Another path ....... the journey begins

[chopc]

Hello @321zyx @AvocadoPlant @bendmeoverbackwards @BigWoollyJumpers @Braveheart35 @calculatorqueen @ChimneyPot @Dobbyisahouseelf @Eastisup @jano69 @Majaso12 @MidLifeCrisis007 @NCTDN @Notagardener @OnTheBenchOfDoom @Parsonage63 @Pumpkintopf @Peaseblossum22 @quest1on @Peaseblossum22 @SATSmadness @SeasonFinale @Tenpastseven @Vargas @Xenia

Apologies for anyone I omitted to tag

In other news, DS had a reasonable mock driving test today with only one life threatening fault 😆 so his instructor is happy for him to take the test next week. He may not pass but at least he gets to give it a go!

Pumpkintopf That’s good news about the driving.

I’m getting annoyed now that she still hasn’t got her timetable or room number, when they said she would get the timetable on the 20th.

Oh yes good point- I don't think we know his room number. I should have asked the accommodation lot. Only have the timetable as you sent me the link. I am concerned that disorganised boy + seemingly disorganised uni + lots of emails that aren't particularly clear in what you need to do and/or in some cases contain links to either pages that don't exist or systems that aren't operating yet (looking at you, eHalls) = a high chance of missing something vital!

Rang the uni today to try and find out about the timetable but they aren’t answering. Starting to think she won’t get it now until she gets there. It was second years on the chat she’s on that found out for them and said they’d get it on the 20th.

@Pumpkintopf

In other news, DS had a reasonable mock driving test today with only one life threatening fault 😆 so his instructor is happy for him to take the test next week. He may not pass but at least he gets to give it a go!

DS had a driving test this morning at 8.20am in Winchester so we got up at 5.30am and left London just after 6.00am to drive down there. We turn up at the centre at 8.15am as instructed to be told his examiner had just rung in sick... GRRRRR!

So we get back in the car (I was SO pleased with myself, I neither swore nor kicked the messenger in the shins) and headed back to London on the M3. DS was in a filthy mood........So cheesed off! Anyway he plays on his phone looking for a cancellation and announces he's booked another test at 2.15pm (today!) in Newport.... Newport, Isle of Wight.... so I whizz around the M25 and then down the A3 to Portsmouth (where there was a buzzing uni open day going on!) to catch the 11.00am IOW ferry.

AND HE ONLY WENT AND PASSED!!!! Woop!

I hope your DS achieves the same result next week @Pumpkintopf.... but without the stresses we encountered today!

Amazing @MidLifeCrisis007 !

Kudos to both of you!

@MidLifeCrisis007 Well done to your DS but I take my hat off to you that is some seriously committed parenting from you.

I hope you are relaxing with a

Hurrah @MidLifeCrisis007! Well done to you both

Wow that's impressive!!!both midlife and dc

@MidLifeCrisis007 oh wow, that takes parenting to a whole new level!
Congratulations to your DS on the pass too

Congrats to Midlife junior on the driving test , that is truly dedicated parenting !

@MidLifeCrisis007 wow! Well done to him - and to you!

@MidLifeCrisis007 that is absolutely fantastic!! Fair play to you - an epic journey and a great tale to tell. Amazing for your DS to presumably drive a route he'd never even seen before- and pass! Brilliant news, well done to him and you!

@Majaso12 insisted that DS sit down tonight and we look at his Imperial email - turned out his timetable was in there (plus instructions on how to download it electronically- although he's failed to do so and had to email support.

Plus there were some other emails - unread - telling him to do things like update his vaccination status etc. I have now made him a list. Honestly. How do I move him from dependent on me to organise him, to independent human? I have clearly failed so far!

That’s amazing MidLifeCrisis007 and to pass where he’d never driven before.

Pumpkintofpf . Oh dear, but at least you’ve seen the emails now! That’s what my ds is like! Dd did update her vaccination status. She said she’s been checking for her timetable so assume she’s read all her emails, will ask her again. Hope she gets her timetable this week.

