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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

UCAS forms sent - just the waiting game now !

999 replies

snowyowl70 · 27/09/2013 23:07

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 ?

OP posts:
Needmoresleep · 31/03/2014 13:52

Good luck. You still have time. A subject that can be badly taught can also be well taught. Your daughter is clearly bright enough, and with one A level in the bag and one she enjoys, there is lots of time to focus on the last.

Annoying and expensive but it can be done. Especially with a clear goal ahead.

Original poster
snowyowl70 · 10/04/2014 23:14

The pressure is just starting to kick in at this house - anyone else feeling the tension mounting ? DD1 had mock French oral this week (went well - phew) as language sealing exams are very early - got mock German one first day back after Easter. But apparently ten weeks today she will have finished her exams - I can't believe how quickly year 13 is going !

OP posts:
Original poster
snowyowl70 · 10/04/2014 23:15

Oops language "speaking" exams !!

OP posts:
yourlittlesecret · 11/04/2014 13:54

Only ten weeks to the end?

Littleham · 13/04/2014 09:52

Also got the German oral looming. Bored, bored, bored of revision now. Still deciding on Firm and Insurance.....just done last uni visit during holidays.

boys3 · 01/05/2014 22:40

DS1 finally put in his firm and insurance choice on UCAS today, as he completed his student finance form just over a month ago and when doing so entered his potential term time address (eg for the Uni he has today firmed on UCAS) I'm not quite sure why he has waited almost to the deadline to do it. I gave his "keep them guessing to the last possible minute" argument short shrift - there are not five admissions tutors sitting on tenterhooks to find out his decision! Please tell me I'm not the only one whose DC has been perhaps a bit too relaxed abou this.

traceyinrosso70 · 01/05/2014 22:45

How are the stress levels everyone ? My DD1 is suddenly seeing now how attractive her two unconditional offers would be if she hadn't turned them down !!

boys3 · 01/05/2014 23:01

Wine, no bottle emoticon unfortunately :)

Littleham · 02/05/2014 19:15

Funnily enough (not funny at all actually) my dd1 finally got round to doing her Firm and Insurance last night. I was having nightmares about all the choices disappearing.

One child (and me) very stressed & one child not stressed enough. If I moan at latter child, the former just works harder....

BeckAndCall · 02/05/2014 20:10

Finally, finally, DD has just pressed the button on the firm and insurance choices. Tick that off the list of things for me to stress about! I had visions of UCAS being off lien from now until after the deadline and her not getting a place ( I know, mad thinking)

The reason it took her til now is that she really didn't know which to put down as her insurance offer - it just felt wrong to be rejecting such great places! And they all have to have an individual chat with the director of studies at school before they can reply and that didn't happen til today......

Now just the small matter of getting they grades......

yourlittlesecret · 03/05/2014 13:50

Seems they are all as bad.
DS has just done his today.
I was stressing about him doing the usual wait until the 11th hour when the website would go down or the internet would fail.....
He was still dithering about his insurance choice because there is probably only a 50/50 chance of getting the STEP grade for his first choice. His second choice requires AAA and a lower grade in STEP.
He decided to risk it and if he fails to meet both it will be a Gap year.

BeckAndCall · 03/05/2014 17:31

Those are scary requirements secret. We've gone for a fairly big gap between firm and insurance - just by the way the offers fell. So insurance is AAB. But it was a genuine preference over the AAA offer place to go with it as second - or there would be even more nail biting before results day. Thank The Lord she isn't doing maths - no STEP here.

FreshorangeforDd · 06/05/2014 09:24

Ds firmed his choices last week, so very late here too. IB exams started yesterday, yes, Bank Holiday Monday! So quite tense here at the moment. Understatement. Another two exams today, and it will all be over in three weeks!
Yesterday seemed to go well. Fingers crossed for today.

boys3 · 06/05/2014 17:15

Best of luck for your DS Fresh, looks like your DS will have finsihed his exams, before mine even takes his first one! Starts in four weeks time, well three weeks and six days to be precise. I fear the tension may really start ramp up in the final run up to results day. At least he has no STEP to worry about as well, I feel for those DC who have that to contend with as well.

traceyinrosso70 · 07/05/2014 21:17

Well DD1 had first exam today (French speaking) ! Thankfully seemed to go really well - huge relief - needs an "A" - bigger hurdle next week with the German exam !

Littleham · 08/05/2014 12:27

My DD1 has her German oral exam too. Also needs an A & is very nervous.

She got her EPQ mark back - did this on German topic - got an A, thank goodness, so I'm hoping that unis may take this into account if she is borderline. Not sure if this is the case though.

traceyinrosso70 · 08/05/2014 21:41

She is so anxious about the German as the speaking didn't go too well last year as she got flustered and now she's convinced same thing will happen this year :(

Littleham · 08/05/2014 22:59

Hope it goes better this time traceyinrosso70.

My DD said that about 75% of her oral went well & that about 25% was OK. She got stuck on one bit, but stayed calm which is half the battle with orals.

traceyinrosso70 · 10/05/2014 13:04

Thanks Littleham - she was two marks short of the A on her mock speaking which she had judged as "a disaster" and is always comfortably into the A boundary on the others sections so providing her real speaking isn't any worse than the "disaster" in the mock she should be OK ! Teacher said she strayed off topic so she will make sure this doesn't happen on weds !!!! Fingers crossed !

traceyinrosso70 · 16/05/2014 22:13

Phew!!!!! The German speaking exam went well after a great deal of angst ! So thats both language speaking exams out of the way and gone as well as could have hoped for :)))))))

Littleham · 20/05/2014 18:08

Glad it went well. My dd's German and Maths have gone well so far, but still have the worst one to go. Got last minute outside help for final weak subject & the assessment is that dd learns quickly but hasn't been taught a lot of the syllabus. Have now clawed it up to a grade below the one she needs in the last four weeks, so will be a nail biting finish.

Have also found out that teacher at school has multiple complaints - wish I had known. Really hope that uni will make allowances when it sees that bright students are getting E's and U's in that area (but are fine in other subjects). Feel sorry for them.

hattymattie · 23/05/2014 10:44

Can I ask a question? If my DD misses her top offer but has better grades than her insurance offer requires - is she able to pitch at a better uni than the insurance during Clearing or is she obliged to go to her insurance?

As you can see I'm full of optimism that she'll attain her grades!

traceyinrosso70 · 23/05/2014 15:02

That's when you can use adjustment my DD tells me - clearing is for if you don't get into either apparently - hope this helps

hattymattie · 23/05/2014 15:25

I've since read it up on the student room. It's a bit risky to do adjustment as you have to ask the uni you are holding to release you and so may end up with nothing at all. We have a high offer and a low one - it's a shame we couldn't hold a middling one as well Smile

nemno · 23/05/2014 15:55

hattymattieAdjustment is for when you have exceeded the offer conditions of your firm choice. Your place is kept at your firm choice while you explore adjustment options.

If you want to explore 'better' opportunities than your insurance choice then you search the universities in clearing. Then you have to explain to the chosen universitiy what you are doing and ask the one you want to hold you a place and then you have to ask the insurance choice to release you to clearing. They are not obliged to make this a speedy priority.This is risky as you do have to relinquish your place without any guarantee that the new place will wait long enough for you. But it is possible and is done, some places release more readily than others. Accommodation at the new place can be a real headache though, depending on university.

This is what I learned going through it with my 2 but I am a couple of years out of date.