Year 12-13 AS levels and beyond

[HSMMaCM]

Following on from the preparing for AS levels thread.

Hopefully everyone is finishing off AS exams.

Southampton have their talk on personal statements on YouTube if you google it. I thought it was very informative.

Thank you Little. He's spoken to his teacher so many times but just doesn't seem to grasp it. He's a fabulous musician though.

DH talked to one of the Soton admissions tutors at length, the message was that they don't make much use of the PS, the offers are mostly done on the basis of predicted grades. But that may vary with subject, and it must come into play for people who just miss the requirements.

One other thing DD was pleased about is that the MEng has a 'free insurance' of a BEng offer a grade lower (but you can then transfer if you do well enough in the first year). We are guessing that quite a few places will be doing this for courses with M/B option because of the uncertainties of the new physics A-level gradings (not sure if the same applies to other subjects, thank goodness the maths were still the old spec and hence loads of past papers for our bunch).

Oh, also - I couldn't find that talk on YouTube, but there's a Facebook video 'strengthening your ucas application' which I guess is the same thing.

Thanks for suggestions around personal statement writing - this thread is always so helpful and supportive
In other news DS had his second round group audition with the Britten Sinfonia Academy on Sunday, which he says he felt went OK (you know how hard it is to get much out of these boys, especially regarding post-match analysis ... oh, unless it's actually a match of course when some seem to be able to witter on for hours!) So now we just have to wait to see if he'll be offered a place - would involve training with them, and professional musicians of Britten Sinfonia, on residential weekends through the year with accompanying concerts. Just hoping we did enough prep, they like him, and they need two trumpeters!

DH talked to one of the Soton admissions tutors at length, the message was that they don't make much use of the PS, the offers are mostly done on the basis of predicted grades. But that may vary with subject, and it must come into play for people who just miss the requirements.

Southampton EEE interview, and take into account interviews when considering missed offers.

Under-subscribed subjects such as physics simply put into place a cutoff on acceptable grades (e.g. AAB or ABB with a minimum of A in maths) and accept all those who meet the cutoff.

There are now no quotas in any subject, so there is no reason to distinguish between students with the same grades, using personal statements or anything else i.e. in practice even for EEE (which is more over-subscribed) they decide on a cutoff and accept all students above that cutoff.

Oxbridge does have self-imposed approximate quotas per college per subject, but these are not terribly rigid or strict i.e. it is left up to individual admissions tutors to decide about missed offers. Detailed breakdowns of UMS plus interview performance tend to be the main deciding factors for STEM subjects.

Esornep what does EEE stand for?
Also what exactly are Quotas?
I get totally puzzled at this sort of thing.I'm not an academic and really don't understand the language and Ums points. I never knew Ums are actually used apart from post-offer charts?

The terminology EEE (electrical and electronic engineering) was used by the previous poster. Southampton is strong in this subject (one of the top places in the country).

Prior to the 2012 changes in higher education, universities had quotas on student numbers per subject. These quotas were gradually removed under the 2012 changes. This means that a university can now take as many students for any subject (with any grades) as it wishes. These changes have led many universities to expand student numbers in popular subjects.

UMS are not UCAS tariff points, which appear in league tables of universities. UMS are the detailed A level marks, and can therefore be find out whether, for example, a B grade is nearly an A or nearly a C. UMS marks also shown the break down of marks by modules, which can be relevant for near misses. For example, universities can use the detailed marks to see that a student had good As in most modules and just missed getting an A overall because of one poor module. This would be viewed differently than a student missing As in almost all modules.

Esornap, we were told on Sunday that they don't interview, which surprised us as we'd thought they would. Maybe they've changed policy because it's quite hard/expensive to get to for a lot of people?

Ah, OK, I thought EEE did. I know that they do still interview for related degrees (electronics and computer science), or at least they were last year!

I think the main reason for not interviewing is that it takes up a lot of time and it doesn't produce that much useful information in STEM (excluding medicine, veterinary and a few other special cases). If they don't interview then they will almost certainly set minimum grades that they are willing to accept. They will choose the cutoff at the time the results are known, to fit the approximate number of places they have, but since the latter is not fixed they won't distinguish between candidates who missed offers but got the same grades.

