OR 2022 - We are no longer rejects. We are parents of fabulous offspring who will do wonderful things

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

Wonderful tongue in cheek title thread by he words of @ eightytwenty.

Soooooo our thread started out back in March 2022 when our dc were Oxbridge wannabes. After thousands of posts by their nervous Mums, nail biting, discussing applications, grades, will they get to interview won't they, debates such as private vrs state, the Scottish system, then some got rejected and some had interviews and entrance assessments then much more nail biting and eating and drinking a lot and a loooong wait over Xmas 2021 the remainders were then rejected. Then more nail biting for offers to come in from the competitive Unis they had applied to with some ending up with only one or two options - our Covid Kids had it tough.

Finally May came and their actual A-levels then the brutal wait for results. I don't think I can recall any of our DC not getting their first choice?

Lots of DC off to top Unis and achieving the best grades in the land. My DD is off to Bath to do Politics and IR and I am incredibly proud of her, she is a grafter not naturally super clever but loves to learn and god I am going to miss her but she is ready and so I happy for her 😥

So please carry on our lovely supportive thread so we can see where their journeys take them.

TWAT x

Oops. Dunno why you got a random tag there @278Newnames 😂

I was wondering if I’d unknowingly bumped into you on an offer holders day then @So1invictus 😂 but as our DC are doing different subjects I assumed not!

Hi @So1invictus i remember reading about your epic journey with 4 cases across London to Bath. All very impressive. Love how your DD is telling you her snogging stories! Yh, I’m sure it works better to live with other 6 monthly placement students and thus forced friendships but that’s life. I’m guessing they’ll still hang out at parties and catch up. I’ll be delighted if that’s the only ‘problem’ my DD has! Was your DD in Westwood too? Any 1st yr accom hints & tips. It all looks ok. DD happy to share bathroom so thinking Eastwood first choice. I think the business/management school is east. I think she’ll be happy anywhere though - it’s the people not the building. But she’d definitely prefer campus. It’s so so lovely to hear them all doing so well!

@So1invictus Sounds like your DD is enjoying her love life as much as mine!! DD totally smitten with her new BF. I took a little trip down a fortnight ago and bloody hell it was amazing to see her and give her a big cuddle I burst into tears upon seeing her, Xmas seems ages ago. New BF is lovely and very well spoken compared to us Brummies!! DD gone off skiing now and only home for 4 days over Easter 😭Hope you have a wonderful break with her xxxx

Ps sorry to interject @NotDonna 😊

@NotDonna ha ha, yes, that's us. The suitcase queens. Starting to think where in the name of all that is holy it's going over the summer. Think it will be boxed up and Parcels2go'd to my cousin's to be sent back in September. It's not coming back here, that's for sure!

DD is in Eastwood and apart from ElectricityGate in January it's been fine. Just 4 of them to a bathroom and though the other 3 on dd's floor are all boys apparently theirs is the cleanest in the house. There are 13 of them in each house and apart from 2 lads who knew each other from school so have kind of always gone their own way (lots of people from this particular school apparently - v sporty) they all get on well.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango DD is back next Saturday for just over two weeks. Obviously choosing a train strike day again. 🙄 I have to say it's all gone so quickly. The snogged business boy is very posh apparently 😂

@So1invictus Actually I was thinking of hiring a small storage unit in the City I seriously CBA to lug it all back and forth plus I have little storage at home. DD only wants to come home for a few weeks until she picks up the keys for the house and will be spending the summer in Bath so I am told, home is waaaay too boring for her these days!!

Anyone peeped at the Oxbridge rejects tread this year!?? . It's very.... intense....

I'm very glad that we were always a level headed and relatively chilled bunch. Part of me thinks it might be the subjects. Loads of us are social science/hums etc with a smattering of other stuff. There are a LOT of comp sci/mathematicians on there and quite a few looking at US universities. It's like a whole different world. Very very thrusting.

Hope everyone is OK!

I’ve noticed a fair few threads about why Oxbridge really is better than other universities and their students are better. Possible exceptions are made for Imperial and UCL. QS rankings are revered on these threads.

I feel like this misses the whole undergraduate scene and experience. Yes, the DC are there to learn their subjects, but we also want them to mature and become balanced self sufficient adults.

We are blessed that the UK has at least another 15 universities that can take very bright, very motivated DC and educate them well and also provide an overall environment that helps them build their resilience, soft skills, and self discipline.

I genuinely believe that St Andrew’s is giving my DD a rigorous academic experience as well as a great social experience. At this point, I cannot see that she is in any way disadvantaged by not going to Oxbridge.

From the comments that I see on this thread, it seems that your DC’s experiences are similar at other other elite, but non-Oxbridge institutions.

I wouldn’t deny that Oxford and Cambridge have some of the strongest “brands” in the world. I think the students there are brilliant and the education offered is world class. I just don’t think they are the only show in town. I have not seen any evidence that Oxbridge is a “gate” for anything these days. DC can still have careers in the civil service, at CERN, in magical circle law firms, think tanks, FAANGs, hedge funds, etc.

So I reckon the angst is hyperbolic. And, by overreacting, disappointed parents reinforce the idea that a place at Oxbridge is uniquely valuable, which, given the tremendous demographic and social changes of the last 25 years, it isn’t.

Wow! Haven’t peeped but going to do so now. Tee hee.

Couldn’t agree more @Stockpot (infact DS sent me a picture of kids sitting in the sunshine today with an ‘oxbridge vibe’ type comment. He was right apart from the fact the temperature was probably about 5 degrees colder). He’s had a brilliant academic and sociable first year.

