Another path to greatness - part III

[chopc]

Here is the new thread

Oh my goodness! Fabulous to hear some great news @bendmeoverbackwards! And what fortuitous timing to put her in the right frame of mind with all the assessments/exams at the moment. So pleased for her and well done for holding her nerve with a brave move - she will love it there! Whoop! Whoop 🙌

That is fantastic new @bendmeoverbackwards! Well done to your Dd!

Amazing news @bendmeoverbackwards ! What a brave girl to reject all her existing options and hold her nerve! Bravo! Plus change of course slightly! Lovely to see it all working out in the end

@bendmeoverbackwards that's such good news! Congratulations to your dd

bend, just saw this and I’m soooo happy for DD - and you! Fantastic news. I’m sure it was meant to be and she’ll be really happy there! Congratulations!!!!

Amazing news, bend - so happy for your DD! Had been thinking about you and wondering if she'd taken the plunge with Extra - must have been a tense wait, but what a fantastic outcome. Congratulations to your DD - and I really can imagine how relieved you must feel. Just brilliant news!

Didn't realise you had to officially decline all UCAS offers before your 'Extra' choice at least verbally agreed to offer a place - your DD really has been really brave!

Ha, it's funny feeling so happy for people I don't know, but really am thrilled to read this news, bend - 🥂

I can well imagine the finger hovering over the button! Good it turned out so well

Fab news @bendmeoverbackwards and well done to your DD for taking a brave course of action.

History seems a popular subject and Bristol a popular Uni so to find that they had spaces seems amazing.

Gosh bend, i've been thinking about you quite a lot lately as not heard from you lately. That really is the most amazing news. Your dd is very brave indeed.... so relieved and happy for you all!!

I’m amazed Bristol still has places too. What an anxious wait that must have been, but who cares now as it certainly paid off!

On another note, do we think things will be back to normal re- f2f teaching in September? Does anyone have any insights here?

Presumably Bristol could not know numbers until people had firmed, and they then realised they had been too cautious.

Good news for bendmeoverbackwards's dd. It may well be that she goes on to say this turned out to be the best possible outcome.

I am assuming we will still have some social distancing in the autumn (the extent of which will depend on variants, effectiveness of vaccines etc) which impacts on teaching space. Plus travel restrictions which may impact overseas students. The lab dd should be using normally fits 4 but can now only take 1. She will be gone but assume her sucessors will still have a problem.

I posted up thread a link another posted put in the Durham thread about Durham'a plans for sept. Here it is again:

go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.dur.ac.uk/coronavirus/applicants/

I thought BJ said after June all measures will be removed? So doesn't make sense if it's not back to normal in Sept

bendmeoverbackwards

Fab news, so pleased for your DD. Just mentioned it to my DD, and she already knew! Your DD had messaged her to say she was ditching her offers and applying through Extra. So glad it turned out well for her.

It's hopeful for one of DD's other friends who wants to do the same but to ditch various London uni's and go for Exeter. Change of heart over the distance, we are close to London. She is going to try to apply for English and Drama..... it would be lovely for DD if successful, as she is one of her best friends.

SATSMadness So sorry for your DD. BUT, if it is any consolation, and of course you will be aware, so many are rejected in their first year of application, hence all the re-applicants. Two of DD1's friends had no
offers in their first attempt, then a full five in their second. What's that about? Maybe an extra year of maturity, or life experience.... who knows. Both were lovely girls, full sets of top results, etc etc.

Two other friends have completed other degrees, and now applied for Medicine and got offers. One other has a degree, two years of work experience and is starting Midwifery degree in Sept. So all these mature students also in the mix, and I wonder whether they are perhaps more sought after?

DD1's friendship group (I think I have said before), as mostly medics, and have now qualified as Junior Doctors and all are setting off to various hospitals around the country. They are all fab, I wouldn't mind being treated by any of them! They all covered Covid wards over this past year, all caught Covid, and saw things that students before them never experienced. I think this cohort may well be particularly suited to the "new" normal. They have absolutely no illusions as to what Medicine entails, and they are all committed to a life in the NHS. I'll let you know how they feel in 10 years or so, when we are all on Gransnet!!!!

