Thread 46 - GCSE Covid Cohort , Searching for Summer Solstice

[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

That sounds fab, we can all have a look when it is launched !

I was go on to ask the same!

*going to

@Shimy I don't know of any similar incidents amongst DS's peers when they were in 6th form or younger. I'm not sure DS would have told me (doesn't like gossip and not one of the party crowd) though he did about vaping and expulsions for drugs, but I think the parent grapevine would have eventually got to me. @PhotoDad comment about rugby is interesting. There is something about the delusion of 'we're special', see also professional football players.

The girls willing to lead peer groups are inspiring. I can't imagine those sessions were easy.

@Shimy changing the subject, DD wants to apply for biomedical science, I did a search on MN and found a thread you started a few years ago, did any of your DC end up studying it? DD is a bit overwhelmed by choices at the moment.

Thanks, I think that the final game will be on the password-protected VLE but I'll put up a screenshot or two when it's done!

@PhotoDad your DD sounds like she has managed to find healthy the perfect project on so many levels - it will be great for her and sounds like she will be great for them!

@ExtremelyDetermined we know a bit about Bioned too. I can tell you that most don't read the PS at all, can tell you in detail what Newcastle do. DS1 was going to do Biomed at Sheffield when he thought he would not get any Medicine offers, partly because they were the only one he knew of which offered full body dissection. The most competitive ones I know of are Oxford and UCL/Imperial.

Thanks @Monkey2001 - she has definitely ruled out Oxford and realistically needs to look at some non RG level unis as she's struggling with chemistry and may well get a B in it. She is also keen on the IBMS accredited route which tends to be the post 92 unis. UCL/Imperial are out on grounds of being in London in any case. But we still have a "short"list of 20+ unis! She is not considering it as an alternative path to medicine because she's never wanted to do medicine but I am aware that many do take it for this reason.

A friends son is at Kent @ExtremelyDetermined and has had fantastic placement opportunities. Really employable now.

Kent is definitely one I think she should be looking at @OrangeCinnamonLatte it ticks all the boxes for her as far as I can see

So the criteria are:
Not London or other really big cities
Within 4 hours drive of Hampshire (northern limit Yorkshire). But not too close eg Reading, Southampton, Surrey.
Probably IBMS accredited
Placement (nearly all offer this)
Grades AAB ish
Active archery club (again nearly all but care needed with smaller unis)
Preferably campus not city
Good student support (dyslexic possibly ADHD).

I have no recollection of starting such a thread...biomedical science? neither of my dc have ever been interested in science, DS2 vaguely interested if i recollect. Are you sure it was spelt 'Shimy?'

@PhotoDad I know what you mean by the rugby lad culture though I wouldn't paint them all with the same brush. I know some that are absolutely lovely young men but the pervading culture seems to be of the American frat boy kind.

I think part of why some of the initiatives aren't being as effective as they could be is the parents. If the pervading culture at home is of the kind we are discussing then even if school is trying its best, the home culture pushes against it. A lot of these types of 'entitled' lads, also have father's who are very similar and mother's who are equally entitled or just don't care as long as their offspring is , 'In the A teams', 'Captain of XYZ', 'good looking and popular'.

@ExtremelyDetermined Don't know about Biomed in particular, but DD is enjoying Cambridge and ARU ticks the boxes (perhaps for insurance)? It's more city than campus, though.

@ExtremelyDetermined I've found the thread you are referring to. I'd forgotten all about it. It was a thread I started about accreditation just to share with people who's dc might be thinking of applying for biomed. It wasn't for my dc at all. I just thought it might be useful for others as and as you can see there were some very aggressive posts there so i don't think it achieved its purpose which was well intended. There must be something about my posting style that brings out these really aggressive posters.

He's done some really interesting paid work, and part of it includes the accreditation so he can go straight into industry. It all seemed to have worked out so well.

@ExtremelyDetermined UEA do Biomedicine - don't know if that's the same thing? Lovely Campus, small city, not too far from Hampshire.
BSc (Hons) Biomedicine (uea.ac.uk)

@Seeline I was doing to say UEA too. Feels like a lovely community, nice sports scholarships if you compete at a regional, national or international level, campus and small city.

Birmingham is AAB? It doesn't feel like a big city because of the campus.

Lincoln is BBB. Too far away?

Thank you all, what I really was wondering is if anyone had experience of the subject and how have they found it. Your friend's Kent experience sounds great @OrangeCinnamonLatte

Uni wise:
Lincoln - definite possible, ticks all boxes except possibly archery, the club looks small
ARU - had thought it was in Norwich for some reason and that @PhotoDad 's DD was at an arts university in Cambridge so that's going on the list thank you.
UEA is off the list as hard to get too even though closer than Yorkshire (had to eliminate some somehow).
Birmingham - easy to get to, eliminated on the big city thing again more because we have to start narrowing down a bit.

Bath is on the stretch target list grade-wise
Leicester or DeMontfort - she's booked one of them for open day, think it's DeM
Kent looks really promising

So much to think about again!

That was me, being confusing, @ExtremelyDetermined; my DD and classmates all describe where they study as "Cambridge School of Art" which is true, but it's now part of Anglia Ruskin. (Or, rather, it expanded to become Anglia Ruskin!)

To add to the confusion, there is another (new) art school in Cambridge called CSVPA (Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts) which is entirely separate from CSA (and neither of them are attached to Cambridge University, unlike the Ruskin School of Art which is part of Oxford University). All clear now..? 🤔

Leicester is quite a big city @ExtremelyDetermined and I think DMU is in the centre? I'm not sure as a city it would feel much smaller than Brum if you're not used to cities? On the other hand, most first years at Leicester live out in Oadby, which is very nice.

Bath and Canterbury would definitely feel smaller and prettier. Ds ended up in Bath the other night on one of his ridiculous wandering trips with his friend (I thought he was in Brum until I checked his iphone location 😱). I said it wasn't safe for two 16/17 year olds to be out in middle of the night and he thought I was being ridiculous as Bath felt so safe!

The reference to living in Oadby was for Leicester Uni students not DMU - I think their halls are quite central.