (biomedical science) who were honest and gave some really good advice but also reassured dd with a few of her worries.

We were also at Sheffield at the weekend and really liked it, of the 3 DS has seen so far it is the one he liked the most.

We've been really impressed with Sheffield. They've been great with our foster daughter- the accomm is reasonable and there has been extra funding for her (she is Ukrainian). Strikes are a concern. It is a wonderfully affordable place to be and she loves being near the Peaks.

We feel very lucky with that one, and Swansea, another really affordable city where DD1 is having a great time - and is off to swim in the sea this pm (uni on the beach is a huge perk!).

Wish DD2 was as simple to make happy.

Thanks it’s good to hear a personal review! Swansea is one of the others we’ve seen and also both really liked, DS just had some reservations about the location of the Bay campus

DD2 liked Swansea and it's a reasonable entry requirement for her.

It's also the nearest to us she's currently looking - she still fairly close to her school friends unlike her older siblings by this time at college.

She was also keen on beach being right there - though 10 minute walk to bluebell woods at Loughborough from the department was also a huge plus for her.

Ooh, love a bluebell wood too! The beach is a joy and actually we've enjoyed getting to know Swansea. The marina had a fab vintage market last time we were there, the Mumbles is glorious and Joe's Icecream a firm favourite (plus the Secret bar on the beach).

Don't think DD is likely to come back to London - her contract ties her to Wales anyway, but it is one of those places where students often stay after graduation and we can see why.

@Eccle80 DD is at Singleton (she's a nurse) but some friends are on Bay. It is very, very snazzy, but location is a bit of a pain - buses aren't great. Singleton is much less glam but is sociable and fun.

Most end up living in Swansea centre/Uplands for their second year- DD is so so excited about second year house and we are off to move her in a couple of weeks (a mammoth effort as we also have to move her foster sister and then pick up DD2 in the same weekend!).

We’re currently at Edinburgh. The course (biochem) seems great but as with Warwick the bio sciences campus is segregated from the rest which doesn’t feel positive.

We are also going to imperial on Thursday - I think we’ll melt!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest I agree on all those things for Swansea, we have been there regularly for swimming and Joes and the Secret beach bar are also favourites! The Bay campus was lovely in lots of ways, but could see it would be a pain too, and having now seen Sheffield it felt like there was more of a buzz to it than on the Bay campus. Swansea may yet make his form though as it would be a potential good insurance offer.

Sheffield seems a likely 'back up' for DS for maths (although we do still have others to look at). But he's thrown us a curveball and said he's not 100% on maths and possibly considering aero engineering, which could put Sheffield much higher up the list.

DD1 and DS both changed subject areas they were looking at around now - it worked for them - but did mean they did sometime look round wrong departments or looked round more than one.

Not sure if DD2 will do the same - she's failry set on chemisty so far.

We only visited maths at Sheffield, which is annoying (he threw the curveball AFTER all the engineering sessions were booked). But, we're only an hour away so could go back in the autumn if it does seem like he's switching. I've managed to get us booked into a few aero engineering talks at some other places to try and help his decision-making. He's incredibly laid back about it all though, when he really does need to be thinking a little more seriously about it - like it would be good if he could make his mind up so we can book either the TMUA or the ESAT and not both!

We did Surrey at the weekend which we very much liked , Southampton next weekend and Nottingham and Loughborough lined up for the Autumn … will have to pencil in some more if DS1s marks don’t improve in September exams . ABC ideally needs to turn into A*AA

@otherthoughtssareavailable DS is planning to do aerospace. If it helps he thought the course at Sheffield seemed good, there was a lot of emphasis on practical projects.

Imperial have cancelled their open day on Thursday. Slightly frustrating but understandable with this heat.

Frustrating when I’ve spent £100s on a non-refundable hotel and we were combining with UCL on Friday. Rearranged dates aren’t going to be much use to us because we’ll probably be at a different open day and I don’t really want to pay out/travel all over again. DS says he still wants to go to London and look around the area given that we can’t cancel the hotel.

State school open day with a lot of attendees still going ahead on Thursday and kids expected to attend and volunteer in London. Not sure why the unis cancel especially ones who may have people flyjng in!

Ohh good to hear about Surrey - DC went but has not given me much feedback, other than that v keen and will be one of choices. A lot of the material seemed to be about commuting so was a bit worried about lifestyle for resident students.

I've just managed to do a quick rearrange of hotels, so we can do Imperial on their September date and go to Nottingham this Friday. Luckily Notts wasn't full & doesn't require bookings for talks. Apparently he wasn't that interested in UCL anyway!

That’s frustrating on Imperial. Glad you have managed to rearrange things @otherthoughtssareavailable, we’re at Nottingham on Friday too.

Im pleased ppl like Sheffield as it’s in DD’s list to visit in autumn. It’s meant to be a super friendly campus. This weekend we have Birmingham on the Friday and Kings on Saturday. We live an hour away from London so she’s not uber keen on being so close but the course looks great so it’ll be interesting to see what she thinks.