The trials and tribulations of Uni Apps for 2018.

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Just thought I'd start a wee thread for those with DC applying for uni for next year (or indeed applying for themselves) in ase anyone was up for sharing knowledge/support/venting etc.

I have DS1 applying for this year. Still doesn't know where to or what for .

Not done any open days yet and lots now clashing so can't do them all. He wont go alone and wont ask anything or tell us anything about it if he did, so looks like it might be family days out for the next month or so. Dragging DS2 with us as he is currently doing Highers and given his poor Nat 5 results, he needs some motivation to pull his finger out if he wants to go to Uni.

How is everyone else getting on?

I'll not rub salt in the wound and say I've always had a reply within a day from the few emails I've had to send in and the one time I had a concern about one subject teacher, it was dealt with informally by my agreement immediately.

Staffing in theory should be similar across schools as it's a function of head count. But yes, the fact that a larger school means that you can draw on a wider range of subject teachers to also take on pastoral care/be form teachers.

The depute head for S5 and S6 is very good: respected by the pupils, always very visible accessible and very encouraging towards the pupils, while still expecting a lot of them.

With the new Attainment Fund, the school will be getting some extra staff (not sure if they've all be recruited yet): it has a high proportion of its catchment which is SIMD1&2 which meant a generous allocation. However, technically that money can only be spent on supporting the SIMD1 and 2 pupils or others who are similarly disadvantaged (eg the Roma kids). I believe that some of the work will be on trying to engage the parents as that can make a difference - as we can see on these threads as they consist by definition of involved parents.

Ha ha involved parents indeed. I think they were a bit taken aback when I turned up with all DS2s reports since his first year in nursery and including the ones that are now online and therefore require me to cut and paste the text for each suject into a word document...and that's in a school where I guess parental involvment is less of an issue.

There is always an individual excuse for each thing not being done but the cumulative effect is really poor. I've told them to stop apologising as it really doesn't mean anything anymore and if they were actually sorry they'd make more effort to make sure things were done correctly.

The entry requirements for DSs type of subject are broadly similar to those of Glasgow and Edinburgh etc. and if he wanted to travel it's definitely handier for the train.

However I suspect the grades of offer holders differ quite a bit between Strathclyde/Glasgow/Edinburgh/St A (lowest to highest). At the parent's UCAS meeting last year they told us to be realistic so even if you meet (or are predicted to meet) the minimum criteria to be considered then think about how likely you will get an offer (how popular the course is, how close you are to the typical grades, what your predicted grades are, contextual info, personal statement). Message was don't waste the option if you don't meet/predicted to meet minimum criteria. Worth a punt if you have spare choices but no more than 1 or 2 aspirational choices.

I was looking more at the likely offers rather than the minimum (I think). In all the main courses they are looking for A in maths and DS missed it by one mark and school refused to ask for a remark so we'll never know. Edinburgh said that a B at AH would be the equivalent but I can't help but think they won't care about that since he didn't get the A at Higher. At the open day, Edinburgh said that their informatics and engineering courses are both heavy in Maths in the first 2 years (one third of the course) so not to apply if you weren't a Maths person. DS would consider himself a Maths person so wasn't put off in the slightest. However it does concern me.

Anyway no decisions have yet been taken on what/where to apply for and he hasn't been anywhere else yet. Would it be worth emailing admissions to ask about likely offers at his current grades?

As far as I am aware, the AH will trump the Higher. But I might be being naive

Best case scenario is that your ds will get conditional offers based on good AH results.

To be fair () on your ds' school, ds' friend didn't go for a re-mark for his Physics and he wants to do Physics at Uni even though he got the same mark as ds, as there was nowhere obvious that he'd lost marks (unlike ds with his 10/20 for his assignment). He is pinning his hopes on doing well in his AH Physics.

If you can get hold of someone in Admissions to ask for specific advice eg will they be bothered about the B for Maths Higher if he is predicted a B (or A!) at AH, then I'd do it. It would set your mind at rest - and allow your ds to make the best use of his 5 choices.

It was a loooong time ago and things have no doubt got even more competitive changed, but the reason I got in to St Andrews from 5th Year was that my friends and I went and sought out the Admissions Office during a St Andrews Open Day to ask them specifically about entry from 5th Year. They actually contacted our school, commending us for our maturity and asking the school if they thought we would be ready. My friend got a rejection, saying to apply next year and they'd look favourably on her, so I assumed I would also be rejected (I was writing a diary at the time, hence why I can remember all of this) but got home to my acceptance letter! (they only wanted 4 Bs at Higher, so I knew I would get in).

Edinburgh said the same to my DD about accepting a B at AH instead of an A at H (different subject though) plus if your DS was so close to an A then surely this will count as a very near miss. I would email. The admissions person at the open day on Saturday we spoke to was very good - had stats on offer rates to hand for various scenarios.

Good that they made the amount of maths in the course clear upfront. My DS2 is good at maths but doesn't love it and wouldn't describe himself as a maths person. He took maths as his 3rd subject in first year at Glasgow but switched after the 3rd lecture when he realized what he'd signed up for. He will do maths as part of his main subject anyway which is enough for him.

ttlshiwwya mentions something else you might not be aware of: for your "extra" 1st year subject (might even be two extra subjects, depending on the course), you can change within the 1st few weeks if you don't like it and a) there is still space in the course you'd prefer and b) you are prepared to work hard to catch up on what you've missed.

This doesn't apply for all subjects/degrees as something of them have a full schedule of modules you need to cover - but there isan amazing amount of flexibility in the Scottish degree system. Iirc, in St Andrews, even the medics got to do an optional (but they are or at least were doing a strange version of a medical degree anyway, doing a BSc before going off to finish their medical bits somewhere that there are real hospitals (Glasgow/Dundee/Edinburgh/Manchester....)

