Heading towards 4th year or post grad/jobs

[Xenia]

Continuation of the previous thread for those of us with children who are just finishing their 3rd year at university (so either "graduating" in 2020 or going into year 4 in Autumn 2020)..........

My twins' degree results will be out in late July. Good luck to everyone else waiting for finals results.

Congratulations to your DD, Errol! A job lined up for the end of her course must be a good feeling.

Yes well done on the Errol daughter job. I have pinned my son (son at home) down to a 6pm slot every day (possibly) to think about jobs which we managed yesterday and he got his linkedin profile updated to show what he is doing this year (his law conversion course). In the process he asked me to check it and we saw of his friends - in proper jobs at proper companies etc. Very impressive. In fact teh day before he said he felt he had so little on his he might not use linked in (but I think it's fine - he is just comparing himself to his school friend who has started at a big accountancy firm etc; and also as he applied last week for his first trainee lawyer job for 2022 (which he is unlikely to get) they probably will check linkedin if he gets on to any kind of possibly acceptable pile of applications).

Carrie he has accepted a place doing the course for solicitors - Legal Practice Course full time from Sept 2021 one year. However as both twins would tell me and anyone there is no need to apply this early (applications opened on 1 Oct) as we know anyone who applies gets a place if they have a 2/2 I think it is in law (or done or doing the law conversion course) - it is just a matter of if you have a law firm, parent, savings or loan (or masters student loan) to pay for it. I just like to feel things are over and done with.... my next task will be to persuade his twin to get on with it too and as he had me send a wii game yesterday he cannot be too busy to spent 20 minutes applying.

We also looked at their exams -4 days in a row finals in December (with a weekend between the 4 and then the week with bank holiday Easter Monday and week after again 4 exams between a Thursday and Tuesday and then they have almost 5 months off until the next course LPC so I was suggesting he might want to do something interesting but what that is I really don't mind, even if it is 5 months doing nothing much at home but it would make more sense to go somewhere exciting abroad for a bit, something with his girl friend (her course finishes in June I think) and possibly with his twin but he will want to stay in Bristol until his tenancy ends in July relaxing but even then he will have 2 months free.

Well done to @ErrolTheDragon DD!

That's great news @ErrolTheDragon, a massive WELL DONE to your DD. 🙂

DS2 phoned earlier for a catch up chat. He's got 2 big essays due over the next couple of weeks, both counting for 25% of the module.
He seems happy enough working hard, doing some volunteering and going for a walk or run each day.
He's heard back from the mental health charity, who say he has got through the initial screening and can now proceed with an application. He's not heard back about the social worker course yet.

Thanks - it seems like a win-win, they know she can do the sort of work they do, she knows it's work she wants to do and neither side have to go through the stress of recruitment. And they've suggested a September start so she might actually get a decent summer holiday next year - other factors permitting of course.

Sounds positive from your DS, latedecember.

That sounds good @latedecember1963. My niece has just started as a SW!

How is your niece finding it, BTM? I must admit I'm a bit nervous of the idea but I haven't said so to him.
I've worked with several children over the years who have had social workers and I've seen what a difference they can make to families. 1 in particular was just amazingly dedicated and so patient.

Congratulations to @ErrolTheDragon's DD and positive thoughts for @latedecember1963's DS.

Nothing to report here apart from the logistics of trying to get both DDs home in the government-mandated "window". DH and I are both key workers and I honestly cannot see either of my headteachers giving me days off to collect them. I had already organised getting DD1 on 5th December as her term will have finished then. Testing w/c 30th November isn't ideal for Oxbridge as their term ends that week. DD2's work for her final 2 weeks will all be online so she wants to come home. I did pick up both in one day in March so it's do-able but it gets dark much earlier in December, and I really hate driving in the dark if it's not local and especially if it is raining.

