Year 13 2026/2027: Support Thread 1

[QueenMabby]

Sorry - I was not on it on getting new thread open. I hope you all find this one! I’ve updated the
year as we’re basically at the end of year 12 now. Scary!

that should be 3 times A* the star was removed for some reason 🤷‍♀️

@icanbewhatiwant so pleased your open days went well. I also hate driving in the dark - especially motorway! And in the rain & the dark 😩😩 So Durham want 3x Astar? That’s such a tall order crikey! Also seems a bit nuts to have an insurance at AstarAA!

Offers coming in fast here! Not even a week since submitting and 4 offers in (KCL, Leeds, Manchester & Sheffield) with Birmingham (insurance) being the one remaining. I’m stunned how quick this is. My other two DDs offers took an age to come through. Now to knuckle down and actually get those predicted grades!!

Well done @NotDonna . I saw on other forums that Mech Eng at Bath often rejects very late (offer rate in c.40ish%), offering EE instead...anyone any experience of this???

THat's amazing @NotDonna - we only have two (Manchester and York). But her others are two Durham courses and Cambridge so not expecting much there yet!

She has one conservatoire audition date but not the other.

@cashquestions thats great news! Fingers crossed for the auditions, Cambridge & Durham - the latter is notorious for being slow. Are the auditions for similar courses?

@NotDonna - yep, Durham is notorious. At least she can switch off for half term a bit. Auditions are relatively similar - one is a joint course though and so perhaps the admin is why she's waiting. Anyway, she can't be too troubled, she's currently jaunting round Italy on her own while we're at home working (though allegedly doing some revision on the trains)

@cashquestions ’jaunting around Italy’ sounds absolutely fabulous. Good for her! 🥰🥰

That’s great to hear offers coming in. Ds is meant to be working on his personal statement and EPQ over half term. I don’t think he has done any of it.

When we were at the Warwick open day we noticed a talk on “why do maths and physics” Ds has always been torn on whether to study maths or physics. So we listened to that. Warwick have 150 places on the combined degree. Ds likes that idea. When were at Durham 5 of us had a tour around the physics department by one of the lecturers, so Ds asked about physics and maths combined, he didn’t seem keen, he said it isn’t popular to study jointly, but it is on their website. So I think Ds will probably apply for physics at Durham and maths with physics at Warwick and Birmingham.

I have been looking at accommodation prices. Ds asked if he can go catered plus have an en suite, that would be £11.5k for the 40 weeks at Durham. That’s so much! I think he’s going to have to choose catered or en suite, not both. Accommodation has gone up so much since my older 2 ds’s were in halls, but the loan isn’t much more.
Ds2 wants to do his PGCE starting Sept too. I’m not quite sure how we will fund it all, it’ll probably have to come out of my pension pot.

@NotDonna and @cashquestions that’s brilliant news on the offers! DS got 3 within 2 weeks of applying, which he is very happy with. Others are Cambridge and Bristol which he expected to be waiting for. Though he hasn’t had the on hold message yet from Bristol which we are confused about.

@icanbewhatiwant the accommodation costs are horrifying even at unis where it is relatively cheaper. DS was shocked when I said Sheffield which is at the cheaper end is more per month than our mortgage.

@Eccle80it is a lot, I told Ds that catered is £107 a week, so Thats like me spending £321 a week on food for 3 of us, ok it’s not cooked for me like it would catered. But it’s still a lot.

The tricky thing with accommodation costs is that you don’t always get what you request. DD2 for her insurance chose 8 that were all non-catered and shared bathroom to keep costs down. This was her insurance choice so she didn’t expect to get her top choices but she got none of her 8 and got BOTH catered & ensuite. For some families that’d have been a major issue.

We haven't even got close to the form being submitted yet! DS isn't giving himself much room for manoeuvre as all his choices are A*AA. Among them he has one who does a dual offer for the MEng/BEng - so he could insure them with AAA for a place on a BEng (with option to swap back up to MEng later). He's said he'd rather go through clearing if he doesn't get AAA.

