2017 seems so long ago, now they're fledgling graduates.

[latedecember1963]

4 years since A Levels and the wait for August and confirmation of where our chicks were about to fly the nest to.
It's been 4 years that has sprung a few surprises along the way, not least this lovely series of threads.

Well done for getting all that sorted out. My twins' law exams wre open book (finished last week) but it was certainly a whole new skill - even just typing not writing was different as was maximum word counts (very tricky) and being online.I think if they do exams remotely next academic year on their next course it is also kind of live streamed so will be even more complicated. Hopefully big exam rooms will be open again by then.

By Bristol son came home for the December and then the April exams which coincided with holidays anyway so was fine, for similar reasons although our internet does cut out once or twice a day so not perfect even here and probably slower than Bristol, but here it is silent and they have a room each upstairs away from everyone.

DD writes the answers on paper (I assume) hence the scanner. Engineering and other mathsy disciplines don't really lend themselves to being done via typing.

I had not thought of that. The other issue for one of my sons is he cannot be on a screen for too long due to an eye problem so the move this year to 100% of their materials being online and exams on line is not great for him.

Errol - now I know who to come to when my IT at home isn’t working properly!

Just catching up here as I'm overwhelmed with marking just now .

Congratulations to @Xenia & her DD and DSIL. It sounds like a lovely day was had by all. I'm glad the law exams went well.

@ErrolTheDragon you guys are amazing! DD1 is back in Cambridge for her exams which are 1st - 3rd June. I don't know what where she will take them; I will talk to her after the football today.

DD's college is offering, subject to COVID restrictions, a graduation in person. Parents can go to the college and watch on a big screen whilst the students graduate. As it looks likely that DD will be staying on, she needs to graduate. I've booked the day off work and we hope to travel the day before as it is at 10am. I know I like driving, but no way am I leaving here at 5am and hoping the M25 is ok. It's on a Friday so we at least get the weekend to sort ourselves out.

DD has a verbal offer of a summer job in a local shop. It's not exactly mentally taxing, but it fits in with her values and she and the owner clicked immediately so she's pleased. I'm not sure exactly when the PhD starts, probably early October. She and her bf are hoping to join his family in Portugal early in September but bf's PGCE starts a week earlier than planned and they will only get a short break. As we live in a holiday area, they can spend time here over the summer instead.

Weeding beckons - it's better than the 42 hours I have spent over the last 3 weeks marking Extended Projects, but harder on the knees! Hope everyone has a nice Sunday.

By 'amazing' you may mean 'prone to overthinking'.

Mal graduation in person sounds nice. I think in our case we have to write off any chance my twins will have the July 2020 graduation ever now.
A summer job is a good idea for many but mine have not planned any and are free from now until 6 Sept. Hopefully they will plan something even if just a holiday in England. In theory we have a family holiday abroad for 10 for a week in late July but I would like to bet on that being allowed by law to happen. I have not had a night away from home since summer 2019 although obviously I could if I really wanted.

I suppose we might as well keep the threads going into September + which will be year 5 as quite a lot of them will still be studying or starting first jobs (- my son's friend has accountancy exams whilst working for an accountancy firm which has always been the way with accountancy, unlike law, and is pretty hard work)

DD mentioned a while ago that her college was considering something like Malbec describes, I guess we'll find out nearer the time what they can do. I don't know the date even - I'd better check as I should pencil in dog care. DH could do it in a day if necessary(he did the 400 mile round trip to pick her up last week) but obviously it would be way too long to leave the old dog alone!

@Xenia - you might make your holiday. The government are due to announce on 7 May the changes for travel from 17 May. We’re waiting to see which countries fall under the red, amber and green but are hoping to see my family and in particular DD as soon as possible. Belgium is doing slightly better with their vaccine roll out so I’m getting hopeful.

Yes, may be. I thought so for last summer too but the holiday company cancelled on us. In theory my daughter is going on a honeymoon on 17 May but is about to cancel it for various reasons not least the uncertainties around it all, testing - particuularly the cost of testing,

I don't know how much my paying for testing before, during and after would cost me for 10 people but probably too much to make me want to go.

