University 2019/20 intake: Gearing up to graduation (for some but not all)

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Fingers crossed for your DS @icanbewhatiwant

I encouraged Dd to go back earlier as there is so little time left. The first year I was a bit sad when saying goodbye but not since as I know she’s so happy there.

Has anyone ever used a storage company for the summer? I know there have been threads before but can’t find them with the site changes…

Ds is on a placement year & has a month or so gap between his current lease finishing & being able to get into his 22/23 accommodation. He’s mainly working from his uni house rather than going into the office so his manager is ok with him working from our house for that month.

It’s a bit of a pain if we have to collect all his things & drop them back a few weeks later, partly because of holiday plans.

@Decorhate
Last summer, DS and his friends just stored stuff at each other’s houses. Would that be an option? Not sure about the insurance implications, but I don’t think students really think about that!

DS’s grad ball ticket price is £75! That’s a lot of money!
I don’t recall how much grad ball tickets cost back in the day, but it certainly wasn’t the equivalent of £75 cos I wouldn’t have gone!

@blametheparents His original plan was to stay with a friend whose lease started when ds’s ended but where the house was going to be half empty over the summer. That seems to have fallen through now…

He’s really pushing for me to collect him as he doesn’t want to drag a month’s worth of clothes home on the train. Where has the eye roll emoticon gone?!

DD didn't manage to get tickets to the grad ball as they had sold out, but she is going to the biological society ball. I hope the food is better this year. She is vegetarian and the veggie main last year was a barley risotto that no-one liked. She saw loads of uneaten risotto being taken back to the kitchens. The "selection of desserts" was a piece of Hollywood's shortbread which broke into crumbs and landed on the floor. So DD ended up paying £40 for some leek and potato soup and a load of wine

Apparently this year will be a buffet and she is concerned that all the near eaters will eat all the veggie food, so I have advised her to eat something before she goes.

@Decorhate DD has the same problem-lease ends in June and is going back for Masters but no house for next year yet.

Whilst DS managed amazingly to store his stuff all over newcastle in various mates houses DD can't.
We took her back up after Easter and brought a car load home and will get the rest when we pick her up at the end.
She has far too much to even consider the train.
How far away is DS?

Hollywood's shortbread was meant to be Millionaire's shortbread. Blooming auto correct.

@Decorhate DD used one in her first year - big yellow. Cost a fortune!
DS stored a small amount at a friends house after they were all “homeless” for a night and got very drunk at another friends house 🙄

I have no idea if he has a grad ball. Or even tickets booked for graduation 😕

Hello again. A while since I posted! Just had a big catch up read on this thread - it is so weird that it’s nearly all over for many of them. What a strange experience it’s all been.
Dd has a couple of modules to finish but has just received her honours project mark and the written mark is in the 90s! They say it’s the highest mark they have ever given. Really proud of her. Especially as she got practically all of it done a week early except the references because she was going to her first big concert in 2 years. Unsurprisingly she caught covid and was on her own in the flat for the week trying to get her head round hyperlinks etc. Two nights running I had ‘I can’t breathe very well’ texts at 3 in the morning which she then didn’t reply to my messages because she’d fallen asleep. (Honestly, along with my other DD’s health woes I have gone grey). I very nearly texted you RampanyIvy as I remember they must live close to one another and get someone to check on her!
So unless she massively mucks up or the strikes go ahead and muck everything up, she should be on for a first! Wooo
She’s been left with a cough but it does mean she came home and we gave her the biggest hugs as with her little sister’s illness, we have been careful for so long.
Hope everyone’s DC ok and illness-free for the partying!

@ZandathePanda that's great news about your dd's project. My Ds isn't having a good time with his end of year stuff, as I'm sure you've read. I hope your other dd is doing ok (I'm sure it was you on the year 13 thread, though not posted in a while.)

Lovely to see you on here @ZandathePanda. Well done to your DD. DD caught covid in the middle of her dissertation, but managed to get it over the line with a day to spare. I didn't know that marks for the dissertations were released before the exams. DD did her dissertation presentation last week, which was a very stressful time for her. She has another module to do then revision for exams.

I hope your other DD is doing OK.

Oh @ZandathePanda I’m so pleased for her and you! Ana amazing achievement. I totally get the worry about the texts. DD has a habit of worrying me then forgetting to update me when all is well.
You must be very proud

Thanks everyone. She has her dissertation presentation next week so fingers crossed that is in line with the written work. They want her to publish. Little Dd is in and out of hospital but hopefully can have surgery after A Levels to stop her seizures. Not sure how we are going to get her through the next few weeks but that’s another story.
I hope it gets better soon for your son @icanbewhatiwant
We have managed to get extra tickets so we can all see her graduate. I will be a mess. Crying. I have never mentioned this before but it will be in the same hall I graduated from in the 1990s. Also I have no smart clothes that fit anymore either so a mess literally too if I don’t get my act together. I can’t remember last time I wore a dress.

I hope your younger DD's surgey is succesful @ZandathePanda. What a stressful time it has been for you. DD spent the entire Easter holidays going over her presentation, at the expense of going over some lectures. She dropped consolidating her lectures when she started her dissertation. They have two markers at the presentations and it sounded like good cop, bad cop from what DD said.

When is graduation day for your DD? DD's is on 13th July.

@ZandathePanda wow! Well done her! Is she planning to continue with study? Sounds like she’s a natural! Sorry to hear about your other DD - must be awful for her and so worrying. At least it sounds like there may be a possible solution.

Had no idea that dissertation presentations were a thing for first degrees? So like a viva? Very well done to your DD1 @ZandathePanda . Fingers crossed for your younger DD's surgery too.

Unfortunately, yes @LouisCatorze. A 10 minute Powerpoint presentation in a room full of people. DD was having panic attacks about it. It was massively way out of her comfort zone, and she woke up every half hour the night before. You have to be within a minute each side of the 10 minutes or you get marks deducted.

Then there is a Q and A session afterwards, and the questions from the markers are hard. It is brutal.

@LouisCatorze yes I never had one so was surprised. I also get confused as to what it’s called dissertation/honours project/research project?! In my day it was dissertation but I think that is more for PhDs now. She was also interviewed and marked on her plan and initial research too, which I thought was unusual but helpful.
@bigTillyMint not planning more study - needs to earn - has applied for a few jobs but the form filling/hoop jumping is very time-consuming. I have told her she ought to publish as she’s already written it like a journal article so it shouldn’t take too long.
@RampantIvy yes presentation has eaten into some module essay writing time. Luckily she has no exams in the modules left to do, just essays. I will tell her of the bad cop/good cop though. To be fair they will have had to really study her project - it was getting beyond my intellectual capabilities reading it! Not 13th unfortunately. We could have waved at each other 😁.

I guess making them do a presentation is part of ensuring they did the work themselves? Easy to fluff a presentation if you've not put in the work with the research and writing it up. But yes it does sound brutal.

So glad I'm not having to do mine in the 21st Century!

Yes, by the time DD did her presentation she knew the content of her dissertation by heart.

@RampantIvy well done to your DD for getting through the trauma too!

And good luck to any of the other young people with their presentations still to do.

Trouble at mill - strike action may mean some may not graduate! This appears to be at a school/department level. Fortunately it seems Dd is going to be ok but I am presuming this is nationwide. I hope these lecturers realise what this cohort have gone through for all this debt!

Thank you @LouisCatorze. Where did you read this @ZandathePanda?
So far the medical school and associated degree courses haven't been affected.