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.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Mine had her birthday yesterday - her BF repeated last years awesome cake baking, and I think another housemate made dinner, with another supplying nice gin. We sent chocolates so I hope she's able to get out for some long walks this weekend.

She seems to be getting on ok. She thinks the problem classes they have this year, some with quite large groups, actually work better on Teams than in a lecture hall or seminar room. Everyone can see each other on the screen instead of being sat facing the front, and the virtual whiteboard is easier to use than going up to the real one.
And she's fortunate that her project was meant to be mostly maths and simulation anyway - she reckons building the whatever-it-is to verify her design will probably be done by a postgrad. Her BF is building his whatever-it-is in his bedroom ... his sounds scary but she assures me it will not be fuelled there. (Sorry that's a bit cryptic )

And at a complete tangent... I've just seen my first bee of the year!

[latedecember1963]

Happy belated birthday for your DD, Errol! 🎂🥂
I can see how watching demonstrations via Teams would work, especially if they're recorded so she can rewatch bits she wants to check again. The projects sound interesting.
It's lovely seeing a few hints of Spring, isn't it? The last week has brought snowdrops and the birds are definitely scouting out nesting sites. We've booked a tree surgeon to come and do some pruning and to remove a few interloper trees that have self seeded. We intended to do it last year but by the time we got back from our trip to Australia the birds were already nesting and I hadn't the heart to disturb them.

[Xenia]

I saw a professional video of my grandchild's first (and presumably last) school nativity at Christmas and that was the clearest best school Christmas thing I have ever been to even going back to 1989 when her mother had her first at nursery school because there were no people in the way and you got to see so much more than usual (no audience and the children were incredibly sweet as you tend to be when you're 4 or 5). So I agree that teams etc may be better for some.

Good luck with the tree surgeon. My son suggested this week I should become a tree surgeon (I presume it was a joke) as I have done so much work on our trees in 2020 and his twin bought me a tree to be planted near Durham which comes with a certificate he says to make up for those I took down - which is completely untrue - I only removed dead branches, masses of them and did normal pruning.

All well here. One is in Bristol (course entirely online) and other at home so pretty much as planned other than the course is only online. They get the results of last term's final exams for that term's modules next week - they have exams in December 2020 and then this term's final exams just after Easter and then are free until their next law course starts in September. One had a very helpful one to one session with a careers person at his law school who has offered to check his next law firm application before it goes out.

[Malbecfan]

Nice to hear from everyone. We have had daffodils out at school for well over a fortnight, but it has been quite mild here - E Devon, south facing towards the sea which is only a couple of miles away. Our garden is further inland but there are lots of crocuses and the daffodils have buds appearing. The snow we're being forecast for next week will be a big change.

DD is fine. She has collected the department laptop with the magic software that crunches the numbers she needs. Her supervisor is also doing the work that DD should be doing in the lab & reporting results back to her. She has had a couple of interviews for jobs but is incredibly vague when I ask her about them. She hasn't decided about the PhD and as it's dependent on her results this year, she is making plans B & C.

@ErrolTheDragon your DD is so different to mine! I'm pretty good at getting up early but DD is hopeless. The only way she'd work at 5am would be if she hadn't gone to bed yet. Her DSis is better, but she likes to get to Morrisons in her uni city by 7.30 on a Saturday morning to avoid the crowds. Both completely bonkers!

[ErrolTheDragon]

We have snowdrops, but the daffs are nowhere near out in Lancashire - except oddly in the churchyard in the next village - I think they've got a south facing microclimate.

Hurrah for the magic software and cooperative research staff Malbec! I know some students are having a tough time but I reckon a lot of uni staff are working very hard and coming up with innovative solutions to make things more or less work.

[Xenia]

I saw daffodils near us yesterday.
One son called to say he'd done his main mock exam today. It is their hardest main exam at the end of this year's course too so good practice for the real thing.

[SMaCM]

Still no books 🙄.

Lovely to hear about parties - One of DD's housemates (year below) had a 21st at the weekend and they'd managed to get some balloons etc and gave her a really good surprise party. The neighbour popped out when he saw the balloons being taken in and they could reassure him there was no one else coming.

DD's uni has said there is definitely no graduation again this year, so DD is really disappointed. On the plus side, she has spoken to her housemates from last year and they have all agreed to get together with all the parents when we're allowed, hire gowns etc and we can all take pictures of them 'graduating' together.

