A level Predicted grades disappointing...

[KittenKong]

Any insights into how this plays out?

DS was hoping for some upgrades but the teachers have said no (he was trying for so hard too, poor kid).

Does anyone know how this works in the real world - will his applications be considered? Is he likely to get any offers? What if the exams are cancelled again?

Arghhhh

I know - but it’s nice to know there are people within striking distance if you need them!

Obviously I didn’t mean dinners! I meant numbers. Well yes I see that about distance but trains are pretty quick to Birmingham and Nottingham! I guess I was lucky that DDs never needed me! They forged their own life at uni.

it looks like the predictions won’t get him a look in where he wants to go as it stands.
They won't get him a look in at Imperial, they'll get him an offer from KCL, and could go either way with UCL.

Why so defeatist?

OP,

I agree with that things are objectively fine now, by e.g. most middle class standards. Possibly stress is making you feel gloomy? Your love for your DS shines through your posts and there really isn't a huge concern here, so please don't feel bad about what you didn't know.

I'm mainly writing to offer a further consideration when thinking about a gap year. Many parents don't realise, but students sure do, that Year 1 may not count towards the degree classification, or is likely to count for little on current trends. It takes a certain maturity to use Y1 for its intended purpose: to provide a thorough, low pressure grounding in your subject whilst learning to work to university standards. If you don't get that in Y1 it is hard to make it up after the stakes rise.

Through the randomness of his birthday your DS essentially has a brain a year younger than the brains of many of his classmates. (At uni, some classmates will be even older, because they will have had a gap year.) These are the years when the brain is maturing physiologically and one of the hallmarks is acquiring executive function - planning ability. Chem students tend to be heavily timetabled, often with early starts. It's a time consuming and demanding degree programme. Do you think it is in his best interests to plunge into that now? I'm not asking a leading question but I thought it worth throwing into the mix.

Again, very best wishes.

My DD is in her 3rd year at KCL doing Pharmocology on AABB (b's in Bio and Chem) she is on for a 1st too. Don't let your son loose heart!!! His grades are great. X

Good points @poetryandwine. DD is studying biomedical sciences and has a lot of 9 am starts

Think it must depend on the uni @RampantIvy as my DD has hardly had any 9am and would be awarded a Biomed science degree if she had not taken the pharmacology specific module this year and last.

Surely it depends how labs and lectures are timetabled for the different degrees? Universities don’t all have 9am starts for scientists!

I've known any number of students who laughingly confess to rolling out of bed not before 10.00. Regardless of timetabling. Not sure whether their parents realise that.

On MN students work 24/7 and all get firsts!

On the threads I'm on that doesn't happen @TizerorFizz. Most of them party a lot.

DD had a lot of lab practicals that started at 9 am. These are not optional, unlike lectures.

@RampantIvy
I’ve only ever read horror stories about students partying on MN. It’s really frowned upon. I’ve always thought it used to be a fairly normal activity. Most students do both in reality. Enjoy themselves and with a bit too!

Aaaah!!! Work a bit too!!!!

Dd is is first year chemistry undergraduate. She is highly organised and even she is finding the 9am starts, the full days, the workload and the planning her submissions around all that quite stressful at times
If it were my son ( who is a young one in his year and is NOT good with organisation) I would have suggested take a year out, get a job and apply with grades in hand if you still fancy it a year later.

@RampantIvy

On the threads I'm on that doesn't happen *@TizerorFizz*. Most of them party a lot.

DD had a lot of lab practicals that started at 9 am. These are not optional, unlike lectures.

So much depends on the subject, doesn't it? DH did history back in the day and the history department never started before 10am and most often 11am was the earliest for a lecture or tutorial. He did spend a lot of time in the library researching and writing, however.

DD's STEM degree most definitely started at 9am a lot of mornings and as RampantIvy says, lab sessions are not optional! She definitely didn't work 24/7 though , there was a lot of sport and partying too.

@thing47
Yes it’s definitely subject dependent. Some students direct far more of their own learning. My DD did have a couple of 9 am starts with MFL. Prevented her taking advantage of student nights at the clubs!

DD doesn't work 24/7. She doesn't party much and hates clubbing, but she has a good circle of friends that she socialises with. The other night she made sushi with a group of friends. That is the kind of socialising she really enjoys.

@TizerorFizz

On MN students work 24/7 and all get firsts!

Of course. I humbly stand corrected.

[quote TizerorFizz]@thing47
Yes it’s definitely subject dependent. Some students direct far more of their own learning. My DD did have a couple of 9 am starts with MFL. Prevented her taking advantage of student nights at the clubs![/quote]
I'm pretty sure the 9am starts did NOT stop DD partying the night before, but I don't like to enquire too closely…

Most Wednesdays were spent playing sport for the university and then either celebrating or commiserating at a particular club with teammates.

DD is most definitely not sporty at all

I wonder if he'd look at Royal Holloway or Brunel. Yes, neither are London but well within reach and RH is UL. But I agree he sounds like an ideal candidate for a gap year and a post-results application.

@thing47

Well of course DD could have told me what she thought I should hear!

In my day, the "dedicated and hard working students" were not necessarily simply identified as being those who shunned partying in favour of studying.

The party animal types could often be found just before 9am pounding on the eternally mal-functioning hot drinks vending machine sited just outside the main lecture hall in search of a "coffee with sugar" before slinking into a back row seat nursing a hangover. That's true dedication to one's University experience !
Applied science degrees do require attendance/concentration whilst various concepts/topics are being explained, it's much harder to pick things up by asking for someone else's notes to copy and read through.

These were the days when takeaway coffee came in a polystyrene cup with plastic lid and carrying a water bottle round with you was definitely not the norm.

Applied science degrees do require attendance/concentration whilst various concepts/topics are being explained, it's much harder to pick things up by asking for someone else's notes to copy and read through

Very true, although all the lectures seem to be recorded these days so those aren't really the issue as they can be watched and annotated at leisure, it's the practical lab sessions which really do require attendance.

Interestingly DD did not get a first, probably having too much fun. But she has since made up for it by getting the equivalent of a first in her Masters. That was taken at a different university, in a different city and was extremely tough, so a lot more attention was paid to studying and rather less to partying

Applied science degrees do require attendance/concentration whilst various concepts/topics are being explained, it's much harder to pick things up by asking for someone else's notes to copy and read through.

That's so very true. Due to her CFS DD sometimes ends up sleeping through lectures or missing some because she is just too tired to get into the medical school. They are recorded, but aren't put online until a couple of days later. Unfortunately she will be spending most of the Christmas holidays catching up with lectures she has missed.