Year 12 / 6th form support thread

[minesawine]

The term is about to start and I though it would be good to have a support group to help us on our 6th form journey.

May the year be drama-free and our DC's study hard and without complaint

Dd1 loved Durham. Apart from the distance.
She decided St A's was a step too far though.

DD1 is looking at UCL and Reading, open days in autumn. She wants to study archaeology with the aim of going into the museum/archivism end, especially after her work experience in the records office in a nearby town. She's done very well, flown through Yr12. A couple of her friends will have to retake though, she's sad about that.

Last day of school! Yippee ... think I'm more excited than dd :D

Got her mock results - AAB & ABC ... they've predicted her A*AB but she's doing another set in September anyway. She had an absolutely brilliant time on the Headstart course, dh & I went down yesterday to watch their presentations & enjoyed it too.

It was great for her because it was the course she wants to do in the place she wants to go. Apart from the academic stuff she's come away with a good understanding of what they are looking for in applicants - they like EPQs & put a lot of emphasis on the personal statement & the interview. If you do well in all three they are flexible in the grades they want - AAB but will go down to ABB (or even BBB).

The meeting with school went well today too, I'm still worried about the chemistry teacher situation but they were helpful with my niggles & actually nice to dd (think they must be glad it's the end of term too). I've asked them to separate dd & her best friend in lessons (they sit next to each other in biology & chemistry) ... how ridiculous is that for two nearly 18 year olds? They agree that they are a bad influence on one another & best friend will probably do better if he's not constantly copying dd.

oh & it's okay that she'll only be applying to two places (Southampton first choice, Bangor second) - they have a couple every year who only apply to one, so it's not completely weird.

So how are the summer holidays for everyone? For us this feels like a rerun of Y10 when DD spent ages pulling together revision notes, this summer it’s reading & re-reading a huge collection of novels, plays and some history books.
Plus DD needs to work on polishing her personal statement, and working through the entrance requirements for the various drama schools she’s looking at.

errorofjudgement
DD steadily working through holiday prep here. A fair bit of reading and research being done. Found a p/t job too so summer disappearing quickly. PS is ‘under construction’. The backbone of her story is there...it just needs fine tuning. She’s hopeful to get it done and away as early as poss once School back so it can be forgotten about. Only have 3 main choices (I’m a bit concerned about that), 1 poss insurance (not visited) and checking out an aspirational one later this week. She isn’t that keen on it and isn’t likely to get an offer from them anyway! (Edi - she’s a Scottish applicant) Its the only Scottish one she’ll consider though 😏

@eatinglesschocolate - I’m relieved DD isn’t the only one working hard! Your DD also sounds very focussed. Impressed at getting a p/t job, my DD looked at me with horror when I suggested she consider it - though tbf I was encouraging her to apply to be a Christmas elf at longleat at the time
What is your DD wanting to study?

Dd has more work than ds ever had for summer. She has already fitted in work experience, an essay competition, 2 weeks of drama. Now has 2 weeks to research for each language irp, write her personal irp, complete biology notes and go over maths, update personal statement/ucas before our holiday and a week long field trip, as afterwards there are just a few days before school restarts.

errorofjudgement
Int Relations is the plan. She's sweating in a busy cafe...I think she'd rather be an elf!! Is there lots of choice for drama courses?

DD just announced about 5 mins ago that she's really not fussed about Edi so back to the drawing board for that 5th spot on the form. She had planned to double up on her preferred choice uni but after talking to them at the open day realised it wouldn't help her so no point. At this rate it'll be decided by a random last minute 'throw a dart at a prospectus'.
LIZS Wow!! She's busy!! Apart from working and the holiday prep mine is mostly just eating and sleeping. Managed to get the course work exp out of the way a while ago thankfully.
A question.... if you are predicted above the normal offer...would you be relaxed and expect an offer (provided ps ticks the boxes)? All her choices are below (not by a huge amount) her predicted grades. She doesn't fancy any of the higher offer courses/unis.

Oh my word LIZS that sounds totally full on. DD has been on 1 short drama course but it was very useful and has put BOVTS top of her list!
What is your Dd hoping to study?

Eatlesschocolate - I keep reading that’s it’s a small year group this year ie those starting in September, and I’m hoping that will spill over into next year too. So if your DD is looking at unis with standard offers below her predicted grades then I would be optimistic that she should get a full set of offers. The twist could be the popularity of the course, ie lots of very good candidates and deciding who to choose.
Am I right in thinking that the Scottish government restrict the number of places at Scottish unis for their home students? Presumably it works to cap the cost? So again I guess that could be a factor.

