OR 22 - Edinburgh, Warwick, St A, UCL, Durham, Nottingham, Bath and more

[Valleyofthedollymix]

Following on from the Oxbridge rejects thread but I've got rid of those two words. I for one am interested to know where they all end up and when Durham might finally deign to reject/offer DS...

I hope no one is doing down the Scots! They have often had the best education system in the UK even back hundreds of years and successful at all kinds of things - many of the huge houses were built with money from their efforts in the empire. As an English parent however I was not happy to pay for the 4th year for my English children although one did have Edinburgh as his back up second choice and would have like that had he not got his grades for choice 1 and I would have funded that as his choice.

Hallelujah Thing47.

And yes, Xenia you choose what's best for your child.

DS1 finished exams yesterday. Said it was tough but felt it went well. He's delighted to be finished: 2 gigs planned this week and an 18th party before he starts his summer job on Monday. Life is good!

Good luck to all DC with exams.

@Puffalicious Ah I am jealous of your DS having finished as we head into the mist, what a lovely feeling it must be for him and you! DD has her first one next Wednesday for Politics. Bit of an emotional day for her as it was her last day at college. I am really proud of her starting a new college where she knew nobody 40 miles away from our old home. She has had a fantastic His / Pol teacher this year and he has made her even more driven so complete respect to that teacher. GOOD LUCK to all of our DC entering A-levels these next few weeks lets hope for no tears......🤗

Congratulations to all those finishing and good luck to everyone with exams still to come!
Let’s hope they all have a great summer after the craziness of the last couple of years.
@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango my DS starts with Politics on Wednesday too. So glad your DD has had a brilliant teacher; it is amazing how much difference just one can make (nod to you @Puffalicious ).

It does feel good Tango . He went out last night and he's not home yet (I know where he is😃), starting as he means to go on. First big lads' trip booked for mid-July 🙈. I hope ALL our DC have that summer they deserve.

Crossing all fingers and toes all the DC have successful exams as you head into that mist. Great to hear DD has had a great teacher Tango, you're right to be so proud of her.

Shucks Letsgoforaskip thanks. It's lovely to get all the hugs over the past, few weeks as various pupils finish school forever. They all promise to visit, some do🤣 The promise of tea and cake in the staffroom isn't quite enough of a pull for some. Can't imagine why 🤣

Jeez! Bombshell dropped today- DS1 thinking of deferring and taking a gap year😱. Total last minute as it's literally days until he needs to accept his offer. He says it's not until he finished school/ study that he's had time to reflect.

I don't mind, but gap years are usually very well planned a decent amount of time in advance! He wants to travel to South America. I'm all for travelling (huge traveller in my time) but at freshly 18 (not until 2nd Sep) he's so young to travel alone. I know it's my fault raising an independent, confident child and discussing travel as a given all his life, but now?! 😮

He's convinced the pressure of the job market after uni will prevent him doing it then, but I'm trying to convince him otherwise. I'm not openly telling him I don't want him to do it, but I really don't! Not after all this process. He can apparently enquire with both Edinburgh and Glasgow if they'll allow deferral, that may make his mind up. I'm just a bit all at sea here.

Any advice?!

Gosh @Puffalicious that is a curve ball! Glad he is sensible in checking with unis re deferral. Some unis are not keen on deferrals for maths. Kids eh? Just when you think the plan is settled, they decide it isn't.

@Puffalicious are any of his friends thinking of deferring. We know one child trying to negotiate with Glasgow currently. If he’s successful, could he work while he works out a plan?

Yes alittlewornout curveball! His dad and I had traditional uni paths but then both travelled a lot later. I didn't really expect this, but I should have, knowing how he likes the new and exciting. I'll drop into the chat that they're not keen on Maths deferral. However, he has Adv Higher Maths so 1st year would be a bit more straightforward for him anyway. Bah!

Eightytwenty none of his friends are deferring at all. Which is even madder. If he and his best friend were thinking of it together I'd understand more. He can work whilst he plans. He starts his job at the airport tomorrow. He has full time shifts all summer, and I suppose he could stay on if there's enough work. I think once you're in it's a good sign. The wages are good, so that's something.

I'm just a bit all over the place tonight. If he'd said this months ago I'd have had time to acclimatise!

Is the other child Eightytwenty wanting a year out too?

@Puffalicious yes has a firm offer but wants to take a year out now.

Oh wow, two considering gap years! Travelling doesn’t need so much forward planning, but then it does cost £££££. @Puffalicious is negotiating and @Eightytwenty would there be negotiations, or is deferring an open possibility?

Maybe they could go together…safer in a pair!

@Stockpot in our case it’s a friend of DS, not DS.

@Puffalicious I feel your pain here as DD announced this a few weeks back but she was thinking of doing it purely to apply for C again - a big no no for me and thankfully she saw the light and is now heading to Bath September.

