UCAS forms sent - just the waiting game now !

[snowyowl70]

My super organised DD1 has had email today to say her forms/reference have been received and should be at her chosen Unis in the next 48 hrs !!!!! So the waiting begins - to those seasoned parents who have done this before can you remember how long they had to wait for their first responses ? At least 2 out of her 5 may call her for interview (MFL) so am guessing these might be fairly on the ball ?

Sorry - forgot to confirm that all first years at Durham are guaranteed accommodation, so they will get something even if it isn't their first choice of college.

I just rang Warwick and they confirmed that we don't have to book accommodation until dd hears back from final university, so we can relax for a bit!

HorsePetal any news yet? None for us. DS is finding it quite difficult, not least with mocks coming up. The real fear is that he will need better grades than his current predictions if he is to have a chance on reapplication, so he has decided to resit a couple of AS papers on top. Miserable.

venturabay an absolutely foul offer to meet for Cambridge Maths Yes this describes it beautifully. More than one person has said to him "I hear you have got into Cambridge." If only it were that simple.
The Warwick offer is the same A level wise, but much lower marks on STEP, and Durham doesn't require STEP. So as insurance Durham is much safer,however he was much more inspired by the maths department at Warwick.
Littleham reassuring to know that he would get somewhere even if not his choice. He may be good at maths but he is, in spite of my best efforts, not very self reliant or confident.

So much pressure on top of all the studying. I maintain an effort to sit on the fence, be supportive and help out by doing the research on boring stuff like accommodation.

I cant remember where I read it but Cambridge maths seem to have a bit of a reputation of over-offering and then using STEP to sort it out. One student showing us around at the Cambridge Open Day had narrowly missed his STEP marks and ended up in the summer pool. More stress.....
and it seems unfair to put students through so many hoops, raise their hopes and then still expect to weed a proportion out.

The only two we know accepted for Cambridge economics, were mathematicians and would probably have gained maths places in their own right. Its tough out there!

I've been invited to interview at Leeds omg!!

Good luck, 17!

Looks like Ds is going to be invited for a taster/group interview at Bristol. He applied for Mech eng but they have changed him to Mathematics in Engineering. They probably think his physics is weak as he was only predicted a B, but his teacher thinks it all depends on the day. He is going for an intense revision week at Wellington, so we will see.

Still waiting to hear from Durham and Loughborough.

Bruffin I hope it goes well. If he gets the grade do you think they will allow him to change back?

Thanks
There are questions he will have to ask. He does have a A*AA offer from Southampton . But this could be interesting for an insurance.

DD has been to all four interviews now (she applied to only four). All really competitive entry so she was happy with two offers and two rejections. One offer from her first choice wrote to her yesterday with a lovely letter and changing the offer to unconditional, so she is an extremely happy bunny.

There is also an academic scholarship worth a few thousand if she manages to get the grades she is predicted, so she has no good reason to let up on the effort either.

That's lovely for DD, Kez100. You must be very proud and relieved.

Wow! Well done. That will take all the stress out of the process for you both.

Well done Kez dd

Bruffin it looks as though Bristol want him, is he interested in the alternative course?
KezDD good news.

I'm not sure how interested he is. He has the dates now and his teachers think he will do well in an interview situation.
DH and I were thinking the course may be a little "dry" for him, but thinking about it he does discuss theory much more than actually getting his hands dirty, so it may suit him.
They must see something in him to offer him this alternative. I can't believe they can be that desperate for applicants.

Has he had some kind of interview already or have they made this decision on the basis of his grades and PS? I think I remember from your previous posts that he was very keen on engineering, I've never heard of Maths in engineering but it sounds useful.

This will be his first interview, Bristol have only seen his PS and grades and obviously his school reference. I had a quick search and it looks like only Bristol, Aberdeen and Exeter offer this course and only Bristol offer the Meng the other two are Bsc.

Does anyone know how unusual it is to be offered a different course than applied for?

My friends daughter applied for one of the engineering courses at Bristol & got offered one with Maths (possibly the same one as your son).

thats interesting Littleham

Do you know if she is stronger at maths than physics.

My dd's friend is very good at maths and is predicted to be an A* / A and her physics is predicted as a B. She is in an average very large state comprehensive, which has quite a strong maths department, but the sciences are dire.

That is the same predictions as DS Littleham.

Not sure if your ds is wanting to be a chartered engineer, but if he is then get him to think about what sort of engineer. My husband recruits engineers at the firm he works for & they look at electrical engineers coming out of good universities first off, but are also starting to look at bright maths students (due to shortage of engineers).

He wants to do Mechanical Engineering, although the Durham course he applied for is general engineering.

Is the course recognised by any of the professional engineering bodies?

My dh said his advice would be to go for the better university for engineering if that helps. Bristol is very highly regarded.

Does he have any other offers? Examples of good engineering unis are Imperial, Bath, Southampton....

Also worth looking into sponsorship eg. Npower, SSE, Eon, British Nuclear Fuels, Bae systems, Rolls Royce..... Approach them direct - look on their websites. You may be able to get fees paid by these companies (my dh is certainly doing this now for electrical engineers).