Starting Year 13 (number 4!)

[Mindgone]

I just thought I'd get us started up again!

Good news GypsyFloss. Still waiting for Durham here.

Thankyou. I'm still waiting with you all in spirit!

Great news GypsyFloss

Well done to your DD, *Gypsy".

Do you mind me asking if she speaks Arabic at home? Or will it be completely new subject for her? I just don't know of many schools that offer Arabic as a subject for A Level. Would've loved DD to have done it!

It will be a completely new subject for her.

Thank you littleham for your reply, wow congratulations on all your DD offers from uni! You must be so proud of her, my DD has her york open day on the 7 Feb, she will be going by herself, she liked york as well including the contents of the course, it's been day 3 since cambridge rejection, was slowly getting better then she received a ucas update which reconfirmed the rejection! So gone back a few steps again! Run out of ideas or things to say, so I think I am going to need some help! What did you do to cheer up your DD? And how long does it take for their motivation to come back? Thank you again

Good for her, Gypsy. Sounds fabulous.

Is there anyone at your DDs school that could be helpful HasSOsm97? DS has a teacher who particularly supported his Cambridge application who has been very helpful in giving him some time to chat about his rejection. I think it's early days especially if DCs put a lot of effort into preparing for their interview. I wouldn't expect much in motivation yet but just getting homework done is enough. DS is in the middle of mocks at the moment so goodness knows what sort of marks he'll get!

This is what we have done, so one of them might work for your dd.

• Look at websites of other universities together & discuss nice things about courses, the area, things to do, possible trips with universities, accommodation, societies she could join at one of her other choices.
• Look for things she can see at the other universities & the local towns / cities. There might be time for to have a look at York when she is up there.
• Choose a light hearted DVD / or arrange a cinema trip with her friends (we went to see Into The Woods over the weekend).
• Devote a day to her favourite hobby or game.
• DD chose a new T shirt on a mail order site over the weekend (amazing what shopping can do to cheer them up).
• Make a cake & scoff it together.
• Explain it is not that she is not good enough, more that there are simply not enough places for all the high achievers. Also, the interviews were only 20 minutes long, so there is a certain amount of luck / confidence / nerves involved. It isn't her fault & not everything can be controlled, but as long as she keeps going for things some of them will be successful.

Bound to take some time to bounce back, especially if she set her heart on it a long time ago. She just needs to focus on a new goal. Hope this helps.

HasSOsm97 - sorry your dd is still feeling down. She is clearly an incredibly bright and competent young woman. Before the results came out I kept telling my dd that if she didn't get in it wouldn't be because she wasn't bright enough but because there are not enough spaces for all the students who would be good enough for them.

Dd's best friend also got rejected and we were extremely shocked as she is exceptionally bright. She too, is doing the IB. At dd's school they have the choice of A Levels or IB and lot of the brightest girls are doing the IB, however, the success rate for Oxbridge was much higher amongst those doing A levels. I wonder if Oxbridge are looking for them to already be specialising more and as they don't have any UMS for AS levels to go on it may make it trickier to decide. Dd's friend is predicted full marks for her IB. I don't know if there is anything in this at all but I would be interested to know the acceptance rates amongst those doing IB compared to those doing A Levels.

I think there is an element of perfectionism that comes with your DD's level of academic ability HasSOsm97 and it just takes time to for them to get their head around not being able to control the situation through hard work and dedication. As Littleham has said the interviews are not very long and add a rogue element to all of it, which all the prep in the world can't plan for.

Your Dd sounds incredibly able and there will be unis that just want to snap her up. Would she consider reapplying to Cambridge again next year? Or does she have an alternative choice that she'd be happy to go for?

Yes I think that there is an element in that they have to be exceptionally able in their chosen subject for Cambridge.

One of the other interviewees for DD's chosen course (Foreign Languages)) did his A Levels last year, got better than predicted results, then spent the time since abroad learning his chosen languages. DD knew she never had a chance if it came down to him or her!!!

Littleham, thank you for your great ideas especially looking at the current offers of universities in depth. Today I am going to open up the conversation about societies available and accommodation, also about the local towns, if she's not ready then step two! Cinema or shopping, i keep you informed, thank you again for your advice

MrsBartlet, I totally understand, I think the IB is not as recognise as A levels within Oxbridge, however the experience my DD and her friends who are also doing the IB have finding it very difficult and challenging mentally and emotionally, I agree with you it would be interesting to find out the acceptance rates between both within Oxbridge

Gypsyfloss, she is a perfectionist! In one way I am glad she received a rejection from cambridge because of the pressure, I feel she needs to learn it's not all about studying and targets she needs to enjoy the university experience and cambridge would have increased the pressures. I don't think she would reapply next year, she has offers from york, bristol and kings college london, I think so far york is her first choice

HasSOsm97 - I agree that the IB is extremely challenging and it does prove academic ability across the board. Dd came under a lot of pressure to do it but as she has known since she was 7 that she wanted to be a writer (and that hasn't changed) and she knew from Y7 which A levels she wanted to do, we didn't think it served any purpose to keep her options open, as some in her school were suggesting!

I think it is wonderful when your DC know what they want to do. DD has always kept her options open as she didn't have a clue what she wanted to do and is doing A Levels in Maths, French and Geography (she also did History last year)!!! Plus she's been dropping in on English Language AS Level classes as she also enjoys writing and has entered online story competitions.

(It was much easier for me - I was only ever good at one subject!!!)

For those going for York - we found the uni was great, the (uni) accommodation not so much, but the clincher was that they didn't study the modules DD wanted to do!

Hi all. Not posted for ages as there hasn't been much news. Dd has three of her five offers in. Just waiting to hear from Southampton and Bristol. Will be doing offer days but she might go on her own/with friends rather than dragging me along again.

Hope she feels better soon HasSOsm97.

Those poor girls mumslife - that must have been awful for them.

bobs123 - It makes life so much easier if they know what they want to do doesn't it? DD2 always wanted to study History, so it was easy to plan around. Stubborn DD3 on the other hand has a short list of six A levels and can't decide. holds head in hands.

Ds can only think of one subject he wants to do at A level Littleham so we have the opposite problem.

Ha ha, Fairenuff. Sounds very familiar!

Glad to hear one girl ended up happy doing History at Exeter. Interesting, she got in there, as it means they must have dropped their grade requirements last year.

There is only one offer holder day at the moment for History at Exeter and we can't make it, so dd is hoping they put another one on later.

My friend's DD missed her Oxford offer for classics a few years ago and also missed her Exeter insurance offer. Exeter contacted her after a week to say they could take her after all. The downside was she ended up in very expensive accommodation as that was all that was left by then!