New Uni starters 2015 (continued from Preparing for Uni)

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Thought we needed a new thread to continue from preparation.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2466997-Preparing-for-Uni-in-2015-continues

Suspect all have arrived by now...

How are they coping with the thought of doing resits?
Poor correlation between a levels and degree exams. You can do well on one and not the other and vice versa it seems.

DD has no exams until the end of the year and no summative assessments either. Lots of formative stuff though. I suspect it's going to be a stressful May...again!

DS doesn't have any exams till May either but he does have a summative assessment for one of his modules. He's already decided what he is doing for it and has done some of the reading already. I think it's due in before Easter but not really sure. I only know that much because DS came home or I'd be completely in the dark.

It was DD's second year accommodation ballot today.She was so worried she would end up a few miles away from town and friends as she was nearly at the bottom of the list. Amazingly she managed to secure a room at a beautiful house 5 minutes from where she is now. She is in the smallest room but she is so relieved to be in a nice place she doesn't care Here is the picture she sent me.

DD had mock exams in January but has her end of years in May. She has already said during Easter break she is doing nothing but eat, sleep, and revise. She is also going back a week early to use the the college and subject library while it is a little quieter.

Sassy - your DDs house looks very nice.

My DS has found a house to share with 3 others, but he's not sure if all the tenancy agreements have been signed yet. Apparently I am meant to be guaranteeing it (!), but I have seen no details so far.

DS had end-of-module exams in the first week of January, but has yet to get (or tell me) the results. However, his other progress test results have been good, so fingers crossed. He missed one test this week, as he came home to go to my DB's funeral - hopefully his plea for extenuating circumstances will work

seimum sorry for the loss of your DB

I would hope the Uni will be understanding of the circumstances for DS missing a test in this sad situation.

Luckily DD will be in college property so don't have to worry about joint tenancies and being a guarantor.

It seems as if it was A level results day not so long ago and now revision for first year exams looms. Cant believe how quickly time has gone.

Poor correlation between a levels and degree exams. You can do well on one and not the other and vice versa it seems

Or, if you're my DS, you can carry on as you were, wasting some great opportunities. How someone so intelligent can be so spectacularly dim, I will never know.

Thanks Sassy

Horsemad - didn't your DS have the same problem with his A levels? Really bad results in January, which he than clawed back in the summer?

Yes; mediocre AS, shocking mock A2s and average A2s.

There's a theme going here...

I think sometimes it takes a while horsemad to get the hang of what's required exam wise.

Is he happy there? Is he not working or avoiding the work? I think it takes a lot to learn to live independently. And it takes your time up.

He's lazy knows what he needs to do and just doesn't do it!

Loves where he is and says he's happy. He doesn't communicate with us very often though, so we have no real idea of how things are.

There is nothing much you can do until he makes the connection between work and passing his exams!

Remember life is a marathon not a sprint. Even if it all does go wrong, there will be other chances, opportunities when he is ready for them. I've seen a couple if people bomb their a levels yet end up with a PhD. He's still growing his brain.

I know it's worrying when you are the mum standing by.

I know

Thank you.

Fell for you horsemad.

Just found out my Ds has missed loads of lectures and is having to catch up online to get a coursework done. He plays too many computer games and then gets stressed as deadlines loom.

It will be hit and miss how my Ds does until he truly matures.

should say feel for you ...

Also will add, my Ds is on a lecture heavy course and he has SEN which means he just can't go to all of them as concentration isn't there. He pushes that though sometimes to suit him and be lazy! Luckily, most are filmed and available electronically.

Find it hard that we can't dictate now - "you have to study! Stop that gaming." He has to find inclination himself and so far he just about does it. Will be hit and miss though as I've said.

Think a lot of boys/young men can be like this.

Hello all - good to catch up with you all. Sounds like qute a lot of our students are in the mid term doldrums - past the adrenalin of the new, over the stress of exams and now back to the daily grind of still having to attend lectures and still having to cope with the 'doing it all yourself'. Feels weird we're already more than halfway through this academic year.

