Another path to greatness - part III

[chopc]

Here is the new thread

Need - DS is currently doing his Masters but he sees it as an extension with more specialised study than his first degree. But yes would be very difficult without the earlier knowledge. He isn’t doing a PhD and has a job to start in September but his PhD will give exemptions from professional qualifications. Can’t believe the end is in sight.

That totally makes sense Need. DS1's modules were structured in a different way over the 4 years to students who joined him for the 4th year.

A very unusual (hopefully) consequence of this for him is that when his uni cancelled most exams last summer, it was still necessary to do some of the essential examined components for the accreditation for his degree. DS1 had already done those components, whereas stand alone students hadn't so still had exams in those.

In third year DS1 was President of the society he spent all of his extra- curricular with, using time he didn't need to spend on applications. He also got a summer internship at the end of third year in his department, which confirmed he enjoyed the research side.

Something that is really relevant to everyone on this thread. This uni is DS1's other path to greatness. He was always really in 2 minds over Oxford and this uni, for several reasons including a particular specialism. It was clearly the best fit for him, he has loved it there and is doing his PhD there. He did apply elsewhere and was invited to further interviews at all applications, but withdrew once funding was confirmed for his first choice.

Thank you for sharing your DS's experience @raspberryrippleicecream

I was SO hoping all our DC will have a more normal Uni experience to look forward to but I don't believe the relevant Unis have mentioned plans for Sept?

Hi all!
Haven’t been on here in a while as we haven’t had any uni updates since Jan and looking at this thread still brings up painful memories but DD’s been on hold for Bristol Law since November (applied late September) and just got a UCAS update saying that she’s been rejected. I’m not going to lie, I’m absolutely fuming - she’s been on hold for 5 months FFS, how has it taken them this long to make a decision? I also admittedly really can’t understand the decision - DD applied with predicted IB grade of 45, all A*s at GCSE, a great PS in my (very unbiased ) opinion (though they state they only look at that in marginal cases) and an admissions test score 10 points above this year’s average (which is apparently higher than most people on the Bristol Law group chat) so thought she had a statistically good chance of getting into Bristol. I can’t help but feel frustrated for her especially as the few other people she knows applying at her school (we live abroad so not many apply there) all received their offers in November. All of them have lower grades than DD and one girl doesn’t even show up to lessons or do any group work so I really do feel for DD. She’s in absolute floods of tears now and I have no idea what to say to her. It’s come at such an awful time as well - IB are still pushing ahead with exams where we are so DD has finals starting in 2 weeks and feels behind on revision. I also still have absolutely no idea whether we can afford to send her to uni at all now (Bastard Ex has more than enough money for fees but hasn’t decided if he wants to help me pay for DD’s uni yet or if he wants to save that money for his new family ). Sorry for the rant but AHHHH this process has been absolutely awful.

I’m so sorry to hear about all of that. Does she have other offers? That seems late for Bristol. They do, of course, have a generous social mobility policy (in my view) so, with deferred candidates too, it seems to have gone down to the wire. There seem to be so many excellent candidates not getting onto courses this year.

Did her friends get law offers from Bristol or other subjects?

I am sorry. It sounds very unfair given how good she is.

My lawyer daughter read ancient history not law at Bristol because (13 years ago) she thought it would be easier to get in for that than for law which was very difficult to get in for (also that was before numbers of students were hugely increased so even hard in those days). This year is weird and unfair with such a covid 19 legislative mess.

When my second daughter did not get an offer from Bristol (not law) she did contact them to try to find out why although they did not say much and it made no difference. She did fine at Nottingham and is also a lawyer in London.

Sorry to hear that @mikeandike

Hope she has some other offers she likes?

No rhyme or reason for some universities this year

@mikeandike I am so sorry to hear that. Both Bristol and her father possibly not supporting her.
5 months is a long time to wait to be turned down.
I hope she has some other options she is happy with.

I’m so sorry to hear that, Mike. I don’t know what some unis are going this year, I really don’t.

