Another path to greatnesses

[chopc]

I woke up around 4:30 this morning and it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Couldn't get back to sleep so thought I will have a go and starting the new thread. Hope the title is not too cheesy

Ds’s college closed the library and the dining hall. Dinners outside in a tent canteen-style with socially-distanced seating. No clubs/societies let alone lectures.

It really seems to have been a miserable experience for most of the 2020 freshers. Hopefully things are marginally better in September though I fear that may be wishful thinking .

DS has been chatting to a girl online over these last months who has got onto the same C course with A*AA and 7s and 6s at GCSE. In her PS she just mentioned some books she had read. He has seen her PS as she asked him for advice with it Her school is a comprehensive, but hardly a bad one in a suburban area and she’s had an Oxbridge advisor they paid for separately. She’s moaning to him now and saying she might not go to C as how dare they pool her to an all girls’ college. Her dad is now trying to get her moved on the basis that she left an all girls grammar some years ago and returning to an all female environment will be “damaging to her mental health.” She says she wants to come to London and may well now accept KCL and can they meet up when lockdown is lifted

@Jan069 @IrmaFayLear yes I get that freshers everywhere had a miserable time and I thought that Oxbridge and Durham being collegiate, they would be better off as better able to make friends

It doesn't take away the fact that if you are going to have a miserable time, DS would rather it be in Cambridge 🙈

For the Cambridge redirected DC it would have been especially nice to look look forward to being a fresher elsewhere but it looks like they may have double disappointment. However I do get that this may be the same for ANY DC who doesn't get their preferred choice and as @Jan069 @CBear99 and others have mentioned, they will grow to love their other option

I did think about advising him to defer and try and do something abroad for a year where he can have a life but who is to say next year will be different as Coronavirus is here to stay

@quest1on 🙈

@quest1on - some people are so spoilt, enabled by belligerent parents.

I don’t think some candidates think for a second about the pooling system and assume that if they apply to a college that’s where they’ll go. Plus the arrogance of then being annoyed ! I have seen cheeky gits over the years on tsr asking whether they should ring up Oxbridge to say no, they don’t want that college, they want this college. Strewth.

Oh @quest1on that's really tough.

One person in DS's year at school got a C offer. Sounds like I'm bragging now but DS got their best ever gcse results- which won't by the sounds of it have been anything extraordinary for your ds's school but trying to give context, this lad had never been on DS's radar as academic competition. He applied for and got geography. DS said he was worse at geography than both him and his mate (both turned down for C, Nat sci and eng respectively) and he certainly wasn't the outstanding candidate it sounds like your DS is. Sorry this is probably ham-fisted, just trying to say I really can't understand the selection decisions in some cases.

DS is a fresher and whilst it has been a different experience for him he has genuinely loved this year. He loves his course and he has made some great friends. He has managed to have a lot of fun despite everything.
I also think it’s so wrong to assume perfect exam results will guarantee/strengthen a chance of an Oxbridge offer. They tell students every year that they take a holistic approach to admissions yet every year we see people upset because their dc with ‘perfect’ GCSEs don’t get an offer.

@UnityUnited having great results is just a basic in my opinion and don't think this is why we are disappointed

@UnityUnited on another note it is great to hear your DS had a positive freshers experience. How did he make friends and manage to have fun with all the restrictions?

DS said this girl is getting on his nerves now.

Last night DS made me look at this whole process in a new light. He said, “Remember when I got 5 rejection letters through the post after the 7+? I just went back three years later, got into those schools at 11+ and now I’ve done better than most of them who got in at 7. Huerta wax no difference. So don’t worry mum. I understand how these things go.”

“There was” not Huerta wax!

Also, regarding this year’s freshers, my DS says the friendships have evolved a lot quicker because of circumstances. I am hearing stories about students returning to keep their medic friends company, people shopping for one another, lots of socialising amongst households (corridors). They even managed to have an informal formal where everyone dressed up one night just to have dinner in the hall. So many have proven themselves to be a resilient bunch and I am sure if the same restrictions are still in place for the 2021 cohort, the same will be just as true.