Feel like we were definitely a like minded tribe who moved on very quickly and positively.

Hello all!
I've just had a look. Blimey. 👀
Hope you and your 22 rejects are all ok 😂 DD came home on Saturday, has an assignment to hand in on Wednesday so is working hard. Full of cold having very much burnt the candle at both ends (and the saucer and table it was standing on by the sounds of it!)
Have a lovely Easter all. Hasn't time flown? Can't believe our freshers are nearly second years.

Mum of a Mathematian and, thankfully, nae thrusting here Piggy 🤣. I'm sooooooo glad I had you lot last year if it's as intense as you say!

DS is super happy- challenged, stimulated and has a banging social life. Exactly the same as all your DC, I'm sure.

Definitely Eighty. Feel like we were definitely a like minded tribe who moved on very quickly and positively

Laughing at your analogy Invictus 🤣. DS just back from his first time in Amsterdam! He finished lectures 10 days ago. Now it's study leave until exams end April/ beginning May.

Sorry puff! 😁

See, I can even spell Mathematician so definitely no thrusting! 😃

Can't! Can't spell! (It's clearly too late).🙈

Hello all. I havent read much on there tbh. I think we all had the same thoughts, that the chances were very slim but worth a shot, they didnt get in (not a big deal) and all moved on very quickly. I cannot stand the false snobby notion that only kids that go to Oxbridge will have the best careers. The most 'successful' person I have ever known is my exbil (think VP of a leading American firm) went to a Uni that barely scrapes the top 100 ranked Unis. DD is with him and his family now skiing, staying at their holiday home in Europe. He got in with the company straight out of Uni and flew through the ranks and has had an amazing career, lovely bloke, very humble blah blah.

The fact is there are many highly intelligent kids out there who do not get in and I for one am very grateful and proud of my DD for how hard she works and being a lovely humble kid with much grit and determination, not what Uni she goes to. I know DD will do and achieve what she wants in her life, whatever that may look like. Some people can be very bitter about rejection but it is a fact of life and one our kids will face many times over, to place so much emphasis on it is wrong just move on.

Anyways I hope that you all have the best Easter. DD is not coming home she flies back to Bristol next week and is going to her new BF for a few days. Sadly I am working a lot over Easter so wouldnt have had much time with her. She is however coming home for my birthday which happens to be the coronation weekend so I will look forward to that instead. Very strange to think we are nearly at the end of first year - where the hell did the time go?! I have booked time off in June to go and clear out her pig stye halls, not looking forward to it 😫

Hello everyone, especially @NotDonna long time, no see.
I've not been on MN for ages so missed the @
Nothing really to add to the advice already given tbh. DS1 is absolutely loving Bath & his course, and apart from trips to the climbing walls in Bristol he seems to spend his life in the architecture studio. He still hasn't signed on a house for next year 🙄but the group of 4 other architecture students he's looking with seem chilled about it so I've given up asking (nagging) him about it.
His accommodation (Quads) wasn't his first choice but he likes having his own bathroom & his flatmates all get on together really well. He uses the £25 pw food credit mostly for cheapo lunches at the café close to his department but he's still a few hundred pounds in credit which he'll still be able to use next year.
The only negative is that Bath is so far away, he flew home last weekend for 2 weeks then he probably won't be back until the end of term. Also it's just dawned on me that DS1's end of year move home will be right in the middle of DS2's GCSEs, bloody nightmare logistics!
Anyway I'll go back & catch up with the rest of the thread, lovely to see all the familiar names.

Thank you @MillicentFaucet I heard that the Architecture students do the 6 month placement think like the Business students so does your DS have that next year. We went to the offer day last week and DD still very much wants this. Fingers crossed for the grades. It’s only a 2.5hr drive or train ride for us so not too hideous. Not seeing your DS so much must be hard. And yes the logistics around GCSEs and him travelling home won’t be ideal. So so pleased all these students seem to be enjoying their courses and their uni decisions.

Lovely to hear all the positive stories of DC enjoying their uni choices.

Millicent One of DS's best friends is reading Architecture (Glasgow School.of Art) and absolutely adores it. He was swithering and is so pleased he took the offer. Seems to tough but v interesting and rewarding course.

Yes @NotDonna he'll be on placement from February next year, at the moment he's hoping to find something closer to home but that could change depending on what's on offer.
He's coming on holiday with us (probably for the last time) this summer. No way was he turning down a 3 week trip to various national parks in Namibia 😁😴

No idea where that weird emoji came from

Wow! Namibia! Lucky DS!

Hello all. Can’t believe we’re galloping towards their second year. Hoping no one had kids doing Alevels this year. Sounds a shit show.

Hello lovelies!
Just reading WIWI which makes everything sound a total apocalypse today but when you look at the BBC and the Guardian it says 75% of kids have got into their first choice. I suppose the people asking for help on sites like wiwi today are the ones whose kids aren't in the 75%.
I think @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango 's son will have results today? Hope everything went well!

Also can't believe that was us last year. DD and I have just finished our residential work and are chilling in Austria for a week. Then back to Italy for 2 and she goes to Vienna, Budapest and Prague with friends. Back to beautiful Bath mid September.

Hope everyone and their Rejects (seems so funny how doesn't it) are doing well!

This summer has flown by! DD goes back to St A’s the end of this month. She has managed to earn a little money by working in a pub in between travelling and work experience. It’s been a good summer and I am really how quickly university is going.