Six form choice : Wycombe Abbey, Westminster, St Swithun

[Evachan]

My dd got accepted to all the schools listed in the subject. Any advice to us which one to choose from while she aims at a medicine destination in university. Thank you

WA asks for 6A* with all she 6 form chosen subjects included

If you message me EvaChan I can tell you a bit more about W, for some reason I can't message you. I know a lot about this school but I'd rather not post it all on a public forum.

Slightly off topic but having too much of a "big heart" for animals may not be ideally suited for being a vet since you see them suffer. She. would also have to want to put the hours and nights in for farm animals.
Better informed people will come along but doubt London would be the best location to fit in hours and hours of farm experience as a boarder.

Evachan, I took the quote off WA website. Why do they only ask for Bs on the website when really they want A* isn't that a bit misleading?

One does not "consider" going to Vet school.
You are either determined to do it, and ready to put in the 200 plus hours of experience needed before the end of A levels, be willing to work every holiday of the 6 year course, and fight for a place at a ratio of 50:1
or you are not

What Talkinpeace said. Vet and Medicine are very very different. Tend to attract different people. And the work experience needed to stand a chance of getting a place on either is different again.

If she is seriously thinking about applying for Vet, then she probably needs to get some work experience asap (assuming she hasn't already), and look at what the job actually entails to decide whether it is right for her. Being an animal lover is pretty much by the by.

It might be an idea for your daughter to decide now what she wants to do, rather than leaving preparation/work experience placements for sixth form (wherever she goes).

If you are thinking of full boarding, I think it is quite important that the school is not emptied out during weekends.
If your DD want to be a vet, I think she need to take the facilitate subjects (mainly science and maths ) and a lot of work experience to support the application, I think the school can arrange that, and best ask the career adviser. I think it will be easier to find work experience in a stable/ farm in Buckinghamshire, than in Central London.
Also, either going for medic or vet, she need to get all the related work experience during her Lower sixth year, as deadline for UCAS application is normally in October. And also need to take BMAT ( for Oxbridge / Imperial/UCL) or UKCAT (for other medical school) or similar exam for Vet school.
Also my DD is not in "the loud and beautiful" group, all her good friends are actually more of the "science nerd", as she did all science and maths for her A level, and German too. Like any school, they will always have some loud one and beautiful one, you just need to trust your child to choose her own friends, and not to give in peers pressure

Actually Talking, not all the best doctors or vets absolutely make their minds up and have a fixed career path by 16. Also even the very determined by an early stage may fall by the wayside despite all the work experience demanded nowadays. Young people are expected to fix on medical / vet career paths too early nowadays just to fit in all the hours of experience.
However lots of small and large animal work experience is needed for veterinary medicine and certainly serves as an insight into what a tough career it is, particularly for large animal work.

summerends
Medics courses are generally far more humane than Vet.

DD looked into it and has done 40 hours of work experience including assisting in caesarian delivery of kittens who later died.
Most vets end up working in abbatoirs. Those that do not spend much of their time cutting off testicles or euthanasing pets.

Medics have more options.

DD has actually decided on starting in Biomedical research and seeing where that leads.

I doubt being "loud and beautiful" is the key to having a good friendship group amongst the Science geeks. My DD is of course gorgeous but she is certainly not loud and arrogant super confident. she has alawys had lovely friendship groups made up of slightly geeky boys and girls next door, if you count next door as including Asia, from all sorts of backgrounds, who work hard academically but the boys spend a ridiculous amount of time playing computer games, an eye opener for a mother of girls and are not really cool, though a couple think they are, bless. The alpha girls are interested in the loud and arrogant beautiful boys with whom to party (at WA as well where I gather they bus them between the boy's and girl's schools) but in every school there are different friendship groups with different values.

Talking, I am fully aware and agree with you as you will have read in my previous posts. All I said is that a vocation for either is not set in stone by the age of 16 and the current entrance demands in the UK although understandable puts onus on that early choice far too much unless you go in the more expensive route as a graduate entry.
Although doing medicine may seem an easier option, most agree that suffering in humans is harder to have to deal with.

By the way Evachan, sorry for taking this thread off track.

Dear areyoutheregoditsmemargaret, somehow I cannot message you neither. Perhaps, I am a new comer to this forum. I hope you don't mind to reach my email: [edited by MNHQ - may be best to send a PM] I am very eager to learn from you.

Thanks again Margaret.

I thank you ALL again for the very valuable inputs which I have never thought of. Again, you advices are very much appreicated and would certainly help my DD to make a proper choice.

Agree with areyoutheregoditsmemargaret Westminster has the eponymous 'tree' where girls are rated on how much sexual contact they have with boys there. Also, new girls are given a score /10 based on their photograph.
Certainly not what I wanted for my DD.
St Swithun's have new head of science/chemistry who is excellent, very supportive, sensible and honest. Has really inspired my DD.

Juggling With all due respect my DDs would just think d**ks and ignore them. You get them in every school, and they will certainly encounter them at university, and most certainly at Medical school. It was always the same, I have had the misfortune to have been at a Rugby Club dinner at St Thomas's.......... I don't know about St Swithins but I am absolutely certain that the Eton and Radley etc. "lads" do the same with respect to the WA (and CLC etc) girls. But there are always other students who find it all a bit sad. I would much rather my DDs had encountered them and seen through the "banter" and illusions of cool and found it all rather sad than protect them from it. Trust your DD, I am sure she is capable of being herself and not wanting to join in the silly exclusive games.

And I do know girls who would not fit into the ex SPGS/ WA etc. glamour posse who have enjoyed Westminster and all the opportunities it offers in spite of not being loud and beautiful.

I think this is exactly the point made earlier. WA is a girls school. Westminster is a boys school that is co-ed in the sixth form. Most of the girls and boys will be new to co-ed. Some, both boys and girls, will be distracted and take a bit of time to settle down. Others, almost certainly the majority, will get on with learning.

Some girls are happier in co-ed and able to ignore some of the more silly boy behavious. They may prefer this to some of the cattiness you can get in all girls schools. Others may decide that with a new school and a new country, a girls only, full boarding environment will be easier.

Changing schools at any stage is a risk. Both these schools will offer fantastic educational opportunities. But the 'better' school will be the one which is the better fit and where you will adapt fastest and thus start to benefit from the wider opportunities.

My daughter, who went to Westminster a few years ago from an all-girls school, was shy and retiring when she went but blossomed there and learned to deal with cocky boys. Post-uni she is still friends with quite a few.

DD finally has to make a decision. I thank you all for the very valuable advices.

My DD is thriving at WAS. Sixth form entry is very competitive I believe. MY DD has wanted to be a vet since she could express a view and WAS is well used to girls who take this path. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Hello, just wondering if someone could please offer some advice on the new admissions for WAS Sixth Form. Since last year they have done the interview and English exam in June, and its made DD more anxious. Please help, I shall be much obliged.

My DD is at SPGS and we are considering moving her to Westminster for Sixth form. My original reasons were co-ed and boarding but after going for open day, I was not impressed by the boys so the uncertainty now. Any input on the pros and cons or other experiences? Doing the test and interview (if called) would be a good experience but why go through the stress if she may not end up moving. She was reluctant earlier but since some of her friends are applying she is now tempted. Any help/guidance will be welcome. Thanks in advance

Ashnika you only have till weds night to decide!

Would love to know I. What ways the boys failed to impress - am considering the school for a boy