Thread 52 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Autumn 24 - Start of Uni Yr 3

[Oblomov24]

2024 Autumn, start of year 3 for those at Uni.

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.

51 Previous thread - 51.

What subject @NCTDN ? Dd does psychology there and she’s loved it. Campus is very pretty (where the hallls are) and the city is lively. Second year accommodation is mainly in Lenton, which is fine and convenient for town. Dd and friends use the library on the Jubilee campus as it’s nearer and she likes the building! Accommodation for dd has been pretty cheap (£80 a week last year and £105 this year) but lots seem to pay much more.

We felt they were too hands off pastorally when dd had glandular fever and tonsillitis in first year and had to miss her exams - she struggled to get hold of anyone. But that’s a Psychology thing I think. A lot of our kids on this board seem to have failed exams/not done too well - maybe just a coincidence as I'm sure they give comparable numbers of 1sts etc compared with other unis.

First year catered accommodation was great for meeting people and being in the thick of things but the food was a bit rubbish!

I know I feel like I remember the lack of pastoral support and the rubbish food so they're at the forefront of my thinking. But I really liked the uni. He's looking at aerospace engineering.

Following with interest as DS also has Nottingham on the list!

Most people who go there seem happy, I would say? Strangely it doesn’t seem to be the sort of place where people stay after they’ve graduated, unlike Birmingham, but that doesn’t really matter!

DS doesn't seem to be bothered about going to visit Unis, but then DH and I were thinking back and we didn't go to any open days, just visited at interview time. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. DS is hoping to get onto a degree apprenticeship and so the ucas form is just a backup option. He is too strong minded to listen to any advice so we are leaving him to it!

Ds is the sane @handmademitlove . He’s totally focused on earning money for his travels in Jan, so he’s working two shifts a day, 6 days a week. He’s applied to one apprenticeship so far, but says he definitely doesn’t want another gap year working at Tesco so if he doesn’t get an apprenticeship he’ll go to uni.. but no interest in looking at any!

@crazycrofter yes. He has taken on so much this year, including an extra A-level so I am not sure he has the head space for it. But is determined.. I think most apprenticeship applications start after Christmas so he will need to do his UCAS application as a backup? Does anyone know much about the degree apprenticeship application process? For engineering.....

No, sorry. DD (third year college) doesn't have any career plans at all yet. She says she's not applying to uni but I can't see her getting onto a degree apprenticeship either as she hasn't got a clue what she wants to do and they are few and far between around here (she isn't leaning to drive yet either). She won't let me nudge her either. As for DS, I am starting to worry about his graduate prospects having read yet another article in the Sunday Times about the graduate job market and how competitive it is. He also doesn't have firm career plans yet and hasn't started applying, reading about them having huge spreadsheets tracking dozens of applications is a bit concerning given his impairment in the organisation department. I don't get the impression it has really come onto his radar yet. And again, the driving is an issue. I don't want them both at home unemployed this time next year. But neither seem concerned.

@EternallyDelighted it is a fine line between encouraging and nagging isn't it?! If only they would listen to the wisdom gained through life experience, but then I am not sure I ever did at that age so 🤷

Don't forget that the ST is playing the Tory playbook rather a lot about being down on universities. Wander off this thread and you will find a lot of posters decrying a university degree at anywhere less than Oxbridge, plus a few others, as a waste of time and money...especially if one wants to do - horror!- an arts subject.

That's not to say the graduate market isn't tougher than it should be.

DS1 has now bought a car but is frightened to drive it...

I know a bit form work . Incredibly competitive. Very corporate application process. Much harder than UCAS! It's not a level playing fields. There are good programmes and very very bad ones.

@Oblomov24 will know more first hand.

I'll be really interested to see how our Young Adults fare over the next few years, I'm invested in their very, very, different stories! I'll keep you posted about the value or otherwise of a degree which is not just "arts" but actually Art. 😀

This is another discussion but there are so many ideas floating around about what university is meant to achieve in the first place, and many of them flatly contradict each other.

And I hope that your DS manages to get up the courage to drive his new car!