I hope that answers your question chopc. I wonder whether it helps being at a university where you have access to a JCR and everyone eats together in a hall.

Regarding UCL, we did go up there just before Xmas. They wouldn’t let us into the campus, but I was amazed at how large the campus is, tucked away there. How did I not know this? It’s like an oasis and also quite an imposing sight from the gates. My youngest said, “Is that the White House?”

Brilliant @quest1on It is indeed a beautiful building. And bearing in mind it's Central London, that area (Bloomsbury) has lots of lovely open spaces and green squares to sit in.

@Pumpkintopf I would say try not to worry too much about accommodation, there ARE cheaper options I'm sure. Some of my friends lived in quite big houses, but with say 6 or 7 in a group it works out cheaper than smaller house shares. There will be parts of London that are cheaper than others but still an easy tube ride in.

The thing is @Pumpkintopf , it’s a lot easier to get in for Geography than NatSci or Engineering. One has to make one’s peace with that. Going for a very popular subject is always a gamble.

Worse back in my day there was this girl who left my grammar school to go to a boys’ public school for sixth form. She was wealthy but.... mediocre of brain; didn’t even get O Level Maths (which precluded her from staying in grammar sixth form). and was in bottom subject sets. Later heard she’d got into Oxford for some niche subject. Thank goodness there’s more meritocratic entry now!

Nothing much new here, dd is focussing on finishing her History coursework which she has been worrying about. She thinks it's not her best work but is due in tomorrow. It's difficult to know what they are looking for. She was allowed to submit one draft to her teachers for feedback which she has acted on but it's still difficult to tell if she's on the right track.

When my oldest dd submitted her English A Level coursework a few years ago, it turned out that it was too narrative rather than analytical. Dd was annoyed that her teachers hadn't advised her on this but I suppose there are strict rules what they can and cannot say.

@bendmeoverbackwards Same here with the history coursework. DS' history teacher is notoriously picky with feedback. I wish they could give them a rough idea of grade on the feedback, so they know how much to change. DS is worried that if he changes too much he'll start going off down the wrong track and make it worse. She's now told him not to overthink it, so we're reading between the lines that it means don't change it too much (hopefully!).

@quest1on your DS is wise beyond his years!! I could do with some of his wisdom for sure.

Also I'm glad 'Huerta wax' is not a thing. Thought it was some obscure Latin reference I was too thick to get

Thanks @bendmeoverbackwards you have all made me feel more positive about the London student experience.

@IrmaFayLear oh my goodness. That is quite awful actually!

Thanks @UnityUnited . What is a JCR? I think in catered accom you have a dining hall but most were closed and food packs were delivered to students.

Some say those in non catered were better off as they at least got to meet people in the kitchen. Some students apparently just stayed in their rooms the whole time which I didn't get

In other news, we are getting ready for dd's 18th birthday on Sunday. As it's pretty rubbish for her not seeing her friends, no party etc....we've pulled all the stops out. Paid a small fortune for someone to come and decorate the living room and dining room table with balloons, light up things etc. Organised posh food from a caterer (and cocktails!).

Thanks @calculatorqueen at least dd was pleased she managed to write within the word count (well just slightly over but that's easily fixed). I reminded her that even when she hands in what she thinks isn't a good essay, it's normally much better than she thinks.

@chopc not in my experience at all. My hall was catered, we all went down to dinner together every evening, it was very sociable (after watching Neighbours and Home and Away in the 'TV room' of course )

Apparently a teacher at another school DD goes to has told people that with the exception of courses requiring STEP, C have bately over-offered at all this year. So if there’s 100 places on a course, they might have made 102 offers, where in a normal year they would have made 120-130.

I wonder what will happen now if GW does his characteristic U-turn tomorrow and announces “hey kids, sorry we’ve decided we are actually having exams after all but we’re just calling them something else...”