We're hearing less and less from ds unless he needs money. I asked him if he would sometimes contact me instead of it always being me contacting him. His answer why? There's no point because I know you'll be contacting me at some point

I had a longish skype with him today. He went out with his next year's housemates last night and said they all came home early except for one of the guys. It sounds like it turned into a bit of a gossip session about this particular guy and they all discovered that they agreed that he was actually quite creepy towards women when he'd been drinking and nobody particularly liked him. Pity they've just paid the deposit to share a house with him for a year then.

Selmum, I'm sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss seimum

Dd came 12th out of 150 in her room ballot and is going on room tours today to pick a room for second year. The current second years pick first for their third year. It means she will pretty much be in the same position next year as they reverse their place in the ballot for third year rooms. So this year she is at the top of the second year pick after the third years and next year she will be at the bottom of the third year pick but before the second years, IYSWIM! Hopefully, it means she won't end up in the the one really grotty house the college owns about 10 mins walk away

Also glad she is not in a college that ballots according to how they do in their exams! I think there is at at least one that does that

Really MrsB? Wow, that's a different way of doing things!

MrsB DD's college have the same type of accommodation ballot that flips for the third year too, they also have preference system were people with firsts go to the top, then choral scholars, varsity then every one else.

The only reason that she ended up with a nice house even though she was balloted so low was because this year people had balloted together in large groups of 4 or 5 and there was only two remaining rooms in the house she liked. Luckily she had decided to ballot with just one other person so it was perfect for them.

That is lucky sassy and she should be near the top for picking next year.

Dd has to go to the accommodation office tomorrow at an allocated time and tell them which room she wants. She is in very modern accommodation this year (only 2 years old) with an en-suite. The room she wants for next year is in an old building. No en-suites but large rooms with lots of character, so much more "Cambridge"! I am just pleased she should be able to stay within the college walls as most second year accommodation is off-site.

My DD is having a nightmare time trying to sort out exam arrangements!! Very stressful! I'm on the verge of stepping in and being a demanding parent!! Considering she has educational needs the university have done NOTHING to help her - thank goodness for her 30 hours specialist help she was allocated by DSA! I'm flabbergasted thst a 'good RG uni' can be so unhelpful!!

Hope your DD gets some actual help soon Quietly it must be so stressful for her, have student welfare been any help?

MrsB DD has also been very spoilt with a modern en-suite and private balcony at the moment but she is quite looking forward to embracing a crumbly old building as her new home. I'm not sure she will feel the same next winter . Unfortunately DD wont get to live inside the college until third year but she has hear horror stories about the massive spiders that live there too

poor you quietly! and poor DD! It is quite daunting getting a large organisation to come up with the detail for individuals. I had to help my Ds write a range of emails over xmas holidays to give him correct room numbers.
They did actually apologise. However, I suspect we will have to double check rooms etc again in summer. It appears so many students now have special arrangements, unis find it difficult to check everyone's timetable.

Am interested about specialist help. How did DD get that? Have heard of mentoring but not tuition. Do let me know .

Some of your DCs accommodation sounds swanky! Is this for oxbridge?

violets - the help she gets was funded by the DSA - it's an outside company who contacted her and she travels to East London to a small office - she is a specialised dyslexia teacher for further education. My DD has very poor visual processing skills and doesn't understand the phonics and her spelling is Eqv to age 11. The lady looks through any work she has done and helps her with punctuation and layout but obviously not content. This alone was well worth the £450 report we paid for as they are invoicing DSA £75 an hour!! I'm assuming, as the report of her entitlement said 30 hours a year, that she will get this every year!

I often wonder how she managed 4 essay based A levels without any help at college for her A2's! Her diagnostic report shows her processing skills in the bottom 10% but her intelligence in the top 10% so maybe with all her hard work and determination to get her first choice uni it for her through - im so proud of her and this is why I'm so cross with the Uni.