No advice really apart from pointing out the pros and cons and making sure he 100% understands the implications of deferring a year. He sounds like a sensible lad working full time for the summer - fair play. You never know with teens he may go full circle in a few weeks and change his mind, these teens are sent to try us for sure. 😫

Is it straight maths he's doing @Puffalicious ? I know my husband found it near impossible to get back on the maths train after a year off and that was only a small part of his degree (natural sciences).

I've got a question that so stupid that I can't even say it out loud. Forgive me if it's super daft (and obnoxiously affluent) but have just received a really confusing email from school about finance. We are 99% certain that DS will not be taking out a loan - we can afford to pay his fees and the changes to graduate repayments mean that it's highly likely he'd end up paying off the whole whack with interest. Do we need to contact student finance nonetheless or do we just wait for a bill to arrive from the university? The school email was talking about LEA's paying the balance or something. It was befuddling.

If it's any consolation @Valleyofthedollymix , we're wrestling with the student finance side of things for different reasons. Families can be very complex and filling out the forms can cause all sorts of dilemmas depending on the family circumstances.

We had a bittersweet end to the wait for a final offer. DD received a last minute offer from Warwick just hours before a lovely family friend passed away last week.

I've suggested that she might take some time off work a.s.a.p. and re-visit her Uni choices as she may feel differently now that decision is in her hands rather than those of the admissions staff, although I know plenty of people my age who hadn't ever visited the Uni they ended up at and still had a fantastic 3 years or more.

We certainly didn't get a huge amount of say in the matter of accomodation allocation (the choice was just catered or self-catered and some students had to share a room for their first year). Looking back, the trials and tribulations associated with that were just all part of the experience. I suppose we (and our parents) weren't personally paying so much towards it which probably helped.

No idea @Valleyofthedollymix. DD will be taking the loan. She also accepted St As, but we haven’t had any emails regarding finance student loan which now concerns me…

Valleyofthedollymix, we just didn't do anything, and dc just got the fees invoice emailed to them (well not sure actually, they have a log in for their uni I think and it shows up there??). They are split in 2 or 3 installments, so around the time I just transfer the money to DC account..
The exact deadlines for paying the fees are on the uni website (I wouldn't trust my dc to keep track of it....)

So anyway, we never even looked at the student loan stuff.

I remember your DD's decision making Tango- they are sent to try us! I really, really hope he comes full circle. I want him to travel everywhere, but just not on his own at 18 to South America🙈.

It is straight Maths, so I'll definitely relay that opinion Valley, thanks.

I think we'd have avoided this if his summer had worked out differently. He was due to go to India for a month with exDH and DS2, but Covid is still rearing it's head there with restrictions etc, so it's delayed until next year. They were due to go in 2 weeks' time. I feel if that was happening he'd not have such a pull. Bloody Covid again.

He did say tonight 'If I do go to Uni we'll need to think about a new laptop ', so that's giving me hope!😪

I do find that they think out loud throwing us into turmoil only to change their mind the next week! For my DD she has been so so excited about starting Uni this year that the reality of another year at home is incredibly boring in comparison. I suspect your DS hasnt really thought it through if it was a sudden declaration. I too would be very reluctant for my teen to off to South America alone - with a group maybe but not alone so young. Fingers crossed for a swift change of mind😤

Thank you so much for your replies to my daft question. I don't know what the school was on about but I'm no reassured.

Aww Puffa, that's so annoying about the trip to India. So many wonderful experiences have been unexperienced because of Covid.

@Puffalicious would he maybe think about doing an exchange year abroad if he goes to Edinburgh and possibly taking a language option in first year (although I think they are all taught in English). It's something DS would be keen on if we could make it work financially. I don't think South America is offered as an option for Mathmos but plenty of choice I think in Europe and I believe China might be an option. DS quite fancied Russia but I guess that's a no-go for the forseeable.

Thanks for the support, lovelies. I'm hoping he's thinking out loud Tango!

That's something we've discussed FishingEagle as both Glasgow and Edinburgh offer an exchange year where you only pay your original fees, no inflated fees in 3rd year. I'll keep quietly banging on about these options. He's just got it on his head of he doesn't go now he may never go! 🙄

What’s the latest @Puffalicious?

Not so stealth boast here that DS has won 2/3 prizes at school for his AH subjects.

Amazing Eightytwenty 👏, you must be so proud of him. What an achievement. He should be so proud of himself.

I was bursting when DS won Dux last year. They don't do AH prizes at his school, disappointingly. DS2 won't get any, for sure, so my days in the sun are over 🤣.( I don't say this cruelly, he's just not that kind of kid: fantastic, but not that kind. If there were prizes for funny/ off the wall he'd definitely get them😅).

The latest is that DS1 has still not bloody decided! His dad's been sublety talking to him, and I've been really emphasising the advantages of waiting to travel. I have a little more hope he'll come round to my thinking, but we'll see...

It's prom tomorrow night, so once that's over I'll press him for a decision well before the 9th.

Bloody teenagers!

Hope he has a fabulous prom @Puffalicious and sorry you’re still in limbo. Is it better or worse to be waiting with a decision that’s within his hands I wonder.