DS has a mate with all 8s/9s (from an underperforming school). Transferred to his school on a bursary for sixth form. Now predicted all A* and has no offers for medicine. None.

I thought they wanted more doctors in the U.K fgs? Here is a boy with perfect grades and all the right aptitudes, who has already broken down some barriers for a young black man - yet he can’t get on a course?? What more could he have done?

I’ve been off the thread a while as focusing on my younger one who is going the GCSE assessments (whole other debacle), but in other news, still nothing from LSE here. I just looked on TSR and students are saying they can’t focus on revision. Hundreds have no decision and the deadline was supposed to be tomorrow, I thought? One girl has been sitting in her room in the dark, crying for days. It’s really bad to read it. Now they are apparently extending the deadline - again!

It’s too much and when unis carry on like this, it’s very off-putting and reflects very badly on them.

DS was lucky to get an early offer for UCL, but they have extended their deadline as well and loads are still in limbo there as well!

SeasonFinale - could I ask if you’ve seen any Geog movement for LSE since last Friday (only if you can remember obviously)!

Anyone else heard from LSE? I’m thinking DS has been rejected but they can’t be bothered to let him know and he will have to work it out for himself in May, when he still has heard nothing. Or maybe they’ll reject him next week - right before one of his exams. That will be a delight.

Luckily, he’s not that bothered as he sees so many friends with no offers and also, you get to a point when you switch off.

Mike - I do hope your DD is ok very soon. It’s very bad to keep her in limbo like that.

No, DC is also still waiting for LSE and another uni. But soo many stories of youngsters getting top grades and getting rejected. We visited DC 5th choice uni (not mentioned much on here...) And luckily she quite liked it and felt a bit better knowing it was a good alternative in the likely event of rejection elsewhere.

This year has been utterly horrible for many of our dc. Last summer's Year 13s got plenty of sympathy and leeway and yet our dc are quietly taking a really bad deal. It is so very unfair and upsetting.

I think many of us took our dc's Oxbridge rejections on the chin but the way this is playing out is beyond ridiculous.

Mike, I'm absolutely gutted for you. I recall the Oxbridge feedback for your dd was very positive so today's news must be absolutely crushing.

Question, again huge sympathies for your ongoing agony. Will LSE extend again I wonder?

How are these kids expected to do their assessments with all the stress and pressure they're currently enduring?

I’m very sorry to hear that @mikeandike. Our poor yr 13s have had an awful time of it.
I feel so sorry for them.
Such a long wait and then to be told no...I hope your Dd has at least one offer she is happy with?
With all the pressures of assessments going on at the moment as well, it seems particularly brutal in the way that unis are keeping them waiting longer than usual .

So sorry to hear your news @mikeandike hopefully your DD has other offers so can get to Uni this September regardless.

It's hard when they have their heart set on somewhere and through reasonable expectations created by their hard work and achievements to date it does come as a bit of a blow. My own DD, whose academic record sounds very similar to your DD's, is finding that her "other path to greatness" now involves having to re-apply next year as despite 4 interviews for medicine she received no offers at all. Cambridge thought her worthy of pooling, although things being as they are this year, this did not result in her being picked up by any other college, yet nowhere else even made an offer.

It was the rejection from her favourite non-Oxbridge choice that cut the deepest for her as you're probably finding with your DD over Bristol and the long wait to end up with a rejection is particularly hard on them emotionally.

I would second @jano69 's comments that "This year has been utterly horrible for many of our dc. Last summer's Year 13s got plenty of sympathy and leeway and yet our dc are quietly taking a really bad deal. It is so very unfair and upsetting"

It's also created an uneven playing field for sitting whatever assessment/mini exams each school is intending to use too as some dc are heading into the assessments without the emotional battering that others have taken over the past 3 months or so.

SATS - I’m do sorry to hear about your DD’s experience this year. If it’s any consolation whatsoever, DS has two friends in a very similar position following medicine applications. Both have top grades. His ex- GF who only came here a few years ago having fled their home country was so excited to be interviewed by Oxford - only to end up with no offers at all. I think she’s going to change direction now and do something totally different. So that’s one doctor lost.

