Applying for Uni 2019 entry Part 4, UCAS & offers (and thinking about exams)

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from the previous thread.

4-8 hours per day because mocks are next week. Needs AAA but knows brother was predicted AAA & seriously underperformed so is v concerned. DC1 was predicted AAB & got AAA.

Dd has been at the library every day apart from yesterday. She has History coursework and some mocks in early March. So focussed! I then have GCSE son doing very little from what I can see . Chalk and cheese.

Ds has spent one whole day on one NEA, a whole day on second NEA, one day at an Offer Holders' Day, a whole day on two essays for homework and a day on revision. Two days of rest.

And he's just accepted an unconditional offer... So some students don't stop working with unconditionals

DS did his mocks last month. Half term he is away skiing. He does work evenings and Saturdays at school though, the teachers lay on extra time for them. Went to parents evening this week. They say he is working hard and doing well. He is taking past physics papers away on his holiday to study in the evening. Luckily it is an uber quiet resort so no distractions and they are always tired anyway.

He was not a great revision/study type at GCSE either.

We had half term last week. DS now doing mocks. He spends about 25 hours in his room playing football manager revising.

Lincoln visit tomorrow.

And he's just accepted an unconditional offer... So some students don't stop working with unconditionals

DS1 didn't, either, achieving AAAAA - although he did say that he might have actively worked a bit harder (rather than not slacking off) had he not accepted the unconditional. Tbh, it hadn't occurred to us beforehand that he wouldn't still want to do well in his exams, but DD, who may yet accept the unconditional she has on offer from the same university, has had The Talk once or twice. We do accept her reasoning, though.

That's a lot of A-levels, MarchingFrogs -- well done to him!

Just costing out accommodation options. How many weeks do I price out?

When we were doing the rounds of unis, it seemed that there were quite often different length contracts available - some which ran from the start of the first term till the end of the summer term (good if they want to be able to leave all their stuff and/or stay there to work in the library etc) while others pretty much just covered the terms - fewer weeks to pay for but downside of not being able to leave everything and having to vacate - quite often this is nicer en-suite accommodation which gets used for conferences etc in the vacs.

I guess that's the advantage of the collegiate universities - the accommodation costs/contract lengths are more likely to be standardised?

Hello. Might I join you?

Bit late to the party I know but I saw York being mentioned a few times in the last few days.

DD has just firmed her unconditional there so relief all round. The course was actually perfect for her, more so that at Oxford, where she was interviewed but turned down (if you've seen me on other threads), but proximity to home the one 'negative' (we are maybe half an hour away max).

Anyway, I've persuaded her that she can be as far or as near as she wants to be theoretically, and I certainly won't be randomly dropping by!

Ironically, the department for her subject, apart from the labs, is in the city centre so she'll be on campus but have to walk/ride into town most days. There's a route along the river that looks lovely and the students are given a bus pass for the first term too.

I know York, and agree with piggy, campus isn't far away from the city at all. Plus, nightlife is buzzing - it's definitely not a quiet place, not a big place though. Beautiful city too. FULL of tourists in summer!

DD is a worker, so won't slack off. She has a spreadsheet already drawn up of accommodation choices, duly highlighted in various colours.....

I know something of Lancaster too, if that helps. DS went last year to study maths. I'm massively impressed and happy to help where I can. His halls are incredible for £96 a week!

Also - DS was not a worker at school, but as far as I can tell is really grafting at university. He's also living on far less than some figures mentioned on here. Happy to help with this too.

Morning Justanothermile and welcome. You paint a lovely picture of York (DS got an UIF offer from them which was very tempting but opted for Durham in the end - hope he doesn't live to regret it).

Your DD sounds very organised!

Good to hear that your DS is enjoying Lancaster and working hard. I'm a firm believer that once they find their subject, young people often really flourish academically (and some when doing their degrees/post-grad).

