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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Mine went on 17 Aug which transpired to be international welcome week but could easily have gone a week later when the Americans returned.

My fresher DS is working incredibly hard right up to the wire - only taking the day before he goes to uni off. He’ll have a fantastic cash cushion though and is enjoying the process of saving money. He turns 20 this week 😱😱😱. He is really looking forward to finally starting Uni it but hasn’t done any of the WhatsApp meet-up stuff, has decided just to turn up and deal with what he finds.
dd2 finished her personal statement this week and has chosen her uk unis… only three. Can’t believe all my UCAS expertise honed over 4 kids will then be redundant! 🤣

I guess with taking a gap year Delphigirl 3 in fine with her specific course needs with an extra cushion if she chooses to reapply vs defer?

Happy 20th to your boy for this coming week!

@Delphigirl you're like me!
I have one more to go this year - my 4th.
I don't think he's finished his personal statement though. I'm not sure he's even decided what he wants to do yet🤦🏼‍♀️
Although the school appear to be pushing him towards Psychology.
Thank you for all the really lovely messages about my Doggy. They really do leave a hole in the heart when they pass don't they 💔 & the house seems very quiet....

Dd has just joined us for the weekend (we’re on holiday) but is off to Portugal tomorrow for her last holiday of the summer. She’s got a few days work planned when she gets back and then she’s going back to Notts on 21st.

She’s earned a lot this summer but has pretty much spent it all on a car, four holidays and two festivals.... so she’s applied for 40 or so jobs in Nottingham! Fingers crossed one of them is successful…

She also managed to leave her headlights on all day whilst at Leeds festival , which meant a midnight call-out to AA, and she had a collision with a tree trunk whilst visiting a friend in Cambridge 😩 Her front bumper is cracked and headlight damaged.. Having a driving child is proving stressful!

Thanks! Yes if it all goes pear-shaped she can reapply. But she is v single minded and organised so I’m sure she will be fine.
Snap cantonet!

Interesting to hear of all those with year abroad plans. So exciting. Donkey's years ago mine was in Moscow, happy days.
Good luck to those with dc Uni starters.

I'm beyond furious with unprofessional Nottingham and even worse PwC who are both so incompetent, dicking ds1 around. This whole week has been a joke. He's got right to work firms to fill tomorrow, on Monday, he'll be given a laptop on Thursday. No details yet of when he starts at PwC in a couple of weeks, or where his a London accommodation is, for me to drop him off.

All the international plans sound very exciting. I hope the DC have fantastic times. @Oblomov23 Very bold! in the cold war era?

DS's course has a standard first year and students don't decide to apply for a year in industry or a year abroad until into the second year. At the moment he seems to think it would put him out of sync with his uni friends.

Totally agree on the driving front. DD had 3 accidents in her first year, and wrote off 2 cars in the process.

The costs for our YP are horrendous aren’t they. We got rid of DD’s perfect but 26 year old, 37k on clock car 2 months ago as the first round of ULEZ was proving to be too costly for her to drive anywhere with us on the boundary and now we’re in the extended zone.

And then the scrappage rules changed a couple of weeks ago to ALL London residents, resulting in us losing £1250. Two weeks ahead of new extension date. Not calculated at all.

Oh dear @OublietteBravo and @ealingwestmum ! Driving is really expensive isn’t it. Would have been fine without a car where we used to live, with the city trains and buses stopping close by, but where we are now it’s really isolating not being able to drive. I’m dreading how much insurance will be for ds when he passes 😬

@EwwSprouts
Sprouts you cheeky monkey. I know I'm old, but I'm not that old. I consider Russian Cold War to have ended 1991. I was there in 95.

Actually, I think I was first there in 1989. I need to go and check my dates. I can never remember dates, I always have to refer to my CV.

