Corona Cohort’s Year 12 adventures

[FoolsAssassin]

We’ve made it into year 12 and rapidly approaching the end of the first half term .

Lots of challenges we could never imagined as we started the year but we’re all keeping on keeping on and this thread is for anyone who would like to jump on board to share the rather unusual journey this is turning out to be.

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I work at Birmingham University (not on the academic side) so can answer general questions about Birmingham! What was wrong with Bristol @FoolsAssassin? Having looked at the top 20/30 or so unis for Psychology and excluded London and Scotland, I think dd will probably be looking at Bath, Durham, Lancaster, York, Bristol, Exeter, Cardiff. Possibly Oxford if her predicted grades are good enough, but she's not massively keen on the idea at the moment. She loves Wales and had set her heart on Cardiff, but I think she needs to look elsewhere - even if only to confirm that she wants Cardiff!

And if grades aren't in the AAA ballpark then we'll have to look further down the list. Birmingham is quite high up too, but her previous school was right next door to the university and she walked through campus every day from the station, so she's not interested!

Have heard the campus is lovely in Birmingham and not to discount it for someone who isn’t keen on big cities - is that a fair statement?

Have had 2 friends with DD’s at Bristol who have had to move halls in year 1 due to drug problems and had a horrible time. One settled down fairly ok, the other just hasn’t and on year 4 now, it just doesn’t suit her, I grew up in Bristol and have a very soft spot for the university as used to work there but I do think it suits a certain type of person. No idea on the suicide rate at other universities but I read the local paper Bristol has lost quite a few to suicide the past few years which concerns me greatly .

It's the best of both worlds.

The campus is out of the city and is, indeed lovely. But hop on a train at University Station and you are in the city centre in 5 minutes.

@Piggywaspushed what makes an MFL course boring? DS isn't doing MFL I was just curious.

His other 'choices' currently are KCL, UCL and maybe Sussex. School seem to be suggesting they should all be putting Oxford and Cambridge down but a) Neither do the course he wants to do and b) He'd never get in!
They are being asked at school what they want to do and start choosing unis but they won't get predicted grades til next year so I'm a bit worried about him setting his sights on the Russell Group unis when he might get low predicted grades.

That’s right, it’s a lovely campus, very green and the area where most second years seem to live is right next to uni so a bit of a student bubble really. It’s easy to get into the city by train (5 mins) but you could avoid it if you didn’t really like big cities!

And you can watch the cricket.

That’s very different to what I originally imagined, thank you !

Justherewithmypopcorn don’t forget that there are a number of students admitted each year with grades lower than advertised and their initial offers. Depends on them University and the course. It might be handy to find 2019 and 2018 a level threads which may have examples of dropped grades that were accepted

Good idea, thanks Fools.

I've been keeping an eye on some for Dd. Birmingham looks great for Music and they seem to be handling the practical modules/performance issues during covid well. My advice is to follow departmental twitter/instagram if you want to get a good feel.

Dd STILL has her heart set on Southampton, I'm worried as it is so close (she is a home bird)but the course looks lovely, the teaching staff great and has the breadth of modules she is looking for. I work at a small uni in the south so have had to go to Highfield campus a lot. It's not stunning to look at but has a lovely friendly supportive vibe. Anyone I've met who is alumni seems to get misty eyed and nostalgic when they talk about their time there...quite bizarre .

Cardiff looks good for her too. They are the top three. She also won't go too far north apparently.

Dd is adamant that she wants to go to University of the Arts in London to do English - basically because she wants to live in London She may need to find a very well-paid summer job first!

Tbh the thought of her going to uni makes me nervous, as her issues around ASD and mental health are pretty debilitating, and successful independence seems a long way off I'm just hoping something will click in the next few months

I'd like her to look at some of the more 'local' universities like Exeter, Bath, Southampton I went to Bristol but I don't think the pastoral care there will be anywhere near what she needs, although I have lots of family there, so she would have ready-made safe places to escape to if needed

It really is a tangled and thorny web Can anyone recommend universities with good systems in place for students on the spectrum

I think I'm feeling wary on grades because of how let down I felt after the GCSEs.

