Another Path - part IV

[321zyx]

Apologies if I've done this wrong! I seemed to have filled up the last thread, hopefully the abbreviated title is ok!

Hi @quest1on !

Tbh I wouldn't advise him of anything right now as he is not listening to you anyway

I think from everything you said a gap year is a really good option. Does he really want to study Geography? Or was that a strategic application for Cambridge? If I recall correctly I remember you mentioning another course? May have imagined it.

Nearer 10th of June perhaps he can firm one of the non London choices so he keeps his options available. Then nearer results day if still adamant about not going he can try and defer. And if still sure don't want that option he can reject it and start again in Sept.

Maybe time and space will help him reflect. And if you are honest with yourself - I think both you and him want a second shot at Oxbridge...... which he absolutely should have. Maybe Oxford this time?

Thanks chopc. No, it was always geog with him. He did apply for International Development and Economics at Bath as they don’t offer Geography (but when you look at the modules it’s pretty much the same as a Geog degree). He’s more certain than ever now that’s his subject and actually, over this last year and all the assessments, he says he’s become much much more interested in physical geog as well as human.

I don’t know if he’ll reapply to C. He’ll firm one of his offers next week and see how he feels once results are in.

@quest1on
Does he think his assessments have gone well?My DS also will make his decision after his last exam.He has choice of LSE,Bath and Edinburgh.Similar grades required.With pandemic and online learning,I feel Edinburgh maybe too far.This year friends DC,were collected in first term due to self isolation and Scottish students going home.So no social university experience at all.All online learning at home.
I don’t want him to feel home is too far (Edin 7 hrs by car,4hrs by train)for a reset .If low.
There so much uncertainty.
He didn’t finish one of his exams today so is gutted after running out of time.He doesn’t think he will now get his A star in that subject.He does have eligibility for adjustment at C,but not sure there will be any spaces.Also assessments so far haven’t gone brilliantly.
LSE and Bath are good options as closer to home.
Good luck with the decisions

@Engley all good choices. Hopefully the end grade won't just be based on single assessments

I also worry about DS being so far away but feel that Durham is absolutely the right choice for him from his options.

I think it's so unethical for students to be able to book accommodation even before the UCAS deadline. In fact I thought this was illegal.

But regardless of when you apply for accommodation it would be a gamble what you get? DC1 applied at a much earlier stage than dc2 and did not get any of his 3 choices. Applying to Oxbridge next year would also be a gamble.
A gap year is not a bad idea but I wouldn't risk it if it was just in the hope to get a place at Oxbridge. But agree there is still time to think about it after the assessments are over.

@Notagardener can you not usually put some choices down in order of preference?

It isn't applying for accommodation at a point before an applicant's offer has become Unconditional Firm that is the problem per se, it is the specific system whereby a space in accommodation is definitely reserved. The system where preferences are submitted now, but rooms only confirmed once the applicant is definitely going to the University allows for the proces to be set up in advance and run at the relevant time - e.g. Birmingham (at least up to when DD applied for 2019 entry) allocates accommodation in July to those with unconditional offers who applied by the deadline and after results day to those whose offer was originally conditional.

Copc, yeah, I just know he put 3 choices down and was then allocated something far away near the Olympic stadium. however than dc realised they had made a mistake so complained and ended up with something much nearer.
But dc2 has only applied for 1 (early May, intercol., which she wanted), and says it's booked...???

@quest1on
Applying to the US during a gap year is a good idea. It is such a time consuming process and very different to the U.K. it also means who have more options for a really top university.
I think it is a great option if a student can either get financial aid or afford the costs.
Obviously only if a student is happy to move 3000 miles away.

@quest1on, a gap year sounds like a great idea to me, especially with interesting work opportunities/ travel possibilities lined up.

I'd be happy, tbh, if either of my two made that decision - whether or not DT1 wanted to give Oxbridge another go - because of the increasing covid-related uncertainty about the experience they'll get this autumn. They're both keen to get on with it regardless, though, and gap years / '2-year applications' are really not part of the culture at their school. That does make a massive difference.

