Oxford Cambridge 2021 Thread 6

[Chocomel]

Hopefully this is in the right place?

I’m so sorry to hear your sad news BJW and Jan.

This is such a difficult, uncertain and drawn out time in so many ways.

@Jano69 I’m so sorry to read of your sad news Very tough on you all and your poor dd having to deal with so much.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I’m still in bed! I think dh and the girls have sorted presents and cake.

@BigWoollyJumpers remind me what subject your dd is doing? Apparently the Exeter campus is supposed to be beautiful. My dd definitely likes the look of it too.

Funnily enough my oldest dd visited Exeter with dh a few years ago when she was going through this. They both really liked it. She accepted a place at Birmingham (English Lit + Lang) BUT had second thoughts last spring, auditioned for dance college instead and in September started a dance degree course in London. So much better for her, she’s very happy.

Very sorry for your loss @Jano69 - I can’t imagine how difficult this time must be for you.

Sorry for your loss @Jano69 💐

@bendmeoverbackwards I would love to investigate dance schools for my 12 year old daughter who is not interested in academics at all. Would you mind sharing the name of the dance school?

Yes of course @chopc she is at London Studio Centre in N London. Apparently Urdang is the place to go currently buy I think it’s more musical theatre based.

Have been very impressed with LSC so far. They’ve handled covid brilliantly and at least dd had a term of proper classes before going online now. The support is excellent - dd has access to physios, nutrition experts, the lot. Apparently they won an award for best healthcare provision.

Jano69 So sorry to hear about your dad. What a week. DD has gone very quiet, I think it is a lot to take on in one week. We are still waiting to hear about DM, who is still very ill, expecting the worst.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and best wishes.

Both my girls are going for a walk with their new dates this weekend and I am encouraging them to go, lockdown or no. I think it will be really good for them, and they are both very sensible. Nothing is falling from the sky today, cold as anything, but think I will wrap up warm and go for a trek across muddy fields.

Are anyone else’s DC just finding this whole thing too drawn out now? It’s so hard at 17 when they can’t see their friends to take their minds off things. Too much social media is a minefield at the best of times. I feel bad for them and it’s only a week or so into term.

bend - I am in solidarity with you waiting for Durham. DS isn’t even sure he would want to go there tbh, but still. He might change his mind if he could visit. I think pangolins might be right though when she says they will have been making contextual offers to the normal cover ratios throughout last term (assuming exams would happen) and now, following GW’s latest, they’re realising they have over-offered as it’s going to be CAGs again, so how on earth can they now make the same proportion of offers to the non-contextual applicants?

LSE have also confirmed they have made no offers yet and will start in a couple of weeks - so it sounds like they’re also waiting on the outcome of GW’s ideally-timed “two-week consultation.”

Sorry to moan and I realise people have far far worse things to stress about. Just letting off steam on MN!

bendmeoverbackwards Yes, we are one of the history redirects. But also one of the few who hasn't applied to Durham, keeping South, DD doesn't like the cold! So of her remaining offers, Exeter and Warwick will be one and two. Exeter will end up being a lower offer if we put it first. Southampton and Sussex now not really in the running, just there to make up the numbers. Unfortunately none of DD's offers have any financial incentive .

Good luck to your ds @quest1on Yes it's definitely so much harder for them without the support of their friends and being at school. Although dd had a chat with her History teacher the other day which made her feel much better.

@chopc my dd also got a place at Stella Mann in Bedford. We arranged to go and visit over the summer when she was deciding. It's a much smaller school but still with a good reputation but dd decided on LSC as the course is more flexible.

Thanks so much for the info @bendmeoverbackwards . I shall look them up

@Jano69 sorry to hear your news

Hope you're having a lovely day @bendmeoverbackwards

Oh @Jano69, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what this time must be like with such grief in the mix too. And for you @BigWoollyJumpers with the worry also. Gah.

Happy Birthday to you @bendmeoverbackwards. Jeez, Stella Mann. That takes me back. My sister went for her ballet lessons there on Finchley Road in London back in the day, nearly 40 years ago. @chopc, depending on what dance she's into, I'd look at at Laban as well. I might be hugely out of date though.

@quest1on, it is soooooooooo draaaaaawn oouuuuuut isn't it. DS seems pretty damn good at distracting himself. He never ever mentions it to me, though of course that doesn't mean he isn't thinking about it. He's got online exams in early Feb so hopefully that is distracting though of course it adds to the pressure.

Happy Birthday to you @bendmeoverbackwards. Jeez, Stella Mann. That takes me back. My sister went for her ballet lessons there on Finchley Road in London back in the day, nearly 40 years ago

OMG me too @Tenpastseven!! I was a pupil there in the late 70s. The school was above some shops with an outside staircase I seem to remember.

@Jano69 So sorry to hear of your sad news. It is just an awful time for so many

This whole process is really getting to me, so I can only imagine the toll it's taking on our dc.... I hate moaning, but it's what I want to do right now! Just nothing is simple for this cohort and it's so draining.

What with it being January, in my mind I have one eye on pay day, so I do agree the 25th seems a long way off still. I think we were generally fine at a similar stage, bar a few casual late night stressing sessions, but I imagine it's worse when you've watched the scenario being played out among the Oxford contingent.
Sorry to hear your news, Woolly and Jane.

DD hasn't applied to Durham so not facing the wait there. However, not holding even one offer and knowing that it would be a miracle if Cambridge didn't say "no thanks" is fairly nerve-wracking all the same.

It seems that Durham could single handed relieve a great deal of stress and sadness for lots of redirected candidates if they just got on with things and sent out a few more offers.
I do wonder though it there's a bit of a go slow in place at various Unis, waiting for actual detail of the "not full exams" to replace exams.

So sad to hear of more than one poster on this thread losing loved ones to Covid at this time. It's cruel timing all round for you and your dc.

I'm so sorry for your losses @BigWoollyJumpers and @Jano69 and thinking of your mum too Woolly. Happy birthday @bendmeoverbackwards and hoping for an offer to wing its way to your house today.

What annoys me about Durham is that on the Discord uni chat DS is on, someone posted a FOI Act request from WhatDoTheyKnow. For the last 4 or 5 years, there have been between 500-520 applicants for his course, to which they make offers to at least 90% of them. So why, every year, they need to drag the offer process out in dribs and drabs over 6 months is ridiculous imo. Have a look on WhatDoTheyKnow as there’s some interesting info on there.

90% wow @quest1on But I presume that figure will be lower this year with no A Levels?

@bendmeoverbackwards NO WAY! Ha. Yes it was where JW3 has now been built, up a little external staircase behind what I think was a car showroom at the time.

I feel that DS is very lucky in that he didn't apply to Durham and so he's heard from all his other 4 choices (including UCL actually) and his clear 2nd choice of Bristol should (bar a shitshow) be very achievable. So if 'redirected' on 25th, things at least become pretty clear and he can start to busy himself with looking into accommodation options etc. I am grateful for that certainty and I certainly feel for those DC who are very much in limbo following a redirection.