BTW I agree that interviewing disfavours students from poorer backgrounds, costs and other reasons. Another big issue is that schools and sixth form colleges are getting increasingly strict about students missing classes to attend interviews and offer days, but holding interviews/offer days on weekends is very unfair on university staff.

Southampton EEE, like other places, will almost certainly give offer holders the chance to visit before deciding about offers, but these visit days are definitely not obligatory.

Thank you Esornep.
I think dd1 had probably explained Ums to me before but it took me a long time even to remember what Mmi's were.I hate acronyms with a passion.
Maybe it's something to do with last minute D Of E shopping ( DD going on Saturday).She has no rucksack,we can't find the mats anywhere and she needs a new waterproof and fleece.Meanwhile she's doing her bloody EPQ presentation and has no time to sort anything.

teta - does her school or whoever she's going with have any kit available?

No,i don't think so.2 years ago for bronze she borrowed her friends rucksack ,but it's too small for gold.I've ordered a few things from Cotswolds just now and am taking her after school to get measured up for a 75 l. Rucksack.Talk about leaving it to the last minute though!And does she really need expensive walking socks?

I wonder if Soton have stopped interviewing then? DS had one for Computer Science last year.

Soton don't interview for most subjects, Horsemad. Computer science is one of the few subjects that interview, as Soton's computer science/electronic engineering is highly ranked. Even then I don't think it is really interviewing - I believe they ask to interview everyone they intend to give an offer to, but they don't give out the offer until after the interview day. So in practice the interview day is not really used for selection.

As pointed out on lots of threads, only a very small fraction of university courses do interview these days, apart from Oxbridge, medicine, arts/drama/ etc. In my own subjects only one or two universities outside of Oxbridge interview.

"I believe they ask to interview everyone they intend to give an offer to, but they don't give out the offer until after the interview day. So in practice the interview day is not really used for selection" - I think Sheffield do the same, at least for Computer Science they do, an informal interview on an 'applicant day'.

I seem to remember last year when we visited sheffield, they put it in terms of informal chats on 'applicant day' (plus maths tests for some where the A level predictions arent solid enough)

Teta, I reckon their feet are the most important bit on a DofE trek - 4 days walking significant distances carrying a heavy pack is no joke. And socks are more likely to be usable in normal life thereafter than most of the other kit, if your DC isn't into walking normally - my DD uses hers with her docs or in wellies in winter not just with walking boots.

Yes Errol I'm sure you're right.I bought two pairs of Merino socks for hiking plus a very expensive Osprey rucksack with straps that were heated and moulded for her.I figure she will use it for years as will the other 3 dc's hopefully.

I'm a couple of years out of date but DS was interviewed by Sheffield and SOTON for comp sic and they were definitely not proper interviews more of in informal chat. it was made clear that you would get an offer regardless. I thought it was perhaps something the Unis like to do to try and combat the relatively high drop out rates in Comp Sci. By holding interview/applicant days then the applicants can get a better understanding of the course which will hopefully mean that they will know if the course is what they are after. DS enjoyed both days and applied to both places.

Teta, I would second Errol and say go to a really good shop to buy the boots. They don't have to be expensive boots but they do have to fit really well. DS' boots were hideously expensive leather ones but they gave him horrendous blisters. Have them fitted professionally if you can.

Good luck to Juggling's DS with the audition - very impressive! My two are very musical but this is overridden by the lazy gene unfortunately.

So glad to have read this. I had completely forgotten about DS's DoE 4 day hike the week after next!

And don't forget the pile of junk food! The DofE recommendations are great, it's the inverse of healthy eating. oh, and more seriously, if they're wild camping, water sterilising tabs and/or something like a Water to Go bottle.

Anyone back from Sheffield yet?

We are on the train home, horse!

DD loved it The place, the facilities and the course talk we went to

We are back, DS loved it too and decided it is his top choice - a turn around from wanting to live at home and commute to London!

We looked at the course talk then DS spent ages playing with Nao and Lego robots then saw the accommodation he likes the look of. We then spent some time in the city enjoying some of the festivities, looking at the shops and facilities and having a mooch around the millennium gallery before getting the train home.