Starting Year 13 - September 2015

[hellsbells99]

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.

Great news jaxx and bucking. UCAS track is down because of maintenance apparently. DS hoping for a lower offer from Bristol than he's had from others so far as he'd like it to be insurance.

Phew! DS had an email at 7 am this morning saying his UCAS form has gone out, and about an hour later he had an acknowledgement from Exeter, so we know it's arrived. What a relief; that's one worry over, and now onto the next one of waiting for offers (if any!).

it's a stressful time - phews all round I think.

Will be v interested to hear about newcastle offers - my home town and one I would definitely have gone to, had I not grown up there!

Oh dear DD has got cold feet about Cambridge- this year at least.She has been feeling for a bit that it is not worth the stress.The real risk that working on STEP so much she might end up with 2As instead of 4As.Over the weekend she has been talking to to someone from her school who did Nat Sci there who spun her a tale of never ending stress, being too poor to 'keep up' with peers social activities, not being able to go home for a weekend to recharge batteries etc.If she pulls out now it would be an end to stress , she would easily make the 2 maths A*s and be able to go to Durham ( apparently they select purely on AS UMS so guaranteed to get in with her 100% maths 98% FM)

Brioche201 Maths at Cambridge is a stressful process, mainly because of STEP. Anyone who gets an offer is pretty much guaranteed to be comfortably capable of A* at A level. What DS1 found was that he did more work on preparing for STEP (all at home using on line resources), than on all his 4 A levels put together.

If only they could sit the entrance exam before the offer (like Oxford) this would reduce the stress significantly. The problem is that many offer holders don't achieve their STEP offer and end up at their insurance choice.
This adds stresses of possible accommodation issues to the mix.

Having said all that, she hasn't got an offer yet. There may not be a decision to make. Going for the interview would be good practise. Also if she is concerned about the "posh" mix of students, DS1 found the people he met at Cambridge to be far more of a social mix than Durham. He went to the Durham offer day and was completely put off by the feeling that he was the only state school kid there. (Of course he wasn't, but that was his perception and he loathed it.)

My DD has a conditional from Newcastle for Marine Zoology. She still has to gets A*s in at least 5 subjects. Just passes in the remaining 2. Thats the IB for you.

Has anyone applied to Glasgow/Liverpool/Notts for the vets courses? If they hav, have they heard anything yet? I know Liverpool have interviews this month and Dec, but DD hasnt heard, so shes feeling she's failed to get that far.

I think Maths at Cambridge was much easier when I did it. The entrance exam (in November) was all about potential, seeing how your maths brain worked. And then it was done. Then, you might get an interview, you might not - but if you passed the interview, you were on a 2E offer (not that I ever met anyone who had 2Es but urban rumour was that such did exist - perhaps not doing maths though).

DD1 has her first audition tomorrow. Stressful times.

millionsmom Ooch that's a tough offer. Fingers crossed she gets some more interviews. I was reading this article about the IB.
None of DS's friends have applied for veterinary, which seems to be the most competitive of all courses.
I'm relieved DS won't need auditions or interviews if he ever gets his UCAS form sent.
Good luck to all those who do. It's all added stress on top of working hard for those A levels. DS has mocks in January we were told at parents eve.

DS is chuffed - he has an offer from Bath and the form only went in last thing on Friday.

I'm also chuffed as we loved Bath, but my chuffedness is slightly tempered by the recollection of someone saying upthread that Bath makes absolutely everyone an offer! Either way, it's good to have one in the can.

DD2 says 2 of her friends have received interview invites today for Cambridge.

Gloria thank you for mentioning that website - it is an interesting one. It says DS's course has a 67% offer rate at Bath so definitely not quite everyone! It's his second choice but he's pleased to have got the ball rolling.

Brioche it is so tough fitting it all in at this stage. When I did Oxbridge I did 'seventh term' which meant that you had the whole of the autumn term post A levels working towards it. So much less stressful. (I didn't get in, mind you, although I did get an interview - which went disastrously!)

Brioche 2 of my DDs' friends are at Durham and thoroughly enjoying it. They don't seem to go home at weekends. DD1 is at another (less) Northern uni and at the moment a lot of the student seems to be going home at weekends leaving DD in a nearly empty flat

Brioche, tell her not to worry.

1. STEP preparation ought to add to her maths skills regardless of where she goes. If she does well and gets into Cambridge it is because she is good enough. But if she does not, maybe that is not such a bad thing either. She wants to be in the right place, and the aptitude tests will help sort that out.

1. I would not be surprised if initially there is a feeling that everyone knows each other. The same happened to DD when she started at a West London private secondary school. The girls who stood out in the first few weeks had all been at a small number of preps and did know each other. It takes a bit longer for the quieter ones to find each other, but they will. I can see the same happening at University. Members of the pan-London party crowd will find each other quickly. Both DC went to the right schools but never to the parties. They will have the advantage of being one Facebook friend away but knowing they will want to make their own, more diverse, group of friends based on subject, sport, societies etc.

1. I am sure the academic pace at Oxbridge is tough. Unusually I took the same (London) degree as my son is taking now, and am astonished at how much harder he is working. (Though he will probably earn a better degree than I did!) DS is fine, but he would have been equally fine had he been offered a place at Cambridge. One advantage of Cambridge would be the closer supervision, useful in a subject like maths where very few will follow everything all the time. And the setting obviously, with the feeling of being in a place centered around study. Advantages of not being at Cambridge are the longer terms, and the liklihood that you will be higher up the year group.

I would suggest rather than worry, your DD lets Cambridge select, and simply do her best. Though there will be an element of lottery or performance on the day, they know what they are looking for. If she gets in she will be good enough. She might however consider what she wants more. Being amongst a group of really clever contemporaries where she will not be the best or brightest, but with a real academic buzz, or being towards the top of her year group, albeit perhaps less challenged. Different settings suit different, equally able, DC. In maths especially I assume some will find the transition from always having been top of the class difficult, whilst others will love having peers who can keep up with or even surpass them.

woohoo - interview at Cambridge for DD2! And it's on a day and time which works for us getting there, and leaves time to speak to the disability people afterwards. Fingers crossed for everyone else waiting to hear .

DD1 loved Bath, and was gutted they had to leave (for work, not much in the way of maths grad jobs sadly). Doesn't miss the tourists though.

Well done MyVisions's DD! Fantastic!

Congrats babyMyVisions!
DS has a couple of friends with interviews now at Cambridge, none so far at Oxford.

Well done young Ms Visions!

Dd2 got an offer from Bristol today, so that's her two favourites sorted She's already stressed about having to choose between them ...

Oh, and well done Morvah's son! Lovely to have one in the bag

Uhtred, how did dd's audition go?

Attia Apparently it was 'alright'. So, you know, who knows. She hasn't heard anything from Cambridge so I'm guessing that ship has sailed, if most people have heard about interviews now.

Oh, I doubt it's most people. Don't know about Cambridge, but for Oxford the yeas and nays go out at the same time anyway, and each college (that I looked at) last year had a regularly updated list of which subjects had sent out their decisions - no pattern to them at all.

Alright It's all in the intonation!

My DD has an unconditional offer to read Politics at Glasgow Uni! It's her first offer and, although not her top choice, it would be a perfectly acceptable option. Still got her top two choices to respond so fingers crossed they'll both be as positive.

Congratulations to DC with Cambridge interviews, and to all the new offer.