DS1 now has his hit list . In reality none of his choices coincide with his current predicted grades .. if he is allowed his appeal it looks a little better - but most choices are one or two grades higher . Only time will tell - and by the time he has to make a choice in May I guess we will have a better idea how he’s going to do . Same applies if he ends up using Extra in February . Comforted too by the fact that most Universities now seem to guarantee accommodation for Clearing applicants .

He has written off applying for MEng -but currently trying to decide whether to apply for BEng with industrial placement or whether to just try and get his foot through the door with a BEng .

Sad for him that this is how it is - but so very proud of just how measured he’s being . Fingers tightly crossed that he gets offered something

@otherthoughtssareavailable & @waitingquietly o know nothing about engineering degrees other than grade requirements are high. I’m just wondering if anyone looked during clearing what kind of grades were around. Sometimes it’s reassuring to see a few lower. Also that tab on ucas (can’t find it now) that tells you for each uni course what grades they’ve previously offered / accepted. Some of these could be contextual but it also may provide some reassurance. Last year, I don’t think I know anyone who met their grade offer yet they all got their choices bar one who was offered a different course (architectural engineering instead of straight architecture, which is actually preferred). Not sure same will happen with our year. Certainly wasn’t the case in DD2’s cohort 3 yrs ago.

@NotDonna .. we’ve used that data on the UCAS page to help DS1 decide which applications to risk . I read the notes a few times and I don’t think it all includes contextual offers . It does cover 23-25 though so maybe a bit shaky due to covid variations . It’s the best data we have though 🤷🏻‍♀️

I also looked at Clearing - it wasn’t that useful for aerospace but definitely was for other types of engineering .

@notdonnayes ds1 had to put 8 choices for accomodation, I think he was given 6th choice, it was more expensive as it was closer to the main campus. Ds2 was also allocated some of the more expensive accomodation, if wasn’t that nice either, dirty carpets, mould in bathroom etc.

Ds has been out all day again today, he’s gone to another 18th birthday celebration, there have been several, so I’m sure he’s not done any of his PS or EPQ. He needs to decide on 2 more uni choices too.
His best mate has applied to Cambridge even though school advised him not to. He’s predicted ABB but he’s persuaded them to say A*AA (did I say that on here already? Sorry if I did) he’s convinced if he gets an interview they’ll offer him a place. He got a 7 in history at gcse, it’s history he wants to study at university. It’ll be interesting to see whether he gets an interview.

Why on earth is a school inflating predicted grades like that? That’s really not helpful to the YP concerned.
dd has discovered parties this half term. Off to her third of four this evening. It’s a party of drama kids though so it should be pretty tame. Pizza and karaoke probably! 🤣

DD2 has calmed down again, post LNAT blues. No offers yet, she only applied to LNAT unis plus one other which also tends to wait until all applications are in by January, to do equal consideration.
First few weeks after LNAT she said there is no way she is getting an interview at Oxford, so did nothing. However, now she has relaxed over half term she is voraciously devouring all sorts of would be future legislation on Hansard and complicated case law from the past (like classic cases of bottles in snails and another one about a company that marketed the carbolic smoke ball for influenza), so frankly not really sure what to make of it all!

Carbolic Smoke Ball Company - I remember that one. An oldie but a goodie.

@QueenMabby - I had forgotten how quirky some of the English common law really is and how intellectually brilliant some of the judges were. I suppose it makes a law degree more fun, as opposed to, if it were just a civil law jurisdiction. The French have the likes of Foucault and Barthes and we have Lord Atkin. Some of it reads more like a parallel universe of rationale fiction!

@QueenMabbythe person begged them to up his grades, he said he’ll work hard as he really wants Cambridge. They advised him not to apply. Ds2 was predicted ABB so applied for unis offering lower. His actual grades were A star, AA. So it can be done, he wishes he’d aimed higher with university choices. So ds’s mate may as well have a go. He is determined.