Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Flip

1 2 ··· 6 7 8 ··· 39 40

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:

Needmoresleep · 23/09/2015 21:21

Lessstress, thanks. I can't find where I picked that up, but have rechecked the Bristol website and they seem only to be looking for a broad range of experience, which ought to be fine. Bristol would suit her for a variety of reasons, including sport. The only problem being that it has picked up a bit of a reputation for being difficult/unpredictable.

These things can be overthought!

SecretSquirrels · 24/09/2015 10:42

Worth remembering when considering predictions that anyone who exceeds their offer can look at adjustment. They have met their firm offer so can "hold onto it" while looking around at other unis who are seeking A grade students for good courses. It's a win win situation.

Original poster

hellsbells99 · 24/09/2015 13:01

LessStress DD2 has asked if I mind her borrowing ID to go out for her friend's 18th! I feel I cannot say no but don't want to say yes. DD1 was easier as she just did it behind my back!

OP posts:

Brioche201 · 24/09/2015 13:26

D1 sent off her form the day after the Oxbridge deadline so that all her choices knew she wasn't also applying there. She's convinced it made a difference
How can she possibly know that, and why wouldn't her choices want to make an offer to an oxbridge applicant?

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 24/09/2015 13:56

Brioche - because with her profile, she was a "typical" Oxbridge candidate, and felt it important to let her actual choices know they weren't second choice. She ended up studying with a lot of people who hadn't made their Oxbridge offer, as her first choice uni was/is a common insurance choice.

Personally I don't think it made the slightest bit of difference, but it did mean the application was done and out of the way early on in Y13, and she was sitting on a full hand of offers before the January exams. She has a tendency to overthink things though, and (I think) expected that her application was going to be as important to the various admission departments as it was to her, so rather than just looking at predicted grades, glance at PS, put in yes or no pile, she imagined they'd be trying to work out her motivations . She is a bit on the odd side occasionally .

Ta1kinPeace · 24/09/2015 13:59

DD has not uploaded her PS yet - the college are concentrating on the Oxbridge and Med School candidates so the pressure is off the other kids for the next week or two!

Coconutty · 24/09/2015 20:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RhodaBull · 25/09/2015 09:57

Blimey, practically more exhausting than any academic requirement is the stress induced by needing to navigate the hidden rules. If indeed there are any...

If you apply too early, they'll assume you're Oxbridge. If you apply too late, they'll have allocated all the places. Don't put down extra-curriculars, it's all about the academics. Do put down extra-curriculars to show you're well-rounded. The Personal Statement is really important. No one looks at the Personal Statement.

This morning ds spots the box to tick if you're transgender and was stressing that all the places would be bagged by false claimants (!) Imo sexual orientation, religion, parental background is all irrelevant and should form no basis of an application.

LessStress · 25/09/2015 10:32

My DD has put "prefer not say" (it's an option in all the drop down lists) for all of those incredibly intrusive questions, including our jobs, her sexuality etc. We both figure that the less personal data stored on a database about her the better. She has no say in how they could use her data in the future and there's the risk that its security may be breached at some point anyway!

It does say that the universities won't receive those answers until after they've offered places so I don't think the answers they give should affect anything (except their privacy of course).

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 25/09/2015 10:43

DD2 had a massive rant about how it was none of anyone's business, and she wasn't going to fill in the form because it was intrusive etc etc etc.Then she saw the "prefer not to say" box, and remembered that the only way to apply to uni is via UCAS . Thankfully her PS is finished now, barring a final checkover from subject teachers; next stop is to check the school ref/extenuating circumstances form, and move on to some actual A level work...

MrsUltracrepidarian · 25/09/2015 14:59

lol - DS didn't tell us about that box - if he had asked I would have advised the 'prefer not to say' - I really hate people being asked to pigeonhole categorise themselves.

Ta1kinPeace · 25/09/2015 15:19

Ooh, I'm going to have to get nosey about what DD has put on her UCAS form as DH and I do not fit into any normal pigeon holes.

Will do that in between choosing which cars to test drive for her tomorrow

and getting her to do some work on the actual A levels!

HocusUcas · 25/09/2015 15:31

Ta1kin,

My Ds would be very envious of the test drive thing. I did try to say to him that even if he passed his driving test he wasn't getting a car and therefore he could just could wait until after exams to take the test (again ) but no. Apparently it all had to be done as at the same time as uni applications , exams etc . Caveat - we live in an area well served for public transport, so probably somewhat different than others.

Brioche201 · 25/09/2015 16:28

I don't think the sexual orientation/parental occupation etc questions go to the university.they are just for UCAS's own monitoring purposes.

RhodaBull · 27/09/2015 09:51

Monitoring purposes, indeed. I always play by the rules and am scrupulously honest, but "monitoring" really gets my goat.

No driving lessons and certainly no car here! It's the bus or Shanks's pony for ds.