The other good thing about York is the ease of finding jobs there for students who want an income : owing to throngs of tourists and 365 (alleged!) pubs. Once I went there, I never went home in holidays !

Thanks New, DD looked at Durham but the course wasn't right for her for her particular subject. Plus, her cousin has HFA and has had something of a tough time there these last two years. Caveat that DS has a mate there and is loving it so very individual experiences. My friends daughter also loved her time there, now doing her masters elsewhere.

DD is organisation personified...DS was the opposite..the last few years have felt like a treadmill of exams and applications as there's one school year between them.

Yes, it's always busy with tourists but the summer...! Agreed - job opportunities galore.

Bit depressed by how hard other DCs work! DS predicted 3xA*, but has done about 2 hours of work over half term (because I sat him in front of some work) although his mocks start next week. It is not helped by the fact that he has been rejected for medicine by 2 of his choices and now thinks he will be rejected by the others (1 was a bad interview, the other has a very low ratio of offers:interviews).

Bit jealous of people with DCs on more straight-forward paths!

That's a lot of A-levels, MarchingFrogs -- well done to him!

Thank you, DitheringDan, we were quite impressed. Almost an A* in Maths, he managed to get the right number of UMS, just not in the right papers (homage to a certain Mr E Morecambe here). His other subjects were Biology, Chemistry and Physics (plus General Studies, which doesn't really count, even if the school provided next to no formal lesson time for it). And of course, they were all the easy-peasy pre-reform version...

Monkey - I have a direct comparison, year on year between my two DC. DD's approach is vastly different to DS's. We are talking study time table, every colour highlighter pen you could imagine, plastic wallets, study cards. DS - with the caveat that he did exclusively STEM subjects and study for these is a little different (according to him) - just did test paper after test paper in a more random fashion and not this far out!

DS couldn't remember which college he chose when applying for accommodation so no idea whether he got his first choice. Applied for finance a couple of weeks before deadline....he's very 'chill'...

Also - my friends Dd is applying for medicine this year second time round (with grades in hand) and my other friends DS has only two interviews via the first year of applying. I think that's fairly common for medicine no?

I guess that's the advantage of the collegiate universities - the accommodation costs/contract lengths are more likely to be standardised?

No, I wouldn't say so tbh - after the first year, DD's has a choice of contract length/facilities (within the constraints of the ballotting system) - and other colleges vary in cost and choices.

Congratulations to your DD, just - York is very nice, and I guess if your DD loves it so much she doesn't want to leave then being half an hour away will be a definite advantage! it's great when DC adore where they are and they're happy and busy in their own lives, but can be a wrench for parents if they're a long way off.

I am feeling really out of the loop with people talking about booking accommodation already! Ds is still waiting to hear from Imperial so no way he can firm anything yet. He is also mid applications for degree apprenticeships. Each one is sooooo time consuming. Like writing the personal statement again (and more!) in a new version for each application. I think it will be many months before we know where he will be come September - lots of uncertainty at this point.

I think Lincoln might be another place where accommodation goes quickly. I have read stuff on their Facebook page about people taking days off school/work to sort it out. Why everything has to eb a bunfight is beyond me. And, of course, if you can't get the accommodation you wnat, you can't unfirm your firm acceptance!

Does anyone know the ramifications of all the different let lengths for unis? If you go for the shortest one, do you literally need to move all your stuff out in any hols? What is 'ideal' let length?

Also, in halls with shared bathrooms, would you expect a cleaner?? I ahve sold this as an advantage to my DS and now I am nto sure I am correct in assumign shared bathrooms get proper cleaning. I can't seem to find definitive answers to these things!!

I am a bit suprised at how much cleaning students are supposed to do these days!

At the only place we did accommodation tours, both en suite rooms and shared bathrooms got cleaned weekly as part of the deal.

38 weeks normally includes Christmas and Easter so you don't need to move out.

Think that's quite unusual dangling !

LIZ, most places we have seen ar 42, sometimes 40, some more. I find it all confusing!!