Starting Y13 (y12 support thread contd)

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Well, I filled up the other one, so here's a nice new one to get us through dropping subjects, Uni open days, personal statement writing, and UCAS applications

Plenty of and and (nicely-intentioned) s available!

Thanks! DD has text to say predicted grades are AAA probably - possibly A in maths as her AS ums in C1&2 was very high but her maths teacher doesn't normally predict A unless they are outstanding and applying for a course that depends on this.

DD on a mini 'grand tour' this weekend - Nottingham today, Bristol tomorrow am and Bath pm! Have prevailed on relatives for overnight stays last night and tonight to keep the travelling down. She is very organised and was up for going on her own. These are her first open days so I hope it will begin to help her make some choices. She waited because she was so unsure of her AS exam results but much relieved to have done well - better than I think she expected.
Has made a start on her PS as she has received her predicted grades but really needs to settle on degree subject - probably Politics/International Relations - to really have a focus for her writing.

Hi there, I hope it's OK for a newbie to delurk and ask a question :)

With your predicted grades was there a 90% UMS cut off for A prediction? DD was hoping for an A prediction in Drama, she got 180/200 but her teacher has said A because A2 is hard and no one did well last year

She didn't have a teacher at all for much of last year so it's a miracle she did OK tbh!

Do your dc get to see the UCAS teacher reference? Ds1 thinks he'll get to see it; I don't think he will get to see it! LOL.

ds1 didn't show me his PS until 347th draft, after he'd honed and perfected it, so I didn't need to have much input. I'll be delighted when it's been finally submitted.

Lucky you Roisin. Last year my dd1 saw her teachers references & was happy with them. I would have loved to have seen them (as long as they were good) but they remained elusive.

cathyandclaire -The predictions depend on the teacher and they vary from school to school. It probably won't make much difference to her offers whether she is predicted the A* or the A, so I wouldn't worry.

OK, quick update from DD who is on the train from Cardiff to Nottingham! She loved what she found out about the actual courses and got very positive feedback about them from current students, but she didn't like the feel of the university much - not campusy enough for her - and the accommodation was not remotely on a par with that of other places she has visited. Will get more detail from her tomorrow when she is back from Nottingham too.

How are your yr13s finding time to visit universities this week? Ds1 has masses of work to do and big content-driven lessons; it's a real key teaching time. There's no way he could take time off during the week at the moment to visit universities.

DD's college allow 3 days authorised absence for university visits. They have to get permission from lesson tutors and then catch up work missed.

Not heard much from DD about Nottingham - expect there will be lots to hear tomorrow evening.

DD will only be missing two days of school for visits - today and next Monday. I don't know if there is a limit on days off but she is pretty conscientious about finding out what she has missed and catching up so hopefully it will be OK.

Hi all. DD had some rough results at AS. Predicted AABB but got BBCC very close to B grade boundary in both The C's but had a shocker in Geography where she was considered a potential A* student but messed up on one paper. She also messed up on one of the Philosophy exams but is resitting that as the other one she got a high A in. She is refusing to resit the Geog despite that being the subject she wants to do at university. Luckily a lot of the universities she's looking at only specify a B in that anyway.

Her predictions are ABB so she's looking at 1 AAB, 3ABB and 1 backup BBB. It's the BBB that's causing problems. She doesn't want to be more than 2hrs travel from home (SW London)
So far the only option we can find is Brighton so a lot more digging around to be done. The other 4 are pretty much chosen already.

She's just starting to do her PS this week

Her Bs were Geog and Phil Cs in Hist and Spanish for clarification. Just realised I'd made it look like she got a C in Geography

Hi Mumslife, She's looked at Essex but didn't fancy it. No real reason that I can tell but such is the contrariness of 17yr olds. Is contrariness even a word? hmm. She seems keener on Brighton, can't imagine why We looked at Kent but unless I'm missing something they don't even seem to do Geography? Might ask her to look again at Essex inbetween nudging her to actually start her PS.

shudders in anticipation of the personal statement

AmazingDisgrace - Was the difficult Geography paper the Human Geography? If so, she isn't alone as teenagers at my dd2's school got C's, D's and E's on that one. They are re-taking it. Maybe you could talk her into a re-sit - doing one won't be a problem.

Also, don't worry about the PS. My dd1 didn't submit hers until after half term last year (no problems with offers). A lot of her friends didn't bother starting until December and a few (mainly boys) took it to the wire, with one submitting five minutes before it closed! He still got offers, although his parents were biting their nails.

WhatUni.com is useful. You can input grades and course and it gives you matches. I was just looking at Oxford Brookes which offers at BBC for Geography and ....ta da...BBB for History mumslife

Hmm don't recall telling mumslife I was a careers expert (I'm not) so can only presume she is referring to my surfing skills

Hellsbells99 you may be better off starting a thread on Higher Ed Re degree subjects vs career prospects.

Obviously, your DDs A level subjects point her towards either something science based.
Quite usual choices for medicine, veterinary, dentistry, pharmacy, some types of engineering..
Or something that does not necessarily ask for specific subjects -Accountancy, business, computing....

Article on highest paid jobs [[http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/18/what-are-the-best-paid-jobs-uk-2013 here]] But it's never only about salary
course choices for A level subjects [[http://www.bestcourse4me.com/explore/?Tab=ALevel here]]

But with regards to what degree courses employers prefer is a biggie.
You hear that many companies have links with various Unis where they will recruit from for their graduate schemes, regardless of course.

Mumslife think I was half asleep last night when I typed the links.

Long day in Nottingham yesterday. For anyone else going, traffic conditions in the afternoon was b-a-d. Tram works (warning on website) part of it, but think possibly an accident that ground the roads out of University Park campus to a standstill fir 2 hours.

Campus huge, very hilly, takes about half hour to walk across it. DD had issues with the accommodation. All on-campus is catered, massive discrepancy with room sizes between the halls, and you don't get to choose halls. Some of the en-suites had baths whilst others has wet room with shower area a your a foot wide. All halls had common room, bar and their own dining halls for breakfast and evening meal. Some dining halls open lunchtime, but they get a card with a daily amount for lunch either in halls or on campus. All halls same price, according to room type.
No kitchens, just a pantry with microwave, fridge, sink and kettle. Not sure if this is the norm for catered, but DD prefers the flexi-catered option some Unis have, with discounted meal card but still ful cooking facilities in halls.
Closest self-catered halls just outside campus very nice, but suspect very oversubscribed. Didn't get to see those that were a bus ride away because of traffic.
On the positive side, course very impressive, great facilities, staff and students really friendly. Not sure if it will make her short list, which is a bit of a shame as seems the right level academically.

Wahey, I'm back! Stupidly managed to hide this thread and have been demented ever since!

DS1 at Bath today. DS2 has broken his arm so I'm off to buy short sleeved shirts as long sleeves don't work with his cast!

Many thanks to Atia for trying to help me find how to unhide the thread.

Hope all your DC are enjoying their open days!!

Feel sorry for the dc's starting soon at the department in Nottingham which has just burnt down. What will they do?

Littleham fortunately not a current year building, but being built for year after use. Still not great news but should not have any impact on DCs starting this month at Nottingham.

blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/pressoffice/2014/09/13/last-nights-fire-on-jubilee-campus/

ds1 had Nottingham on his list (biochemistry) and is considering removing it because of the fire! :-o I think that's rash and hasty. But he wants to submit final form in a few days' time...