Southampton's music course does look great but I fear it's too academic tor ds.

Birmingham though is a wonderful music department with access to conservatoire teachers for 1:1

@TheySeeHerRowling

Dd is adamant that she wants to go to University of the Arts in London to do English - basically because she wants to live in London She may need to find a very well-paid summer job first!

Tbh the thought of her going to uni makes me nervous, as her issues around ASD and mental health are pretty debilitating, and successful independence seems a long way off I'm just hoping something will click in the next few months

I'd like her to look at some of the more 'local' universities like Exeter, Bath, Southampton I went to Bristol but I don't think the pastoral care there will be anywhere near what she needs, although I have lots of family there, so she would have ready-made safe places to escape to if needed

It really is a tangled and thorny web Can anyone recommend universities with good systems in place for students on the spectrum

We do well on pastoral care Rowling but only do Lit? But you might find a lot of the smaller/newer universities have good support systems in place. There might be various reasons for this, in our institution I put it down to the strong history in teaching and learning support (one of the old teacher training colleges).

What about UEA that has a good rep?

@Comefromaway

Southampton's music course does look great but I fear it's too academic tor ds.

Birmingham though is a wonderful music department with access to conservatoire teachers for 1:1

Thanks @comefromaway great to know! This term she is leaning towards teaching/community music. Next term who knows? But it always involves Music. Worrying especially given the current circumstances but hopeful she will gain transferable skills and be happy which is most important.

Both me & dh are music graduates.

Amongst my coursemates (universty geared towards teaching) are teachers, a paramedic, I used to work in arts admin but now work in accounts/payroll etc

Amongst dh's conservatoire alumni are teachers, a physio, a barrister, professional performers and everything in between.

So Music is just like the other academic degrees then? You can basically do anything with it!

@OrangeCinnamon1 how is dd finding A Level Music? And what standard is she on her main instrument? Ds has suddenly discovered a passion for playing the piano. Before lockdown he was slowly working towards grade 3 with barely any practice going on, now he's playing grade 6 pieces and practising constantly! He's enjoying Music GCSE too and thinks he may do the A Level (although whether it ends up being offered by the school he'll be going to, is another question). Ds tends to get really into something for a few months though, so this may have passed by the time he comes to choose A Levels!

Thanks, orangecinnamon - I wish she would consider Bournemouth, as it's by far our closest and good rep for the pastoral side - plus I think she'd find her tribe there, as it's so strong on media and film, which she's heavily into - but she insists she wants to go further afield

Dd2 (year 11) is considering Music, and just applied to do A-level in 6th form, so watching this particular topic with interest

Ds is interested in Salford, Leeds Conservatoire, Huddersfield & LIPA so far.

DD is planning to study medicine so her choices will be strategic based on where she is most likely to get interviews. At the moment Oxford is on the list (quite likes the idea of being where her brother is and did a residential there). Edinburgh is also a possibility because DH and I met there and she thinks it's 'romantic' maybe?

It's really interesting to hear about Unis and other people preferred options and opinions.

DD wants to study Biology at somewhere like Durham, York, Bath, Warwick, Exeter etc. I say somewhere like as she has no idea about any of these places yet, but they are high on the top 20 list..

She would really like to study in Scotland but she can't as she isn't taking A level Chemistry so that rules out most of London and Scotland.

All those I mentioned above (and a lot more) say they accept Psychology as a 2nd science but I am worried that when up against others with probably A grades in Bio, Chem and Maths she won't get an offer (she is taking Bio, Psych & PE), she decided to take PE rather than History or Spanish as her 3rd subject as she has a great chance of getting an A (likely to need 3 x As).

