Thread 45 GCSE Covid Cohort - Bunnies bouncing into Spring

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Be warned there might be lots of 'Uni Freshers' chat this time of year. My experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had

previous thread

He’s doing so well Oblomov. Hang in there, he’ll be ‘back’. But for now, he’s flying.

I know Ealing. I know. He is, literally. Flying. ✈️ Plus Faking said her ds will be home for 4 months. Ds flies to camp America as term ends, then comes home and immediately starts his London autumn placement. I won't see him at all.

Actually when you say he'll 'be back' (Arnie), I think not. He was never really here. He is like me, self contained, content, but he's not like me, because his ASD traits make him cold, needing no one, which I've always found difficult.

Many of you have older dc already been through all this. All of us have dc who are on their own path of development, right now. At different stages for them all, clearly.

Things will change @Oblomov23 over the next few years, your relationship with him will grow and develop. My ds can be a bit like that, he only messages me to ask for money or food, and doesn't really seem to need me as he's very independent, but when we're in the same room or car he's very chatty and engaging. So I just need to make sure I'm in the same space as him enough and take advantage of those times to grill him! Whereas dd likes to tell us everything that's going on, she's always been like that.

It's been a busy week for ds.

On Saturday he had an interview with NYMT for their Creative Mentoring Scheme (he was accepted last year) . He was then asked to send a recording of him playing one of the songs from one of their shows to a click track. The music was fabulous but fiendish.

He has had a couple of confusing emails about his re-arranged group assessment (the one that was cancelled due to the snow) & there is a possibility it might clash with something else (he has been asked to MD a concert version of a student written show on the same morning & has started rehearsing already). So he needs to sort that.

Then this morning he has been offered a place with NYMT. The Easter residential starts the morning after the day with all the clashes (last day of term) and it's a train strike day.

He's back home tonight (should have been tomorrow but train strikes) to rehearse for a big gig with his band on Saturday. Dh and I are concerned he is missing a lecture in order to travel a day early as he has missed quite a few now due to the musicals he was asked to play for.

Ok, so the exam has appeared on his online timetable the week before which is good.

@Oblomov23 Well done to your DS, first choice placement is great. And better still that they arrange the accommodation.

My DS is self contained and content (like me too), no ASD but he is often thoughtless and unaware. I think he is going through his selfish teen years but a bit late. He told me before he went to uni, that he would never come back to live 'properly' at home. He did then explain that was because if he did well in his career he wouldn't need to, and I wanted him to do well too.

Weirdly it has taken a crisis (his recent exam failures) for him to open up a bit and for us to seem to be getting a little closer. At the end of the day, however self-contained they are, they do occasionally need mum. I hope that moment of realisation for your DS isn't too far away.
How far away from Nottingham or London are you? Could you go down and visit either for lunch/overnight to catch up and see him?

Well done to your DS @Comefromaway

Just catching up. Lovely to see some old names back on the page. What a variety of posts as the DC continue on their ways. @oblomov and @monkey September is looking good! Well done to @Comefromaway DS too.

@Oblomov23 I would feel a bit down too if I wasn't going to see DS for so many months, however much fun he was having.

Final rejection in for DS, he will be joining @Seeline DD at UEA provided he gets an A for Chemistry. So grateful that he chose it as his "safe" option and then fell in love with the course.

Any advice from any people with experience of UEA about things we should make sure we see at the offer holder day on Saturday? He doesn't drink, does a lot of music and weight lifting, keen on cycling. Re accommodation, he wants shared bathroom to leave funds for his protein requirements, but Ziggurats is probably out because he is over 6 ft and (beds are only 6 ft), and it is probably too much of a party place.

Wow @Monkey2001 I'm really surprised at the rejections, but he's still done really well to get a medicine place - and it's nice in a way not to have to make a decision - there can be no regrets this way! I know nothing about UEA but hope you get some good advice. He sounds very like my ds with the weights/protein, not drinking and interest in music and I imagine somewhere like UEA is a good fit. I'm sure there are party types there, but not in such large numbers as it's not known for it's nightlife is it?