Lovely to hear everyone's catch up news. DS had planned to apply for a year in the US in his 3rd year but has changed his mind over the summer (it was one of the main reasons he applied to Notts in the first place!). I think the poor result this year has made him think it's unlikely he'll be offered a place but also that he now doesn't think it's a good idea to break his studying in this way (they'd be looking at American law rather than English law) and that it is better to keep it continuous. I'm just praying he gets to go back!

DS2 has been having a lovely summer break and is relatively chilled after good end of year results before heading into Yr11. Not sure I can stand anymore exam stress tbh!!

Just thinking, when do Nottingham resitters find out their resit results?

Whilst I wish DS didn't have to retake the whole year, I am glad not to be in the limbo of resits if I am honest.

DS is in a good place, he has finished his few weeks of work and is getting ready to go back. He's going for a few days this week to see his girlfriend who has already gone back and take some of his stuff down and then we are taking him back properly on 17th. He seems to actually be looking forward to going back and starting afresh, when he was fairly indifferent last summer so I think that is positive. I think the reality of having to tell people he is redoing the year when he gets back will be difficult though (he has only just told his housemates a few days ago and has kept if fairly quiet at home). He has some support from student wellbeing so I am hoping that will help.

Fingers crossed all goes to plan, things are looking fairly hopeful ☝🙏

He’s dealt with it all brilliantly 285 in my opinion. And will have learnt loads in the process.

@285NeuerNamen Nottingham resit results aren't until the 19th - the day DS is planning to head back there (as it's the only day I can take him) He actually wishes he could be given the chance to start over again and would be envious of your DS.

Gosh that's late for resit results. Good luck to the resitters, I hope they are not too stressed with the wait.

@285NeuerNamen I don't think DS has told his flatmates yet that he has switched to Y1 of a new course. He is reluctant, I think he feels like a bit of a failure for not succeeding with neuroscience.
Here's to new beginnings 🍻

Thanks @ealingwestmum

@mummyinbeds Oh blimey, 19th is late although just checked Bath and it's 21st so even later. If they fail the resits can they re-do the year?

@singingstones Yes, DS definitely felt a failure for failing the year, he has always been great at anything academic so it does go against what he has always felt is part of his identity. We all spent long enough talking about how many things combined together to end up where he is, some in his control, some not and ways to avoid being in the same situation next year so I think he feels less like a failure now but there is still a stigma to it.

Here's to new beginnings indeed! (and hopefully great continuations for those awaiting resit results!)

That is poor mummy, late. Imagine if you pack your car, ready to go, and then you log on.....

Sshhhhh @Oblomov23 positive thinking 😱

@285NeuerNamen if they fail the resit they have one more chance next summer (after a year out) but can't resit the whole year. The annoying thing is, if it had been a french module he'd failed rather than law, he wouldn't have had to resit and would have gone straight to second year.

Yes, here's to new beginnings! DD is excited about a fresh start next year (you might recall her friendship issues), she'll have new housemates and she's decided to join some new clubs. Plus she is really enthusiastic about the module content. Can't believe she's starting back this Friday, summer has flown by.

That re-sit timing is really tight. Finger crossed for everyone.

@mummyinbeds things like that are so frustrating. There were many little things that individually would have meant DS wouldn’t need to resit the year (like a bit of coursework handed in in the wrong format for one or another piece of coursework done but submitted late). But I think the only way to deal with it is to accept it and move on, otherwise you get all tied up in knots. Good luck to your DS especially with the year he has had.

@mummyinbeds do you know if results are 19th for all courses? Dd doesn’t have a clue but was hoping that being given access to her second year timetable was a good sign 🤣 As she didn’t actually fail any of her May/June exams, the bar is fairly low in terms of what she has to achieve in the ones she just sat, as she can still progress even with one or two failed modules I think. Good luck to your ds anyway!

@crazycrofter Progression in Blue Castle will be updated on the 19th. DS's resit Turnitin also says 19th. His unmarked French , submitted on 3rd May, has a return date of 3rd October!
How did your DD's exam week go?