Thread 48- Covid GCSE Cohort - Summer before Year 2 Uni

[Oblomov23]

Summer ending. Year 2 for many at Uni about to start.

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). 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.
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Finally picked up Ds1 from Heathrow last night, flying back from New York. He enjoyed Camp America incredibly, and wants to go again next year. Said it was the best thing he's ever done. He's clearly had very little sleep over the last 10 weeks, I asked him to take care and address that. He's on the train to Nottingham now. He'll be there for 2 weeks, then home for a couple of days then I'll take him to London for his PwC work experience. I'm a bit cross because they've been very lacking in details. They haven't told him when he's starting, where is living, nothing.

DD and DS seem to be getting along pretty well. Although I don’t think I’d risk more than a weeks holiday - mostly because DD would sulk at being separated from her BF for any longer, and I don’t know him well enough to want him here on holiday with us. Feeling quite lucky that we got here with only a 3 hour delay given we flew on Monday!

DD has an appointment to sort out new retainers when we get home (she has a very complex dental history involving 3 operations and 6 years under a consultant at the maxillofacial clinic at our local hospital). After which she’s off down to Cornwall to move into her house share ready for the start of the second year.

We’re about to start the UCAS journey with DS, who doesn’t really know what he wants to study (A-levels are chemistry, business, and DT - predicted grades BAA). He’s going to consider degree apprenticeships too, which I think could be a good route for him.

That sounds really busy, @Oblomov23! And good luck to @OublietteBravo with UCAS (again).

Back from our week in Wales, where we all had good fun and I remembered that walking 10 miles is a bit of a push for me (ouch). Because of complex family logistics, DD will be getting a train down at the end of next week and living in her new room with just a sleeping bag and a couple of bags until I can drive stuff down (8 days later). She is absolutely fine with that and is very positive about the new academic year.

@OublietteBravo we flew back home on Monday, luckily we were in the air before the air traffic control problems started. We were away for 11 days and my two were definitely ready for a bit of time apart (they still share a room on holidays), I dread to think how they would have been if the flight had been cancelled. Our only hitch was retainers, DS managed to lose his by forgetting to take them out before breakfast and leaving them (he thinks) on the table in the buffet, we retraced steps, searched both bedrooms, tried lost property twice and ended up ordering new ones on Friday. Other than that it was a good holiday, still tired now as it was straight back to work yesterday.

DD has to start the UCAS journey in earnest now too going into y13, she has been dragging her feet a bit but says she does want to go to uni. Hoping being back at college will motivate her to make some decisions, as far as I know she hasn't started her PS.

DS is really looking forward to going back to uni now, but we also have the problem of whether to continue driving lessons here or find an instructor at uni (he had one there last year but has now switched to auto). I'm going to get him to complete his online re-registration this week and see if his timetable us up yet, that might help with that decision.

@ProggyMat Hi! We’ve had a lovely summer with ds at home. He’s managed two holidays with friends as well as two weeks away with us so he’s been living his best life! He passed his first year with flying colours and is looking forward to moving in with his five besties in October. He’s going to be living quite far out of the city centre though which won’t be nearly as convenient as last year’s accommodation.

Has your dd had a fantastic summer? What’s her accommodation like for this year? Can’t believe how quickly the first year went. Where does the time go?

@ScarlettDarling Wonderful, and well done to your DS for his first year’s results!

DD too has managed holidays away- currently in Rome with her bf- along with paid work and lots and lots of Uni work as she will sit the dreaded Classics Mods in Hilary Term.

DD is ‘over the moon’ with her 2nd year accommodation. She’s very fortunate in that she will have college accommodation for all 4 years of her course- even I might be tempted down for a visit given where she’ll be for her second year, so that’s saying summat! 🤣

I feel as if I’ve blinked and the summer has gone …DD is going back early-in order to have a week in the library before her collections at the start of Michaelmas Term.

That said, before we know it they’ll be back for Christmas!

@ProggyMat Sounds like your dd has had a ball this summer. Oh to be 19 again eh??
DS is also very lucky to have college accommodation for the full four years of his degree. Second year is the only year he’ll live on the North Oxford site. Next year he should be back in the thick of things.
He’s done no uni work at all this summer and has thoroughly enjoyed the break. We’re driving him down in October but don’t know if we’ll manage a mid term visit. The weeks just fly past and then they’re home!

DD is starting to think about placements for Year 3 (she signed up to the 'sandwich' version of the course). If any of your DC are in similar boats (or older ones have been), what do you think about the timing? The problem is that she will really need to know by February whether she'll be staying in Cambridge that year, in order to find a room, so would ideally like to have things sorted by Christmas. She's prepared to relocate anywhere (although she doesn't like London) for a decent placement.

