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!

Yikes - think this will be our 5th. Also done 2 campus tour only, and DD done 2 taster days. But 2 of the total were Conservatoires.
Planning at least 2 more.

We've done 3 and are not intending to do any more before dd's application goes in. Luckily she liked all 3 so they are definites. She has 3 others to choose between but is just looking online. I applied to all of mine without having visited any of them and that worked out ok!

Which 3 has she chosen MrsBartlet? DS has Cambridge, Durham and Warwick and then has lost interest in choosing another two. I'm not sure if he should just put Cambridge in for the early deadline and then add his other choices afterwards when he has thought about it a bit more.

The farthest we are going is York which is nearly six hours from us by train. It looks fab though. So far DD has seen Oxford, Queen Mary London and Bath Spa - so she will have visited a total of seven by the end of September. Bath Spa is completely off her list now as she didn't like the feel of it at all - too small and rural - and I think QM is looking like her insurance choice at this stage as they want ABB and the others are AAA. She likes the look of the course at Warwick, has anyone visited the campus yet and if so what did your DC think of it?

mumslife depends how often your DD plans to do the journey. And sometimes further can still mean quicker and faster trains, and maybe cheaper if lots of trains for route.
And for some DC the distance criteria means to get as far away from parents as possible .

mumslife DS's furthest choice is Durham which is 4 hours away anything over that and I start getting twitchy at the thought of trailing there at the start of the year . I went to Durham and my friend came from Bodmin and her family happily came up at the beginning and end of every term

MissMillament we went to Warwick a few weeks ago DS really liked it especially the Arts Centre.

That's interesting about Royal Holloway, Mumslife, and would put DD right off!
I haven't seen much variation in accommodation costs yet in the places we have seen - I need to start working out budgets in more detail now.

That's good to know, Webwiz, thanks. In a lot of ways I think the Warwick course is most suited to DD, but she is in love with Oxford so trying hard to manage expectations.

We are currently paying rent for DD2's student house in Bath which is nice and expensive. The tenancy started on 1st August and she won't be going back for another three weeks (she is out of the country at the moment). At least when they are in halls you don't have to pay for the entire year.

Norwich is lovely and cheap mumslife DD1 has stayed there after graduating and has just moved into a lovely flat.

Cardiff is meant to be one of the cheapest for accommodation, both halls and private. Think its one of the few that guarantees accommodation for insurance choice too.

mumslife I think there are a handful that guarantee accommodation for insurance choice, Had a quick search and found these details, but sure there are a few more.

Cardiff

Southampton

York

I'm here in Southampton! Tired and going to bed; was a 4hr drive, are we mad?!

webwiz Dd's 3 definites are Cambridge, Durham and Exeter. She seems to like Exeter more than Durham but Durham is more like Cambridge IYSWIM and she loves Cambridge. I think her brain would stop her choosing Exeter over Durham though as I think Durham would be more highly regarded among future employers.

The other 3 are Warwick, Bristol and York (my alma mater!) Out of those, I think Warwick is best for English but we have been put off by the students not living near the campus in the second and third year. However, I have just started a new job and one of my young new colleagues did English at Warwick and he rated it highly so it may be moving up the list.

Just to warn you Horsemad I had the worst cup of coffee I've ever tasted in the campus cafe at Southampton. I tried not to let it influence DD2's decision!

Horsemad Was that four hours due to Friday night traffic, or is that normal for your journey?

We're going by train in the morning, expecting 2.5 to 3 hours door to door.

MrsBartlet DS didn't really like Bristol so has chosen Warwick instead. He needs two more and York is a maybe and then we are stuck!

Warwick and York will definitely be on ds's list. Southampton is a possibility - it is the other two that are causing problems!!! We haven't seen Bristol yet so we will have to wait and see if that goes on the list.

DS is not going to see any more places than the two he's seen. He's applying by reputation/ course and if he gets offers and has decisions to make, he'll visit then.

Dd's best friend's sister lives in Bristol so she has had lots of positive information about that (despite not having been there!) I would like to hope, though, that they won't get down to their last few choices but perhaps I am being unduly optimistic?!

What about any of the London ones? We are not looking at them as we live too close and I think dd would end up living at home, which we don't want. Not that we don't love her (!) but I think she would gain more life skills living elsewhere.