Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Applying for uni in 2021...

999 replies

Parsley65 · 20/02/2020 15:13

Thought I'd start the ball rolling on this one...

Dd wants to study psychology and we've been checking out dates of open days.

Her school still does AS levels. She's doing psychology, physics & business.

Please come and join us on the long and bumpy ride past revision and exams and on towards the much anticipated start of uni life in Autumn 2021.

OP posts:
AdditionalCharacter · 04/01/2021 21:10

Oh rally? I took from it that they were cancelled, that it wasn't fair expecting them to do them. Will be watching with interest then.

DahliaMacNamara · 04/01/2021 21:10

They are 'working with Ofqual to consult rapidly'. So that's terrific, then.

Shrillharridan · 04/01/2021 21:35

Oh ffs
Ds1 is distraught

HensInTheSkirtingBoard · 04/01/2021 21:41

@AdditionalCharacter

Oh rally? I took from it that they were cancelled, that it wasn't fair expecting them to do them. Will be watching with interest then.
I think the whole problem is that the 'all exams' bit could be interpreted either way.

Even ds just said 'I bet that's the first Ofqual have heard of it'. God what a mess.

Revengeofthepangolins · 04/01/2021 21:43

I don’t see how it can be a straight cancellation this early in the year. They are going to want to keep pupils working, especially year 13

AdditionalCharacter · 04/01/2021 22:09

DS in Y13 is still doing work. He has a big essay to finish off for history.

A lot of his friends had their grades lowered after last lockdown as they hadn't done near enough work to whet their original predicted grade and we're hoping they'd pick up the slack with their exams.

It's such a shit show for them all.

Skyr2 · 05/01/2021 00:12

My Y13 is v worried about no exams as she performs well in exams and needs the grades for uni. Our school do not do AS levels, but I guess no one did them anyway . Also now has driving test cancelled and not seen anyone other than us since last term, I am so sad and worried for all of them :(

fayebebaby · 05/01/2021 10:48

@Skyr2 same here. My dd wanted the exams to go ahead as well. Mocks were due to start beg of feb. Her driving test was booked for the end of January as well and it’s her 18th birthday on Saturday. Her db is in his last year at uni and has online exams in a couple of weeks and looks like he’s staying here now

BigWoollyJumpers · 05/01/2021 12:09

DD was very upset last night, she really wanted to do the exams. Her English course work is already in, and her History is due in soon, so she is concentrating on that for the time being. Mocks were due after Feb half term, so assume (hope) those will still go ahead. She will do well from some sort of CAG, but the point for her was that she wanted to prove it, rather than be "given" it.

annevonkleve · 05/01/2021 12:20

@Skyr2

My Y13 is v worried about no exams as she performs well in exams and needs the grades for uni. Our school do not do AS levels, but I guess no one did them anyway . Also now has driving test cancelled and not seen anyone other than us since last term, I am so sad and worried for all of them :(
Same here, ds not seen anyone since December 11th as his college went online a week before the end of term, and his driving test was meant to be next week (though I am glad it is not happening as he has only been able to fit two lessons in since the end of the last lockdown and going into tier 4 on Boxing Day).
annevonkleve · 05/01/2021 12:21

She will do well from some sort of CAG, but the point for her was that she wanted to prove it, rather than be "given" it

It's a pity that our kids are brainwashed into thinking that exams are the only way to prove their worth. Once they get into the workplace the ones who are better at the everyday slog will do much better. You have to earn a CAG too.

HensInTheSkirtingBoard · 05/01/2021 12:42

I hope that, if exams are completely cancelled, there will be much more in the way of ongoing assessment between now and eg June that will be able to inform any CAG fairly robustly. At least this year we have the 'advantage' (such as it is) of the decision having being made early in the year, and hopefully some lessons learned from the mess last August.

I hope that this year's Y13s will still be able to feel as if they have earned their grades, even if not in exactly the way they planned. And as I say all of this I am well aware of the continuing discrepancies between different schools and individual students' home lives / access to online learning etc.

Having said all of that, with Williamson as Ed Sec who knows what clusterfuck could await us...

Bramshott · 05/01/2021 14:43

Hope everyone is navigating the exam-cancellation chaos okay!

DD has her offers in and is sure about which one she'd like to firm, but unsure which will be her insurance. We're hoping that it MAY be possible to organise a visit later in the spring if things settle down a bit.

Am I correct in thinking that she has to wait until she's fixed on her insurance choice before replying to any of them, or can she indicate her firm choice now and hold onto the others for the time being?

Shrillharridan · 06/01/2021 07:40

Ds1 was so desperate to sit his exams.
Listening to his online learning yesterday its clear no one has a clue what's happening.
How is gavin Williamson still SoS for education?????

Shrillharridan · 06/01/2021 07:40

Have any of you applied for student finance yet?

NotDonna · 06/01/2021 08:04

Is Gavin meant to be announcing today or did I dream that?
Not too sure where to begin eith @shrillharridan but I’m going to wait until all her offers are in, I think. Is there a need to do it sooner? Is it a lengthy process?

ComplexNeeds · 06/01/2021 08:07

@Shrillharridan good point. DD will need to apply for the disability allowance thing. Does anyone know how that works and how soon we should start the process? Does she need to have chosen firm & insurance?

annevonkleve · 06/01/2021 08:17

@Shrillharridan

Have any of you applied for student finance yet?
Nope totally forgotten about that, thanks for the reminder. Will have a look at the weekend.
Shrillharridan · 06/01/2021 08:18

Ds1 just waiting for 9ndmore offer but think he has decided on his firm and Insurance already

Shrillharridan · 06/01/2021 08:18

One more

annevonkleve · 06/01/2021 08:20

Yes, Gavin is announcing today.

Radio 4 were interviewing a professor of education at UCL today who also sits on the Ofqual standards board. She said you couldn't have a completley fair system but you needed something that was fair enough and that most people could live with. She thought there should be tests for GCSE Maths and English only, and short exams (one for each subject) for A levels, with all areas of the curriculum covered and lots of choice so students could find something they'd actually covered.

That sounds quite good to me. I think ds would do better in an exam than he would with teacher assessment, especially for one subject. But if it sounds sensible to me, the chances are it won't sound sensible to Williamson.

annevonkleve · 06/01/2021 08:24

@Shrillharridan

Ds1 just waiting for 9ndmore offer but think he has decided on his firm and Insurance already
Yes ds is waiting for one more offer too. I see rumours on Twitter that UCAS is going to extend the deadline for applications (not sure why if the whole process is online, but anyway) and it looks like his 5th choice is waiting for all applications to be in before making offers so it will extend the wait. However, he has an achievable offer from his first choice and a couple of good insurance options (though his 1st choice is ABB and an insurance offer would be BBB - not that much leeway there :) )
Shrillharridan · 06/01/2021 08:25

Ds1s are AAB and BBC

Beetlesand · 06/01/2021 08:37

Dd said she heard from school yesterday that the ucas application deadline had already been extended? I’m sure she said it was 29th Jan. 🧐 Which is good because I think her school are struggling to submit them all on time with staff absences and pupils being unwell etc.

MarchingFrogs · 06/01/2021 10:16

Our school do not do AS levels, but I guess no one did them anyway

DS2's school (state grammar) does them, but it is the only provider of post-16 education in the area that does.

Re the UCAS deadline extension:

www.fenews.co.uk/press-releases/61267-ucas-extends-january-deadline-for-all-applicants-following-lockdown-3-announcement-now-friday-29-january-2021

The undergraduate Key Dates section on the actual UCAS website hasn't been updated yet, though.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.