Uni starters 2025/26 all welcome

[NCTDN]

Following on from a year 13 support thread, thought this might be nice to ease us into their new chapters. We had a lovely one for my older DC so created this to help us navigate everything!

I second phoning the estate agent. I phoned one for ds, expecting them to refuse to say much, but they were incredibly helpful.

Ds' group seems to have been through three apparent houses before he finally has a house that look like it'll go through. Cross fingers because we've been at this point before though.

How is everyone doing? Are all your DCs home now? @PhotoDad is your ds still in NZ? The other thread was asking how your two are doing.

DC has had a great first year in Sheffield. Now home, and has been away with school friends for a holiday.

No summer job but has a tutoring job that will start in September so will be heading back early.

ds has also loved his first year in Sheffield.

Thanks for the tag, @NCTDN! I have rather fallen off MN and would like to get back into the saddle; I suspect I should join the 26/7 starters thread! DS had an amazing 7 months as a windsurf coach in NZ, and I went out to see him at Easter. With the money he made, he and his gf (who has just finished First Year at an English uni; they met in sixth-form) spent a month touring Japan, and now DS is staying with a friend of his in Brazil. He did sent me a selfie from a beach, doing maths problems to blow the cobwebs away before starting his STEM subject this academic year!

Glad to hear of the young people doing well, and thinking of those who've had their struggles this year.

DC1 is home. No job , but is getting some reading done for next year. She claims to have applied for a couple of things, including one voluntary work opportunity that I think will help her get into the sort of work that she fancies (the same poorly paying old hippie stuff I'm involved in, unfortunately). Exam results came out this week and she's passed the year, which was all that was needed. A slightly wild spread of results from firsts to a third in one paper .

One of her main challenges for next year will be sorting out a compulsory year abroad in a Spanish speaking country. Neither of us knows where to start, and I'm not sure the university is massively helpful, so I really hope that she can track down some returning 4th years and learn from their experiences. Anyone else have a year/term abroad in the offing? Maybe @Sweetpeasaremadeforbees ?

I'm not sure how helpful I can be but I'll try!

DD said that the uni starts discussing the year abroad in September when they go back, the first year seemed to be about working hard but more importantly settling, getting used to working independently etc. without the pressure of sorting the year abroad.

I have drummed into DD how important it is to attend everything that's offered but I've been amazed by how many students she has said don't bother to turn up to seminars or workshops in her creative writing minor subject.

But she's had a great year, met a lovely bunch of people, really looking forward to moving into a house with some of them but can't believe that year one is over already.

One major plus, she's decided clothes really don't need ironing!

My DD has a year abroad 3rd year as well.
she's doing Spanish and Chinese so she can split the year and visit 2 places. The uni has a strong link with China so they can go to Bejing or Taiwan and then the Spanish speaking countries.
I think it's been talked about generally to get them thinking where they might prefer but I hope they do all the organising this year at Uni.
I don't even know what costs are involved, it's part of her degree but I don't know anything much.

DD is STEM in a RG (so international research-heavy places), but she definitely had a couple of talks(?) just before her exams in May about how they can do a year abroad or a year in industry (or split the 2 semesters, for that matter)

As far as we could tell, her Uni dept had a bit of a pecking order depending on yr 1 results. I get the feeling this is less of a thing for work placements.

I would encourage your child to ask on whatever chat sites they are on (be it Uni or Student Room or parents on WIWIKAU; I think the latter have a year abroad bit on Facebook).

Year 1 went well for us and DD managed to walk into Summer shifts at the local pub just by fluke of being in the right place at the right time. Pub boss seems very happy to hire students back home, knowing most will be going when the local Uni students come back for the next academic year. It is probably a lot easier to get a job in an affluent touristy town, but lots of kids just pester the places they think might have openings and get added to a list for when vacancies arise (and keep in touch with kids in later school years to discover where tends to hire, even if it is just cleaning/portering).

Good luck to any 26/7 parents feeling a little stressed this summer.

Ds is home and watching football and not doing a lot since he finished the performance he was in at the end of June. I suggested trying to get a job and he said "okay" and that was the end of that....

Getting information out of his is a bit blood out of a stone. Asked him if he'd had first year results. He didn't know because he hadn't checked his uni email but "it doesn't matter as they said it doesn't count". Thanks uni, his ASD mind takes thing literally. So I had to explain to him that "didn't count" meant it didn't count towards his final mark and he still had to pass to go into year 2. And it was a good idea to check in case he needed to do any retakes. <blank look>
He now tells me that he's had no results, but he has had info from his tutor about next year, so assumes all is well.
I'm now trying to get info about next year's house. Such as size of bed, when he can move in, when he can get a key... laid back isn't the word. He assumes all will happen...

DD enjoyed first year, slightly too much maybe by the volume of glass recycling that came out of the kitchen!
Shes doing Camp America this summer and is stressing over her second year options. Shes doing a mixed humanities degree and found subjects she thought she'd like, she didn't and vice versa. There's way more options for second year, which are pathways to specific 3rd year courses and she got herself all in a panic for a bit there. Hopefully its all ok now, shes been getting great advice from her fellow camp counselors thankfully.

I have a vague recollection that students have to pay 15% of the usual fees to their home university. If I remember rightly your DD is also at Lancaster?

I'm hoping that DD goes down the British Council teaching assistant route, partly to earn money and partly because she's still considering becoming a teacher when she graduates, she regularly goes into her old school for a couple of weeks when uni finishes.

