Starting year 13 2016

[HSMMaCM]

Continuing from the year 12 - 13 thread.

Good luck with continuing studies, uni open days, driving tests, etc.

HSM though Rescue Remedy better for the liver !

Carl how is DD?

DD decided she wanted us all to to a musical for her 18th, which was very good and a lovely day for us all. She did pretty well on the money front and hoping to be able to pull off a 2 month trip to Asia this summer.

Foundation Art application in, acknowledged and she'll be having an interview before half term apparently. I'm really hoping this works out. Meanwhile she's about to start on p/t job applications plus is waiting for language exam results. I'm just wondering if I should be encouraging for her to look at some work experience in Bristol and whether my Dad could cope putting her up for a bit. Only just thought of that so will mull it over before suggesting it.

I though the way ucas works is that the student submits, then it automatically notifies the school to add references so even if the school has them ready theres a bit of a delay. And I imagine that they'd want to check the student has applied for more or less what they were expecting in case the reference was somehow incongruous with it. I read on another thread that as apart from ucas extra, some unis dont take too much notice of the 'deadline', don't know if that's correct or not.

DD's birthday is early Feb, but she doesn't seem particularly bothered about doing anything special - maybe something or other with her mates in the halfterm. She doesn't seem bothered about any sort of special gift either (she said, pragmatically, that she'll probably want lots of stuff before uni but won't know what till after results). I feel I should get her something but cant think what, she doesn't wear jewellery at all, which would be the obvious thing.

Errol that might make sense. The college have been very proactive about the whole uni application process, so unless dd had actively told them she wasn't going, they probably had her references ready to fire off.

HSM, you are a for staying so calm at least on the surface!

Shame for those with 18th's during the mocks - suddenly DD's late July birthday looks good - all exams will be firmly over by then!

Mirabelle, Asia trip? Your DD is a gadabout! And yes, Bristol p/t job sounds a great idea. Cash and experience

How is everyone? Just about to start mocks here so things are tense. it is surprising how little DS can remember from last year's courses (damn you Michael Gove!). He went on an offer holder day in Birmingham on Wednesday and still likes it so I think her will firm them.

Hi ono40, mocks done and dusted here. They went well and ds seems to be on course for his predicted grades at the mo.
Applicants day coming up in Sheffield on 7th February then he will be able to finalise his choices. I don't know if it is just us but ds seems a lot calmer and better prepared for A levels than he was for GCSEs, I suppose it is probably down to maturity.
Good luck with the mocks. 🍀

All offers received now, History course work handed in and mocks in 3 wks.

Had his final school report yesterday, it's all gathering momentum, isn't it?!

I think DD's mocks aren't till the week after next, she seems to be plugging away quite steadily. Definitely less stressful than gcses at the moment, apart from maturity it helps having far fewer subject and all of their own choosing, I think.

Ono, DD went on that too! It is now a possible firm - she needs to do an offer holders day at Bristol first to decide.

BTM - is she doing History as well?

Horse, History coursework still ongoing here, nicely timed to coincide with mocks, half term and 18th birthday celebrations. After half term I think the teachers will start running revision lessons as most of the courses seem to have been covered (except politics - just their luck to be studying USA which means it is like trying to nail jelly). It's all getting very close.

Meanwhile DS' mystery illness continues but the private GP we have seen has said possibly glandular fever caused by cytomegalovirus which can be recurrent or something called PFAPA which is a periodic fever syndrome. At last, some possible answers.

Ono, no, but the friend she went with is - he is putting it down as his firm (think he has an unconditional too)
Sorry to hear your DS is still suffering. Is he still soldiering on at school?

DD's mocks are finished now. She definitely has the feeling that she needs more revision of last year's topics.

She has 4 offers, but still hasn't heard from Bristol. She is thinking more and more that it will be a no from them.

She has an offer holders day at Birmingham on Tuesday. She has to get the train at 6.45 in the morning, which will mean getting up before 6. It will be a real struggle for her poor teenage brain

I am wondering if DS will ever make it to any morning lectures, he is NOT a morning person!

Aginghippy DD has only just heard from Bristol regarding an interview so there's still hope.
Mocks done and dusted here.Epq result .No one got into Oxford/Cambridge this year .Half the school are being forced into the silent study rooms during frees because of poor mock results.Dd says it's like going to Colditz and is not impressed.Seems to have regained some positivity back even though we haven't heard from Surrey/Nottingham ( interviews back in Nov. And 1st of December ).

Aginghippy, DD's bf didn't get his Bristol offer till March I think last year.

Teta, glad your DD is thinking a bit more positively. I don't think many of DD's year did very well in their mocks either and are having to retake them - DD said it was too close to Christmas for proper revision. Perhaps the same in your DD's place?

DD has to be out of the house 7:35 every morning to get to the school bus so she reckons getting to a 9am lecture should be a doddle!

teta - best wishes to your DD at interview. No news must be good news from the others.

DD's school has (as far as she knows) got less oxbridge offers than previous years had places (ie offers that also made the grade), I've read on another thread that some of the public schools such as Eton (though not all) are way down this year. Maybe it's the change in the exams plus the introduction of tests in cambridge shaking things up, or maybe it's related to trying to widen access (or a combination) - may be interesting to see how it pans out this year. (or these observations may be random anecdata )

Dds school had 14 oxbridge offers which I thought was quite a lot. They normally get about 4 in.

Thank you Errol for the good luck wishes.Its not until the end of next month ,so a while off.DD s friends are going to practice Interviewing with her beforehand as they feel bad for her as she hasn't yet got an offer.
Dingit is your DDs school a state school ?The only school that did well round our way is a international school that's high up in the league tables with nearly all Asian students.Even the well known public school near us didn't get anyone into Oxford.

Teta, it's a selective grammar, and indeed they have a lot of very clever Asian girls.

DS school which is a comprehensive got 15 into Oxbridge, mostly Oxford for humanities and a couple into Cambridge for maths/computer science. The feeling this year was that those who went for Cambridge had made a mistake as it was much tougher to get into.

Teta, good luck to your DD. My friend with the vet med student said they will likely ask her things like what she would do if a dog came in with a common condition like a limp. If she has had work experience then she will be able to draw on what she's watched the vets do to diagnose. Basically all they talked about was work experience at interviews.

DS has gone ahead and firmed Birmingham. I think this was based on him starting revision and realising the enormity of the task ahead!

Sensible boy, ono!

My DC's private school got the same number of Oxbridge offers as previous years (around 20% of cohort). Cambridge numbers were in line with previous years.

I don't know how a coordinated anti-public school policy could work in practice, as admissions are handled by college and by subject i.e. lots of different people deciding. I'm certainly not aware of any such policy. I'm also not aware of the pretests changing admissions demographics significantly, but I probably wouldn't be as I'm not in a subject that did pretests.

How many Applicant Visit Days are your DC doing?

My DS is considering 3.

DD's all interviewed, so the applicant days weren't optional. At this point, the one remaining she probably doesn't really need to bother with but its after exams at the start of halfterm so she's going anyway - interesting day out and maybe a chance to discuss her EEE v gen eng dilemma.

I guess with non-interview applicant days it depends if you had a good enough poke around on an open day plus logistics?

My dd is planning on 3 applicant days. Two were for places she had not visited before. The other is one she is thinking of firming and she hopes going will help her decide.