Thanks Majoso I get the impression your DD is far more 'on it' than DS so apologies for all the questions but it's been so helpful to have someone other than DS to ask!

Pumpkintopf. You don’t need to apologise, I don’t mind you asking. I got Dd to check in case she had missed getting her timetable but she hasn’t. I think it helps that she’s on several chats and finding things out from others.

Going back to an earlier topic, accommodation at Bristol was in the local news last night.
In addition to housing 100 freshers in Bath (around an hour by public transport to the uni), a further group have been put up in hotels in Bristol as their new accommodation isn’t complete.
There are no cooking facilities, so students are having to buy cold food or takeaways for meals. And either store everything in their hotel room, or ask parents to return in a few weeks with most of their belongings.

This is a just a more extreme case of something that has been going on for years , particularly since the expansion of HE. I think what it demonstrates is how ridiculous our conditional offers system is and how another way has to be found. Like the NHS it was developed for a different time and a different set of circumstances.

The demise of AS levels, which I personally hated as it made years 10 to13 a complete exam fest has made it even more difficult for universities to predict offer/acceptance ratios and is now leading to a proliferation of entrance exams which is only going to get worse after this years experience . Universities have not do much lost faith in Alevels but have lost faith in UCAS and schools ability to manage the system.

I understand that several leading universities would like to be able to manage their own admissions process as the likes of the Ivy League do but opting out would be very problematical funding wise.

As said above Bristol has grown (there were double the number of students on the course my son did compared with his sister- identical course - 13 years before because the state allowed numbers to increase for those with AAB a good while back). When my sons started in Bristol people from another hall were bunking up in my son's hall (cannot remember how they squeezed them in ) for a term and then their new block was ready and they moved into it after Christmas.

@AvocadoPlant

Going back to an earlier topic, accommodation at Bristol was in the local news last night. In addition to housing 100 freshers in Bath (around an hour by public transport to the uni), a further group have been put up in hotels in Bristol as their new accommodation isn’t complete. There are no cooking facilities, so students are having to buy cold food or takeaways for meals. And either store everything in their hotel room, or ask parents to return in a few weeks with most of their belongings.

the good thing is they are still in Bristol. The same happened 2 years back and they were in apartments in Newport and that drew complaints.

The knock on effect will be fewer offers next cycle.

This was posted in a UCAS Advisers group I am in by Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Bath.

"the 2021 admissions cycle was the most competitive I have seen in my 30 year career. At Bath, 93% of those we admitted met or exceeded their offer grades. The remaining places went to near miss students with extensive mitigating factors. In a typical year, around 75% of our accepted students would have met or exceeded their offer. Until we see evidence to the contrary we are assuming a similar distribution of grades for 2022 entry, and with higher numbers in the school-leaver cohort in the UK increasing the application pool for all universities. We therefore anticipate making fewer offers than we made in 2021 to reduce the risk of over-recruiting. I anticipate other highly selective and competitive courses and universities will do the same."

But with likely everyone applying to the selective universities being predicted A* and As how on earth are the universities meant to decide who to make offers to?

Its a minefield, personal statements have largely been discredited and advice regarding writing them is patchy to say the least, and with different universities wanting different criteria and only one ,frankly creaking, portal on which to write it, i can't see that working. First come first served maybe, should all universities operate a gathered pool? Many simply do not have the admissions resources to administer this .The simplest and most cost effective way will be entrance exams but these will once again again favour those at schools who prep for them . I don't know what the answer is but I think we are nearing crunch point

They will probably have to adopt a model like Bristol already does. Makes a certain amount of offers based on points scored on the application (different criteria for different subjects) leaving a certain number available for the equal consideration date. They do this based on stats from previous years of how many apply/achieve certain grades.

I do wonder whether contextual grade offers may be made a bit higher. Some at Bristol for example go from A*AA to AAB. Perhaps they will be AAA offers instead?

It may go back to fewer offers so as to leave spaces available for adjustment. (I am talking about 2022 applications obviously as a new system won't be in place for then even if one were agreed).

@MidLifeCrisis007