Year 12 preparing for AS levels

[HSMMaCM]

Here we are everyone.

Thanks disquit - Yes she wants to apply for Maths, Physics or engineering. Not quite sure yet but she is visiting different departments on Open Days.

Are you sure she shouldn't have a couple of AAB ones in the mix? It feels a bit risky otherwise. I suppose the AS level results will be the real test. Mocks are one thing but it could all go pear shaped with the new exams.

You have made me feel so much better saying that AAB Maths / Physics courses may go into clearing at ABB or BBB. If that happens she should get a place somewhere she likes as she isn't too fussy.

The gender problem is a follow on from school. Her Further maths class only has two girls (remnants from an initial intake of 300 in lower school). If that is replicated elsewhere I can see why universities are struggling to find girls.

I would be happy to advise by PM of RG courses will almost certainly take AAB or lower in August - and in many cases, admissions tutors will confirm this to you if you ask. There is increasing awareness that girls are disproportionally being put off by the published offers being higher than what will be accepted.

If she is predicted AAA then she really has no need of going lower than AAA for offers for subjects such as maths and physics, provided she includes universities which are top 10-25 in her list, i.e. not just the very top universities. She can also use as a guide the average entry tariff for courses to convince herself that many students aren't always coming in with the published offer grades. (Of course the entry tariff obscures this, as it is given in terms of points rather than grades in 3 A2s, but nonetheless you can often pick out quite easily which courses are allowing for dropped grades.)

I would be really grateful for a PM with the top 10-25 who may accept AAB or lower in August. She is wary of being over ambitious as she doesn't really want to go through clearing.

I suspect she will be predicted A*AA as the school goes a bit higher with predictions but it all depends on the AS results so that may change if she bombs! There is so much guess work at this stage and it is tricky to know which universities to visit. Most people on this thread are playing a guessing game.

How many of the top ten should she put down on the list of five? One or two?

The list will be even more useful if she does bomb as she will know which ones NOT to bother putting on the list.

Eric, and Liney - when my ds was doing A-level drama they had a performance the one time and he asked me not to come as "it isn't really appropriate for Mums" and that he has some boundaries even if the drama curriculum doesn't.

Ono40 "Nicer ties" - that's the sort of thing dd1 would come out with.

:Littleham I am envious of those Mocks results..... The courses dd had her eye on are all AAAs, and she got ABCD, but unfortunately the subjects she needs for her course were the C and the D. What an excellent result with her flute though

Disquit2 Thank you SO much for that info..... dd wants to do engineering, and is distraught at her physics mock, but is going in the right direction (got a B this week in a test).. She just had been knocked for 6 in September and has taken a while to settle but we're worried she might not get good enough ASs for the courses she wants. that's interesting and reassuring to hear. Thank you.

Back, my Dd got the same for her mocks, with a c for physics, and a d for maths. She wants to be an engineer.... What universities are you looking at?

I don't really know for sure, dingit.

She's been pretty proactive and compiled a big spreadsheet and we are narrowing down the list over the next few days.
I don't share the MN obsession with "Russell Group" and she has fortunately said she's not interested in anywhere in London, but apart from that I think her net is quite wide at the moment.

Dd has her eye on Imperial, but with grades like that, hahahaha

My dd also wants to do engineering, but has no clue about where she wants to go. She can't even say which unis she wants to visit. It's all a bit overwhelming to her atm.

I agree aginghippy. Considering you read about how they are really keen to get young women to consider engineering, it's bloomin' difficult to actually get any useful information anywhere. dd is just wandering about in the dark really as we don't know the answers to her questions. We attended an exhibition at the NEC which was supposed to be about 'which university' and 'which career' but it was a complete waste of our day as was focused on apprenticeships - which, whilst perfectly valid option is not what dd wants to do and not what was advertised.
How are they supposed to find out which engineering to do?

Well done littleham's DD, grade 8 is fantastic.

DD wants to do an English degree at a popular university so she is assuming that she will need AAA, I'm not sure how accurate this is though. She's thinking of also applying to a university which has ABB/BBB as the entry requirements in case she doesn't get AAA.

How are they supposed to find out which engineering to do?

Do you have any local universities offering engineering taster days? DD has applied to a couple of local unis and is waiting to hear if she has a place for one of the days.

I think some of you are in London. How about this kind of day?

www.ucl.ac.uk/women-in-engineering/taster-days

Having an eye on two sounds great Camboricum, and with slightly different likely offer grades - perhaps those may end up as her firm and reserve choices. But I think we/they all start off by putting 5 choices down on UCAS form don't we? Then see which ones get back to us with offers and/or interviews? And I heard that the Uni's won't know which order you put them on the form? Did I get that right? Am glad we get to put 5 down but will be hard choosing them I think?

Juggling I think DD has 5 in mind, I've said no to some because they were too far away (we're a long way south-west and one was St Andrews!) to easily/cheaply get to. She's OK with that though thank goodness and has come up with 5 that are closer.

Thanks Littleham - not found any taster days but will keep on looking. We did find some stuff about summer schools and courses but every one I opened then said they were only for people who would be the first generation of their family to go to university so she doesn't qualify.

Juggling - yes, you can apply to 5, and then hold 2 offers - usually the one you really one to go to and then one with a slightly lower grade.

Congrats to your DD Littleham, that is fantastic!

A huge congratulations to Littleham's DD for the mocks and grade 8.

Backforgood that's a pain. I'm kicking myself because I graduated last year, if I'd known then I'd have delayed it for a year.

For engineering head start courses are brilliant- etrust run them. May be booked by now but worth a look. Manchester did some summer taster days.

There are some University of London taster days available here tasters.gradsintocareers.co.uk/

Thanks both

My DD went for a couple of taster afternoons at UCL (not engineering) last summer. Found them very useful. They had a whole host of lectures on offer, so well with checking out.

Think King's were offering a similar programme.

Here is a link to info about taster courses at universities in London.

DD has zero interest in any open days, summer schools, prospectus reading, or anything else. She does want to do a degree and is looking at open university, but I would just like her to explore all the options before deciding.

Anyway, just concentrating on AS exams first.