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Secondary education

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Original poster

Starting Year 13 - September 2015

999 replies

hellsbells99 · 05/09/2015 08:01

Welcome to Year 13!
Their final year of school;
Applying for university/college/work/apprenticeships;
A year of 18th birthday parties;
Going to their first nightclub (unless they already have fake ID!);
The year they turn into adults!

DD2 has been back at school for 3 days and has lots of work already.

OP posts:
UhtredRagnorsson · 09/11/2015 18:03

Visions - DD1 hasn't sent off her work yet either. Although this is because it hasn't been marked yet (!) rather than it having issues. We haven't got to the having issues point yet! And the deadline is effectively Friday. :(

AtiaoftheJulii · 09/11/2015 18:12

Oh god, had forgotten the written work submission hell. Think dd ended up scanning stuff and converting to pdf's to upload them about an hour and a half before the deadline. That was after she'd thrown out all her marked L6 Classical Civ essays over the summer so had to get one marked again. Good luck everyone!

Cherryburn · 09/11/2015 18:31

Thanks Atia! DD's deadline was tomorrow and her essay also had to be scanned, converted to PDF and emailed. I made her do it yesterday and I'm really glad I did as it took me us ages to work out how to scan without the bloody thing cutting off the margins. If there'd been a looming deadline I think I would have had a heart-attack (or thrown the scanner out of the window...)

How's your DD finding Oxford?

AtiaoftheJulii · 09/11/2015 19:04

You very kindly assume she got in! But yes, she did, and so far she's very happy - at least the heart-attack-causing stuff isn't happening at home now, lol!

Dd2 isn't applying to Oxbridge, and although she's a far more stressy personality, this year's application process seems much easier than last year's Grin

Cherryburn · 09/11/2015 19:16

Oh I knew she got in having stalked followed last year's Oxbridge thread! Glad she's enjoying it.

Yes the Oxbridge application process does feel like a bit of a marathon...and she doesn't even know if she's got an interview yet!

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 09/11/2015 21:25

thanks for the reassurance - DDs decided that as one piece is her EPQ which is a scientific report, and the teacher looking at it is an English teacher, she thinks he was expecting more of an essay (her actual EPQ supervisor is off this week unfortunately). Meeting tomorrow to find out exactly what the problem is, as we don't know if he's actually marked it or just giving initial comments. Think the other piece is OK in the end though.

Her college asks for 2 x paper copies of everything, so we have until Thursday to post everything off Next Day delivery

But, in much better news, one of her offers will turn into unconditional if she firms, which perked her up when she opened the post after school Grin. Except it's not one of her top 3 choices, so she probably won't be firming it. But, as she pointed out, if she did no more work whatsoever this year, she already has 3 Es, and so could have a uni place. I v quickly shut down that conversation, just in case she decided enough was enough Grin.

eatyourveg · 10/11/2015 07:58

ds pressed send before half term and college still haven't sent anything to ucas - ds is annoyed but not enough to say anything. I'm more than peeved and thought there was a deadline of a fortnight for them to attach the reference. They made a point of telling him they would all be in college over half term so the deadline has been and gone. Parents evening next week and whilst it is none of my business I do feel like raising it as a concern.

Dunlurking · 10/11/2015 08:10

eatyourveg ds has also "sent" but is now in a queue to be interviewed by head of 6th form and then the Head, when he gets to see his reference and then they send. You can imagine the delays building up. Sounds unnecessary to me Hmm

mateysmum · 10/11/2015 16:00

DS's written work went off today. His had to go electronically, which is slightly less stressful than hoping an envelope has arrived safely! He titivated a yr12 essay.

MyVision, Would that be Birmingham? If so your DD is in the same position as DS. It's his 5th choice, but nice to have. DS has applicant day invites from Leeds and Birmingham, so needs to decide if he wants to book these before hearing from choices 2 and 3. Oxford obviously is another story.

TalkinPeas · 10/11/2015 16:33

DD just got an invite up to the departmental open day at York for those with offers - which is cool as we were wondering when she'd make it up there to visit
and amazingly it does not clash with anything!

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 10/11/2015 16:42

mateysmum no Lancaster, but we know of someone else who's had an "unconditional if you firm" from Birmingham. Congrats to your DS Smile

raspberryrippleicecream · 10/11/2015 18:36

DS has his York offer confirmed after interview last week. His course will only offer after interview, so he had to go. Third choice, but would be very happy with it if 1st and 2nd don't happen.

UhtredRagnorsson · 10/11/2015 21:19

DD1 has an interview and audition at York in January. She has an audition for a scholarship at Southampton also in January, this is separate from her EEE offer which doesn't require her to firm them. She's going to do both auditions no matter what happens in the next few weeks, I think...