I'm also just fed up. This lockdown is no different from September/October as I'm still working the same hours. I'd love to go for a walk but it's dark when I go out and dark by the time I get home. School is really full on and the kids are more needy since they are contained in their bubbles. Some muppet reversed into my front fence this morning & didn't bother letting us know - just mangled the post & shredded the lawn. But then a really lovely little boy at my primary school brought me a box of Heroes for being "always so nice and kind to him". So I'm stuffing my face & trying not to cry!

And another very well done to your DD Errol, Well done her.

But bad luck on the fence and lawn Malbecfan, what a shitty thing to do not fessing up.

On Covid, neither DS1 nor DD2, both exposed all day every (work) day to Covid still haven't succumbed. Very odd.

I think it’s in the deep end and pretty full on @latedecember1963. She is a children’s SW which I think is probably the hardest as you’re basically dealing with parents who aren’t parenting very well!

Awww, well done @Malbecfan

Maybe they have strong immune systems / have already had it? @goodbyestranger

No antibodies bigTillyMint and they've been tested at intervals. I'm really surprised. Maybe being in a large family has beefed up their immune systems, yes (no idea if that's a thing).

Thanks @bigTillyMint and @goodbyestranger. Good for your DC goodbye. It must be all that sea air in their formative years.

Both my DDs have been tested and all tests so far were negative. Now I've worked out a plan to collect them, I hope that remains the case. The sun is shining here so I feel happier and now can't wait for them to come home!

Congratulations on the job offers!

Am looking forward to DS being home next month although he has visited a couple of times this term - to collect stuff he’d forgot rather than to see us probably!

Am dreading not having DD with us at Christmas but there is no way she will be able to travel over from her job in Brussels. It will be the first Christmas in years we won’t have my parents and DSis and her family coming over from Brussels, DH’s parents from Quebec and DSil and her family from the US. It’s going to be a very quiet Christmas which I’m going to hate!

Glad you've worked out the logistics, Malbec.

Working 'dark till dark' is grim - DH used to really suffer from that, pretty much all of the GMT months when he was working. Do you have any scope for getting out for a little bit at lunchtime some days ?

I remember the dark to dark feeling. I remember in 1994 when I started working for myself and the first day I could go out at 11am to the local shops alone with all the local retired people in day light and how free it felt.

In fact we get less and less light at this time of year that I have been deliberately doing jobs outside - gutters round most of the garage today although I am staying in now as I have a workman upstairs.

Sorry about the fence. I am assuming my son will come home after his December law exams unless police barricades are going to be put up (as he is 22 and post grad) but he can certainly come sooner if he wants and all of us have been happy to use trains and tubes when permitted by law this year so he can always get back that way.
We are surprised my son has not caught CV`19 from his flat mate either and I don't thnk he has a great immune sy stem as despite the MMR he got mumps 2 years ago and then shingles (but not CV19 unless he has had it symptomless of course). He does wash his hands well and always has so may be it is something simple like that.

what good news on all the job offers, DS1 has his already but is applying for others as hes not keen on the location of the employer he has the offer from ( its quite rural and a long way from any sort of nightlife!) but its a very good salary ( due to a lot of people not being keen on location).

He is also very stressed about the workload already, he has lots of reading to do for his dissertation and course work but as hes dyslexic that takes him a long time.

Hes also worried about exams as they are now 24 hour open book and he doesn't know how to approach that sort of exam. Hes going to see the disability support about it all as he gets extra time and support in exams.

Hes calling me frequent to offload his worries and stress... and then I of course worry! DH did remind me he did this in 2nd year, he convinced me he was failing and then averaged 73% !!

..despite he and DS2 being at same uni they don't see each other but DS1 now seems much more settled and happier.. a visit home 1 weekend showed him how boring it was in lockdown at home with his parents so he went back!

Lots of great news. DS3 is enjoying his PhD start and they are looking after him, his laptop didn’t have enough memory to run the software he Needs so they have very kindly provided him with another one. He is happy, and that will do me.

Eve - my DD had an open book exam in the Summer and was given her extra time.

Sorry to hear about the fence and the spoiled Christmas.

DD is home for a blood test on Monday, so we might see her briefly before she returns.

