Ucas / Results 2014 (carrying on Ucas Forms Sent.... thread)

[Littleham]

Thought we might need a new thread for the results...

I doubt the school would want to do that. Whist we didn't do it, I watched a couple of parents march up to the Head of Sixthform at the last parent evening, regarding the level of teaching and it was all 'yes, yes we will look into that...'. What's in it for a Head to admit there is a problem? From her point of view, the teacher has been moved on now... problem solved. I can't help feeling that the politics of the situation might mean it would be a waste of time. I'll have a chat with all the parents who have made a complaint to see how the land lies. Don't want to alienate anyone, as the rest of the school is fine & I have other children there...

The MPW thing sounds good, but we don't live near London.

Poor dd1 has been glued to a Chemistry book for the whole week. Hope she has managed to figure some of it out!!

Ahh the point I was trying to make was that should she resit, she might do well to send her UCAS application in just before the deadline. This then gives whoever is teaching her a chance to write an informed reference confirming that she is a grade A candidate, and if they feel like it, suggest that the grade the previous year might be down to the fact she had not been taught.

Write the reference too early and it might not be believed. The UCAS timetable and the need to have credible predictions for resits is seems to be why MPW start their resit course in September, and then have a four month break in the middle.

How the next exam goes well and that the place is secured. Much easier.

Thanks Needsmoresleep (& please all tell me if I am driving you all nuts with my situation) Sorry to be monopolising thread.

Hope the latter happens, but if not will follow your advice about the UCAS application.

for Littleham. It's normal to be stressed: I've been guzzling since exams started...

I have been really stressed with each DC but I have done my upmost to make sure none of the kids knew. I've always tried to remember that it's their 'journey' not mine.

All exams (A2's, AS's GCSE's) now finished! Hurrah. What a relief. Have guzzled as suggested.

DD1 loved her final maths exam. So it is all down to the vile chemistry exams. Asked the universities concerned and they said if she drops one grade she would be considered as a near miss.

That's great, Littleham!

Exams finished here too ! French A level yesterday was ok apparently - just a long eight weeks ahead before results day !

Last exam here this morning. I think the realisation that as far as school is concerned "that's it now" is starting to sink in with DS1.

He has to send his first year option preferences back to his firm choice by the end of this month, and then of course there is the small matter of the reading list that he has been sent.

That's very forward thinking - module choices before results ! My DD1 won't write the moving in date in her diary in case she is tempting fate !

tracey, more strangely the email requesting options arrived even before the A2 exams started! I suppose I should be pleased about how confident the first choice is in those to whom it has made offers, however it did seem rather to be tempting fate. Keeping fingers crossed

DD1 has just done a bit of research and has submitted four applications to universities in Ireland (for language courses), via the CAO (Central Application Office) system (essentially the Irish UCAS). This is a very simple application process, where you apply for your chosen courses & on results day they contact you to give out offers. If anyone wishes to do this to have a backup plan, then the closing date is 1st July. The fees are cheaper as well!

DD1 now has six potential choices, so fingers crossed. (Also posted on Year 13 thread, so sorry if you have read it twice).

Dd is also considering applying to Ireland in parallel with her UCAS application in 18 months time. It wont necessarily be any less competitive but the application process is much simpler and acceptance is based heavily on grades achieved rather than whether the PS etc fits with what an admissions officer wants to see.

The disadvantages, as I understand, are that you are not eligible for student loans and that living costs are high. However counterbalanced by low fees and a good social life.

I can vouch for the fact that the application process is wonderfully simple. Much prefer it to UCAS.

Make sure you register by February (luckily we did this before Christmas) and pay the fee. You can leave the choices until later or re-jig them up until 1st July. This is ideal for a situation like ours, where one A Level goes wrong, as it is a points based system so two / three good A Levels can make up for a weaker one. Also you can have about ten choices through CAO & get your offer on results day (with none of the conditional offer faffing around / raising of hopes). If they take Maths A Level, they get an extra 25 points credit.

It is also an advantage to have taken 4 A levels. Standard in many private schools......

Low fees? Do you know what sort of level they are?

See this link for fees - the current contribution is €2,250 (£1,900) but you do have to find this yourself upfront as there are no loans. Saves a big mounting debt though.

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/international/europe/ireland/

and it is set to rise to €3,000 by 2015.

needmoresleep
It is also an advantage to have taken 4 A levels. Standard in many private schools

There are advantages and disadvantages. It depends on the student and the course etc etc.

My reading of the Irish rules, admittedly for a very competitive course, was that they allocate points for up to 4 A levels. So the more A levels the more points.

For many students taking a fourth A level is not a great stretch. The Irish system rewards the extra work. The UK normally does not. (Though this year DS effectively has a 4 A level offer A*AAE and one of his friends has a tough 5 A level offer.)

DS applied to Ireland last year and got a place to read English at University College Dublin. He did a ucas application at the same time.

CAO (the Irish equiv of ucas) is sooo much easier. No personal statement, you just put up to 10 choices in order of preference. Its all done on points as follows

A2 A*=150 A=135 B=120 C=75 D=75 E=40
AS A=65 B=60 C=50 D=35 E= 20

There is no such thing as a conditional offer and you just get one which is the highest ranked choice for which you have the points. Everyone gets their offer on a certain day (about a week after the A levels come out) in order of your preferences eg if your first choice was 450 points and your second 420 and your third 435 and your results give you 440, you would get onto your second choice. You have to reply really quickly though as there is a second round of offers. The cut off points to get onto a particular course can vary slightly each year just like grade boundaries but they tell you what the scores in previous years have been. The CAO handbook explains the system really well. It sounds complicated but its so much easier - if only ucas worked in the same way.

Check out CAO and susi the irish student finance website which explains about the free fees and the registration fee

Well worth having as a back up imo

ds decided to opt for his ucas choice in the end but wants to do his Masters at UCD

This might prove useful. It is the Irish equivalent of the student room site.

www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=468&pp=20&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

My DD1 has been very excited tonight having joined the Facebook Freshers page for her chosen Uni - she is most excited that she has found 2 other Northeners heading for Southampton when she thought she would be the only one as we didn't hear any other northern accents on our two visits there !!

How exciting for your DD Tracey, it makes it all seem real now. For DS and his friends they appear to have got their oomph back, plenty of eating, sleeping and chilling and are now just becoming interested again in university and all the upcoming drama excitement. We just need to keep calm and weather those ups and downs before results day. It's all very exciting.

Starting to get real now DS's insurance has changed to unconditional, waiting for his firm to change so we can sort the deposit on halls (he has done BTEC so his results are already in)