Meanwhile, another friend of his with, it would seem, more “in the know” parents (both Oxbridge themselves) advised their DS to take a gap year and apply with grades achieved, as they knew this year would be a shitshow, particularly for more competitive courses like medicine. Looks like they were right.

Do you tbh ink that the diversity issue and taking lower qualified DC is utterly skewing offers now? I have no evidence. I’m just wondering? Are overseas students still coming here in large numbers? They pay more. Is this a factor in rejections for great students?

Morning all. Just checking in. I feel so cross on your behalf @mikeandike. It feels so bloody unjust. Our Y13s have had such a raw deal and are still managing such uncertainty with an endgame of results that are likely to be widely disregarded.

For our part, DS has just this week performed a screeching u-turn manoeuvre and decided out of nowhere to take a gap year and hopefully defer his first choice offer. Interestingly, I asked him if he wanted to reapply to Cambridge (or consider Oxford) and he said absolutely not. He said he felt he’d dodged a bullet there and that he’d be much happier at Bristol. That made me happy and gave me a good feeling of closure.

I wonder if this year's grades will be held in the same regard as the predicted grades of next year's cohort? I think the year 14's this year were successful from our school - and from TSR also. So perhaps it will be an advantage to apply with grades in hand

Wow @Tenpastseven !

I asked my DS yesterday if there is no face to face Uni this year, would be still want to go. He said not really but wasn't sure what he would do in his gap year .....

PP I am certain the diversity issue is skewing offers unfairly. I didn't think that 13 years ago when my daughter applied and I supported then and now the loose system the universities always had that if John did really well at his failing comp it would be looked at kindly - that always felt fair to me. However the newer more widescale systems are becoming too much of a blunt instrument and if they are not careful those operating them too widely may end up being the instutitions employers realise candidates were let in who were not really up to it. It will damage the institution.

I do not think by any means we have reached that point but my child's friend's sibling went to Oxbridge about 2 years ago and she was the only person (and only private school person in her group at all) who had read all the author's books so in a sense the whole class had become remedial at least for the first year. It then affects discussions in groups and quality of those discussions and feeding ideas off each other particularly if some students find it hard to talk or exchange ideas.

By 3 years old some children are behind. I am not sure we can bring everyone up to the right standard starting at age 18...... However it all comes out in the wash - if you are good you tend to come through even if you didn't end up at first choice of university. Overall I am hopeful and think things will be fine.

On medicinek and the boy mentioned above my son's friend is the son of a dentist father and that is what he wants to do. He did not quite get the grades (and despite being BAME was at a private school which may not have helped) so was rejected universally from UK dental schools. He has been studying dentistry successfully in Spain for the last 3 years and I am sure will be a good dentist in the UK. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat I suppose although having to go abroad for some professional type degrees is not always a great idea if it is to a country with lower standard qualifications (I am not saying Spain is that by any means and have no idea about dentistry).

SATS, that's extremely tough for your DD. Putting herself through all that in the middle of a pandemic and then having to pick herself up and reapply the following year demonstrates resilience and true determination. And to think these young people were once called the snowflake generation....

Oh SATS I meant to include you in my crossness. To be honest I feel cross on behalf of all the Y13s because of the injustice. DS has benefitted from applying to a comparatively less popular/competitive subject but that in itself is also unjust really.

Ten, I'm pleased your DS has made peace with the Oxbridge decision. Good for him deciding on a gap year.

Percy Based on what I'm reading here, I'm afraid have to agree with you regarding skewed offers. It seems madness that hard working and high achieving dc are receiving no offers or seriously considering their fifth choice Uni. Is this a turning point for the reordering and ranking of institutions?

I am truly sorry for your DD SATS.

I hope she gets in through clearing for this year. On the other hand who knows - maybe her destiny is actually Oxbridge and she will be a successful re applicant next year ........