DD isn't academic enough for uni but just won't accept this.

[Lillians]

DD is 19 and got 1 A, 4 Bs and 3 Cs at GCSE. She went on to sixth form where she didn't pass the 1st year and had to leave, she went to another college to retake the first year (it was only maths as the other 2 subjects were 2 years) and failed again. She didn't get a chance to do any exams in the other subjects.

She works part time now and volunteers for childline. She says her volunteering has made her realise how much she wants to be a mental health nurse specifically to do with eating disorders.

I have said to her there are sooo many different ways you could get involved with that without being a nurse and she doesn't want to hear it, gets upset saying that she wishes I had faith in her etc. when I do!! She just isn't academic enough for uni.

I don't know how to offer her advice any more.

Support your daughter in what she wants to do fgs. If she doesn't succeed you should be there to support and reassure her for her next steps. That's what you're there for.

She has great GCSE grades.

Maths A-level is hard.

Don't kill your daughter's dreams just because it's what you think is best.

She should be capable of a university course with those results if she choses the right subjects and she has an ambition. However, you have supported her financially for long enough now as she must be approaching 20 at least so she needs to fund it all herself.

I didn't have as high GCSEs as I was dyslexic and was undiagnosed until I went to college, my alevels were health related nothing to do with maths and I did adult nursing at the University of York. I think your massively unreasonable and you should be encouraging her not putting her down and writing her off and not capable.

I won't go into the grades I got at school, but suffice to say by your standards I probably fall into the same boat as your daughter.

I went to Uni anyway (I had to choose a course that would accept my grades rather than do Physiotherapy, as I had originally intended). I ended up having a fantastic 4 years (Scottish Uni) and falling into a job as a new graduate with a pay of £36,000. I absolutely loved the work and progressed well, and am now a consultant in my field.

Don't write her off.

She does have the academic ability according to her GCSE results.

Average academic ability plus lots of hard work will get you into nursing. It's when you have average academic ability and don't apply yourself that you won't make it which is I suspect what has happened before.

She got a B at GCSE maths, the A was for philosophy and ethic.

Unfortunately, she was actually doing pretty good at her other subjects (psychology and sociology) but for some reason her school wouldn't let her continue the next year for those 2, so lost all the hard work she put in for those and so had to redo that whole year again at college (doing ever better this time and set to do well) but due to her failing the maths they wouldn't let her stay on! So she never did exams in those as they were 2 years. She's good at writing subjects but clearly as shown by the maths, she isn't that great at stuff like that.

She is actually about to phone a college near to us that offers the access course. I didn't even know about that, so she was very happy when I told her about it as it seems like I've made an effort

I can see that, as a parent, you have seen your DD try and fail before and want to protect her from the pain of this by persuading her not to try.

Natural though this might be, are you in fact stifling her now that she does have a sense of direction? Is it actually worse for her never to try?

@quizqueen what needs to be funded? She does have a job so funds her own stuff already...? She has savings so can use that if she needs to when doing a course I suppose.

Apologies, X-post.

Statistically speaking, as someone with a GCSE grade B in Maths, she was always very likely to fail the A-level - as Tiggy said, the stats on conversion between GCSE grades and A-level grades in maths is VERY different from that for other subjects.

So in a sense she got what was expected in Maths A-level, rather than it showing she is not academic in any general sense.

Some people develop skills later in life too. They may not do well at 16 but can do well later on. I would let her go for what she wants and leave her to it, let her find her own feet, and just say you have faith in her.

She is way more academic than many nurses I know! (I come from a family full of nurses, some new entrants, some old hands). It's the kind of profession where grades really only account for a very tiny amount of professional ability. Just because she can't do calculus doesn't mean she won't be a brilliant mental health nurse. Sounds like your DD could use a bit less criticism and a bit more support in getting through the barriers to her entry into something she really wants to do. We could use a whole load more good MH nurses.

This is a new course at a lovely University. Not the most academic University, but well regarded for Nursing.
The entry requirements are 112 UCAS points, which I think would be easily achievable for your dd.

www.edgehill.ac.uk/courses/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-and-wellbeing/tab/entry-criteria/

Am i missing something?

