Support thread for anyone applying through UCAS this year

[Lorelai]

Following on from a thread in chat I thought I would start this so that we can hold each others' hands through the UCAS process with all its challenges.

Who's with me?

The problem is that central admissions are often state schools' first point of contact, and since they administer open applications they see them as wonderful. (Why do you think I hang around here? Trying to correct disinformation.) You are right that info is most often on college websites, but it can be very hard to find.

Woodentop, hope the news is good!

It's a shame, though, because independent schools will know better.

There's a lot of disinformation disseminated on MN itself too sieglinde. Sometimes by those very pointedly holding themselves out as sound sources of good information (obviously I don't mean you!). The wife of a Cambridge don got very hurrumphy when the information she gave out in relation to Medicine was corrected, even though it was done extremely politely: it was Cambridge specific but would have scuppered an Oxford application. It's important to accept informal advice on places such as MN very guardedly. LondonMother made the point about the relative weight placed on different sets of exams, which can be crucial. And lots of other well meaning information given by those who graduated a while ago is out of date, especially in relation to the relevance of extra curriculars and all that jazz. The differences between the procedures and criteria used by the two universities and (as far as Oxford goes) the differences between those things for different subjects is the critical thing for applicants to get their heads around, because one rule by no means applies to all. As funny said, the Open Days are the best possible place to hear it how it is; they illuminate the process more accurately than anything else. Oxford has made their Open Days far more accessible than Cambridge for those living a distance away; promoting attendance at those is probably the best thing a school can do to inform its pupils. It's a little broad brush to say state schools haven't a clue whereas independents know it all: there are well informed and badly informed in both sectors, clearly. I still believe in a student applying to whichever college takes his fancy, whether that's rose tinted or not. I like to have faith.

Not very good evening cassidee ,ds has come home in a foul mood ,generally had a shout at me and his not very well little brother and hasn't even opened the letter yet.Apparently he's not going to give me the satisfaction

Sometimes I find living with teenagers exhausting I know he's stressed and tired but why he has to take it out on me goodness only knows

Oh, I'm sorry, MrsWoodentop. I do know how it feels - like a punchbag, usually. Have you seen the other thread about parenting teens? I'll try to link to it. Unfortunately it just is our job, I think, to be there for them when they're horrid. Have a

Please can someone explain to me in what way teenagers need you so much? Fab thread title.

History exams do really take it out of you. Give him a hug from MN - you know he wants one! Or maybe not.

Any one old enough to remember the tv show where the audience yelled 'Take the money' or 'the box'?

I'm yelling OPEN THE LETTER!!

That was OPEN the box. Hughie Green....

Me. I remember that as well as Dr. Finlay. Oh God.

It's ok though. The letter is big. It's all good.

Rats! I can't remember the name of the show now and it'll bother me all night.

Bernie the Bolt?

OK a truce has been declared and he has opened the letter!He has an interview ..........anyone have any experience of politics and parliamentary studies interviews at Leeds ?(just blown his cover but any info useful!)

That was 'Golden Shot'

There is a fair amount of misinformation on TSR too. We are still waiting for news and were realiably informed that she should have had a further consideration letter which never arrived and it turns out they are not sending them this year and she won't hear anything (possibly) for another 8 weeks. Can breathe again now as the stress levels were rising.

Said so . Well done. Be himself.

Read the papers, read the papers, read the papers. Watch the news (I like Sky, but it's personal taste.) I particularly like Press Preview, when they review tomorrow's front pages. Very opinionated, so easy to learn from. I'm sure he'll need to have opinions. Get him on here to argue his points. Send him to Feminism.

(No experience, btw, but that's what I'd do.)

Congrats on the interview!

[http://www.ukyp.org.uk/] Uk Young Parliamentarians' Association

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Political-Philosophy-Jonathan-Wolff/dp/}

Read political biographies?

Best of luck.

I remember Dr Finlay, Double Your Money (open the box) and The Golden Shot (Bernie the Bolt).

I made an apple crumble in the time my DC deigned to tell me her GCSE results.

So I have sympathy for Mrs W but on advice!

Double Your Money. Thank you.

Yes, read the papers and be well informed about the US presidential election.

GREAT news, though grimly shrouded - I sympathise, as I have been living with Mr Grumpy all week as the last AS-levels unfold. In Mr Grumpy's case, fear is the reason - he always looks back over exams and thinks he's left a trainwreck. So far he never has. Of course it usually takes Jack Bauer levels of interrogation to reveal the fear.

