University 2020 entrants - Parents chat - Third years, final frontiers, graduation cheers, (for some)

[sammyjoanne]

Here is the previous thread from when they were second years www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4366703-University-2020-2021-Part-12-Now-they-are-second-year-students-Hard-work-starts-and-getting-more-and-more-smart?page=4&reply=120485264

Ok title sounds a bit cheesy, but best I could come up with lol.
Feel free for placemarking :)

[Thatsnotmine]

Thanks for starting a new thread, can't believe they are in their third year now. I dropped DS off a couple of weeks ago at Lancaster. So just getting used to a quiet house again.

[specialted]

Thanks for new thread. Ds has gone back to Lancaster, In second year again and so far having a really good time. Hope it continues!

[Daisysway]

Thanks for new thread, Dd back in Warwick for third year, she worked pretty hard during the summer in an Agricultural lab (7am to 7pm) so earned a decent amount of money and will spend it on travel next summer. She's applied for a few jobs on Graduate Programs (cant believe cut off date for some have already ended). Shes not keen to work for the massive pharma companies but i encouraged her to apply for Roche given their program ticked a lot of her boxes. Currently, other option is to try and get a funded specialized Masters course at the London School of Tropical Medicine....makes sense financially given the current economic climate (I think next years rent and bills will be far higher than this years). We live 30 miles north of London and she gets free rail travel so can live at home.

She's loving life at the moment, living in a lovely flat in Leamington.

[sammyjoanne]

@Thatsnotmine @specialted If your interested, theres an active group on facebook for lancaster parents www.facebook.com/groups/565423604640153 . Someone started it last year and I only just found out about it yesterday. Glad DC are settled back in lancaster and enjoying :) @Daisysway Leamington is a nice place to live and sounds like shes getting things in place come what ever the situation :)
DD was at York uni today at a careers fare and she says shes enjoying it. She is back on Friday for a couple of days. She went back to Lancaster Sept 17th when her contract started and so far so good. Shes seen some of the students in private halls when shes cooking, and got to know her neighbour who is doing same course, but in 2nd year.

[Thatsnotmine]

@sammyjoanne I have requested to join that Facebook page, I don't use Facebook much but will make an effort with that page might find out more there than from my Ds 😁Think he is in York today as well, back in Lancaster tomorrow. He's mentioned doing a masters next year so looking into that

[ShaunaTheSheep]

I'm still around <waves>.
As DS1 is doing an integrated masters with a year in industry, graduation is a far distant horizon. In fact DD, who's a fresher, will graduate at the same time! DS2 is Y2.

I am poorer than a church mouse 😂

[sammyjoanne]

@Thatsnotmine Im the same I dont really use FB that much. It was DH who told me about it and shared it :) . DD said she had a good time at York, she will be back at the train station (ours) in about 20 mins, can't wait to see her again 😁
@ShaunaTheSheep Thats pretty good they finish at the same time :) . DD1 and DD2 will overlap by a year. DD2 starts in 2023 when DD1 will be in year 4. And know what you mean about being poorer than a church mouse. Cost of living is going up in all areas. Its cheaper for DD to catch the train home this weekend than for us to pay the petrol there and back.

[specialted]

@sammyjoanne , yes thank You for fb link, am already on that group. Is v useful

[Empra123]

I'm still here! York DD deferred partway through last academic year so is repeating part of her second year this year. Exeter dd should be in China but due to Covid restrictions is having to study online at the Chinese university.

[LIZS]

Has anyone else's dc had an email from Student Finance suggesting they may need to start repaying from next April? Dd is on 4 year course so won't graduate until 2024. She also had a paye deduction from her summer job not showing in her account.

[SandyIrvine]

My DS2 had the opposite problem. He originally applied for a 5 year course and changed after a year to a 4 year one. Told Student Finance (SAAS). If he hadn't chased them I think they would have waited until the April after the 5 years before starting payments.

He had problems making a voluntary payment. Payment went thru but wasn't attached to his account. Got it sorted via the help line. Did your DD agree to make voluntary payments in her summer job? Or did they just take off?

[LIZS]

They just took it off. Her July pay was late so she got paid twice in August and a deduction was made automatically from the second. Ds had same when he finished a job and holiday pay took him over but he had at least graduated.