She has just started talking about job/PHD opportunities, so we're hopeful that she's thinking about what she's doing next.

[Haffdonga]

Hooray for bees and daffs! I love splash of yellow after all the grey.

And well done to those planning (and securing) their next steps into work and PhDs. What amazing achievements. It only feels like yesterday when we packed them all off for the first time with their mattress toppers and photos of family pets!

I'm reading with a little jealousy about your motivated young people applying for so many opportunities. Ds1 seems to have zombified into a sort of supermarket shelf-stacking limbo. He claims he wants to start planning some sort of future career but he can't because Covid. Any gentle hints or suggestions and I get my head properly snapped off. He's apparently VERY HAPPY as he is and doesn't want to do anything else EVER so I should mind my own business. Sigh.

We've just dodged the threatened snow storms to take ds2 back to uni. He needs to be there soon because his research project involves accessing hospital records, but frankly I think he just wanted a change of housemate; He's just had to pay the second dollop of his masters fees and he worked out he's paid approximately 1k for each hour of face to face tuition he's had so far. We told him he's lucky to have had probably more than many others. Online exams and presentations seem to have gone well so far.

[Horsemad]

@Haffdonga, my DS has said when he finishes his Masters, he wants a supermarket job for about 6 months, wants to learn to drive (did start before he went to uni but gave up) and then will look for a long term job.

I'm just letting him get on with it now...

[latedecember1963]

How frustrating, SMaCM, I think a lot of students and young workers have had a raw deal in the last year.
I suspect DS2 may end up doing the same as your lads, Haffdonga and Horsemad, and if that's what he needs then we'll go with it.
Glad you had a safe journey, Haffdonga. Bet it felt odd doing a long journey. A tank of petrol lasts me weeks these days as I live less than 3 miles from work.

[Stopyourhavering64]

Ds was thinking of continuing with MSc/MRes after he graduated, but is now planning on deferring for a year , coming home and getting job in supermarket where he used to work ( and where his sister has been working for 9 month until she got her first grad training scheme job last month ) . He says he'd move into flat with friends as doesn't want to lose his independence !
Course he's planning on doing is fairly practical, with fieldwork involved and he's worried that if lectures still online come September, there's not much point in starting until he's able to get in person contact - he's missed so much of the practical element of course this year and field trip to Iceland cancelled, so can't say I blame him

[En0lagay]

In these difficult times I think any of them who are getting out of bed are doing well at times.

Dd started her five month postgrad this week in preparation for the clinical doctorate in the autumn, she's got two applications in and we are just waiting for results. She's also taken on her own caseload this week so it's all progressing nicely so far, it makes a change for something to be going well ! She's had it all work out well which is more than can be said for the rest of the family, we're very pleased of course.

[Xenia]

Sounds like people are sorting out what they will be doing. Second twin did his main mock exam online yesterday too so now they can relax a bit although because 20 student out of thousands complained about last term's mocks being concentrated in a week this term's are spread out week by week which my sons thinks make quite a few weeks exam weeks and is worse but I expect they will manage. There seems to be some oral submission and also course work this term too but apparently they are not quite sure what when other than the final April exam timetable.

They and I feel more confident about this brand new course (which is also different too because it is online which was not originally planned of course) as they are into the swing of it and have done last term so it feels easier now even if land and trusts law they say is harder than tort, contract etc.

Still no word on if the 13 guests distanced wedding with no meal/party of their sister can go ahead in March however as the Government has not yet changed the "all weddings banned" rules however small that have been in place in London since 19 Dec (unless you are dying).

[En0laGay]

I hope it's safe for the wedding to go ahead, wasn't it originally planned for last year or am I making that up?

[Xenia]

She got engaged in December and at first they thought they might marry in Oc 2021 but the hotels were all saying if you are not allowed to hold in in Oct 2021 you cannot get a refund - just put it off yet another year which was not feasible for her so they decided to have a tiny micro wedding but even those have been banned since 19 Dec. She is finding it a annoying that loads of people seem to think tiny weddings can still take place but they are illegal at the moment even if just 2 people are present. Anyway I spoke to her today and everything else is fine so I suppose if March still has the no weddings rules with only 13 guests it will not be that hard to move it to April.

In other news the twins both passed quite well their first law exams - results out today.

