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?

Ds1 deliberately missed the train this morning - they usually hand the slips out in registration, guess he didn't want to get them with his mates, doesn't bode well.

saggarmakersbottomknocker have got the 3rd sociology unit due here too as well as 3 other results. Its going to be a stressful weekend as he'll have to firm something on the basis of what happens today. (Can't leave it any longer as accommodation opens in 3 wks and don't want him ending up somewhere grotty)

Am up at school this morning for ds3's transition review and hoping to bumb into ds1 though not sure he'll share anything at school and if he's like I was, he'll walk around with them unopened in his back pocket for at least a week. How are my nerves supposed to stand that!!

eatyourveg hope it all goes well and it was just an accident he missed the train....
My DC already has his one result by email and he is not pleased. I raw mark off the next grade.... very tight UMS bands for OCR geog. Still OK for his offer but thats not the point I am told. He is of course correct. Did anyone else's DCs do OCR A2 geography skills?
Good luck to those still waiting...

eatyourveg your poor nerves :( I couldn't bear the suspense, so gave ds a firm directive asked ds nicely to text me when he'd got them. In the end he phoned - mixed results, much lower economics than he expected and Stats 2 was a bit lower than he'd thought too which means he needs to do better on FP2 or 3 this summer than he'd have liked. Good news was he has the first of the 2 A*s he needs for his offer :).

How did your dc do mrswoodentop and goinggetstough or don't you know yet?

My dd got highest possible marks for her RE paper resit (AS) so is very pleased with that. Got A in Gen Studies A level which she decided to take as a back up (did Critical Thinking for AS) so she's happy enough.

A* and A for dd2 (not subjects she's chosen for A level) so just waiting to hear about ds's 2 science modules. His school is rather more chaotic than the girls'. I do feel for him - he's bright but very dyslexic so has a lot to live up to with his 2 sisters.

All the best to the others waiting.

going mad here - just back from school and didn't spot him anywhere and none of the staff gave me any clues- have just sent a text asking was it disastrous bad ok good fantastic mixed bag or are they still in your pocket - no reply and he's on his lunch hour so would normally have his phone on.

Am minded to cook his favourite tea as a consolation which I hope will turn out to be a celebration

Well done to goingmadinthecountry your dc

I'm on a chocolate milk bender (haven't got anything stronger in the house) here in frustration

Sorry couldn't get the internet on my phone,he got an A ,thank you so much to all those who were so reassuring in the Summer on the history sources paper and its intricacies.So he has straight As so far and needs AAB so so far so good .

Not sure how the rest of the results panned out at school as haven't seen him just a text.One mother I am friendly with has gone suspiciously quiet though so I hope that is not bad news .

eatyourveg hope the news doesn't turn out too bad ,well done to all those who have results ,its such a stressful time for them

Great news mrswoodentop!

eatyourveg, hopefully it's a boy thing. I phoned ds at break and he hadn't even been to find out!

Excellent news mrswoodentop, so pleased for him. And to goingmad's dcs too. Goinggetstough one mark shouldn't be too difficult to recoup on the next papaer should it? I know that paper has a lower grade but it's the overall score that matters in the end.

Thanks gelatinous sadly he had hoped for more marks rather than just the one to push him over into the next grade boundary. In this exam for geog skills there were no A grades, the highest was a mid B and some Us and the rest in between. It may be a rogue marker or just poorly taught DCs. I am trying to decide which at the moment. They are calling for a few papers to be returned but I can't see why they don't recall all of them. Sorry am a bit stressed here on behalf of my DC and his fellow geographers.
Congrats to all those DCs with As..

He was in the pub celebrating (strictly against school rules) and didn't hear the phone. Did well and exceeded preditions on everything except the AS re take where he was 2 ums short of an upgrade. If I have read the thresholds correctly thats less than 1 raw mark so might go for a re mark. Its not a subject he has carried through to A2 but it would be useful in terms of ucas points. have to see what he has to say for himself. Such a relief though.

DD has her work cut out for Summer after today but it's do-able.

Stress levels are at a massive high for us. She had an interview for the course she wants back in December and they haven't given a decision yet! They have given some offers out already and told her, when she rang a few weeks ago, that these were for the highest scorers and she would most likely have to wait until all interviews are finished at the end of March for a decision, which wasn't true as they have been trickling out offers in the last couple of weeks. I can understand why they have to wait if she is in a maybe pile but it's torture. Will be glad when it's all over tbh, would rather know now if it's a rejection.