Good luck to your DD tomorrow, Errol. I'm sure She really appreciates all the support knowing she can focus on her answers rather than whether the tech will hold up.
One of the reasons DS2 has stayed at Uni since 4th Jan is because our internet isn't always great. Also DH spends most of his day in meetings and is loud ( I'm convinced he needs a hearing test! 🤨😂) so periods of quiet needed for exams could get very fractious.
Hope you at least had some interesting topics for the EPQs MalbacFan.
I'm happy to carry on the thread post September. It will be nice to hear what they all end up doing and give moral support if jobs prove hard to come by.

I hope we can keep
The thread going - and I hope we'll have some graduation pics to share eventually
We have a flights booked mid June to Portugal optimistically..

Just popping in to say Good Luck to your DD for tomorrow, @ErrolTheDragon.

DS has started back today after his Easter break, so his bedroom door is closed and a lonely cat has insisted on sitting outside it all day! I think he's only got about a month to do, then he'll be concentrating on his dissertation.

DS that is, not the cat! 🤣🤣🤣

I'd like to carry on with these threads, though maybe we should find a new home for them at some point once most of them are no longer in full time education. (I'm not sure what PhDs count as... seemed quite like work to me).

Might be complex to remember them if a different heading that higher ed though.... I think we can stretch my twins certainly for September's LPC course and then 2 years training working in a law firm is probably education just about.....So I probably have 3.5 years more to go in the sense of training/education of my children.

DD has decided to quit her masters course. This year has just been a total mess. It's a big money loss, but her health is more important. She hates that she committed to a years rent on a house she didn't need and now has to pay council tax on it as well. Shame, because she loved the course content.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Too many hopes and plans blighted by this wretched disease and its knock-on effects.

SMaCM that's a tough bump on the road for your DD , it's been a mess of a a year emotionally and educationally for our offspring and financially also for
Those paying rent for unoccupied houses. Hope she's feeling relived at her decision and can move forward with your support.
Xenia my DD has just decided to do the next stage in her law career , so like your twins will be a students for a few more years .

@SMaCM, now your DD has made the decision to leave her course it will hopefully help her to feel calm and work out what she would like to do next.
It's been such an awful year for students. 😟

Thank you everyone. It's so hard to tread that line between being a Mum and treating them as independent adults. She is going to take a break and do a 'normal' job for a while to pay the bills before she gets back to thinking about the future. Hopefully this won't blight her chance of aiming for the future career she still has planned.

Good luck to everyone on here still pressing ahead. I will stay lurking for a while to see how they all get on.

Good luck @SMaCM DD. When I’m doing recruitment I like those who have had a gap year break of any type. Gives them new skills and helps them grow up. Makes interviews much more interesting as they have experiences to talk about.

Yes, I agree about them having something to talk about rather than being fresh from education.

SMaCM, health comes first and it is a masters - so probably she has her undergraduate degree already which is the main thing. I don't think you need to lurk. I am equally interested in those who have jobs (or not) as those still studying. In fact I wish I could find out what the children my daughter went to school with back in the 1980s were all doing now - the ones who came to her parties when she was about 8. I know the few who stayed her friends, but it is interesting to hear what they all do longer term.

Carriemac that is good. I think it is worth pressing on with studying particularly if it is vocational like law and given the current jobs market for other things.

My Bristol son went back by tube/train yesterday. As with last time he missed his train by 2 minutes - he underestimates time waiting for trains and commuting in from this house and he think I over estimate it . He says this is why he now doesn't book in advance now (and the trains are fairly empty so it is all really easy these days). He got the next train and had time to buy his lunch at Paddington so it was not too bad. If he were my model child he would apply for a legal job of some kind in Bristol for this term to help his CV and much else but being my normal happy child he will just have two months of not doing anything at all.

(It is a complicated year or two for law students as the whole qualification system is changing and I think the September 2021 course starters are the last under the older existing system (mine are under the existing system) and decisions about gap years make vast differences - although the new system can be better for some than the old so it is not easy to decide for potential solicitors (and barristers have a new system coming in too))

dd is about to embark on finals and is hoping/planning to do her PG Diploma in Law starting in September but needs to find a 2 year traineeship after that. ( We're in Scotland)
I'm hoping that the place she did some work experience in summer 2019 will have her back this summer . She was supposed to spend a month there in summer 2020 but it was cancelled due to covid. Fingers crossed.
Like Xenia I enjoy hearing how the youngsters dd was at school with are getting on. We live quite rurally so most have moved away but I sometimes see one or two when home visiting ( in normal times)