Sorry to answer your question, yes there are lots of drama courses, but only a limited number of acting courses with 30+ hours contact each week. Of those, not all are via UCAS, and some are completely private. So not a standard form!
Added to that, they typically have around 30 places, and upwards of 1800 applications.
So not an easy choice! Realistically Dd is anticipating a gap year, and may eventually look at studying History if she hasn’t got a place in 2-3 years, so she needs to keep working at the A levels to have the best options possible.

errorofjudgement AAAGGHH the Scottish capping. It's the main reason she is only having one Scottish choice. Both St A's and Edi offers for her course are very low.... so a bit like buying a lottery ticket. That's the reason for my question really...even though she's predicted good marks and within their offer range there is so little chance of the offer that it's not worth choosing both. The figures for your DD's drama sound equally as sobering. She's very happy with her 3 fav's so if she only got an offer from one of them it wouldn't be the end of the world. Time will tell.... this thread is going to be glowing hot over the next few months I imagine.

Oh no! I wondered if that was an issue! But as DH is fond of saying, someone has to get the offers, so why not your or my DD.

We have had that conversation.... you've got to be in it to win it after all!!

Dd1's working far harder than I remember ever doing.
She's got her computer project to do (and apparently the college is not good at supporting that-no one's got a good mark for a few years, so she's talking to friends on TSR) plus the extended project, plus preparing maths for the MAT test that she wants to do.

Hi Witchend, your DD also sounds v busy!!

We’ve had 2 older DC go through sixth form and I don’t remember them working this hard, frankly apart from a bit of work experience and then adding that to their PS I don’t think they did anything in this holiday.
I guess the fact they did AS exams so already had half their exams done really helped with managing their workload. I’m not a fan of the return to terminal exams, our DC should be able to relax in these holidays and have a proper break before starting again in September.

Well, to balance out, ds has so far done nothing He has told me a list of things he wants/needs to get done, so maybe that will begin to happen at some point ....

Ds did well in his GCSE with a whole string of A* and only 2 As. Last year he has been a lot less focused. Not seeing any signs of PS, EPQ (for which he signed up), deciding which uni or which course he wants to do. His room is such a tip you can' walk in it.
" there is still loads of time to do it" is the standard answer.

I wish DD was a little more chilled! Still her term doesn’t re-start until the 10th so I’m hoping she will at least relax a little in the last couple of weeks.

Re UCAS, DD has shown me a template type form to help with the PS. It looks like it comes from UCAS - I don’t remember my older 2 having this but it certainly looks helpful! Has everyone else got this (& I’m just a bit behind the times )

Hi error DD got a template thing too. Her school using Unifrog. I think it's helpful to make sure they've remembered to put everything in before starting drafts. DD1 didn't have it.

I agree - it looks really good. Much better than remembering most of the way through you’ve forgotten to include a really useful piece of work to support your application.

eatinglesschocolate it seems to me that it is worth making at least one optimistic choice if the others are relatively safe. Have you checked whether the courses DD wants are in clearing? I saw on TSR that there are more courses in clearing than ever, some because students do not want to apply before getting grades and some because universities have decided that they can pick up really strong students. If some of the courses your DD wants are showing in clearing, there is less pressure to make sure she gets offers early on, so less risky to make choices which may not work out. Particularly if set against the massive cost saving of studying in Scotland for a Scottish student.

Re Personal Statements - It does seem that a lot of universities are now ignoring them. For medicine - Newcastle interview panels never see them, the Biomedical Sciences Admissions Tutor never looks at them, Leeds have taken them out of the assessment process and I don't think Sheffield looks at them either. Might be worth checking with Admissions Tutors for the courses your DCs want before putting masses of work into them.

I observe from the comments hard working girls and relaxed boys! My DS has managed to read a quarter of a book but do a bit of prep for medicine exam (UKCAT). He has done no school work at all.

re the personal statements - Southampton (earth & marine sciences) said they were one of the few universities who are actually interested in personal statements ... make of that what you will.

Monkey2001
At the moment St A's is looking like the preferred optimistic choice. I agree, she should have one like this. The problem is that she really likes three that are more likely to give offer and get grades so having an optimistic one is sort of 'picking it for the sake of it' rather than because she would wish to be there...if you get my drift! Although being free also would need weighed up if she actually got the offer obviously.