Needmoresleep · 10/11/2015 22:09

Good news here. DD has an interview. Possibly the first for medicine at her school. There seems to be a huge industry attached to medical school applications with special interview courses and the like. Getting a place this year will be a bonus so I am inclined to stay well clear. What they will see is what they will get. If she is not polished enough and if they want someone tutored to have all the right answers then so be it. She can do all of that next year. This year needs to be about getting the best grades possible. We are not a medical family and sense this puts her at a disadvantage.

In the short term though, it's really exciting. She would be over the moon to get an offer at any of her four choices.

Needmoresleep · 10/11/2015 22:09

Utred. Sounds great!

UhtredRagnorsson · 10/11/2015 22:34

Needmore - brilliant news. Getting an interview is a key achievement in the medical application process, isn't it? I agree with you about the 'industry' aspect - in the sense that, we can see it happening with Oxbridge. DD1 won't have any preparation for interview should she get one (unlikely, I feel, but shhhh). And her marked work will be just that - two pieces of work that she's done that have been marked. She's not getting them back till tomorrow so she will have no time to tart them up if they aren't perfect. They will have to go as is. Which, her preferred college make clear on the info sent, is what they want...but it's equally clear that other applicants don't do that. They draft and redraft and get advice...she can't do that. As it is, her teacher is doing her a favour by marking work that hasn't been 'set' - she had to provide a longish essay (they don't do those in music, at this point of term anyway, and in her other two subjects they are currently doing the coursework so no essays to mark there either. And it has to be Y13 not Y12 stuff apparently) and harmony exercises (that was less of an issue and will likely be fine anyway).

tropicalfish · 10/11/2015 22:41

Well done Needmoresleep thats great news. We havent heard anything at our end yet.

Leeds2 · 10/11/2015 22:54

Well done to your DD, Needsmoresleep. Hope it goes well for her.

MorvahRising · 10/11/2015 23:52

Well done to the DCs with offers - it's quite exciting checking the thread and seeing the news!

eatyourveg we are in exactly the same position. The form went in on the Friday before half term and we've heard nothing so it clearly hasn't got to UCAS yet. What worries me is that if DS's form went in at the start of half term, there will now be masses more added to the pile on the Monday after half term when everyone did theirs over the break. I hope there's a queue, but who knows?

Am getting a bit stressy now. DS on the other hand is completely cool about it . . . . . .

AtiaoftheJulii · 11/11/2015 06:14

Well done on all interviews and offers so far Smile

And good luck to those waiting for forms to go in - dd2 similarly had hers in well before half term, but then had to do quite a bit of nagging to actually get it sent last week. I think it's reasonable for your dc to enquire as to progress.

GloriaHotcakes · 11/11/2015 06:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RhodaBull · 11/11/2015 09:20

Quite laid-back here, too, about written work etc.

Scarily a quick Google will find you people willing to do your written work for you, enter prestigious competitions and of course write the personal statement. Well, you can't compete against that (if they're any good anyway). The only thing they can't do is sit the tests for someone (or can they?!) so I hope the powers that be weight that area the most strongly.

eatyourveg · 11/11/2015 09:29

Ds has friends at his old school with offers coming through which prompted him to email the careers lady at college last night. No queue at college for adding a reference, you can count the number of applications on one hand - I think that's why it is held up, they just don't know how to write it - potentially big queue however once it gets through to the admissions departments, TSR doesn't seem to have much in the way of posts to indicate how long his choices usually take to reply. Glad he is now questioning it himself.

Dunlurking · 11/11/2015 09:32

Ooh well done and good luck for those interviews/auditions needmore and Uhtred.

Ds has moved up the "queue" now and has had his interview with H of 6th. Thankfully he was very happy with it. She apparently said the universities would be mad not to make him an offer with that PS Smile which sort of makes the hours spent on it worthwhile.

Morvah and eatyourveg I hope your dcs' applications are working their way towards the top of the school send pile as well. At ds's school people are gatecrashing the queue left right and centre by simply knocking on the headmaster's door or desperate and saying they have an appointment.

mateysmum · 11/11/2015 09:33

I too have my doubts about written work and how 'genuine' it is. I can't believe many people don't do some additional polishing and many will have far more help.

DS didn't really have any yr 13 work that was suitable as they have been concentrating on course work and haven't done any proper essays of a suitable length - 1500-2000 words - so he re-jigged a yr 12 essay by extending the period of years it related to, so as to bring in yr 13 material and extend it to the right length. His teacher checked and marked it but didn't offer any specific help beyond comments made on the original essay marking. I think that's fair.

I wonder how much weight goes into consideration of the written submission. Hopefully the colleges are alert enough to notice if the written work is inconsistent with other parts of the process.

Re the "industry" of uni applications, I registered for "Oxbridge Applications" to access their free resources and was horrified by the cost of their courses and individual assistance. They sent me details of a weekend application prep course and it was about 1500 quid!!! Needless to say DS will need to get in on his own wits and the help given by his school.