To ask about Law at the university of York

[Fatsnowflake]

DD got 7 9s and 3 8s at GCSE and got an Oxford offer for Law. She was predicted 4 A. She's won loads of national essay competitions and has generally built her identity around being a high flyer. Come results day - two As and two Bs and Oxford have rejected her. She's set to go to the University of York as her insurance choice but she's feeling really down about everything and is pessimistic about her future. In History she is two marks off the A and in Politics she's just one mark off an A so waiting for a review of marking but not expecting anything to change.

Please tell me positives about York. I'm stressing and so is she. She's feeling like her future is gone. I'm so upset for her. She's honestly such a clever and articulate young woman. She's saying her A Levels aren't good enough for Vac schemes and training contracts and she's not at all excited for uni.

That’s interesting. My daughters sixth form does do German, she’s put down to do that politics and history but thinking about changing German to economics as she’s worried that German is really hard , well proportionately harder than some other a levels. But if hardly any schools offer it is it one to take I wonder given your comments.

for me it’s what the end goal is, I didn’t go to uni and have a good well paid job. I had a member of my team who went to Oxbridge, he was useless and I had to put him on a pip so it had done him no good . And I know that’s a sample size of one so means nothing but I did think I shouldnt be doing “better” than this person.

@Fatsnowflake
Think you/she is overreacting with the career ruined bit. Do you not think that York graduates can get roles at top firms?

Have a look at the Top 20 by year table in this https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019
York is at 11 in the last two years of it.
And for context, the first year of Law graduates (as the Law School isn't that old) was 2011 (so 2013 for the first Law graduates to be included in that report).
Bath and Loughborough (both don't do Law) aren't even in the table.

Perhaps regional we are northern but reasonably affluent area. A friend’s dd was last to take German at her school a couple of years ago (they stopped teaching it yr12 but limped her to end via a private tutor)

You can’t change the past Op with what if. If she’d gone there she may not have thrived or had no politics teacher yr13 as he went off sick (my DD’s scenario) etc

She’s clearly very determined and it sounds like she’s very adept at seeking out extra curricular opportunities.

It’s a good point @stubiff makes about York being relatively new in law uni degree course terms - I’m in my 50s and if you say York law to me I’d recall there used to be a college of law there for postgraduate but not undergraduate. So it doesn’t get mentioned as much as longer standing undergraduate law courses and older people in firms won’t have been there.

It has a good reputation if you want that style of course. If you want a traditional law course then no it’s not for you. My dd is at an LNAT uni and the teaching style seems similar to when I did my law degree 30 yrs ago - lectures and tutorials. York is totally different. Those who love it seem to really love it. It’s her decision I presume she went to offer day.

https://www.york.ac.uk/media/law/documents/pbl_guide.pdf

@TorroFerney The mistake of the DD in the Op was doing 4 A levels. She’s now having politics papers remarked because she needs 3 A grades, not 4. So when DC do German as part of 3 A levels, it’s best to do it at school and get the support of school. I would not jettison it at all unless the results the school gets are poor.

The reason I say this is because it gives far more flexibility with degree choice and universities love MFL students. So getting an offer for a competitive course can be easier if dc add in the MFL.

Then - look at the Cambridge preferred A levels. They recommend 2 of: English (lit), Languages, History and Maths. Doing economics without maths will make economics difficult at university. Cambridge say many other A levels support courses well but 2 from the list I gave is recommended. If the teachers are good and they get good results, keep the German if she’s bright.

This drills down in the law data in the research mentioned. As you would expect, York is a bigger hitter away from London but regional students often like to stay in the regions.

That Law data is really reassuring. It's not the end and DD can make it work from here.

Life is all about dealing with unexpected set backs

I feel for you and your daughter @Fatsnowflake- this is all still really raw and readjusting to the change of future pathway takes time (made more difficult by the uncertainty with the review pending). Don’t beat yourself up about it. Allow time to feel disappointed and upset. It is disappointing!

Hopefully the grade will go up. If it doesn’t you will both adjust and won’t always feel so gutted. Will take a little time. Maybe give you and your DD the night off from thinking about and cook something nice and watch some trash TV? Park it for a few hours.

We are Northern - Easr Lancashire, reasonably affluent area! Interesting. I do know at the sixth form she is going to they only had a handful doing it this time.

That is really helpful thanks.

DD is home from her work experience but she's gone straight to her room and says she wants to be left alone for a while. I'm really sad for her.

@Fatsnowflake - sorry to hear that you are feeling sad. If it is any consolation, my DD has been like that after her work experience last week and today too. She is really shattered from it and doing a full 8 hours work there starting at 8am, with a short lunch break. But overall it has been great for her. She loves it really, you just cannot talk to her straight after for a while.

She’s probably exhausted if she’s been in office all day and had to be ‘on’ all day plus a commute.

Just get them to confirm they will run the course to completion even if some drop it.

@TorroFerney
My friends dd did this yr12 at Leeds uni, they prioritise students studying German

accessandoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/linguastars-languages-residential/

Thank you.

I’m in a big corporate law firm and assist with mentoring and grad recruitment. York is fine and won’t rule her out.
Her result will matter and she needs to look at extracurricular and work experience. Those will move the needle for vac scheme/training contract.

She's gone up ten marks in Politics and has the A!

I hope this means she gets the place she wants.

I really hope so! She's met the conditions for standard Law now with three As. It's just she applied for the year abroad in Germany so they asked for an A in German. However there were extenuating circumstances for German Paper 1 which pulled her grade down. She did get an A* and an A on the other two papers. They do also switch students from the year abroad if they are struggling with the language. Waiting to hear back from the college now.

Good result then.

Excellent news Op. Goodness 10 marks is a lot. Had they not marked a question? Fingers crossed for positive news from the college.
So she’s now AAAB.
Did she hear from history review of marking to try and find 2 marks for AStar.

I'm not sure - it was across two papers and I know on one paper they hadn't marked her conclusion.
History hasn't come back yet.

Her handwriting is atrocious