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

[MillicentMartha]

New thread for us. Interesting times.

Old thread here

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

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

MillicentMartha DD has done history coursework.

Well said HuaShan

@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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 All offers have been withdrawn.

@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.

Ouch Hoghgyni I hadn't heard that.

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

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

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 .

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.

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

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.