Applying for Uni 2019 entry Part 2, UCAS & offers

[Decorhate]

Here we go!

Still broadly 50/50 split of publicly/privately educated students though piggy, which ain't representative of the national cohort....

But they are trying at least, the others seem to go further under the radar as they are less publicly scrutinised, or so it seems at least.

I concur!

Justanothermile, good luck to your DD - she sounds very well-motivated.

Pancakemum, well done to your DD - tricky that the choice is all hers. The studying is perhaps more intense at Durham with the shorter terms? Also whilst clearly students do party/go clubbing at Durham, it perhaps does not have such a high profile - would she prefer quieter or the possibility of lots of clubbing, etc?

I am a Northerner as are many of my friends in London. Noone really teases/belittles anyone here because of accent because there are such a huge range of accents/dialects/languages spoken. My DC have strong SELondon accents and loads of other students at Bristol said they couldn't understand DD because of the slang

Pancake tell your DD to be pried of her accent. I'm from Essex so can relate to not v acceptable accents 😁.

Proud. Sorry I have wine 😂

I have to say I find this a bizarre attitude. Imagine reversing it and someone talking this way about how they think everyone with a northern accent sounds hilariously common - can't think it would go down too well.

As someone who was brought up "up north" with a southern parents (hence having n accent that sounds southern to a northern person and sounds northern to a southern person) unfortunately this is my experience.
Up north I get my accent regularly sneered at for being "posh" and have done since I first went to school.
Down south I get "oh I love your northern accent, whereabouts are you from?" comments if any comments are made at all.
It always makes me roll my eyes when you get the regular threads on here about the "friendly north" and the "unfriendly south". My experience having lived in both is not this way round.

@Aurea, your DS sounds like mine - very confident in some ways and painfully unconfident in others. He does go out as he has one particular friend with great social skills, but he never initiates anything, won't have birthday parties, does not invite anybody home.

My DS first choice is Cambridge and he is applying for a choral scholarship which would give him a ready-made small group of friends until he finds his feet in his own cohort. I think most teenagers are this mix of overconfidence and anxiety but, as others have said, music is a great way to start things off well, whether or not the friends he makes doing music become the lifelong friends he will find at university.

Haven't been on for a couple of days and have missed so much.

Regarding the public/private debate. My DD was at a local state school until 16, locally the letter r is accentuated and my family background is broad midlands, so she must have an accent. She's now on a scholarship at a private school close to Oxford and all the pupils we've met are lovely. She's had no problem making friends. If any are applying to a higher ranked uni, don't forget they'll also be a mix of foreign students.

Aurea - there's certainly music at Edinburgh. However, a girl we know couldn't get into orchestra with Grade 8 in her instrument, so competition must be tough.

chucknology - welcome. Not sure if Warwick are offering yet, but I know they offered end March last year for my DD's chosen course there. What course has your DC applied for?

piggy - where can I work out on unistats roughly how many places are on each course?

ifonly , I worked it out by looking at the average entry points stats flagged up earlier in the thread. It tells us the % and the numbers they worked that out from (so , in some cases it renders those average points on enrty stats a bit meaningless! For example, I can see Aber has about 12 people on their International Politics course)

Thanks all for your replies.

First offer in today (applied 10 Oct) .....an unconditional for Law at Aberdeen Uni. Such a a relief, now to play the waiting and for any others.

Any other DC prospective law students here?

Well done to your DS Aurea! Great to have that in the bag.

Also really nice to read the Oxford story from justanothermile! Best of luck to your DD. DD and the other two ‘high achievers’ in her year were taken down to Oxford for an overnight visit last year and all three of them absolutely hated it because of the students and tutors they met. Maybe if they’d had your DD’s experience one of them would have been more open about applying. The school has only had one student go to Oxbridge in the past 10 years and I think it’s partly because none of them want to go.

I think it’s all about representation - in London you hear a great variety of accents so people are more accustomed. Here everyone develops a certain accent, so their only association with the southern/RP accent are really politicians, actors, royal family members etc. When they encounter it in real life it’s always going to seem odd and intimidating, because to them it’s the accent of the elite who they’d never encounter. (Much like how funny they all find my Irish accent).

To put into context as well - they also find the Leeds accent posh!!

bigTillyMint interestingly from her friends at the universities she’s not really noticed the Newcastle friends going out any more than the Durham - Durham nights out just end earlier (1/2am as opposed to 4am!). Her two hardest working friends are at Newcastle.

Durham is ranked higher for the subject which I worry is swaying her. I think she’s going to wait until she sees her college allocation and maybe attend the formal visit overnight even before making any decision, but Durham is currently edging out Newcastle from what I can gauge.

Also really nice to read the Oxford story from justanothermile!

I think I mentioned UNIQ on your thread about your younger dd - hopefully she hasn't been too put off the South by her sister's experience! It's a really good scheme, used to be externally funded and when that finished the university took it over, absolutely everything is free, they even provide books and lunch vouchers. One of mine went on it and it was a massive boost to her confidence.

Aurea brilliant, so nice to have that first one arrive!

hopefully she hasn't been too put off the South by her sister's experience

Definitely wouldn’t count on that but she’s promised to “consider” southern universities with an “open mind” not quite sure how I managed to raise such an unadventurous bunch...

Aurea Fabulous.🎉 I’m sure the Glasgow one will be soon too. He has a fabulous set of Highers...he’ll get a good batch of offers to pick from.

That's great for your ds Aurea - big relief, hopefully the others get a move on now :)

DD got an offer from Liverpool this afternoon, so waiting for Southampton & Cardiff now - the two she really likes. She's done some digging on TSR & the consensus seems to be 3+ weeks for both so she's not expecting anything soon.

Funny story - Ds went to interview at York last week and got a reduced offer and nice personal email right after. Today in the post he got what essentially look a little like a golden ticket! Little folded over ceremonial thing and inside a little certificate ticket looking thing congratulating him on his offer. Very cute!

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Best wishes to all.

Laniakea Ds just had an offer from Southampton tonight. Different subject to your dd I think. The application was sent off by the school on the 26th so under 3 weeks.

that's encouraging - their website said 2-6 weeks & TSR reckons it gets slower closer to Christmas - it would be nice for her to hear as soon as possible, she's really got her heart set on it.

is he still waiting for some places Decorhate or was that one of the later ones? Is he doing engineering?

DD has applied for oceanography, marine geography, ocean science & physical oceanography - all integrated masters - she has offers for the last two. I think the physical oceanography at Bangor would be her insurance if Southampton offered her a place for oceanography. They were in clearing last year, as long as she gets her grades I think she's got a decent chance of a place even if it requires another application (she's applied for deferred entry this time).

Yes Civil Engineering. He's heard from them all apart from Bristol now.

that's good :) does he have a favourite?

aurea - ds1 pressed go on his applications for law with German today...we live in England but are from Scotland and he is applying only to Scottish universities. Not sure when to expect responses.