Thread 53 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Happy New Year 2025 to our fab young people

[Delphigirl]

New thread! Looking forward to traversing 2025 with this fantastic group 🎉😘

His course is 4 years (chemistry). So he should finish in 2028.

@NCTDN DD will be in her 3rd and final year next year after her false start.
She had a bit of a wobble at the beginning of this semester - all her modules set out all the coursework requirements but none of them had deadline dates! Apparently there was some fuss about dates being given and then changed being unfair, so it seemed better for students if they weren't declared until all were decided! DD is very much a planner - she runs her life via multiple calendars. Her EDS means she has to pace herself very carefully so she had a real panic when no one would tell her what was due when. She had a moan to her academic advisor and all seems to be sorted now.

In other news DS (graduated last year) seems to have bagged a grad job! He is very close to signing, but has got down to 2nd round interviews at a couple of other places and I think has a bad case of FOMO. The other companies are a bit later in timescales though, so I don't think he can delay the offer much longer. Especially as they are really keen to get him working asap, although the grad scheme element won't start until September. He now really has to pass his driving test as that is a condition of employment.

Well done to him @Seeline ! Also well done to DD for navigating the difficulties with deadlines.

@NCTDN my DS graduates this year and DD will go in September after a gap year, if she goes, she doesn’t seem to be completely decided and closes down if I try and chat to her about it. She is still waiting for one possible offer. She is dithering about whether to go to offer holder days, it’s tricky because of her weekend job. So anyway, I won’t have both at uni at the same time.

@mummyinbeds he has done so well, glad he is getting a bit of a break now.

@PhotoDad my DS isn’t properly job hunting yet either, there aren’t many grad schemes in his field so it’s more a case of applying for individual jobs as they appear and it’s been a bit soon for that as they will want people who can start sooner although that is not going to be a problem for much longer. His fallback plan is his summer job from last year and volunteering, whilst hopefully passing his driving test. There is no shortage of good volunteering opportunities so at least he can keep busy while job hunting, he would need to decide whether it’s better to do that or get paid work in a less-relevant role such as retail. He has also identified a gap in his skill set and booked onto a couple of short courses over the summer to address that, we are paying as a graduation present. Anyway, he has set up a LinkedIn profile, although not finding many people to connect to so far and has been polishing up his CV.

Hope you enjoy some lovely time with him @mummyinbeds .

Dd is home next week for reading week. She's got an interview for a job working in a crisis centre, just two days a week, but it's weekends so she's hoping to get it and start ASAP. She's very focused on clinical psychology at the moment so it's all about getting two or three years of relevant experience before applying for the doctorate.

Ds will (hopefully) be in his first year next year, but dd will be finished. Ds has just arrived in one of the Pacific islands where he'll be doing some work with the churches there.

All the best to ds with the choral scholarship @PhotoDad !

DD graduates Summer 2026 @NCTDN

She's spent her first week settling into Granada life with class starting from this Monday. It's a little overwhelming, as it's a big Erasmus uni, not an environment she's used to. First time she's rented privately with a couple of others, life has suddenly got harder with house having no heating (usual for much of Spain I guess), propane gas canisters, no wifi or microwave etc. She wanted to house share at lower risk before real adult life kicked in, so voila :) She'll figure it out, but does need wifi asap as she still retains circa 4 - 6 students for tutoring, income.

Much sympathy with your DD @Seeline, it's hugely frustrating when they can't get their planning underway, DD has had huge frustrations with her uni where every module picked and signed off by both home and abroad academic advisors now seem to clash with each other. Well done to your DS on his grad job, and whilst a nice dilemma to have on a prospect pipeline of opportunities, timing is key too so can understand the need to accept the current.

