Starting year 13 2016

[HSMMaCM]

Continuing from the year 12 - 13 thread.

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

Sheffield is one of my dd's choices too. Though it is one of her 'lower' ones. OK it's not really low, all of hers are high and higher. She was worried about what to put as an insurance choice, but I said there is no point applying to somewhere you don't want to go. So she will just have to get her predicted grades .

Similar for my DD, aging. Whats your's applying for? (I feel like I need a spreadsheet of who wants to do what where to keep track of this thread! ). I think Sheffield may be one of the places which would give a slightly lower offer if she does well on her EPQ (though I may well have got confused!)

Can I ask if anyone's been to Nottingham and if so any general impressions? It's the one place which DD is considering which she hasn't looked at.

My dd is applying for mechanical engineering. There seems to be a big gap between the RG-type unis, who are asking for AAA or higher for mech eng, and the new unis, who are asking for quite a bit lower.

I haven't been to Nottingham, but dd has. It's on her 'maybe' list, so she can imagine herself going there. She says the campus is beautiful.

Sorry just lurking on this thread as my DD was in this position last year.
aging - at the Nottingham Uni open day, she was told as long as she had good predicted grades (I think it was AAA) then they would would probably make her an unconditional offer for mechanical engineering if it was her first choice. It is worth your DD asking/emailing if they still have this policy this year. DH and I really liked Nottingham but DD less so. She really liked Leeds, Sheffield (fantastic new building for engineering), Manchester and Liverpool. We looked round several others too.

My dd said the same and really loved it.Its up there with Bristol for her I think.

I am loving that so many DC are liking Sheffield (I went to the Poly and had a ball, with many friends at the uni)

Partially because the Vet. Side was Cow dominated and she loves Cows.Wheras Liverpool was more equine dominated and a bit more intimidating.
I do appreciate these are completely different reasons for choosing a university than the rest of you though..

LOL at following the cows teta ..... where the grass is greener?!

Cows are important teta!

aging - yes, similar story with EEE which is my DD's thing. I'm not sure that all the eng courses at 'newer' unis are fully accredited, we haven't really looked at them.

Thanks for the feedback on Nottingham. So long as there aren't herds of cows freely roaming the campus...

Make sure you find the beautiful lake at Reading University for your picnic Juggling. It is behind the halls of residence. Only university where I have seen a pool car for the use of students (if they have had a driving licence for over a year).

Dd would love it if there were Errol.
No, i'm sure it will still be the normal gangs of marauding teenage boys ( or are girls the marauders now?).

Nottingham is gorgeous Errol - quite hilly but lots of green space. No cows when I was there last

Would it be University Campus or Jubilee? I've been to both and UC is huge, whereas JC is much more compact but still nice - I loved the library at JC.

I've been trying to convince DD to look at Reading, as it's only a couple of miles up the road

I need to stay away from this thread, as I've just picked up on the Nottingham comments, and it does look nice. Mentioned it to Dd and got shrieked at, as the open day has been and gone, and she's not applying to somewhere she hasn't seen.

Have your Dc got their predicted grades? Dd is still waiting for hers although we can take a rough guess.

Dingit
I think DD has her predicted grades - she was asking the teachers before she chose which subject to drop.

DD has her predicted grades. They can't be good, because all she's said is she can't go to any of the unis she likes.

DD has her predicted grades because she went and asked each of the teachers. There hasn't been any formal (if that's the right word) notification.

Oh no HSM

Yes same here, aging. I think!

dingit, do you live far from Nottingham? You could always ask for a dept visit; they are usually accommodating.

Also, if your DD put it down, she would probably get an applicant/offer holder visit.

Would she consider that maybe?

My DD has has hers too - I think its part of the assembling info for UCAS process.

dd doesn't have her predicted grades yet which is a bit of a pain. For all we know she could be wasting her time on some open days.

Surely the predicted grades should be what they atrained at AS level (or internal exams) with possibly a grade on top if the teacher feels they could work harder/do better?

The difference between those two possibilities make a difference for at least two choices. Hopefully she will find out soon.

AS grades don't map exactly to A2 though. Apart from there not being an A*, quite a lot of kids do seem to up their game. This seemed to apply even with the old style, but the new ones there's been a bit of a learning curve. DD says that in some subjects (she particularly mentioned friends who do RS) some had done better than had been expected but others significantly worse - maybe some change in marking scheme that they hadn't got to grips with.