She also has enough savings to survive for one year (no more) on an unpaid placement... but hopes it won't come to that. Worst case is that she goes straight to Year 3 without the placement year. At least she's had experience with her summer internship!

DS had the option of a placement. His uni won't accept unpaid placements. I'm not sure how much effort he put into finding one, but was unsuccessful so is about to start his final year. He did book up accommodation last Christmas. He is in a location where there is a shortage of uni housing, so reckoned if he did get a placement he could always find someone to take his room.

I did a third year placement and it turned out to be the best career move I ever made. It wasn't optional on my course, we all did it and the uni made sure we all had placements. I gather that is very much not the case nowadays though. Also in my last job we had two industrial placement students every year in my department and the change in them over the year was incredible, they matured and learned so much. But the logistics nowadays seem quite daunting, places go early, then there's the housing situation. I ended up in 4 different private rentals over that year, the first with a course-mate working nearby but it was expensive and damp so we moved in with two other sandwich students from her workplace but the house was too far from my job (we all had cars but it was outer London) and we fell out so I moved in with some graduate employees in my job, they both wanted to move in with partners at the end of the tenancy year so I ended up in lodgings for the last few weeks. Not ideal. And then of course finding housing for the final year, I think that was straightforward but again things have changed. @PhotoDad I gather from other threads / WIWIKAU that placements need to be planned for early in the year, they get snapped up so if she hasn't found anything by Feb she may well not do so at all. Probably worth a call into the uni careers office as soon as she goes back.

Thanks, @Seeline and @EversoDetermined. I hadn't thought that she could pass on the room to someone else, but that makes sense. I also agree that sooner rather than later is good, and I'll nag encourage her to drop into the careers office. At least she knows them and is registered on their systems thanks to the internship! Agreed that February is a reasonable decision deadline (but Christmas is a good date to focus on).

It's a bit of an odd one as about 90% of people in her field are self-employed (mostly combining it with other part-time work until established). She would love the security of a salaried job, they're just pretty rare.

I did a placement year abroad, it was compulsory and everyone got a placement. The uni seemed to have some in the bag for people who couldn’t find their own but that was years ago. It really was very beneficial in helping to find a graduate job.

DS is meant to do a placement year but as he is retaking year one, he is debating skipping it. I think that would be a bad move but that decision is delayed for a year for us.

DH’s company take year in industry students and they had the advert drafted a few weeks ago and want to get it to unis in September so the timeframe is really quite soon. They are putting a closing date in November I think but it also says “or when approximately 50 applications are received” so in reality it could be after a day, who knows?! The good placements are competitive to get.

With regard to housing, I was initially keen on DS not signing up before Xmas this year just in case he decides it’s not for him but I have seen people on WIWIKAU desperate for housing in his uni city that I imagine it’ll be fine for him to sign up and then he can reassign his room if he needs to. I hope that won’t be the case but it takes the worry off me wondering if we will get stuck with another years rent if it doesn’t work out.

@PhotoDad My older son did a placement year within commuting distance of his uni city - would that be an option for your Dd? In his case he had not managed to find a placement coming up to the end of his 2nd year. He had not arranged accommodation for 3rd year either. Then a room for 3rd year came available in a house with students he knew so he committed to that & after that only applied to local companies. He had a very last minute job offer in August!

It probably wasn’t ideal being the only person working in a house of students & obviously he did not get to spread his wing’s & experience a different location. But it was during Covid so he was lucky to get anything.

BTW my older daughter is sharing a flat with an illustrator- she is managing to make enough to cover London rent - a combination of a part time salaried job & freelancing.

Ds is meant to be doing a year abroad for year 3. He doesn't know where he wants to go yet. He thinking USA or Canada. We've no idea how it all works but I'm assuming he has to apply quite early on into year 2. He is hoping he will still be able to work his summer job next summer, but looking on the Facebook page, a lot of unis abroad start their term July or August. So he won't be able to work for the same place as it's full time July and August, plus a couple of weeks into sept. They are training Ds up to work the weigh bridge next summer, instead of the lab. work. I have told him I think he probably won't be able to do it. He doesn't take any notice of me though.
Hopefully we will find out more later in the year.

Thanks, @Decorhate, I think that the default will be to look for a room. DD would be happy to commute by bus or train; she doesn't drive and parking is an absolute nightmare where she is, anyway. Good to hear about the illustrator flatmate!