DD is having wobbles on her summer 6 week internship too, probably over-thinking it as a result of the full-on frenzy from peers trying to secure internships and grad roles or fall into masters programmes. We keep reminding her that at the beginning of this August, she'll be in one of these positions hopefully - 1) Has secured an offer, accepts and can relax into Y4 2) Has received an offer but not wishing to accept/not her, so can put on CV and apply for new roles Y4 onwards 3) Loved it but didn't secure an offer after 6 weeks, again puts on CV, moves on. Much of this panic is her safety netting with so much negativity re market conditions, and a little touch of imposter syndrome or guilt for falling into this opportunity early into the cycle of insight weeks pushed by her mum

Good luck to your DS re the chorister apps @PhotoDad !

Good luck for the chorister scholarship @PhotoDad

DS will finish this year. Workload this term is huge. He still hasn't heard from RAF which is a pain but he has two more grad shortlist interviews this month. I still think he will end up coming home and finding local job and then reapplying for stuff next year. All v up in the air. I think he just wants to concentrate on the final few months and forget about the future until he is done as he has so much work to do

I'm glad dd had another year as I can't imagine her finishing this year and getting a 'grown up' job! She still has no idea what she wants to do.
It's interesting reading about the experiences of all those abroad. DD has the whole of Feb off as it's two semesters with this being the half way break. Austria universities seem to be easier than uk in so many ways, but she said the exams feel very different. For her this year they are simply pass or fail.
Going back to Bristol for her final year may be a shock!

I can’t quite believe DD will have graduated before her 21st birthday! Although I suppose it’s a logical outcome of 3 year degree course + July birthday.

So nice to read all your activities, actions, chorister, grad job success.

NCT Ds1 will be at Notts till next summer June 26.

So sorry, I seemto have fallen off this thread, altho just skim read. Our girl has suddenly announced that she wants to do a year abroad from August and the application date is by Wednesday. We are really struggling with the form. It asks for a detailed budget with all expenses covered before you can apply for any grants, loans or bursaries. She’s an independent student, and there is reasonable expectation for a generous care experience grant, but she has to prove she can cover her expenses in advance. So we’ve done the budget, and have told her we will cover anything not covered by grants, although we really can’t afford much, if anything She really needs a remote job she can take with her. Ds helpfully told her he could have got her a Q&A job with his work, but that he’s leaving😨 news to us. Any helpful advice? She wants to go to Denmark. Her boyfriend is there, but not in Copenhagen and she isn’t going to throw herself on him for support, obviously. But I’m feeling a bit worried about this falling on me. I have a tiny private pension, and no state pension yet. Pissedoff that the form assumes all students have families able to support.

Sorry to double post. I want to tell her that she needs to apply for parttime work now, and ft work for the summer, and to scrap any other plans but ,I dont know If that’s harsh?. She’s doing really well with her course, on track for a first, but she’s also having weekly trauma therapy which is quite intense.

I can't help much @Zebracat as DD is not doing her year abroad from the UK system and therefore still benefits from access to Erasmus. For you both to understand what her YA objectives are, i.e. does she want to study or do a work placement? Are minimum credits/ECTs needed for her course, a basic Pass/Fail or no criteria at all? If a full year is not viable (due to costs etc), would a semester scratch the itch and lessen the financial burden? Funds not only need to be transparent/ring-fenced up front but also awards, if applicable can be split, often coming in late during the term of being away.

Sorry, lots of questions but may help you both to hone down the criteria before application. Copenhagen is a great city for students, but CoL is not cheap. Can she tutor (as she can apply to tutor sites immediately vs waiting for summer/holidays). She's clearly a smart kid, but it's not suited to all and does take up a lot of time resource and planning, success is both results and ratings review driven so can be a little stressful if organisation is not a strength.

Well done to her for continuing to excel on her course, but hope you can juggle successfully the impact all of this has on you too.

