Please read to the end, so sorry its long but very lost and need the advice. DD is 18, and applied for university this year, mechanical engineering degrees. I don't want to sound like a mum who thinks their child is the best and is totally naive, but she is incredible clever.
She has always been top of her class and way ahead of her peers (its been a learning curve to cultivate healthy friendships while being extremely intelligent - she goes to an all girls school, but clever girls are still not highest in the social pecking order 🙄). She got ten 9's and an a at gcse, and is now taking maths, further maths, physics and biology, she has already taken an epq and got an a (she did it on a history topic; she doesnt actually find sciences easier than arts, she loves them both)
there's the background, here's the story. she applied to 2 different imperial courses (mech and aero), ucl, bristol and kings. she wanted to apply to cambridge, but decided against it for financial reasons. she had an amazing ps and loads of work experience (inc 2 summer work experiences at engineering firms) and is predicted 4 a*s. she got invited to take the entrance exam for both. it was a very weird setup, they weren't really told what to expect or given past exams to practise. She fonud the mech one extremely easy and breezed through it (twice - she had to retake it when imperial had a technical difficulty...). she got invited for a mech interview. she was unprepared for the level of difficulty of the aero exam and wasn't asked for an interview. She's not too upset about the aero place, as she already decided she wanted the mech course. She had an interview which went really well. the examiner was very pleasant, and told her he could see she was very passionate and interested.
I'm so sorry to say, but uni rejections were never even on our horizon. I know it sounds horrible and arrogant, but it didn't cross our mind, she has passed every academic test with flying colours. she was very upset when she got rejected from the mech course. she eventually got feedback saying a. some other candidates did better problem solving then her and b. she didn't use a lot of technical language in the interview. This is upsetting because no.1 her interviewer didnt ask her any problem solving questions!! he focused entirely on her work experiences. also, isn't she supposed to get the technical knowledge in the course?
anyway, she has been very mature and philosophical about it. she got ucl, but she really wants icl because she can specialise in nuclear engineering in the 4th year of her MEng. she's not crazy on the idea of going through the whole application process next year on her gap year, but really wants to have a mech+nuclear degree. also, if she reapplies, she automatically loses her ucl place and has to reapply there too, and thats a risk (stupid ucas)
is ucl as good as icl?
is icl still a cold and lonely environment?
does having a year of nuclear help her get nuclear engineering jobs?
is it risky losing ucl?
any other general advice?
why did a 4 a* alevel and perfect gcse grade student with work experience, volunteering etc (objectively the perfect application) get rejected?
thanks for sticking with me <3