[Horsemad]

Good news on your sons' results Xenia.

I'd find it very frustrating if I were trying to organise a wedding at the moment. Hopefully it will go ahead in March. 🤞

DS has had a meeting today re his dissertation, so that's obviously being thought about. 🙂 He's had a couple of field trips cancelled too @Stopyourhavering64 😟

[Xenia]

Sounds like progress on the dissertation.
Yes it's not easy to plan a wedding. They had a meeting face to face at Westminster recently and got the marriage licence which lasts a year so all they need now is for the law to change to allow small weddings again and then we are set for March.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Well done to your boys, Xenia and fingers crossed re the wedding.

Learning to drive if they've not yet passed is definitely a good thing to do after graduation. DD has got her license but wants to do lots of practice this summer.

[Xenia]

Thanks. I think they are doing their criminal oral mock exam today which is shorter than the real thing later in the academic year but still good practice. I am sure it will be their first oral exam (other than music performance exams and interviews) so just as well they get an oral to practise it in. They were not even sure if it were just sound or video too yesterday so I hope they checked. Their friend, a year above them in law who is doing the course they will start in September for lawyers, had to put on his suit for one oral/video exam as you pretend to be a real lawyer in a meeting kind of thing. That was also the case in non covid 19 times. I had been copying old videos and CDs last year and found their sisters' recordings of those sessions they saved from the same course - a sort of mock court hearing thing.

Cv19 announcements on 22 Feb might allow micro weddings again - we shall see. 13 guest weddings with no meal are actually pretty easy to organise other than the total uncertainty as so few people.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'm sure you've already had all the jokes re looking like a lawyer and choosing a kitten filter.

[En0laGay]

@ErrolTheDragon

I'm sure you've already had all the jokes re looking like a lawyer and choosing a kitten filter.

????

Did any of the DCs on here do medicine?

DC#2 has decided to try for medicine, we are at the picking A levels stage at the moment - Biology, Chemistry and two others (1 to be AS level style).

[latedecember1963]

En0laGay, I have messaged my niece with your query re A Levels for medicine. She did a History degree and then a 4 year medical course and her husband studied medicine. They are now both GPs so I'm hoping they might be able to give some pointers.

[Xenia]

My sibling is a doctor but none of the children. One of my lawyer daughters picked A levels in chemistry, economics and geography (and AS physics) so she could keep her options open in case she chose medicine ad she was equally good at science and arts GCSEs. My doctor sibling did physics, chemistry, maths and further maths A levels (and an S level in Biology and Chemistry - I do not think we have those S levels today).

I accidentally disturbed my son's oral exam yesterday - it was only a mock. He was going it 2 hours after he said he was and I just emptied a pot of keys on the kitchen table which he said was very loud so he had to speak very loudly and then I had 2 phone calls in a different room. I think it was as well both twins had this mock as their screens were recorded which they did not expect not that that it mattered, they didn't even know if was audio or video and apparently after you can go back and edit it which seems weird for an exam. It was only 8 minutes and I think you record your answers which you would give verbally to your law firm supervisor as it if were real life.

They get so many emails all year all headed welcome to [name of their institution] day in day out for people studying at about 6 different centres I think they just don't have the capacity to read them all but I bet lurking in there is a 20 page manual on the recorded oral exams or something like that.

They both seem fine about it all and there is not much else to do so they might as well just carry on working hard.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Chemistry is the essential, biology also required by many med schools of course. I believe a few require maths or physics. I suppose there are two main factors - which of the other subjects after C&B will they be likely to get the best grades in, and which in combination with the C&B keep open other doors they might like if they change their mind about medicine or if they don't get an offer.

Perhaps the thought process might be aided by thinking about what subject they'd be likely to choose for the 5th non med school slot on the UCAS form?

[En0laGay]

Thank you for all the information, I'll pass it on. December thanks for emailing your niece, that's very kind of you.

Xenia I hope the mock results are good, anything to boost confidence in these difficult times.

Errol I think he will have no problem choosing what to put in the 5th slot, well in as much as he has two ideas for alternatives to medicine if he doesn't get in or changes his mind. He has one subject he's absolutely passionate about and another possible career option in mind which Biology and Chemistry would also be useful for.

I think he'd also consider Geography but he has no idea what career path he would want to follow except that he has no interest whatsoever in town planning.