Brioche201 · 27/09/2015 12:13

Deadline for Oxbridge applications to be submitted to school this morning.PS edits been zipping back and forth between DD and her maths teachr all weekend and I think deadlock has been reached!
I am rather concerned by the reference he has written by her as the English is so poor and it goes too far with the superlative.Iit makes him sound like a bit of an idiot to be honest., but DD for some reason thinks it is paraphrased.If not surely when the Headmaster does his read through it will be picked up.
When they have been checked by the school and the references added they are invited to the HMs office to press the 'send' button.Which they say is quite a poignant moment!

Brioche201 · 27/09/2015 12:15

Have we any other parents of maths applicants out there? DD is applying to Cambridge (St Catharines), Warwick, Durham, Bath and York. I hope to god she gets some offers!

Needmoresleep · 27/09/2015 12:29

Cars are not on the agenda for us either, luckily. Plus good transport means that mum taxi is not required that often. Our mileage last year was half the year before, and most of that was visiting my elderly mother.

I have been staying well out of it, but understand that the UCAS form is not particuarly user friendly, expecially when it comes to SPLD. (Who presumably are the students who can be expected to struggle with forms.) Still a large group chat amongst her friends last night means it is mainly done and the PS, which again I have no desire to read, is on its fourth draft. She is also down to a short list of 6 medical schools for the four she is allowed. Two are firm choices and two are more risky options but in places she might really like. All are in established Universitiy Cities/towns, so there might be scope for a flying visit to places she has not been to before if she can't sort her final preferences out. Fall back will be Ireland or a gap year. Her predicted grades and EC are good so hopefully it won't come to that.

In short things are improving here. I'm glad she is not doing Oxbridge/BMAT as once the form is sent, she can focus on school and school work. Medical school interviews/offers seem to come through a lot later than others, so I am sure waiting to hear when others are getting offers will be a distraction. But we face that bridge when we come to it.

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 27/09/2015 13:31

DD1 pressed the button on her UCAS conservatoires and Guildhall applications on Friday. 'Her bit' of the UCAS universities form is done, it's all with the school now. I suppose they push the button sometime before October 15. She's applied to Guildhall, RAM, RCM and Birmingham conservatoire and will be (when the button is pushed) applying to Cambridge Southampton and York unis. I hope that's enough. I agree that the forms are not easy for those with SpLD. :( They also ask for information (such as exam centre number) for music exams that isn't actually on the certificates which were the only things we had scanned - luckily we were able to find the mark sheets eventually (some of the declarable ones were a while ago). I was overseas when she pushed send so I didn't see the final form - I hope she didn't forget anything but to be honest, it's probably a bit irrelevant since it will go on auditions really.

Cars not on the menu here either - dyspraxia and driving isn't a great idea (I do drive, and I'm very safe except in a parking situation, because I'm so cautious, but I only do v low stress little trips - and DD1 is much worse than I am with the getting flustered and the lack of perception anyway).

Ta1kinPeace · 27/09/2015 15:58

Well I've bought DD a car ... collect it Wednesday - still trying to get my addled brain around the killer costs of insurance.

Planing a couple of University visiting weekends : later this month so that we can see them in real world mode

About to have a nosey at her UCAS form.

Her A2s are stressing me much less than DSs GCSEs IMHO

Anybody doing Southampton applications : am very happy to have my brains picked as knowledge is kept up to date regularly

SecretSquirrels · 27/09/2015 18:15

No public transport round here so DS has his driving test in a couple of weeks. He will be allowed to borrow my car (as does DS1) if he passes.
He has finished his PS though I haven't seen the final version.
Brioche201 you have my sympathy. I went through applying to Cambridge for Maths with DS1 and am very relieved that DS2 is not doing the same.

BethanKate · 28/09/2015 13:24

Hope it's ok for me to join in. Am almost housebound while recovering from fracture on top of long term health probs, would be really nice to have other Year 13 parents to chat to.

DS (only child) applying to do Maths at Cambridge (St Johns), Warwick, Bristol, Imperial & UCL.

He's set his heart on Camb but road ahead is daunting. We have a few issues - GCSE Art went pear-shaped resulting in a D - shame that UCAS sorts GCSE results into alphabetical order. Was predicted four As at AS (which he got in mocks) but got B in Chemistry - nearly everyone at his school got lower Chem grade than expected, teachers said it was 'because exam board asked questions that weren't on the specification'. A-level results at school generally very poor this year - headteacher raved about GCSE results on school website but didn't mention A-levels at all.

Application still not sent off, supposed to be seeing Head of 6th Form this morning to arrange UCAS interview.

When we went to Warwick Open Day they said they give offers to anyone predicted AAB or higher & don't pay much attention to PS so hopeful will at least get offer from there.

BethanKate · 28/09/2015 13:47

What I just said about Warwick offers applies to Maths, don't know about other subjects.

Leeds2 · 28/09/2015 14:16

Nice to have you on board, BethanKate!

I know nothing about maths degrees, but all the parents and teachers I talk to always seems to say that Warwick has one of the best reputations for maths and physics.

BethanKate · 28/09/2015 18:51

Thanks Leeds2, we really liked Warwick.

Flip

1 2 ··· 6 7 8 ··· 39 40