Thank you , Ealing. Useful questions. She is well organised weirdly, so that helps. The course is comparable and would count towards her degree, but there is an issue about grades vs credits, which we will need to understand.Another relative has come up with guaranteed remote work for her, so it is coming together. The main issue is that accommodation is really expensive, and requires a returnable deposit equivalent to 3 months rent, but I can manage that from savings, so long as she gets some grant. It is really worth it for her as she wants to live in Denmark, so credits from a Danish course, progress in the language and, if possible some parttime internship will make her much more attractive to employers there. I think we will pull it together. JustI’ve got a nasty tummy bug today, which has complicated matters.
I am sometimes a bit wtf about it all, but she is such a sweetie, and she’s come so far from the skinny silent ghost we first met.There are rewards!

Ah, good for her for wanting to do it and good for you for being so supportive when technically she’s independent. I too think it’s wrong that the assumption is always that students have families to support them financially. I don’t have any particular advice but really hope it all comes together for her, she has had quite the journey through her uni years hasn’t she.

@Zebracat dd has been really lucky. Despite not being an Erasmus student, she had benefited from all the activities and events that they organise so really feels like one of them.
Brexit had meant that she can't work unlike when in the UK but we are fortunate that this year abroad is actually cheaper than time in Bristol. I think it does depend on where they go.

Congratulations to your ds @seeline! You must be relieved too! Hope he gets the driving tests out of the way successfully and quickly.

Dd has had her offer of a speeding fine, so it's just a matter of waiting for her licence to be revoked now. She'll be starting all over again with the theory test and practical- and I'd been thinking that phase was all over for us!

Your girl has made such progress @Zebracat . I don't have any wisdom on years abroad, but just to say - I know you were very dubious about her decision to go to BCU when it came out of the blue originally, but being local I had a feeling that it might suit her, so I'm really glad she's doing so well! Do you think the Danish boyfriend will last? Is that the reason for wanting to live in Denmark or does she like it there regardless?

@crazycrofter . I do think the relationship will last, they seem well suited. But even if it didnt she has some other very close friends there and she feels at home. In any event, I’m just glad to see her happy and spreading 🐥her wings.

Sorry again for double post. @crazycrofter what happened to your Dd that her licence was revoked?

@Zebracat DS didn't have to provide any details of how he was going to survive abroad, maybe because it's a compulsory part of his course. He gets a larger student loan than if he was in the UK (about £1.5k extra) and also got Turing funding from Nottingham. He is allowed to work in France on his Student visa but despite applying for a few bar jobs didn't get anything. He also benefits from Erasmus groups and activities at his uni, even though not officially an Erasmus student.

@crazycrofter what a pain about the driving licence. Is she still going to be able to do her caring job?

@Zebracat 3 speeding tickets within the first two years (just!) of passing her test. She's not a fast driver, but she is quite distracted/unobservant unfortunately.

Great that your girl has made so much progress - it's a big step to be thinking of living abroad in the future!

@mummyinbeds unfortunately not, as she wouldn't be able to get between calls quickly enough! It's a shame, especially from a financial point of view, but she was becoming quite exasperated with the management of the organisation anyway - they're very disorganised and keep giving carers appointments too close together, or changing arrangements at the last minute. She's really hoping she'll get the job in the crisis centre, as although it's in Mansfield, she can get there by train.

@Zebracat Wow your girl has come so far! I hope she gets to Denmark and loves it. I have no useful information about grants etc. sorry.

@craggyrat Good luck to your DS. He's clearly impressing people.

@OublietteBravo Another DC here who should graduate six weeks before his 21st. Currently working on the last big assignment and then it's just the exams, yikes it's flown by.

@Zebracat Nice to see you back! What a rollercoaster you've been on, and good luck to your DD with the form. It is true that so many paths in life assume you have family support. We can provide a "safety net" of money and/or a room if things go wrong for our DC, which is why they can pursue slightly riskier options in terms of career etc (especially DD). Not everyone has the option.

I'm still here, lurking.

Went to watch DS doing his last ever Unibrass in Cardiff yesterday and Birmingham picked up the trophy! Having been relegated last year and then being put back up to top division this as an extra team, they are thrilled ( aka drunk).