CatBoy had a great year at Southampton and was lucky to make friends quickly with his flatmates, so much so he went straight on holiday with them after exams and they have found a house together and got the keys already so have moved some stuff in already. He’s home now, not working but with a feeling this will be his last free summer as next year it seems they’re encouraged to get some kind of placement.

He’a also intending to do a year abroad and has been told ‘Don’t worry about it til we tell you to,’ which he assumes will be Sept. He did well in his first year marks and this counts towards being able to go, though not towards degree results.

Having said all that, he and his flatmates did have some emotional ups and downs, as did we, when Henry Novak was murdered in Southampton, and at the time of the trial. It made them feel a bit there-but-for-the-grace-of-God and suddenly family and friends felt very very precious.

Oh goodness, your ASD son sounds like my ADHD son. You’ve reminded me to speak to him again - I’m trying to step back and give him space to mess up and self correct on his own, but sometimes the stakes feel a bit high for that!

My other uni child is NT and so on it I’d only get in the way if I tried to organise her. They are a study in contrasts!

I've the same. 2 girls then ds.
#1 knew exactly how her course should look (got changed due to covid) down to when the exams would be, exactly what marks meant what, what courses to choose from, when graduation would be.... all before she accepted the offer. House was sorted by November
#2 not quite as organised, but knew what courses, what she needed to do etc. House sorted in January

And then we have ds. "Do you have any placements?" Dunno
"Do you need to do any essays?" Dunno
"What assessments do you have?" Do we have any...?
House was sorted the week they finished in June.

Problem is he gets stroppy and tells me to stop fussing if I ask. If I don't ask I know nothing. The other two liked to talk everything through. 🤣

@TheTurn0fTheScrewDD had year abroad on her third year. She didn’t get a huge amount of advice from uni tbh (Bristol) but def more than lots of other universities! There’s a Facebook group called uni year abroad which is really helpful.
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19GHsD689H/?mibextid=wwXIfr
DD had the time of her life. It was definitely the best thing about her whole time at uni - she developed so much as a person. She went to Austria- it wasn’t a languages degree so needed an English speaking course. She tactically put her choices in order of what she thought she might get, so for example even though she fancied Valencia she knew there would be a lot of competition so didn’t put that as a choice.

Good to hear that everyone is getting on so well! Sending hugs to you all. x

oh wow, looks like a few of us with years abroad to come! I'll be really interested to have about any advice or plans your young people have.

@NCTDN Interesting that you found your elder DC didn't get loads of support from the university. That's the vibe I get from DC1's place. I'll definitely have a look at that facebook group, thank you !

Lovely to hear how everyone is getting on.

DC is at home and has house sorted. Got a first in the first year but missed an exam, due to stress. The uni kept saying that they couldn’t retake it and wouldn’t give any indication as to what this will mean for them. Roll on end of term only to be told that they have to retake it but uni will only give a date a week before the exam! So now we are waiting for a date. DC is awaiting an ASD diagnosis so this is not ideal!

One of my other DC’s had just finished college so we are waiting for results day to see if they have a place at uni and so it begins…..,

Hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

Hello everybody, I’ve been reading with interests all your updates. Such interesting stories, especially of those who are planning a year abroad. It looks like all our young people have had a great first year!
Congratulations to all!

DD is back home, got first in her exams and I’m awfully and tearfully happy for her, after the tough time she’d had due to the break up of her relationship.
Time heals as we all know and she seems to be in a much happier place now.

House is sorted (I did call the agency and indeed the cancellation of contract referred only to the girl who had dropped out, so all was well), we went there last weekend to help her move.

She’s managed to get a pub job back in London, just a few days a week but it’s better than nothing. Has some holidays planned with her old school friends , some uni friends visits planned so all looking good.

She is STEM at RG uni and said something about an industry year but I must find out more about it as it was just mentioned in passing and I don’t know much about it.

Will be checking this thread as I find it very supportive and all your advice very helpful.

Wishing you all a lovely summer.😎🍉⛱️

Hello all, glad u are all doing well, missed this till today as we are on holiday. Dd and new ( well 10 month ) boyfriend came for a week too. Having had and awful results day as you may remember and opting for a new foundation year at lancaster, she has had a blast, made friends, worked out how to study and not stress, house sorted for next year and passed all the exams with flying colours so much more confident. Oh and has a uni job sorted for next year too! I hope all continues to be this positive for them all. Good luck to the gap years starting too.

Brilliant results @CloudSimilar ! I remember you wondering about resits - definitely no need for those now!

Amazing outcome @jamimmi for your DD.
And thank you @TheTurn0fTheScrew. Yes indeed, I was worried. As you know how it is - nothing is certain until it’s certain.

They might have had their struggles this past year - be it adapting, finding strength to study, coming out of their shell, but one way or another they will come out all right with our support and quiet watchful eye.

There was a time I felt terribly down and torn. I am very grateful for this thread and your support. 🥰

@CloudSimilar thank you I am.vert much relived. I am.so glad to hear your daughter is doing better now. Dd is also Stem and was looking at a year in industry which I think she may now explore again after the 1st proper year, keep us updated on how you dd goes

What surprised me most about the first year was learning how to step back a bit, which sounds obvious but it's really hard!
Mr DD was quite homesick at first and after returning the second term so it was hard to let go a bit more as she gained her footing.
She's not overly sociable so it's hard to gauge if she's having a good time, but I have learnt to trust her and not expect it to mirror my uni experience.
I'm probably rambling but just wanted to say how useful the thread was in the first few months, to hear other parents similar worries.
It's such a strange time for everyone finding a new normal.