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

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from the previous thread.

My DS plays golf dangling but I am sure he won't come September... it's really only under duress..

Wish mine would read!

My ds is also very low cost. I give him £20 per week to buy lunches, he walks to school, only does one extra curricular activity which is cheap. He has a job for a few hours a week for pocket money, not really interested in clothes other than what is essential. 18th birthdays don’t seem to be a big deal here. I guess because they all turn 18 at different times, they can’t do nights out with excluding some. Unless the parents agree to a house party!!

Maybe girls vs boys thing again? DS's school related expenses aren't very cheap but he is quite inexpensive 'out of school'. It's that whole 'gaming' and armchair sports fan vibe for most boys.

My ds is in to music, photography and fashion. Likes to smell nice: face wash, hair products, moisturiser. Buys vinyl records and vintage clothes in Camden market with his girlfriend regularly. He costs as much as dd definitely.

Piggy I have one of those too 😊
Even cheaper now he is studying at home, just eats cereal and toasted sandwiches in the daytime. Not interested in clothes, or going out, doesn’t drink, no interest in learning to drive (even though we live somewhere without much transport).
Does have an expensive Warhammer hobby but doesn’t buy much now, has also developed an interest in tanks so is now keen to visit tank museums in Russia and Germany even though he has no way to fund these trips as yet!
My older DS 21 is the opposite, thinks we are a bank 😳

It may be - generally - a boy/girl thing. I think it may also be urban/ less urban.

London teens seem expensive to me from my vantage point in --the wilderness- semi urban cultural desert. That said, the kids in the town I teach in go out way more and party far harder than the ones at my DS's village based school.

What, because girls like clothes and make up and boys don't?

I don’t think it’s even a London thing. My dniece and dnephew are far less interested in clothes than my dcs and wwar their trainers until their toes poke through. They live in a far more mc area if London than me. My dcs friends are very multi-cultural whereas dn&n seem to have monocultural friends. Identity and image seems more important round this part of London.

Fazackerly , in all honesy the many threads we have had often throw into stark relief that gender differences are not imagined.... there will, of course , always be exceptions!

Tbh dd was not that expensive when she lived at home either. Summer baby so not really going out much till just before she started uni. Of course that has all changed now she is older!

I think the trouble is we allow certain behaviour to go unchallenged because it is seen as the norm for a gender. Boys will be boys - untidy soap dodgers . Not saying this is what anyone on here us doing but it certainly does happen.

I probably am guilty as charged! DS2 is also cheap. But not so much of a layabout.

Changing the subject entirely, has anyone seen this?

www.metro.news/if-you-dont-get-three-ds-well-refuse-student-loan/1459973/

Insisting on 3 Ds for a student loan may be a good thing, if
A) there is provision for funding foundation courses for such students (especially if they've come from poor schools and/or deprived backgrounds).

B) there's more money and effort put into providing good alternatives in FE colleges etc. (There's probably a case for some universities to essentially revert to being polytechnics/FE colleges, though I can't see that happening)

Apparently York have opened their accommodation booking. Frustrating, as dd won't be able to decide whether to insure them until next month, after a visit to another possible, and they treat requests in order of date within firm/insurance. Tbh I think all unis should hold off until after the May deadline.

LIZS we feel your pain!!! Very annoying isn’t it?!

I can see the benefit in allowing students to submit requests but they should not be able to book until after 15/5.

Agreed LIZ : this has been a constant moan of mine on this thread!

Well ds has finally heard from the final Uni - Imperial - and it was a no. So today he has been able to firm Queen Mary's and insure York for maths. He is still midway through the application process for a bunch of degree apprenticeships too so we are not much closer to knowing where he will end up but I do not have to worry about accommodation now as for QM he will live at home.

LIZS, DS is in the same position re York because he is still waiting on Durham. And it seems they give preference to early applicants

A couple of dd's friends have yet to hear from Durham too.

Apparently the three best accommodations at Lincoln are now all fully booked.

Still not heard from Aber about the scholarship offer which is beginning to frustrate! They email about 900000000 times a day about their offer holder day!

York have opened accom and dd has applied. She withdrew from Durham and St A’s as she was fed up waiting. They’d had the application since early October and she’s had friends accepted and rejected since then. York had offered UiF and she figured she was on the others ‘maybe’ list. Loved York from first visit and is more than content with her decision as am I. However, I agree with you. I wish there was a ‘not open till’ date to remove any pressure.

No pressure for Dd. When she accepted her unconditional offer we had no idea that accommodation would be sorted out so quickly. She was as asked to apply for accommodation at the same time but we assumed it would be sorted out in the summer but instead she was offered her first choice a week later which she has accepted. So clearly not all universities use accommodation to pressure students into accepting their offers.

Oxford Brookes seem to have a sensible approach to accommodation, just to add it to the list.