Has anyone got an offer from UCL for Sept 2016 start?

[katemiddletonsothermum]

DD has applied to UCL. She already has 4 offers but UCL is her top choice. They are dragging their heels and have not yet made her an offer / rejected her. However, in the meantime, DD is concerned that the best rooms in the student accommodation for her other choices will be snapped up as students confirm their first choices.

Anyway, I suspect DD is on the bottom of the UCL pile and I just wish they'd hurry up and reject her so that she can confirm her place at another very good uni. She won't feel too bad about that (we've talked about it) - but I wondered whether it was UCL who are being slow in sending out offers, or whether it's just DD who hasn't received an offer yet.

Her school said that they'd chase UCL up, but god knows how the system works these days .

But they didn't get the offers, those arrogant "I'm too clever to need to work" types.

There are some people who are clever and time efficient enough not to have work hard even for difficult courses. For them to say otherwise would be false modesty. There are also students of all ages who prefer to camouflage how much work they have to do, perhaps to appear cleverer than they are in some cases. I am not sure that is arrogance but it may be affectation. I would be pretty sure that both categories are not unique to the English.

I think students who just work with little else in the way of activities at university (drinking excluded) are admirable for their stamina but they probably would n't pass the 'good company when sitting next to during a flight' test .

Send - affectation is a very good way of describing it.

With the greatest of respect Bobo your DSS1 can't possibly know all the offerees across the City. That said, I'm sure all his colleagues will be delighted to have him on board - they'll probably give him all their work when they bugger off to the pub on a friday night.

I disagree, sendsummer. That particular affectation is an English cultural speciality . Anyone who has spent anytime in an international environment (international institution or HE or corporation) is well acquainted with it!

Molio - when you do those assessment days you do find out which, if any, of the candidates doing them with you got offers if you yourself did. So obviously you have a bit of a private giggle when you've spent a couple of days with some arrogant p*s who didn't make it

BoboChic I work in an international environment and I can honestly say that I have not noticed it to be a particular English affectation. TBH once somebody has started work it is rather difficult to camouflage the effort put in. If I were to generalise I think the English may not appear as intense as other nationalities so perhaps that is what you mean.

Bobo you really are the queen of the art of generalizing from the particular, which is very often a dodgy thing to do.

"That particular affectation is an English cultural speciality" - but is it? I worked for an international corporation for 20 + years. Doesn't make me an expert but some experience.

There is a cliche about the English being a bit stiff upper lip but would Ds be a bit "I believe I have lost my leg sir" , "By God sir, I believe you have" - I believe not.

Not serious but at Molio for sending him to the pub - not serious Bobo - he's clearly done well and good for him and congratulations , seriously. Just the English coming out in me

Oh and best wishes to OP. Have you heard? It sounds like there isn't a bad option. She just will end up trying to steal Jeremy Bentham rather than defend him if she doesn't have the UCL offer (old? me? - does that still happen ?) Good luck to her and best wishes.

"sending him to the pub" - meant of course leaving him whilst the others went to the pub.

Sendsummer - English understatement is fantastically well documented. It's a really strong national trait, both linguistically and in demeanour.

BoboChic I think we are talking about two different things here. IME if generalising the British (I include very much the Scottish here) tend to downplay often their expertise and sometimes the hard-work put in behind the scenes. However that is very different from students claiming that they did no work for their exams and still got good marks or the equivalent.
BTW I agree with Hocus, if your DSS1 is one of the very hard workers then he deserves success, there is always the need for very hard working team members in organisations.

I think that they are all facets of the same cultural tendency. And, as I said previously, this is well documented in "managing across cultures" academic research and teaching.

On a personal level - yes, my DSS1 works very hard and has been extremely successful this year in getting offers for both jobs and masters courses.

Bobo my dad was a Parisien by birth and was so understated he couldn't have been more so.

Hocus A historical source to back up anecdotal evidence that the rivalry between UCL and KCL is indeed still a thing (though I couldn't comment on the cultural influences and clearly it can't be a "British thing" given the proportion of overseas students at both institutions people perceive to dominate university life ). In fact the Rugby match got banned from Twickenham RFU stadium in 2011 because of the excessive rivalry, which given the army v navy still trashes the town and Oxford v Cambridge fills it with really rather odd anachronisms in red trousers and tweed was quite an achievement. thetab.com/uk/london/2012/03/02/the-varsity-ucl-vs-kcl-live-feed-523

Jeremy's head though is getting a bit delicate especially after it's 70s outing (which gave rise to a spate of copycats nationwide and some stupid med student greeting me with a dead hand at a party - he was quite arrogant and didn't do much work off the rugby pitch but is now a senior professor at a London teaching hospital ) The Head is carefully stored in atmospheric conditions and body parts generally get more security.

Of course if OPs DC does attend either UCL or KCL to read history then they will learn about judging the value of sources like Mumsnet posts according to the subjectivity of the writer......

And unfortunately I see no sign of companies and institutions in any country being short of arrogant people who play politics instead of actually doing the job. Being a sociopath is still a handy skill in achieving success in any field.....

KCL students (or Strand Poly as they were/are known) used to steal the LSE's beaver. Reason enough to opt for UCL.

So they did. blogs.lse.ac.uk/studentsatlse/2012/10/25/guest-blog-the-lse-beaver/

(Ron - I'm learning )

Here you go. Far better than a pickled head.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_College_London–UCL_rivalry#/media/File:Jeremy_Bentham_Auto-Icon.jpg

Certainly cuter than than the Auto-icon. We did also have Phineas - but again not as cute.

alumni.kcl.ac.uk/reggie-history/golden-days

Sorry OP for that nostalgic interlude.

UCL history and english departments are notorious about leaving offers till the last minute.

That's not true at our school m0ther for as many years as I remember. Sometimes yes, but more offers for students at our school seem to come early from those departments at UCL than late. That doesn't mean an offer won't be forthcoming late but I just don't see that the departments can be 'notorious' when I've seen so many pre-Christmas offers.

That's because your school is well known to UCL, Molio. UCL is quite hot on school recognition as part of its selection process. Applicants from schools that are less well known/unknown are left until later.

Tempted to do a Ron, and ask for evidence....

Conversations with international development and admissions tutors at UCL. All friends or former colleagues.