Applying for Uni 2020

[daydreamornot]

Thought it may be nice to have a 2020 support thread, everyone welcome! (maybe Oxbridge posts could be kept to the Oxbridge thread).

Joining this discussion as September is looming! Ds is a Maths applicant- aspirational is Oxford (I'm too scared of the Oxbridge threads!) , other top choices are Warwick and Imperial. He is just finalising his other two, Nottingham is likely to be there then its a choice between Brimingham, Bath and Southampton.

Hi @Kilash - DS1 also has Imperial on his list. The booking opens today at 11am for the Open Day on September 14th. DS1 hasn't seen Imperial yet - he hadn't felt the urge as we live in London. But he is going to go and look round the labs if we can get a place on the Open Day. We're abroad and I'm due to be playing tennis at 11!

Hi @sandybayley - we went to Imperial Open Day in June - it was a last minute addition. Tbh I didn't like it at all, but ds loved it! I much preferred Warwick but am keeping my mouth firmly shut....

As there are quite so many mathematicians here (which isn't surprising I suppose as many take the A level) and so many get top grades (I looked at last year and for the pupils taking further maths just under 60% got either A/A) how on earth to the top universities choose? They must just get hundreds and hundreds of applications from students predicted A. I think there are at least four of us here on this thread with Oxford as their aspirational choice!

He's reverted to a form of snappy and hard to talk to behaviour I thought we'd grown out of so I can only surmise he's more nervous about his A/S results than he's letting on.

I think "Mumsnet" education threads do seem to attract a lot of mums with high achieving DC - this became very apparent on the GCSE thread where nearly of the regular posters DC were straight 9-7'/A*'s and quite a few straight 9's. I'm hoping this thread steers away from Oxbridge (the current Oxbridge 2020 thread isn't a very pleasant read with so much conflict). It will be a shame if this thread turns into an Oxbridge thread and puts off mums with DC applying to other Uni's joining.

Thinking of you all this week (in terms of AS results). One of DD's closest friends took AS's because she moved to a local state 6th form college. Sadly the teaching has been very poor and despite getting all A*/9's apart from one 8 in GCSE's she is preparing herself for quite a few C's..such a shame.

Don't forget a lot of Maths and Further Maths students are looking at Engineering, Physics, Computer Science and Nat Science, not just Maths degrees.

Best of luck for all AS results on Thursday.

Well, DS1 is definitely managing expectations ahead of Thursday! He thinks he's done enough to avoid being thrown out of sixth form but is not prepared to forecast more than that!

@LooseAtTheSeams. I am sure your DS will do well...he sounds well balanced with a sense of humour too.

I'm just going to walk a way for a little bit because I don't want to angry post yet I feel that was pointed at me oneteen. It's not something I know anything about and I apologise for asking on a friendly thread that's not scary like the Oxbridge one. I was just interested

Sorry, @excwmbrandweller - certainly not pointed at you. I just thought this thread was a more general thread and it seems that it is attracting all the Oxbridge mums - there is an Oxbridge thread. I was on the GCSE thread and got really downhearted from seeing post after post from mums with DC's achieving 8/9's...It would be so nice to see have a thread where it covered all DC rather than the high achievers BUT maybe that is NOT possible on Mumsnet.

oneteen I hope this can be a thread for all, the Oxbridge thread is awful which is one reason I joined this one!

Sorry, I just had a 'moment' there. Here's me - I'm a super anxious parent to three children, one has SN and I was insanely excited when he got into university, trust me he is in no danger of being the 'mumsnet classic' overachiever. DS3 struggles very badly with anxiety too and is under CAHMS which I also post about under a different NN. DS2 has had a lot of bullying but his one thing is he's insanely good at maths, certainly not the child that got all A* though he got a D in RE. They all have had a pretty tough 5 years after a nasty accident happened to a family member so we've not had time for your personal statement filling goodness only knows what, unless waiting in hospital corridors features as an Oxbridge big plus. I don't have anyone to talk to about the uni process and this time it's terrifying, their father certainly isn't remotely interested, so I got a tiny bit prickly at the policing of the thread. I don't want to go anywhere near those Oxbridge threads, I won't fit in, DS2 won't fit in. I want to be here where the nice people are, like when DS1 was applying.

I'm a mess, a big overwhelmed mess and I'm really scared I'm going to mess up for my child too because it's a lot to understand. To be fair this is the one time it was easier having my son with SN because there weren't so many options. So sorry, nervy!

@ExCwmbranDweller The unspoken word is not what it seems. My DD has struggled with low self-esteem and bullying too and I do know how hard it can be (parents struggle probably on an equal level but in a different way).

@Kilash - I hope so...

sneaks off to have a peek at the Oxbridge thread...

ExCwmbran hugs - and I know from the GCSE threads that Oneteen is lovely, too. I have found this thread very supportive and helpful and wouldn’t want anyone put off.
DS1 does indeed have a great sense of humour and is very sweet (not sure he’’’d thank me for that comment!) but it has been a sharp learning curve this year. (GCSEs were very much an indication of both strengths and weaknesses!) I absolutely believe he can do well in the end so I see Thursday as either a confidence booster or a sign that he really needs to roll his sleeves up!

Good luck MissConduct, send up a flare if you need us and try and remember all the over the top bits to share here. Anything less than 15 grade 9s and head girl of at lest two schools at once whilst single handedly rescuing orphans or we won't be interested. I may have over exaggerated the threads by my fantasy idea of what it's like in there

I know exactly what it's like oneteen, I remember the thread with DS1 and sometimes feeling a bit 'pfft' at all the genius but by the time it got to results day I was so excited for all of the DC, I think pretty much everyone got where they wanted which made everyone perfectly equal. I'm not saying the O word again but I will be relieved if the dream dies on Thursday and we can just go back to looking at pretty scary instead of overwhelming scary.

My DS wants to study history. He didn't like Durham. Found the history talk less than inspiring.

Leeds is his favourite at moment

@hugospritz - Hello..glad you joined the thread ...I think most DC will fall into a range of abilities ...

@LooseAtTheSeams

@unitednations - My niece studied at Leeds Uni and loved the atmosphere (she was MFL).

@ExCwmbranDweller [start] it's going to be a very long 12 months, I feel like I'm growing the same horns as when DD started the GCSE year!

It only struck me when you said 12 months that the countdown starts, I hadn't even thought about actual results day and finding out what's going to happen. Oh lord help us! I think I need to put corks on the end of my horns or file them down at least.

I went to a Welsh uni with someone called Ian from Cwnbran. He was a total tosspot (excuse the language), so please feel free to blunt your horns on him.

Good luck MissConduct, send up a flare if you need us and try and remember all the over the top bits to share here.

Thanks for the warning. As soon as I looked over the wall two tiger mums rushed me with a broadsword and a battle ax screaming "NO BLOODY YANK IS GOING TO HAVE OUR PLACES AT OXBRIDGE".

Needless to say, I beat a hasty retreat.

@MissConductUS Your comment made me laugh...Twin girls have joined DD's school in Lower Sixth from US, very accomplished young ladies - so much so that one had been appointed HG (having just been at the school for 6 months). Both will apply for Oxbridge sadly they need to wait until 2021 for funding reasons.

Glad to have you back home safe with us MissConduct, you get a special badge for attempting a breach