You need a'level maths to be a nurse now?

most of the nurses of my generation only have gcse maths and english. Since when did you need a levels? If you are academic enough to pass maths a you generally looked at medicine. If your skills were more practical you did nursing.

Oh and by the way, i got 2b's, 3c's, a d and an e at gcse. I all but failed my a levels. Got to uni somehow and it turns out I'm actually very academic, the school rote learning just didn't suit me. I got an excellent degree, a phd, and work in an academic field.

So i think you are being vv U

If it's any help, HCAs and nurses do pretty similar things in EDUs anyway - the nurses give meds but other than that, the roles are basically indistinguishable

I've been involved in University admissions for years. Resilience, persistence and commitment to the subject matter can take students a long long way especially in fields such as nursing. You also have to bear in mind that the uni course is just a stepping stone on the way to the job - if she has the qualities needed to be a great nurse, then that is ultimately more important and of course the country needs every motivated nurse it can get.

I agree with opalescent about finding a uni and a course which will provide the right level of support. If you want to help your daughter, why not support her to research different courses and requirements and to make contact with admissions tutors to find out what their advice would be in terms of qualifying for their programmes?

remember that around 50% of 18 year olds now go through higher education in one way or another. By no means are they all massively academic. And the relationship between A level performance and uni performance is moderate at best especially when the subject matter and the way of being taught is different between school and uni.

I have 5 As and 4 Bs at GCSE and one A*. And two As and a B at A level. I would not consider myself academic. I had a maths tutor to get me through the higher level paper at GCSE level and know so many people who are bright and articulate but just can't pass maths GCSE let alone A level.

I don't think academic is a true representation of what some courses and unis are looking for these days. To pursue a vocation you need intelligence (incl emotional) commitment, passion and in this case I assume a lot of courage and common sense to be a mental health nurse.

I would support your DD 100% if I were you and get professional advice on the best route for her to take. A-level maths is hard despite what some posters might think here and if I was being treated by your DD I would not expect her to have had to excel in it to be able to help me.

Lillians your dd may need to wait until she is 19 before starting an access course (sorry I didn't catch how old she is now) but I am not 100% on this. You can get a 19+ Advanced Learning Loan to cover the fees for the course, which is then written off if she starts university straight after the access course. It's very simple to apply and available to everyone.

When they had the diploma course (2005) you only needed GCSEs. To do the degree you needed alevels. Majority of the student nurses were on the diploma due to the higher bursary nothing to do with intelligence . The level of intelligence wasn't measured or made one person a better nurse. You also don't need to accept a second rate University which is why I meantioned the university I went to. As a mother now I would always encourage my DC to succeed in whatever they do. She's still young there's lots of students in their 30s/40s doing nursing courses.

Also I doubt alevel maths is needed. Our nurses always have calculators for even basic calculations to be sure its right

Given your update your dd is even more academic than your first post implied. Who advised her to take A level maths with a B? That was terrible advice, your dd would be at uni if she taken another subject.

She could do an Access to Nursing course which would fulfil entry requirements for a Nursing degree. It takes all sorts, so to speak, and she would soon find out if she was out of her depth.

@AndNowItIsSeven her school said she should take 1 academic subject and they looked at her grades and said maths was her best bet

Another saying a-level maths isn't representative of how she would cope with a nursing course. I am very academic and a-level maths was the qualification I found the hardest. try to help her look into the qualifications she will need to get in and find out if that is realistic. If she is passionate and working towards a goal she may do better than you expect. We need more enthusiastic mental health nurses. Good luck to her.

Sorry just seen your update. Great news she is happy you are showing interest. And sounds like she got bad advice from college and also no support just because she failed maths.

My partner had to return-take GCSE maths to get the required C and doesn't have great GCSES but now has a BSc, MSc and re-training in healthcare sector. It's all about discovering your strengths and passions and hopefully finding good teachers and mentors.

Given your updates OP, I think a good 80% of the blame here lies with her school. What the hell were they thinking?

She is academic. Maths is a nasty subject at the best of times - I managed a B at GCSE and was basically told in no uncertain terms not to pursue the A Level - not that i had any desire to do so!

If she's good at written work etc, focus on that - she sounds plenty bright enough but has been badly let down by the system.