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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:
SecretSquirrels · 26/11/2015 13:30

Well done to all those with interviews. They may not see it this way but to have got this far is a great achievement. I was there two years ago with DS1 and FWIW his actual interview bore no resemblance to any practise interview. That may just have been because his college had no experience of Oxbridge in his subject.
RhodaBull I think Needmoresleep is spot on about trying to take the pressure of expectation out of the equation.
Lots of TLC all round.
In this house DS has finally submitted his application so we are a way behind you all. No interviews likely though, and he can now get focussed on mocks which start the first week back in January.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 26/11/2015 13:33

DD2 had a mock interview today - questions she'd prepared for were things like why Cambridge, why this college, why the subject. She also thought about was in the recent news that was relevant to her subject (she'd actually talked about an aspect of terrorism in her PS, so would be expecting to be asked about that in more depth). Don't know the specifics of how it went, her text just said "interview went well".

Brioche201 · 26/11/2015 13:45

DD school are preparing her a bit.There are about 10% o students applying to Oxbridge so they bring in a team o interviewers.The teachers in her subject have a record of old interviuew questions gleaned from past applicants rom her school and other schools where they have connections and are going to do a maths speciic interview allegedly.
Offer from York after 'optional' interview lasdt week o one grade lower ie ABB .I think it is just a marketing ploy.

talkinnpeace · 26/11/2015 13:53

4th offer in the bag for DD - so still waiting on Exeter.
No interviews for any of the 4 yet : not sure if that's good or bad!

FordPerfect · 26/11/2015 15:19

Well done to all those with offers and interviews. Still waiting to hear from Oxford as to whether DS has an interview. The college he has applied to doesn't seem to have given out any interviews so far so I expect he won't hear until end of next week. It seems mentally tough gearing yourself up for the possibility of an interview while preparing for disappointment.

BethanKate · 26/11/2015 16:17

Congrats on latest lot of interviews & offers.

Still haven't heard from Cambridge even though college said they sent out all Maths letters last week. Definitely getting a teeny bit stressful. He emailed them earlier today but no reply yet.

Out of others at his school who applied (to different colleges) has been one interview & 3 rejections. Has had 3 offers from very good unis so he'll be fine whatever happens, just hope he can cope with disappointment if it's not good news.

Molio · 26/11/2015 19:52

Where did she apply to talkinnpeace? I know you've written it somewhere so don't expect you'll remind repeating it. She's biology isn't she? Being nosy because a youngster I know with identical grades is going to apply next year, and your DD seems pretty successful so far - no doubt Exeter will come through too! (is that her favourite?).

Molio · 26/11/2015 20:11

remind repeating it? What am I talking about? mind repeating it I mean.

UhtredRagnorsson · 26/11/2015 20:27

DD1 got an offer from birmingham conservatoire today. So that was nice. Especially since it underlines that her Guildhall offer wasn't a fluke.

GloriaHotcakes · 26/11/2015 21:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

talkinnpeace · 26/11/2015 22:32

Birmingham (unconditional) Bath, York, Warwick (all sane grades) and Exeter still to come through and yes Biology based courses

Uhtred
Well done her

zazas · 26/11/2015 22:35

Congratulations for all the offers and interviews...great news. My DD has had offers from Sheffield, and yesterday Bristol which she is overjoyed about - although that hasn't stopped her checking her emails non-stop waiting for the others! She has applied for a deferred entry which she was nervous about - that it might go against her. Now she is asking me to help her schedule in department days...and here I was thinking the tripping around the country was done!

AtiaoftheJulii · 27/11/2015 06:13

I just bought train tickets for dd2 to go to offer holder days in Bristol and Newcastle - am hoping they help her make her mind up, as she has no idea of preference atm! They're not until end of Jan/beginning of Feb. She is making a long list of things that she thinks she might care about, so she can compare the two carefully Smile

So far she has 4 offers, but the two above are the only ones she really cares about, doesn't need to (re)visit the others.

BethanKate · 27/11/2015 09:27

Just phoned Cambridge college - letter went out to him some time ago - must have got lost in post Angry. Going to see if they can scan it & email it to him.

MrsUltra · 27/11/2015 10:36

Why on earth do they still send letters in this day & age????
Timewasting and costs more - very inefficient.

BethanKate · 27/11/2015 12:30

I know, it's very strange. International applicants get emails but UK get letters from this college.

Wondering if he gets email during free period at school if it will occur to him to let us know.

talkinnpeace · 27/11/2015 13:05

Bethan
Letters are such a waste of time and money.
Unimpressed that they use them - paper, staff time, envelope, stamp, delay.
Emails are much better

BethanKate · 27/11/2015 16:24

Still haven't heard anything Sad. Interviews at college start next Saturday so he's just going to have to start preparing for an interview he might not have.

Brioche201 · 27/11/2015 17:17

DD didn't get a letter, only an email

Brioche201 · 27/11/2015 17:18

BethanKate did they tell you the date of the interview?

Molio · 27/11/2015 17:39

Bethan it's really surprising that an e-mail hasn't arrived, given that the college has been made aware that the letter has gone astray - it's the sort of thing an admin officer would scan into an e-mail immediately. Old advice I know, but has he checked his junk folder?

BethanKate · 27/11/2015 18:21

This is what happened - college had message on website saying had been delays getting letters out then another message saying all Maths letters had gone out last Fri. When still hadn't arrived yesterday said to DS he should phone but he said he'd email but got no reply. This morning I said could he phone them from school & he said he couldn't get mobile reception so I phoned Admissions Office just after 9 am. Lady I spoke to looked up on computer & said letter had been sent & he should definitely have had it by now. We've had a lot of problems with our post so could have gone astray. She only works 9am to 1pm so hadn't seen his email yet.

She then said it wasn't her dept that deals with interview letters & she'd contact other dept & see if they could scan letter & email it to him & then we'd 'know what decision had been made'.

He didn't check his emails until got home at 4pm by which time it was too late to phone her again.

Good suggestion Molio - asked him if he'd checked junk & got deep sigh in return.

It's possible they might have decided just to put another letter in post in which case it might arrive tomorrow. Or not.

GloriaHotcakes · 27/11/2015 18:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

disquisitiones · 27/11/2015 18:31

If the subject is maths (which I think it is?) then he will most likely get an interview if his UMS scores are in the right ballpark - Cambridge maths interviews the vast majority of applicants.

I would be tempted to email the Director of Studies for the subject at that college, instead of the Admissions Office, given that the dates for interviews are so close. The DoS will most likely be checking email 24/7 and should respond to an urgent request for information.

Molio · 27/11/2015 19:52

Sorry! But at this late stage anything's worth a try.

disquisitiones is the master here - but FWIW I too think it should be whatever it takes and I'd certainly get a DC to e-mail the DoS at once.

Grrrrr to snail mail. Our postman puts our post on the gate - it regularly flies away and off down the road :)