Actually, you can even change the "main" subject you applied for but I suspect you might have to justify that a bit more

Yes, they did say about changing specialisms in the Edinburgh Informatics presentation but stressed you can't change to something that had a higher offer level than the course you were accepted on as that would be liking getting in through the back door.

Thank you for all the help and maybe they have had issues in the past with that ttlshiwwya so wanted to make it absolutely clear. you could see prospective students glancing about to parents etc when that was mentioned. Very different crowds between the two presentations which I found interesting since I was out of my depth about most of the stuff they were talking about :).

A bit late to this, but glad to have found you all!

DD has also been going to open days over the last few weeks. She is looking at doing history or history and politics.

So far I think she is between Glasgow and Strathclyde. I think she was a wee bit disappointed in the Glasgow course, and slightly preferred the Strathclyde one based on the open days.

Entry requirements for Glasgow is 6As and Strathclyde is AAAAB. She currently has AAAAC and doing 2 other subjects this year which she should do well in, so we'll see!!

Personal statement is currently causing a fair bit of stress!!! 😄

Welcome aboard SwiftAnchor :o did ya see what I did there? Did ya..

We did Heriot Watt today - mostly just the presentations in the lecture theater - they'd split up all the engineering ones so DS wanted to go to most of those...zzzzzzzz.

Dh and I really liked it and thought it would be a better environment for DS than Edinburgh - we have no clue about whether DS liked it or not so are trying to keep our opinions to ourselves until we are asked. DS2 was bored and ended up spending a couple of hours wandering about and petting the alpacas - he saw more of the Uni than we did. But from what we saw it had a really nice feel and the students seemed really happy and it's very well rated for the subjects DS1 is interested in.

Grovee Aberdeen does an MA in Primary Education (4 years) I'm guessing Dundee have just tweaked their course to meet the requirements to change it to an MA. I've just started first year at Aberdeen, Dundee seemed very popular at interviews etc

Is anyone heading to the Aberdeen open day tomorrow? And can anyone who's already been, or knows the area advise on parking? We didn't get organised in time to get cheap train tickets and I can't see anything on the open day info. I'm sure I got lost the last time I went to Aberdeen (more than 10 years ago!). Thanks.

Think @prettybird is heading to Aberdeen but sure she said she was going on the train. We are doing Glasgow.

We went last month, approached the uni from the A96, turned right as we came down the hill (before the library building which you can’t miss, it’s a big cube) and parked in a large car park just next to the library. There were signs up saying permit holders only but I think on a Saturday you’ll be fine - we certainly didn’t have any problems.

We're going by train. I'm leaving it to ds to sort out where to go when we get there famous last words The specific talk he is interested in is at 1.15 (I think) and we arrive at 10.30!

I don't know Aberdeen at all - been there a couple of time on business but that was all to the North of Aberdeen, not in the centre/the university.

Should be interesting

Thanks everyone! Didn't realise Glasgow tomorrow too. We both know Glasgow well (and think it may be too close to home for uni although not ruled out) but if we don't get our act together for Aberdeen then we might go instead. It's annoying because DD was meant to be going to Aberdeen with a friend and plans fell through which is why we're not more organised! Will see what DD thinks. I suppose she could go to an applicant day in Aberdeen if we don't go tomorrow.

Hope everyone else going somewhere tomorrow has a good day!

We survived driving to Aberdeen and back in one day and DD really liked the sound of the course. It's more difficult to get into than some others she's looked at though and she doesn't currently meet the entrance requirements. I think she will apply though.

Jaggy we parked in the same car park you mentioned, thank you! You're right about the library. It was a bit confusing with all the one-way/buses only etc!

prettybird how did you get on? I was a bit worried when we first arrived (around 11am) to rain and bagpipes but things improved after that!

Indigo - we must have got there about the same time as you We went on the very large 11.15 campus tour. (train arrived at 10.19 and we walked up to the Uni)

Ds was very impressed with Aberdeen's Open Day - he said it was the best organised one he'd been to. (Glasgow, Strathclyde and St Andrews for comparison).

He liked the fact that as well as having the Subject Fair in the Elphinstone Hall, you still had a decent length "individual subject" lecture. Or at least, the Politics & International Relations presentation was effectively a lecture

He was also impressed with the sports facilities; we did that tour at 2 and then walked back into town.

It's now his 2nd choice (St Andrews 3rd, Strathclyde 4th and a IR and Quantitive Methodology again at Edinburgh, as his 5th choice).

Did a lot of walking today!

Glad to hear that everyone has had a good weekend and progress made. Well except us of course! :)

Indigo I’m glad you got parked ok, and had a good day!

Pretty I think you’ll have seen my comment on the other thread, but just to add I’m glad your DS liked Aberdeen and the politics/IR lecture too. It was the lecture-ness (!) of it that appealed to my DS and Aberdeen will be his first choice with Glasgow 2nd, Dundee 3rd. Is your DS not keen on Glasgow?

He prefers the course at Strathclyde to Glasgow's (although he likes the Glasgow Uni area) - having only gone to the Open Day because I got stroppy at his intellectual snobbery suggested it. Says it is closer to PPE but with an International bent, which he liked.

He likes the course at St Andrews but really didn't like the claustrophobic feel of the Uni.

Should add that I had to agree with ds' impression of St Andrews: while I loved it, I can understand why he a city boy might find it a bit intense much.

Interesting. I remember going to the St Andrews open day (30+ years ago!) and feeling the same way as your DS. My mum was disappointed! DD not shown any interest in going there despite there being a Starbucks now.