My DW's parents micro-managed her university application etc. Mine took literally no part in the process. We're trying to strike a balance, but it's turned into me being really involved and her being hands-off (as neither of us liked our own parents' approach!) That's balanced, right?

@handmademitlove A bit left of field, but would he consider engineering via the military.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/roles/accelerated-apprentice-scheme-air-engineering This has a starting salary whilst training of £39,900 !

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/joining-options/funding-and-scholarships/university-cadetship-entry-uce
This scheme is highly competitive. You need 144 UCAS points. You do your officer training first earning 33k, then you go off to a university of your choice to do any STEM degree and have all the university fees paid for plus you get your navy wage throughout your studies. A friend's son is currently at BRNC Dartmouth on this scheme (aged 18) before hopefully going off to St Andrews next year.

Ds has just secured another keyboard programming job (he’s not signed the contract yet so can’t announce properly) which yes pleased about. 3 different people saw it advertised & sent him the link. He will be able to do most of it remotely, just having to visit the venue a few times so should fit in with his other stuff.

He’s quite excited about it as his other jobs were as associate/assistant whereas this is going to be him alone.

I'm past the encouraging stage - well into the nagging stage with my graduate DS, but even that's not working! Graduated in June, and has applied for about 6 jobs. The most recent ones have September '25 starts!! Haven't heard back from anyone yet. DH and I are pushing him to get a Christmas temp job somewhere, but even that is a struggle. I assume once his money runs out (he has a few savings) he might be more motivated.....

Good point about the Times / ST agenda @Piggywaspushed I often don't read their uni articles for the same reason I stay off the HE board here. As for the Times comments about mickey mouse degrees etc 🙄. I don't hear much IRL as not many of my friends have older DCs who have been to uni, I met a lot of them at ante-natal classes, primary school with DS when we were all first time mums. Thinking more widely around colleagues, old school friends etc a lot of DCs didn't go to uni or are still there doing higher degrees.

Also, if you had told me 5 years ago that DS would be doing well at a uni away from home, learning to drive, managing an independent social life and holding down a variety of jobs I would have been over the moon given his SENs. We thought he'd never pass GCSE English. So a bit of perspective needed. He's not a super high flyer and neither is DD but that's ok.

Also, if you had told me 5 years ago that DS would be doing well at a uni away from home, learning to drive, managing an independent social life and holding down a variety of jobs I would have been over the moon given his SENs. We thought he'd never pass GCSE English.

same here. We’d assumed Ds would be dependent on us all his life!

@PhotoDad yes, I was commenting on this a few weeks ago. My parents had no part in my university decisions - I was the first in my family (and wider family) to go and just got on with it! DD needed a lot of support but DS is completely different and prefers to stand on is own two feet. Watching your children making what you perceive to be poor decisions is hard, but our view is that as long as they understand that they have to manage any consequences, they make their own decisions at this age.

Same with DD. When people question what university is "for," that growth and independence is way more important to me than future earning potential.

I was also first-gen! I am trying to compromise by helping do research and find information (which is something I genuinely enjoy doing) but not actually forcing decisions!

I agree with university being about finding your independence, confidence and making mistakes. DS chose a degree he would enjoy studying not one known for great job prospects.

DS has applied for his first graduate job for Sept 25 and been rejected. It was peer pressure, lots of his friends started in the summer holidays!

The application process was a bit odd. Basically just your contact details were requested. No filling in boxes or CV. Received an almost immediate request to do an assessment based on maths and situational questions. Didn't do well on the situational.

This was recommended by a friend's daughter as good for practicing.
https://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/applicationsinterviews/interviews/

Good luck to them all!

DS another first generation uni. He will have a massive debt at the end as full loan but worth every penny from a growing up and gaining independence POV. I could not have imagined two years ago that he could be an adult but he really is. Although still v much not when he comes home! He could have looked at RAF post A levels but these three years have given him so much more than an in depth knowledge of 6th middle east! Hes applying for Treasury graduate scheme next week which has a Darlington option he quite fancies as not too far away. I think so far this term he has been on the river more than anything else.