Applying for uni 2020 :3: Decisions and revision.

[MillicentMartha]

New thread ready for us.

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3721248-Applying-for-Uni-2020-2-Offers-arriving?pg=40

DD's school has moved away from IGCSE's but it was a case of having to finish off the exams of the cohort who had started in Yr 9 because many of the IGCSE's were a 3-year course. DD is tutoring a yr 11 student in Chemistry on the new 9:1 syllabus and commented that the content was at a much higher level than the old IGCSE.

Many of DD's teachers state that the level of content on A levels now is the same level if not higher than the respective degrees they sat 20 plus years ago but there are more resources available now.

Oh that's interesting #oneteen. When I did my degree we only had books !

Well, there's been progress of a sort here - DS has had a rejection from Lancaster. He was disappointed when it came through yesterday, as he'd really liked the place, but he seems to have rationalised it overnight and today is saying that most of the things he liked about it also apply to Exeter.

He's got interviews with York & Exeter in the coming week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at least one of them comes through with an offer. We're not holding out much hope for St Andrews.

It's so stressful, waiting for things to become clear! I wish we were at the point where he can make decisions, so that he can focus on his studies.

Congrats @Peaseblossom22 and commiserations @oneofthegiants although everyone I know who went to Exeter was very happy.
DS also has an interview at York. I hope they both do well. What subject is it? DS is Maths.

@oneofthegiantsisme everyone I know liked York too!

Glad to hear of the St A offer Peaseblossom and sorry about Lancaster oneofthegiantsisme. Also thanks HuaShan :) dementedma DS4 interviewed in front of five academics (had to do a presentation, not sure what it involved) and got an offer exactly a week later so I think once you get to interview stage it doesn't take long to get an answer. Although when DD2 was accepted for a humanities PhD and was offered full funding she went to meet the department head rather than have an interview. DD3's boyfriend s currently doing a History PhD at Oxford and just got an offer via email with no interview but I'm guessing your DD will be more like my sciencey DS4.

I didn’t expect anyone to be interviewed for undergraduate degrees except Oxbridge! Where did I get that idea from? Or is it a science/maths thing? Or an Art/Design thing? Or a 4 year thing?

dementedma was asking about PhDs Kingscote although actually a few places do interview other than Oxbridge. UCL for quite a few subjects, York too - it's not an exclusively Oxbridge thing even at undergrad. Art and Music and Drama are different and all interview as far as I know.

@KingscoteStaff the York interview my DS has is a bit unusual - they’ve told him already they’ll recommend he gets the standard offer but if he impresses at interview they’ll offer one grade lower. From what I can gather pretty much everyone gets a one grade lower offer - or at least no one has told me yet their DC didn’t get a lower offer.

Manchester Uni interviews for quite a number of subjects (Maths/Chem/Computer Science) and any Nursing type degrees or Chemical Engineering places are usually based on interviews too....one of DD's friends attended an interview at Loughborough (Chem Engineering) last week ...although they tend to sometimes be informal - groups of 3.

Crossed fingers FabTab - that would great!

DS had an interview at Manchester for maths. It did seem to be more of a case of them selling the course rather than DS having to impress them himself. A bit like a compulsory offer holder day but before the offer. No dropped grades though.

DD had an interview for her course at Imperial, and I believe they interview for other courses, too.

DC was interviewed at Loughborough for an engineering integrated masters.

Thanks @KingscoteStaff

DS is applying for Physics - Lancaster, York and Exeter all said they do interviews before offers, I think.

Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting!

@oneofthegiantsisme - Good luck to your DS with his interviews it is a long whole process when interviews are involved.

It’s gone a bit quiet here. DS has an offer holder day at Nottingham next week, then another at Southampton in March.

Has anyone finished the syllabus yet and started on revision? DS has very nearly finished FM.

By here, I mean Chez MillicentMartha.

Thanks, @oneteen! I heard from DH earlier - he mentioned water-skiing so I think the journey may have been a bit damp!

I think DS has just about finished syllabus work now - I know his Maths teacher aims to be done early to give plenty of time to go back over any problematic bits. I'm just hoping that DS remembers to put the work in on the papers he's resitting as well as this year's stuff.

Hi, I’ve posted from time to time on here. I keep meaning to change my name to something less ridiculous! We also have an offer holder day in Nottingham next week (Wednesday) for Psychology. We were supposed to have one at Bristol this Wednesday but have rearranged for 7th March in part due to the storm but also because a Saturday means no missed college/work. We had an offer day at Birmingham this weekend and this will definitely be her firm. She knew it before but everything about it on the day confirmed this. We’re hoping she likes Bristol because it’s a much closer insurance to us than Nottingham.

DD is attending an offer holder day for Warwick next week...I think she will then sit on the offers in the hope she may get a lower offer if firm. She had a Chemistry student from UEA ring her up tonight asking if she has any questions.

The chemistry teacher stated that they will finish the syllabus by Easter (which apparently is good going for them). They are already running extra revision sessions which you have to opt-out of which I think is good. Biology seems to be on the same track. Physics - DD seems to think that they will be working flat out to complete the syllabus by the end of April but they are giving out lots and lots of revision work for study periods and homework (2 past papers each week which apparently goes up to 4 after easter - just for Physics).

All seems pretty full-on...DD actually said she took herself off to an isolation booth to work today .

Where are they even getting all the past papers from? Also, do they often reduce offers after they’re made? We were planning on firming once she’d made her mind up on an insurance.

@zzzzzzzx I don't know where the past papers come from but she had two very thick booklets of just multiple-choice questions given to her at the start of Yr13 for just Physics - which they work through for homework.

I have been let to believe that reduced offers come through after the first offer made - Bham stated they had come down from AAB to BBB last year if firmed.

DC has had a version of 'lower if firmed' - entry to the B Eng if grades are missed for the M Eng. Given that the standard entry grades are the same for both, and providing you get decent marks on the course (it's the same course for the first 3 years) you can do the M Eng anyway, it's a great offer.