She also has another interview in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed for that one too, at least she will get a decision soon afterwards.

adamschic hang on in there. Offers at school for Medicine are only just coming in. Lots still to go. Let us know her news when it comes. My fingers are firmly crossed.

DS has one offer, one outcome pending post interview (in October!), one rejection without interview (Bristol) and one interview next week.

Eatyourveg, there you go - that's boys!

Adamschic and yellowtip, I do feel for your dcs and you. Can't believe they can have any idea of the stress they cause when putting our children through this. Apparently it was all pretty stressful at school today, particularly those who didn't get the resit upgrades they needed.

Personally, am thrilled and relieved all my 3 did well today - would have been awful if one had done badly (for them obviously, I'm proud of them anyway).

Mine are all exhausted - is it the same for everyone else??

Yellow, still waiting from the October interview!!! I remember him going to that one. At least he has a great offer.

We are mentally prepared for a gap year, then apply again but it's not over yet for this year, so fingers and toes crossed. They are only young with their whole lives ahead of them.

No we can't claim stress here, with a first choice pre-Christmas offer. If he'd missed that one with the scoreboard as it is, then stress levels would indeed be sky high.

And after yesterday he only has to get 3% more to get his Chemistry A, so it's all good.

I'll be crossing my toes too then adamschic, she only needs one offer and she's had no rejections so far - she's clearly much, much more sought after than some. The interview coming up is for her first choice, or is it her joint first? DS learnt very fast from his October interview when it was clear he was in a holding bay and adjusted accordingly for the interviews in December. If she's convinced she's in a maybe pile, were there parts of the interview she felt weren't so good? If so, she should try to use that knowledge for the one in a fortnight's time, rather than feel down. funnyperson gave an exceptionally useful piece of advice which was not to worry about using examples from the personal statement: DS had felt he needed to find new things to illustrate certain points in the Birmingham interview so struggled a bit, whereas at Oxford he expanded on what he'd written and it all flowed far better. Very good luck to your DD.

Bit disappointed here and DD remains unconvinced that results bear any relation to the amount of effort put in, I'm in a perpetual state of worry!

Oh no ucas it's so hard for them isn't it.Ds said the atmosphere at school yesterday was very stressed and there is a certain splitting of those who are reasonably comfortable from those who are having to count every mark to make their offer.Difficult to believe that once the coursework goes in he only has 4 exams left which will decide his future (I keep telling him that nothing is ever final and there is always another way but I don't think he is convinced.

They're all so different with exams, even within families and where siblings are at the same school. I'm concentrating on DS because it's calmer; the next one up is taking Prelims next week and quite panicky, having the concentration powers of a gnat (that particular gnat gene is mine).

Yellow, we have gone over her last interview and tbh I thought she did very well, but who knows what they are looking for.

The next interview is her 2nd choice and has a different interview format, which isn't as easy to rehearse for which, I hope will go in her favour. Just to get one of them would be amazing though.

Glad some of the DC's on this thread have got the offers they wanted. The next stress will be exam results in August!!!

Thanks Mrs Woodentop, I really don't know what DD thinks about any of it, she'd much rather talk about how her friends are doing.

Yellowtip - prelims? Does that mean you are in Scotland? I know what you mean about concentrating on the calmer option!

Adamschic good luck to your DD.

Glad to see most of yours have done alright :)
Quite a lot of resit forms being waved about at my sixth form today :( I didn't do any January modules, so didn't get any results.

that makes more sense goinggetstough. Sometimes I think too much emphasis is put on the module grades rather than marks. I hope the school can get to the bottom of why they are so low - I think the exam boards offer a service to remark a selection (10 or 20%) of scripts and then if that shows a lot of poor marking they then remark all the others for free.

My heart is in Scotland ucas but we're way down south! No, university Prelims. They do the Law ones early at Oxford. She cruised in her first term, over enjoying the life and is now regretting it, blaming me for passing on an inheritance of poor concentration....

Yellowtip, I read up for down in your family, was very surprised at how you got to Oxford without seemingly turning a hair. Concentration can't be too bad to have got there, can it???

ucas it's absolutely shocking with DD3. Show her any displacement activity at exam time and she'll pursue it like a shot.

I'm keeping out of her hair at the moment, and just hoping.