All good advice, I think. Has he read any classical politics - dunno, Aristotle, JS Mill, Marx? US constitution? Declaration of human Rights/Rights of Man, compare and contrast?

Yellow is right that no advice source is 100% reliable, and I am not really saying 'play the numbers' so much as 'find out all you can and factor it in.' ON TSR there's one thread about college choice featuring a luckless lad choosing between St Anne's, Exeter and Hertford, saying they are all equal in his mind. Well, they aren't equal for success rates, and surely it would help him to know that? This was posted in 2005, but not much has changed since then in my subject.

Message me if you want more. I've said all I can say out here.

Thanks ,everything cheered up in the end especially after sympathising with the poor Junior doctor on TV who tried 9 times to put a canula in but was relentlessly upbeat !difficult to believe he was qualified and only 4 years older than ds.

The course interviews primarily because it includes a years work placement either in Westminster or partly Washington/Ottawa .His feeling from the open day was that the interviews are less about academic ability and more about commitment,general interest etc.Nevertheless he has read Mill etc ,he has good work experience at Westminster and is obsessed with politics and has been since I can remember so his general knowledge is good.If they ask him about US election he will be fine .I think he is worried about the interview itself more altho' school will give help and he is good in general conversation but nerves are a difficult thing.Last year they interviewed 43 for 18 places

Well done to him MrsWoodentop. I hope it goes well. I've heard having a banana beforehand is supposed to help with nerves - they have natural beta blockers in allegedly, but it probably helps more if you believe in them.

What an interesting option mrswoodentop congrats on the interview! Wshing your DC much success!
DS went to Westminster- he came back after the first day muttering about the secret entrance from the Underground, and sniffer dogs led by men in boiler suits! We weren't quite sure whether to believe him, but as the ID card is still on his windowsill I suppose it must have been true. It was only a few weeks - a whole year must be really good!
I gave up on newspapers when DS left, as the house is no longer eligible for the student subscription of the Times (which I very much enjoyed reading as it has lots of analysis)
So now I am on facebook (in order to communicate with the DC ) I subscribe to the facebook Economist, Guardian and Washington post all for free! The Economist seems, surprisingly, very opinionated, and not often with much factual content, but I mention it as it is cheaper than subscribing.
You could also try erudite debates at breakfast a la Milliband, an option which our household never quite perfected.

What an interesting option mrswoodentop congrats on the interview! Wshing your DC much success!
DS went to Westminster- he came back after the first day muttering about the secret entrance from the Underground, and sniffer dogs led by men in boiler suits! We weren't quite sure whether to believe him, but as the ID card is still on his windowsill I suppose it must have been true. It was only a few weeks - a whole year must be really good!
I gave up on newspapers when DS left, as the house is no longer eligible for the student subscription of the Times (which I very much enjoyed reading as it has lots of analysis)
So now I am on facebook (in order to communicate with the DC ) I subscribe to the facebook Economist, Guardian and Washington post all for free! The Economist seems, surprisingly, very opinionated, and not often with much factual content, but I mention it as it is cheaper than subscribing.
You could also try erudite debates at breakfast a la Milliband, an option which our household never quite perfected.

Sorry for the double post.
I chiefly remember the Gladstone bag in Dr Finlay's Casebook. Capacious and productive of stethescope, syringes, medicines, bandages etc!

The HAT, by the way is great fun provided one is not the candidate. Occasionally the candidates seem to enjoy it- mainly because it is based on something unfamiliar so every one is on an even footing. In DS's year they had an amusing medieval source about the Abbey at St Albans. He got 97% so passed the interview threshold. He said timing was important for the HAT- it is important to allow enough time for both parts. I had great fun looking up the riots in medieval St Albans afterwards.

Yes, we mums/dads/carers have the best of it really, it is the students taking their interviews and exams who have to bear the brunt of the uncertainety and the responsibility and the fear of failure. No wonder they grump sometimes.

He sounds lovely, MrsWoodentop, I'd take him like a shot. Not that I'm anything to do with universities or admissions! Dh and I did grill ds as a practice interview - it was a case of Mr Nasty and Mrs Nasty, no Mrs or Mr Nice. Put him through it, hah. Daft thing was, we were really taken aback by how unfazed he was - the school had done a lot of good work there already. But we did say slow down, don't gabble, and don't feel you have to carry on gabbling till the interviewer stops you. We had thought he'd be struck dumb.

What a fab course, though - a whole year out in politics, wow.