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.

I do think with the PS it can be a case of too many cooks. I was accused on another thread of either a) lying or b) being negligent when said that I (and DH) had not seen DS's PS. We really thought it better to come unedited from him.

Neither I nor OH have seen DD's UCAS form, MrsUltra. Nor do I know the names of the courses she has applied for, although I do know where she has applied to!

She got help from school, and I was happy to accept that her teachers could give better advice than me.

I saw DDs form because it had to have my credit card details attached.
Other than that I stayed well clear.

I didn't see any of DD1's forms or her PS. DH did the payment thing (I was overseas). And he didn't look either.

It's easy to be hands off if you trust the school. Many of us are "hands on" because otherwise our dcs would be sunk. Some schools offer a great deal of relevant help. Some schools try but are a bit out of date or bark up the wrong tree, and some schools are quite useless.

That being said, although I did read ds's personal statement the night before the deadline, I had absolutely nothing to do with submitted work nor, of course, the entrance test!

DS asked me to proof read his, as I'm good at it. But I didn't comment on the content at that stage. He did his own payment, I transferred him the money, so I never saw the actual form.

I should keep off TSR. I can see DSs subject is starting to send emails out.

Hope he gets one soon, raspberry!

Well he has, and its a no. But he is very upbeat about it, he has always said he preferred a different course, where he already has an offer. And he is just pleased to know one way or another.

Good luck to everyone else!

Sorry, yes, Oxford. I forget which threads I'm on.

DS2 got little advice or help on his PS. He showed it to me and I suggested a bit he could cut out to get the word count down. The person he showed it to at college didn't approve of the thrust of his main paragraph, which I had thought sounded mature and well thought through - but who am I to know.
Fortunately it's not an Oxbridge application and his grade predictions will be higher than the entry requirements so I don't think anyone will actually read it.

I have read that Oxbridge don't take much notice of the PS because it is likely not all the students own work.
Dds teachers did give feedback much of which was contradictory and most of which she ignored.
most of which abe

Well done to offerees - it seems as though the DC are all being very sensible and philosophical about the offers and rejections.

DS wrote his own PS and I proofread it like 'raspberryripple as proofreading is part of my freelance work, but it was all his own words. He's a fluent but wordy writer though and he found it very trying keeping it down to the word limit.

DS came home very pleased last night as he has an interview next week at Southampton which is his absolute top choice. He also has one at Bristol which he accepted and then realised he has a mock on that day so he's going to have to cancel. I hope that won't affect his offer chances.

Good Luck to him at Southampton, Morvah. Hope all goes well.

Well done Morvah's DS. Can't he just do his mock on another day - or is it a science practical/EMPA?
I helped a bit with DD's ps - she did it initially and then I helped 'crop it'. A teacher at school read it too and suggested the odd change to wording.

Good luck for all those with interviews coming up. And comiserations for those with rejections. Its never fun, but my guess is that most of those will absolutely love where they eventually end up and have no regrets at all.

This seems so for DS who had a bit of a 'mare at his Cambridge interview. It was probably a mistake for him to travel up on the morning, and it did not help that he had a head cold, so found the maths interview tough. Ironically now he says that he is glad he did not go to Cambridge as the LSE economics degree has more options and so allows him to take more maths modules. Perhaps it would have been easier had been rejected pre rather than post interview.

DD is still waiting. She has one interview lined up at the end of February, so we went out on Saturday to buy her interview suit. She is therefore ready, should anyone offer her something last minute. Its quite difficult. Most "suits" are pretty middle aged, and skirts favoured by 17 years can be quite short. However a kind shop manager took her under her wing and came out from the store room with an armful of options. The result was a nicely cut pair of black trousers, a lovely belt, and a printed top, to go with an existing black jacket and boots. The interview book we have suggests doctors are very focussed on cleanliness so polished shoes and clean nails are crucial. It was all pretty painless, or as painless as shopping with a 17 year old can be, so good to have it done.

SecretSquirrels I hope he gets his PS sorted to everyone's satisfaction and can get his UCAS form submitted soon.

Needmoresleep that sounds ideal for interviews. Very much what junior doctors are wearing in hospitals now, with a jacket over the top. Perfect. Good luck to her and I hope she hears soon about some interviews from her other choices as well.

Well done to your ds MorvahRising for his interviews for Bristol and Southampton. Hope he can rearrange Bristol.

One of ds's teachers was very helpful regarding PS, as ds had tried his best to link every subject to his course, and it did seem a bit clunky. He changed it the night before. Also useful were PSs from previous applicants, although some were so good that I think ds felt quite defeated as he couldn't hope to match their breadth of reading nor emulate their erudite original arguments. I assured him that most personal statements, like CVs, do tend to exaggerate.

I'm glad we didn't have to worry about audition/interview outfits. DD1 wore/will wear a reasonably nice dress from fat face, fake DMs and a pleather jacket (she had a nice (because MINE) cardigan on under the jacket too, because she can't really play in the jacket). She looked clean, presentable and (dare I say it) very lovely. But not like she was wearing a suit. However - all the places she as already auditioned or will audition, at least one of the people evaluating her she has met already either at national ensembles or playing days or summer schools or competitions. So it's not like they don't know what she usually looks like.

DD2 is now panicking about what to wear to her interview, and does she need a blazer. I reckon smart (coloured) jeans, nice top and scarf (ie her usual wear to school clothes) is fine, but her friends are telling her she needs a proper interview suit. Not looking forward to the shopping trip where she tries on approx 1 million different outfits, decides she doesn't like any of them, and we go home empty handed. My limit for clothes shopping is two shops, three outfits and home .

Soup, I'm forgetting what subject. My guess is that for most subjects clean and presentable is fine. Academics will be used to young people and what they wear. However DD had already had some clear instuctions when she was volunteering and shadowing, presumably to ensure patients and care home residents were happy, so a need to keep it smart, yet young yet professional. And more importantly she needs to feel comfortable.

I was expecting the million different outfits. Shopping for boots, a month back, took four hours. Picking a shop with the right type of clothes, a quiet time and finding a helpful person made all the difference.

(The expedition was quite expensive, and receipts are hidden from DH. However she will find other uses for a smart outfit, plus we have not spent much since she stopped yearning for overpriced Abercrombie and Jack Wills stuff.)

This is worrying.DD is planning on wearing jeans and sweatshirt.Do they have to be smart?

DD just wore some M&S tapered black trousers (that she normally wears for orchestra), a smart white top and a black and White checked jacket she borrowed off her sister.

DD has not had any interviews (and not expecting one for the final UCAS slot) but her standard rig for such things is
nice jumper, necklace, skirt, wooly tights, chelsea boots and then a dark coat.
for orchestra she's used to being comfortable in black and white
and suchclothes get used lots and lots of times