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

Wow.

@Stitchintimesaves9 DS's Oxford feedback was literally scores out of 10 per item, the contextual minus score for his gcses and his HAT score. Even when we compared his scores to the average offer holder he scored higher than average so it was really not of use other than to show he was one of those that might have made it on another day.

Thanks @IrmaFayLear that’s good to know!

Thanks also, @SeasonFinale. Will be interesting to see what we get back.

That's a seriously weird username. I'm surprised MN is letting is stand.

@Stitchintimesaves9 my dd has also requested feedback and is waiting to hear.

[I can take it.... laughing as I type. It is a difficult time for lots of people. Also I just about always support free speech so let them have any user names they like.]

You're very gracious Xenia. Some people should just grow up.

I didn’t doubt for one moment you would rise above this @Xenia Good for you.

Very gracious indeed of you Xenia.

We have some more Durham news. As some of you may remember, DD got a History offer in November (non contextual).

She received an email from Durham this morning saying they're changing their college allocation process. She's been asked to rank her preferred colleges in order - 1st to 16th.

This is completely different to previous years when students would be randomly allocated a college if their first choice couldn't be met.

For those of you still waiting for Durham offers, your dc might want to rethink their top college choice and how they rank the remaining colleges.

I think this is generally good news for students although I do worry that colleges risk reinforcing their reputations for a a certain "type" of student.

DD has already ranked her 16 colleges and hit send so will let you know how she gets on.

Fingers crossed for your DD @bendmeoverbackwards!

Hi my daughter went through the same process last year and was rejected from Oxford for physics. She then went onto lancaster to study physics particle physics and cosmology 4 years integrated masters, and loves it. 2020 has been tough not gonna lie, but she has said she has definitely made the right decision doing the course than taking a gap year and having to compete for jobs with people who have been made redundant from previous lockdowns.

It has been different of course. most of the course has been online this year apart from labs once a fortnight. But the staff have been excellent and done a superb job, and even have on line labs as well as.
Socially its been not bad for her. April last year when everyone was in lockdown, she joined social media official freshers groups on facebook and then in turn they went to instant chat platforms and also on zoom so they could see each other. She became friends with about 12 of them in her physics group and once a week (sunday night) they made an effort to take it in turns to host a quiz and the rest doubled up as teams. They also did on line escape rooms, played music, chatted about movies, food, what they called a cob/bread roll/bap/ etc;and they kept that up, right until the start of uni.
Then when uni started it was rule of 6 at first, so she made an effort to meet up her online group in person and had dinner together, be it a maccys or campus restuarant or bar. The reason she did all of this back in April was to prepare herself, should her housemates be not her type of people (which they were in the end). The rule of 6 only lasted about 3 weeks before the area she was in got put into level 3, then lockdown. So she adapted and meets up in person with her physics buddies for walks a couple of times a week, and they re-ignited the sunday evening online meetups again.

There has also been other groups she joined along the way in one of the societies on the Thursday night.

So yeah its been different, but she definitely made the right choice going to lancaster and will be trying for a phd at oxbridge in the future.

I also feel a centralised system would be a much fairer approach, especially when applying from a school who do not regularly advise on Oxbridge applications. It is like a game of Russian roulette, and the pick-me dance is just another hurdle to navigate.

I thought this was because at oxbridge the tutors who interview you are likely to be the ones who will be teaching you in whichever college you apply to?

Hi everyone. Could I please ask - DS has also had this email from Durham asking him to rank all the colleges in his order of preference, but we literally have no clue. To be honest, he’s not massively keen on going up there anymore, but we still need to do this.

What colleges would people recommend - any ideas. His main interest is singing, so would like to be somewhere with bands and /or choirs. He’s not into team sports at all but is karate black belt and competes. Is mixed ethnicity. Confident but not into loud, lairy ‘rah’ people and not at all into drinking / pub culture.

I’ve heard Chad’s is a popular one but you have to join their society? Also, is this St John’s religious as this is what someone told him? People say Hatfield and Castle are a bit much? He doesn’t even have an offer yet, so it’s hard to feel invested enough to rank all these colleges.

Same as @quest1on dd has had the email and has no clue, her interests are reading and writing, and really into films, walking, not quite sure what else! She is really laid back too. She has seen a YouTube video of someone recommending cuthbert hut other than that 🤷‍♀️

Also not in to pub /club/party culture.

DD also needs a crash course on Durham colleges. She did go to an open day in 2019.

She would probably like a few parties!

DS has also received the Durham colleges email, he's submitted his first 3 choices in order or priority and will take pot luck with anything after that.

..order of (not or)...

Dd knows she wants to firm up Durham so looked at colleges in detail and has ranked them . However, she does think that she’d be happy at any of them.
This colleges guide was useful :

www.dur.ac.uk/resources/study/studying/2825-DUMarketing-CollegesGuide2021_03.09.20_Single.pdf

Thank you @Jan069 so dd is still waiting for Durham and has submitted her first preference college. Will this be irrelevant if she gets an offer as I assume students rank their colleges on receipt of an offer?

Here's what it says on the Durham college allocations page -

‘If you have applied to Durham but have not yet had an offer decision from us, you can still use the online form to rank your college preferences. If we later make you an offer to study, your ranked preferences will be used by the process. You will be able to submit and amend rankings up until the point when a college decision is made. This will normally be within seven days of a departmental offer being made.’

https://www.dur.ac.uk/colleges.se.office/allocations/details/

Morning! Checking in after a while. I have had some YouTube videos about Durham and UCL. DS is a History applicant. Whilst I think he will love the university life at Durham, I think the actual History course at UCL is ace! I know most research will be done online but imagine having access to all the libraries in London?

At UCL you also get one to one feedback tutorials which I don't think you get at Durham (although of course you can discuss it with your tutor).

UCL also starts the course with writing, making and researching History which I think is fantastic - when looking at History in Durham, some students said it is very different from AL but I wasn't sure if they get a lot of guidance on how to write their essays/ papers ...... Plus I think the variety of modules you can take at UCL is greater and you can add modules from different subjects such as politics. I wonder if you are taught and guided more in UCL than Durham? Although I know History degrees everywhere would require a lot of independent study.

However you can't beat the University experience of Durham, the community, sense of belonging and the sports which I don't think is easy to participate in at UCL due to the sports facilities being so spread.

I know we have loads of History applicants and students parents on this thread. What are your thoughts on these two Universities?

(Basically I would like DS to have the Uni life at Durham with the Course at UCL 🙈). DS is undecided and we are waiting for one more offer so all options are available.

His other campus option is Leeds but I am really regretting that choice. Basically DS didn't really have a fifth choice as there was nowhere else he wanted to apply. We went by the History rankings below and the fact DH went to Leeds and rated the student life there.

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/history

Have a great day!

Hi chopc. I’m not sure what to suggest to be honest, re- UCL vs Durham. Totally different student experiences! It’s such a shame there’s no open days to get a feel for either. DS would probably now chose UCL, but that’s just him. He’s watched some videos / YouTubers about Durham and seems to think it’s all a bit “too British.” I’m sure there all sorts once you actually get there, but for whatever reason this doesn’t really come across in their promotional stuff or You Tube videos. Anyway, this is all academic as he doesn’t have an offer anyway..,

His other campus option is Leeds but I am really regretting that choice.

What does your DS feel about it? Why do you regret the fact that he has applied there?