Until she applies (assuming she gets the predicted grades to apply there) we have NO idea where she stands.

I feel a campus style uni will suit her more than city based. She isn't great at making the first move, but if someone talks to her first then she is fine, and then very friendly. I also worry that she won't want to make the break from her friendship group (currently 10 of them). I really hope she doesn't choice a uni purely because 1 of them is going there.

School wise - had a very dull 1st week of half term here. Raining, tier 3 so not much happening at all. Not much work done that I've seen but she has rested up, spent time sorting her bedroom (again). She has been hockey training and has a match tomorrow so at least she will see those friends. Has decided not to meet up with school friends or other non hockey friends at the moment to keep the risk down.

Has school work planned for next week, and we will try to go out for the day as DH is off work for a day or so.

Provisional driving licence applied for - well part 2 is here on my desk waiting to be posted. I thought getting the "right" photo would be hard as she is very fussy, but nope that was the easy part. It was the signature that caused the most fuss! She doesn't have 1 so had to get it just right.. Why did I have to give her a name beginning with J as it's so ugly! To be fair it was said in jest. She has been good company since our "moment" last month.

We are currently working our way through Peaky Blinders, The Haunting of Bly Manor (not a fav of mine) and Married at 1st sight for some more lighthearted moments...

Hope those of you about to start half term, stay free from having to self isolate and get to enjoy the time off.

No idea what subject DS might do at university (and that is assuming he wants to go although I think it’s a reasonable assumption). Pretty sure it won’t be Maths (other two subjects geography and RE which gives various possibilities).

I went to York and moved back here 10 years ago and now live about 10 minutes away so while if it were the best place for either DS or DD to go I would encourage them, I would prefer them to go a bit further afield!

Currently waiting outside the vet as DCat had a fight this morning and was in pain when I held her, so have brought her in. Is odd not being able to go in with her.

Thanks @comefromaway - really interesting to know where degree holders go.

@crazycrofter - yes I think Music is quite a good degree plus ample opportunities for extra curricular and lots of work experience doing so , for all the the different elements she has been interested in musicology/ history of music, therapy, business/marketing teaching it seems to be covered. She currently going for grade 8 voice in June and hopes to get her Trinity teaching diploma whilst at Uni. She started piano last year and was grade 5 standard - I do hope she is keeping up practice on that but things have fallen by the wayside with change of school and Covid. She also plays guitar/ukulele anything else she can get her hands on We are not musical at all so i'm quite lax with the forcing to practice etc.

Bit worried about her extracurriculars but she has joined an online singing group so that will be something to put down at least.

@MirandaWest hope the kitty is ok ?!

Ds said everyone in his year was given a progress report yesterday apart from him. I hope he brings one home today. Last day. Then 10 days off (including weekends)

We bought ds1 a new car today (not brand new obviously!) So he needs to bring the older car home from university ready for ds2 to learn in next month. Eek. I find the thought of sitting beside a learner again terrifying.

Ds2 thinks he wants to do history with philosophy at university, not sure whether that's a good degree choice or not. He says he wants to go to Sussex university, I'm hoping he will consider others too. His half sister went to Sussex university (now in her 30's) she still lives in Sussex.

See if I had my time again I would make different choices right down to A level. I went to City Uni in London because my boyfriend at the time convinced me too. I didn't even look at anywhere else. I started an awfully boring joint degree in the hope of working in the 'media'. I put down Sussex Uni Social Policy as a choice too but my statement was geared to the media side so no wonder they rejected me - such a shame I think I would have really enjoyed! I didn't even know where it was /proximity to Brighton - in those days we didn't really have the internet access. There was not a real campus feel despite buildings being near at City - it was so disparate and easy to get lost in the system. Hard to describe. The halls were ok - about five mins walk away I met my husband there. I couldn't really afford to live there. I had very little guidance at sixth form and my mum was clueless. Of course I ended up dropping out !