History seems a popular subject and Bristol a popular Uni so to find that they had spaces seems amazing

I was pretty surprised too. A lot of our dc on here seem to be doing History, I'm not sure if that unrepresentative! I have no idea if those who applied to Bristol were rejected or got an offer and decided to go elsewhere. It's a numbers game really - each student can only accept one place, if a student got an offer from Bristol they would most likely also have offers from other high calibre universities. Dd was just lucky she was in the right place at the right time.

Thank you so much for your lovely messages, made me a bit emotional reading them! This thread has been such a blessing in terms of support and understanding.

@BigWoollyJumpers so nice our dds have been messaging each other! I am now keeping everything crossed for your dd's friend. Has she spoken to Admissions at Exeter? It IS a gamble ditching your offers. Dd and I discussed it beforehand because she had to be prepared for it not to pay off. If Bristol had said no, dd would either have to look for alternative places on Extra, or take a gap year. But a gap year wouldn't have been her first choice.

@bendmeoverbackwards wow - that took courage. So glad she is happy

It doesn't make sense if it's not back to normal.... As I said up thread, anyone expecting the fresher's fun of 2 or 3 years ago is naive. Some universities have given their students no F2F time, even in the autumn term. They won't suddenly allow 500 maths or history students into a lecture theatre with no windows. The self isolation rules and quarantine rules will still be in place. If they treated students badly in 2020/21 why the hell do you think they won't in the autumn? Google Manchester for starters. Look up the Durham student feedback on social media to their ongoing approach to online learning.

There is an article on the BBC website about an expected 3rd wave of Covid in the summer. Most students haven't had their jabs yet and might not bother. Overseas students are far less likely to have had their jabs. Look at the nightmare in India. Their students won't be a priority over there if they can get jabbed over here. There are bound to be flare ups in the autumn and students are going to be stuck in households in halls self isolating again. Look at the facts of what the unis have done in the past and roll it forward to September.

Does anyone think there's the possibility of a mass student vaccination program to try and have all students/staff vaccinated by Christmas so that they only have one term without F2F ?

DD may benefit from being obliged to re-apply for 2022 entry, although she's not a party animal anyway and I had thought that a toned down freshers' week would suit her.

Currently the 45-49 are being invited to have their vaccination. The government is insisting all adults will be offered their first dose - in decreasing age order - by the end of July.
40-49 years
30-39 years
18-29 years

DS is 21, finishes his Masters this year and moves to Singapore in September. He would like his before he goes so hopefully ok if the timetable continues to work out.

EconButlerSnow, these questions massively concern me, but it's really not easy to find clear information about what happened last year: from other threads on this forum, the situation has varied even between different Oxbridge colleges.

In real life, I know of students at the same university whose experiences (different faculties, different halls of residence) varied between fairly good, in the circumstances, and absolutely awful.

Some universities that handled aspects of the pandemic badly might have learned from the experience and be better prepared this year. Seriously - how can we know what's going to happen?

I'm not necessarily clamouring for lectures with 500 students. But I would like to know my sons will be getting some f2f teaching in their humanities subjects, unless the country has to have another full lockdown. It's happening in schools now, with mitigations (well, masks and open windows, and distancing where A level groups are sufficiently small); I don't see why this isn't possible at universities too.

The websites of the universities my sons have offers from are still talking about blended learning for 2021/2, but that could mean anything .

So what would you advise, EconButlerSnow? I don't mean that to sound combative, but I genuinely don't know what to advise my children, especially as their starting point is a refusal even to countenance a year out.

I wonder if we have enough of the moderna and Pfizer vaccines in the pipeline for the younger age groups, now they're not going to be given AstraZeneca. Another worry.

Realistically I don't think they can expect a carefree normal university experience. But as per the government plans they do plan for all social distancing rules to cease by 21st June

So if this is what will happen legally - then I don't see how it won't be more normal than this year. I don't mind if the lectures are online as long as they have small group tutorials face to face and sports and societies can happen in a Covid secure way as they do in schools

Even if this means they will say students have to stay in their student town for the whole term

Do you have a year 13 @EconButlerSnow ? What do they plan to do?

My view is that once the old and vulnerable are vaccinated then no masks no distancing.