Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Higher education

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

University 2020 :4: The wait for grades and better days ahead

999 replies

MillicentMartha · 20/03/2020 22:00

New thread for us. Interesting times.

Old thread here

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
MillicentMartha · 05/04/2020 20:22

Yes, sorry, aibu. There are still a few subjects that need longer term coursework to assess all the subject’s requirements.

OP posts:
HuaShan · 06/04/2020 06:19

These are exceptional times and until a vaccine is developed we may see further mini lockdowns. The virus may appear again next winter and I imagine universities are all working very hard to plan for all eventualities. I spoke with ds about this and asked how he would feel about possibly doing parts of his course on line. His response was along the lines of 'I'll start wherever, whenever as long as I can access a library. A bit like supporting local businesses we should support universities too. It's a potential disaster for them

aibutohavethisusername · 06/04/2020 07:22

MillicentMartha DD has done history coursework.

Oratory1 · 06/04/2020 07:54

Well said HuaShan

oneteen · 06/04/2020 08:25

@HuaShan... I agree for some courses but not all... Like I said previously there will be lots of opportunities in Biomed companies near where we live and I think this would be more valuable than starting Dds Uni course at home.

She has an offer for summer work at one of these companies already so it would make sense to effectively take a GAP year.

I also think some courses may be oversubscribed Inc. maybe Dds course so it would ease numbers too.

Hoghgyni · 06/04/2020 09:22

DD has no plans to take a gap year as that could only mean losing her place at Oxford/York & she can't afford a year out. All the local tourist attractions & leisure facilities which take on teenagers are shut for the foreseeable future. She's seen first hand how online teaching works as her school is continuing to teach. The hope & dream of uni in the autumn is helping hold things together for her at the moment.

Newgirls · 06/04/2020 09:23

Hua - I agree but...

Even Eton is cutting its fees so the pressure will be there. An 18 year old looking at £30k course fee might be wondering why not do something else for a while?

If uni intake is down then they will be more able to implement some social distancing measures, temp testing etc

Newgirls · 06/04/2020 09:27

The cost of an open uni degree is just under £19k compared to 30k for a campus based degree.

aibutohavethisusername · 06/04/2020 10:26

DD is holding out hope of starting Uni in the autumn too. She is working at the moment but college are still giving essays to do.

TheDrsDocMartens · 06/04/2020 11:57

Depends on the course for OU. It’s not always available and some are harder to do online practically. If unis start online and move over then they can tweak modules to fit.

Newgirls · 06/04/2020 12:10

True DrDocs - one can also argue though that open uni has far more experience of delivering online content so might be a better option?

I genuinely hope it will be business as usual but i don’t think unis can just assume all students/parents will be ok paying 30k for all online courses

HugoSpritz · 06/04/2020 17:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

goodbyestranger · 06/04/2020 18:29

Hugo it may well be the case that offers of training contracts are scaled back for the coming round.

HugoSpritz · 06/04/2020 19:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Oratory1 · 06/04/2020 19:31

DD2 is assuming all her internships and summer work will be cancelled. Sad, but everyone will be in the same boat. With second year ending effectively in Feb though she is fast realizing that all too soon she will be in third year and expected to make some decisions about her future without being able to test the water so to speak. Not huge in the context of the current situation but making her think.

Both she and DS1 are hoping to get out and do some volunteering or working in the local retailers once they've finished their study commitments both to genuinely help out but also if they can't get work experience on their CV at least they can build a story as to what they did in the Pandemic.

Hoghgyni · 06/04/2020 21:02

I understand that the majority of large accountancy firms have just dropped their grad programmes for September. All offers have been withdrawn.

oneteen · 06/04/2020 22:09

@HugoSpritz... Not sure what will happen... It wasn't work experience.. It was a summer job working at a company who brings new bio products to the market... I would have thought they will be calling out for extra staff in labs....even if its basic work.

goodbyestranger · 06/04/2020 22:16

Ouch Hoghgyni I hadn't heard that.

Hoghgyni · 06/04/2020 22:52

Although PWC have bucked the trend and started nearly 200 last week regardless.

oneteen · 06/04/2020 23:07

Perhaps they forsee the volume of insolvency work increasing...

HugoSpritz · 07/04/2020 10:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

specialted · 07/04/2020 17:09

Just watched ucas Q&a on fb. Only new bits of info I got were that if you chose to sit the exams in sept you wouldn't get the results til January. And that they are likely to release results at similar times to when A level results would have originally come out in August .

MillicentMartha · 07/04/2020 17:52

Thanks specialted I’d forgotten about the Q & A session today. I’d already gleaned that results might not be out until August and had guessed the autumn exams results might be too late for uni in September, but it’s as well to have that confirmed.

OP posts:
MillicentMartha · 09/04/2020 15:15

Quiet on this thread. Nothing much to say at the moment, I suppose? DS should have been in full A level revision mode over the Easter break, but he’s just online with his friends on Discord mostly. I should be doing some housework/gardening, but meh!

I’m sure it will all get exciting again on the run up to when ever results day might be. Currently expected sometime between late July and August 13th.

Has everyone received all their offers and made their decisions? Perhaps we should do a spreadsheet! to while away the time

OP posts:
suze28 · 09/04/2020 15:37

We've signed up for DD's 1st year halls as her room was allocated. We're also in the process of finance for the fees.
I'm really hoping they start in Sept as planned but if not, then they're all in the same boat and I'm sure it will all work out.