It seems to me that getting him to visit Durham asap would be a win-win, though. He might fail in love with it and decide he wants to go this autumn after all. Or he might like it but still hanker after another crack at Oxbridge, in which case it could still be part of next year's application. But if he doesn't warm to it, then at least he knows there's no point putting it down a 2nd time.

Have you or he ever just visited the city - not as part of an open day / university tour, I mean? We're in the north so have been a few times, and it's a stunning place. Don't think I've ever visited in university term time so don't know how much difference that makes!

fall in love with it, not fail...

LSE appears to employ the 'choose and book' method for accommodation (as opposed to the Birmingham type / UCL type cited above). Hence being able to say now that certain options are fully booked, even though - at least in normal years - some of those booked rooms would become available again in August when some applicants fail to make the grade and go elsewhere.

Durham in term time is a very different creature from Durham out of term, due to the small size of the city and the proportionately very large number of students. I would definitely go before the end of term in June if you possibly can. Locals may well prefer it out of term but for a prospective student, seeing the place thronged with students is far more likely to sell the place.

yes MarchingFrogs, just seemed a bit strange to me that dc2 just booked it while one of the 3 options dc1 had was also (an other) intercol accommodation.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57178473

On grades. Teachers will all swear blind that they are all 'professional' of course, so that no unconscious bias could creep in.

@Stormer
I really just picked the most quoted top tier universities on this thread. I’m in the camp that would suggest others are decent universities! However my comments were in the context of reapplying for Oxbridge and how some students won’t consider some universities outside the top few at all. I’m well aware that there are other universities!

www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g190832-d10041984-r363846301-Cafedral_Durham-Durham_County_Durham_England.html

On the best cafe in Durham, for those visiting (almost on Palace Green/ two steps from Hatfield and Castle).

Grades are being done blind this year. Candidate numbers only to ensure no bias. Makes it much more like normal exams thankfully.

Teachers know their students well enough to know whose paper is whose though. They are also not typed in the majority of cases.

Don't shoot the messenger :)

@mumsneedwine, I don't think there's any consistency really. Grades aren't being done blind at DH's school or the one our boys go to.

Having said that, there are several groups in the subject DH teaches, so a number of teachers are each marking one assessment. It's a very large 6th form with lots of Year 12 entrants, so DH hasn't a clue who most of the students are except those in his group. They'll be moderated too so it would be very obvious if any of the teachers involved were marking their own students' work more generously than any one else's!

As for my sons' school, who knows. They've been chaotic throughout, there's no consistency between subjects in terms of number of assessments, or timing, or whether they are told raw scores, or anything at all really. The departments teaching DTs' chosen university subjects are great, very organized and professional etc., but it's not really them we're worried about.

DT2's final assessments have both had to be postponed until the very end of next week, unfortunately, because covid is back in school and most of the class he's not in are self-isolating. So he will have been doing assessments continuously since the week before Easter (though I don't know if those ones will even count now, as they were done before all the guidance had been issued iirc): 6 each for 2 subjects and about 14 in the other, a science subject that he very much regrets choosing, for a whole host of reasons!

We're going to Bristol for an overnight trip. Dd wants to have a look around before applying for accommodation. I'm quite excited! We're staying at the Ibis.

How is grading blind even consistent with the 'holistic judgement' stuff? Honestly, I wish they'd stuck to the pre-January slimmed-down exams idea. Can't believe this has all been dumped on schools - or that Gavin Williamson is still in a job for that matter.

That sounds fun, @bend - are you going to be able to look inside anywhere, or is it more a case of getting a sense of locations, distances and so on?

@goodbyestranger

Teachers know their students well enough to know whose paper is whose though. They are also not typed in the majority of cases.

Don't shoot the messenger :)

I agree goodbye. Especially in humanities subjects where there are few students, the teachers know their students handwriting, and also style of essay writing.

Also, surely this unconscious bias is going to come into play when the so-called holistic judgment is made - so it's not about the 'anonymised' exams but the whole thing.

Over the years I've definitely seen the syndrome at play with which students are immediately suggested an Oxbridge applicants, while the more vocal, disruptive but at least as clever ones are sidelined. Things have improved but even so, the idea that all teachers everywhere are above this kind of bias doesn't ring true.