I was a bit concerned about the twins' law mock exams in October which were open book (results are out this Monday I think) as it will be a different skill from the exam taking they have been doing in person since ... well ages. They did invigilated grade 1 music theory exam in an exam hall when they were about 9 with paper and pen.

However (subject to the results......) they said it was okay. You could pick the time you started it within a window. One did accidentally close the page as if to exit mid way but said he could click to get back on (that was probably a frightening moment). There seem in their case to be word count restrictions which usually you don't get with paper exams but as one wrote half the maximum it was not a problem for him (!!!) although I think many keen girls had a problem with it and having to count words and cut and paste and check must be hard in an exam.

Mine also said it was much much better ot be able to type their exam rather than hand write it. (It will also be easier for markers too - I remember marking A level papers year ago and awful hand writing was one of the worst things as you want to be fair to everyone).

Neither had wifi cutting out not anyone interrupting them. I ordered our Christmas tree yesterday which a company puts up and removes in Jan and deliberately did it for the day after end of exams for example so that for the one who lives at home he is not interrupted on exam day.
On the extra time issue for some for the twins' mock law exams some students were given their extra time but some not - so it seemed a bit hit and miss despite promises (this does not apply to my two) but that was only mocks and they are in an unusual position - brand new law conversion course of 2 terms for first time (in part because qualification exam systems for solicitors are changing) plus it is online which was not expected but is due to the pandemic. I just hope
they pass the finals in these 4 subjects in December (and next year's year's exams too)
Anyway so far so good with exams and they are open book which I don't think this law course used to be and my law degree certainly was not. I suppose it does mirror practice as a lawyer as you have the statutes and books and cases there to look at and they are learning the law and cases anyway every day so I think even that aspect is okay.

They have no printed materials for their course this year so I bought a lot of printer inks for one and then his printer has now broken so I think I have found a company that buys the inks as of course impossible to find a new printer that takes the same ink. He got the new one working yesterday at home. His twin in Bristol seems to be managing without a printer.

Good luck to them both @Xenia. I can get out a bit at lunchtime but have to wear a face covering round the school site and as a glasses wearer, it gets a bit steamy. This week has mostly been wet at lunchtime too. I do get outside at the primary school and if it's dry, we are encouraged to take them outside for a break. Today it's so dark & miserable that I'm hunched over my laptop although DH is gardening in the wind & rain. Once I've finished on here, I will sort out next week's lessons so I can have a proper day off tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well. Only 3 weeks til collection day, fingers crossed!

Thanks. It is interesting thinking about if exams change so substantially your years of learning to do timed hand written exams in a room with lots of others go out of the window and you need to learn new skills.

It is certainly an awful day here. I went to view a house for sale this morning (I just put in an offer so fingers crossed........it is for my son) and had to go with an umbrella just to go from car to the house and my son has gone out on his walk with a coat for the first time this Autumn. It is his twin's coat and I am not sure why the twin thought it a good idea to leave his main winter coat here at home when he went to Bristol in September.

I can well imagine your niece's job is full- on, BTM! I worry about some of the children I work with, especially at weekends and during the holidays when a lot can happen. It's easy to criticise social workers when things go badly wrong, but we don't hear much praise for the efforts many make to engage with families. I suppose that's true of a number of professions that involve interaction with people.

Did anyone come back and fess up about your fence, Malbecfan? Some things are just the last straw, aren't they?

DS1's GF had lots of help with accessing exams at Uni because she has dyslexia, Eve, so hopefully your son can get help.

It's dark, damp and gloomy here in Lancashire today too. I've been to my local ( very quiet) garden centre this morning to pick up a couple of presents I need to post abroad.
I feel as though my life revolves around work, caring for my mum, my MiL and not much else so it was nice to escape and look at some Christmassy things. At least I get to go out to work. Dh has been WFH since March. He's perfectly happy, but it wouldn't suit me.

It's dark, damp and gloomy here in Lancashire today too.

Yes... though at least it's stayed mild. Quite a lot of my summer flowers still have some blooms!