@crazycrofter yes, I think there is a drinking culture at pretty much every university, but maybe less of a clubbing culture at UEA. The nightlife of Sheffield would probably have been wasted on him!

@crazycrofter there's these. I don't know what they're like as they are never open to look round. I think the other shared bathrooms are shared bedrooms too.
The rooms in the Zigs are actually quite spacious so it might be possible to put something at the end of a bed to extend it.
I don't think the uni is hugely party central. There is a nightclub on campus that does live music too. DD has been into town a few times, but the last bus is at 11, apparently there are no Ubers and you need to pre-book minicabs 😁
Definitely have a look round the Sports park.
Lots of music based societies.
www.ueasu.org/opportunities/clubs/ sports clubs
www.ueasu.org/opportunities/societies/ societies

If he is looking for somewhere quieter, The Village is off campus and considered quieter. That said, I don't know if UEA make special arrangements for medic's accommodation.

@monkey ds1 said the accommodation in the village, a short walk from campus was much nicer than his on was campus and cheaper. So that is worth looking at. UEA has had a lot of bad press recently with the vice chancellor resigning etc. but ds2 has a few friends there that haven't noticed any change and are getting lectures as normal.

Ds2 has come home. He had planned to come home with dh's dd as she's house/ds3 sitting while dh and I go away tomorrow. But Ds told me he'd changed his mind and didn't have enough time to come home. Anyway...I came home from work and here he is! I did wonder if he'd come back anyway. It's my birthday on Mother's Day. So it's great to see him. Though I probably won't see him on Sunday as dh's dd wants to set off back to Brighton at 10am. We won't be home until lunchtime. But seeing Ds today and tomorrow is great.

Thanks, we will try to see Ziggs and Village accom.

Ziggurats is the place which made DS run a country mile from UEA. It's an 'acquired taste'....

Yes - DD likened the Ziggs to living on a submarine 😁

Ds1 didn't like the ziggs either. Then there is the statue of the person standing at the top like he's going to jump. I have a pic of the ziggs I took at ds1's graduation. See the person at the top.

Close up....

DD went to look round UEA and said she understood how the statue felt. The campus made her feel really uncomfortable. One of DS's friends is there and loves it ( he lives in the Village I think).

Evening all, glad to hear DS has finally got his place decided @Monkey2001 .

Lovely to hear from all the returners to the thread over the last couple of days.

@Oblomov23 how is your back now?

Well, we have booked DD in for her first open day this weekend, at RHUL. DS applied there so I have been before and its not too far from us. She has pretty well decided on biomedical science now. Her college are encouraging her to consider Oxbridge application, which she feels is a bit ambitious because she only got 7s in chem and biol in her GCSEs and was at private school, I am inclined to agree, but she is predicted A*/A in all her subjects now. So she is going to go along to a talk at college and then we'll see.

@EasilyDirected Oxford do Biomedical Science and Cambridge just do Natural Sciences. For Oxford she would have to do the BMAT (same as the medics) which tests all the sciences and maths. My advice with Oxbridge (if she does it) is to treat it as a punt and try really hard not to get invested - the competition ratios are awful and the application process draws them in and leaves them bruised and almost bereaved, it is horrible!

My DS was at UEA and graduated last summer. He absolutely loved it there, and is back this weekend to meet up with mates. He lived in The Village in his first year and liked his accommodation - small, en-suites but nicer kitchens than some on campus. Only 10 mins walk to the Sportspark where he spent most of his time. In the warmer weather the students seem to congregate around the lake/broad, and there are even BBQ spots dotted around, as well as lots of sculptures as it didn't feel all concrete. Back in his day the uni tend to group the healthcare students together (doctors, paramedics, paramedics, physios) but in all types of accommodation - mainly so that they have supportive people around them who understand the demands of placements.

That should say 'nurses' as well as doctors, paramedics etc