Good luck with getting the message across, @icanbewhatiwant, and I hope that he can find the year abroad that he wants.

@PhotoDad FWIW I think the ‘worst case scenario’ in that your DD drops the ‘sandwich year’ and goes into 3rd year is a far better option than taking an unpaid internship for a year.

She is not the same young person that decided on a ‘sandwich’ course - she’s found her wings and has truly flown!

Hopefully, a paid internship before Christmas will materialise but if not for someone with her talent there will be summer internships for the end of second year and her savings would be better used as a ‘buffer’ after Graduation.
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Hope you don’t think I’m ‘speaking out if turn’ .

@ProggyMat No, not out of turn at all! She is a different person, you're right. If that is the decision she has to make at around Christmas, I think that the devil would be in the details; it depends on what she thinks she'd get out of an unpaid year in terms of skills or contacts, which depends on what the job is. You're right, the placement isn't automatically better. Fingers crossed for her!

To be honest it's my big stress this term, then this time next year I'll have DS applying for universities... I know that they're both capable of dealing with stuff themselves, but I you never completely stop worrying, right?

So lovely to hear all the positive stories about kids maturing through their work and life experiences etc. @PhotoDad your daughter is so talented and has such an obviously good head on her shoulders that I don’t think any of these options is a bad one. With you to guide her I am sure she will make the decision which is right for her but I have no doubt she will end up in a great place.
@icanbewhatiwant as you know my DS has just returned from a year abroad in the us so happy to share with you what he learnt. It was absolutely fantastic for him, he matured so much. It also enabled him to build a great and interesting CV which got him a great paid summer internship in London for the whole summer, and he is so delighted to learn just now that has resulted in a graduate job offer. So that’s all totally positive as far as I’m concerned. It was pricey though, so he should take whatever the best paid job he can find and just leave it 2 weeks early. I’m sure they will understand.

@PhotoDad 😊.

Fingers crossed for her, too!

Dd is abroad for Year 3. She's got to apply by October but even if she doesn't get her first choice, she's definitely away so won't need accommodation in the uk.

@Delphigirl thanks. Glad yours enjoyed it. I am sure it will be a great experience. I read that the USA have 2 intakes depending on the uni. On Facebook they seem to be arriving several weeks beforehand in July and august. Ds's current job they can't take any time off in august, they are told this before they take the job on. They only employ uni students for this reason. When did yours travel out there? But what will be will be. Yes...I'm not looking forward to hearing how much it will cost. I hope Ds can still claim maintenance.

DD has her last shift at her museum job today. We've collected her boxes of kit from Granny's garage where they were dumped at Christmas. DSA is almost sorted. She's made contact with 3 of her new flatmates - they are all returners too so hopefully have learnt how to live with others 🤞. We've got 16 days to get everything done. She seems so much more ready this year.
How are all the other Fresher's doing?

Hi all, lost this thread for a while.
DS has no choice for his year abroad next year - all 11 on his course go to the same French uni and have to study law, in French. I'm not sure they even get a choice of modules. DD is planning a semester abroad in her second year but as she hasn't even started year 1 yet, I haven't a clue how that will work.
DS has two weeks left at his warehouse job. He's actually enjoyed the routine of 6am starts, me less so having to wake him up. DD has two or three shifts left at her weekend cafe job she's had since she finished year 11. I think she'll go back for a few shifts over Christmas even though it's minimum wage and hard work.
Fresher DD is very excited about going to uni. She's in a few social media groups for her course, department and flatmates and we have the obligatory IKEA bags full of stuff blocking the hallway. It's going to be strange leaving her so far from home - Nottingham suddenly feels quite local. Hopefully she won't have any of the problems DS had/has because a 5 hour rescue drive to Wales in the middle of the night does not appeal.

Well we are back down to 2 again, though she will have to do a flying visit to see the endocrinologist mid Oct. She’s taken her stuff out of storage, unpacked, and now flown off for a week in Bordeaux from Dublin with 5 friends from her course before 11 Sept start.

I don’t know anything about placement years unfortunately Photodad, but good luck with supporting your DD with the research. DD’s year abroad will probably be split between Grenada and Beirut, subject to political situation. Uni placement only to develop the languages. We are now nearly 4 years into applying for her Irish citizenship which has been a complete nightmare due to covid, documents going missing, child to adult app due to time lapse etc, but, if we can get over the line by end of sept latest it will make the application process so much easier which I believe, will be finalised by circa Jan 2024.

But she does get access to Erasmus terms so another plus for being where she is.

Mine turns 20 in a few weeks too, god I feel really old these days!