DS has applied this year with grades in hand. It has been a much more relaxed process. He hasn’t been successful with his aspirational choices but is happy to wait for clearing and see if anything crops up. He does have two offers so if all else fails he has a place. I’m hoping he decides on his niche course which is sports performance analysis. He is a bit of an all rounder and could have done any of his GCSE subjects at A level. Unfortunately he didn’t have a good lockdown experience, desperately missed school and had a bit of a breakdown. It was a shame, despite lots of encouragement from his teachers he chose subjects that they didn’t do at GCSE.
And then disaster struck, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of yr 12 and DH had a stroke 6mnths later. Although DS seemed to be coping he was in a bit of a daze most of yr12. he seemed to be doing well but his ability got him through rather than hard work. He admitted that he did no revision for business studies but concentrated his efforts on psychology. His grades for mocks were D,D/E,E he came away with BBB. We can’t change things but I think that without all the drama he would easily have got AAB.
He actually got his predicted grades which many of his year didn’t ( although most were accepted onto their firm choice).
We are hoping that his last choice considers the mitigating circumstances. The exam boards were not interested since it was in yr12 but he admitted that he’d had to teach himself much of the coursework while revising because his mind was elsewhere when in lessons.
He took a gap year primarily to recover mentally. He had to grow up rather quickly and look after himself for the last two years at school, not because we were unable to but because he didn’t want to be a problem. He’s sort of regressed a little and is enjoying normal family life with us again.
He also needed surgery after a sporting injury so has used the opportunity to make sure he is fully recovered before restarting any sport. If he’d gone to uni he wouldn’t have been able to participate in his preferred sport.
He’s always been very resilient but the pandemic and family health problems really took its toll. He is in a much better place now and I feel far more optimistic about his ability to cope away from home. I think of all of his friends he was the most likely to settle in well at uni. He is very independent and his life experiences, although pretty awful for a teenager, have given him a different outlook on life.
To be honest I can’t wait for him to go. University, for me, was a fantastic experience. I did dentistry so was a student for 5 yrs. I left home and never looked back. I hope my DS has the same experience and it is a launching pad. I didn’t want to go back home and never did.