[sammyjoanne]

@Empra123 i read China has restrictions still, hope your DD is ok and DD york is getting on with 2nd year.

Re student finance, DD is on a 4 year course and has not heard anything yet from them.
DD2 went to Bangor early october which was the 5th uni visit. loved it more than she thought she was going to and its on a par with Chester in the insurance slot on UCAS. DD came back mid October for the weekend. Shes currently got a cold, so shes feeling a bit sorry for herself at the moment.

[sammyjoanne]

Update - DD1 is seeing a physics lecture tonight with her friends, tomorrow shes going to the housing fair, looking at Chancellors wharf/campus, just in case she doesnt make 4th year, she didnt want to commit to a landlord privately.
DD2 submitted her UCAS application Monday. Had 4 offers back within a day so that was really a big shock. was not expecting majority of offers until after Christmas. So shes got Bangor, Reading and Chester at reduced offers, and Lincoln unconditional. Reading and Chester are her faves, but just waiting on Lancaster now.
DH has an operation on one of his ears (he has pagets disease) on the 5th. Hes deaf in one ear and nearly in the other, so the completely deaf one is being trialled first. So hopefully he will be able to hear better. But his balance will be out of sync for a bit, so ill be picking up DD1 from uni before christmas, which I know will drive him crazy as he likes to do the long drives. She was going to catch the train on the 17th, but strikes. Hope everyone else is not affected by them.

[specialted]

Lovely to hear all your news @sammyjoanne and congrats to dd2 on all her offers! . Ds is doing so much better this year, absolutely loves living back on campus. I asked what he was doing for accommodation next year, he has a group of boys he wants to live with but of course they have done nothing about organising a house! I'm just leaving him to it. He's loving working at aldi despite accumulating three parking tickets there. Apparently it's all in hand. I'm definitely stepping back this year from nagging and he seems to be managing perfectly well. It's taken a while, but hopefully he's matured a lot.

[sammyjoanne]

@specialted thats great news hes enjoying his time there :) Hope they get a place soon enough. Escape campus is alwasys a good one. they seem to have nicer houses ive seen than other agents sites.

[sammyjoanne]

Evening all :) DD1 is now back home for Christmas, hope everyones DC are doing well. She will be back to Lancaster on the 29th to spend new year with her boyfriend and then back home for the week in the new year. She went to the physics society christmas dinner, which shes has missed over previous years due to a holiday and before that covid restrictions. She also had a meeting to discuss projects she can choose for her year 4 masters project which is worth half of the marks. She also went to the housing fair and signed up for Chancellors Wharf for fourth year; which is a uni owned halls in the city and got it, so shes sorting out the deposit this week. DD2 got all her offers in for uni next year. Shes put Reading firm, Chester insurance.
Hope everyones DC is doing well and hope you all have a lovely Christmas :)

[sammyjoanne]

Happy new year to everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas and new year. Hope you all got to see your DC, before they went back to the grind again

[specialted]

Happy new year to you @sammyjoanne ! Dropped ds back yesterday, tbh think he couldn't wait to get rid of us! All his home friends had gone back to uni last week so the past week was a bit boring I suspect. Anyway I'm happy that he was keen to go back! And will be good to have a tidy peaceful house with my food bills halved!

[aibutohavethisusername]

How are everyone’s DC get on? How are you all?

[specialted]

@aibutohavethisusername good to
Hear from you! Ds half way through second year, totally different uni experience for him this year, just how I wanted it to be for him . Really made me realise how much they were all impacted by Covid . How are things with you?

[aibutohavethisusername]

@specialted

@aibutohavethisusername good to
Hear from you! Ds half way through second year, totally different uni experience for him this year, just how I wanted it to be for him . Really made me realise how much they were all impacted by Covid . How are things with you?

Hello! Good to see you’re still on here. Glad to hear that DS is having a better time of things.
DD is still communing up to UCL and working PT. She is quite stressed with her essays and dissertation!
She has a plan to teach English abroad for a year when she finishes and is exploring options now.

[specialted]

@aibutohavethisusername have we been on this chat since GCSEs???

[aibutohavethisusername]

Gosh I’m not sure how long I’ve been on this. I think since college days! Maybe GCSEs!

[KingscoteStaff]

Quite a few of us since 11+!!!

DS is planning to have his covid-cancelled year off next year instead!