Thread 14? Corona Cohort Yr 12 2021 - 'Vaccinations and Eliminations'

[orangecinnamon]

Just place marking for the New Thread!

@crazycrofter did you/DD talk to psychiatrists about routes to the sort of jobs she would like? It may be that to access the most attractive jobs you need to be a doctor or it may not. I think there will be more options available to qualified doctors, but that is not relevant if she doesn't want one of those options.

@Piggywaspushed do you know that GCSE requirements very massively? Newcastle don't care about GCSE results or A level subjects, Bristol only look at English and Maths. If they are good at the skills for UCAT and get AAA in any A levels they can apply to Newcastle. They don't use the Personal Statement, so if your 2 students could get a good UCAT score, they could apply for medicine at Newcastle without compromising their applications to other subjects on their UCAS form.

I don’t know about the non science Newcastle option but I do know that the highest graded Biomed students from the first year get a chance to transfer onto medicine. I believe that may be the case elsewhere too?

I don't work with these students any more so I presume they looked into it. I think the girl may still be pursuing it but the boy has definitely dropped the plan.

@Zandathepanda it is not quite as straight forward as that. High scoring Biomed students at Newcastle can apply for medicine and I think there are 10 places available but they have to do UCAT and interviews alongside normal applicants. When we went to Newcastle open day the Biomed people said that the number of people on the course who actually wanted to do medicine was quite frustrating as they were not really where they wanted to be. Most experienced medicine advisors recommend a gap year rather than starting Biomed.

@Piggywaspushed it is frustrating that lots of schools give bad advice on this. I updated the presentation our school gave to medics which had lots of things wrong. The most common one is that you have to do Biology, Chemistry and Maths and you really don't unless you want to go to Cambridge, and definitely should not if that compromises your chances of getting AAA. So many don't manage to get an A in maths and miss their offers.

@Monkey2001 unfortunately dd is resistant to really discussing the future at the moment. I think she just wants to live in the moment, enjoy her new friendships at sixth form etc.... But it's not very helpful in terms of future planning! She seems to have just decided she'll do a Psychology degree at a good uni.... which isn't a bad decision in itself I suppose.

I think a lot of schools are bad at giving very specific careers and uni advice : poor training of careers advisors, ideological training (so told to promote certain unis and apprenticeships) lack of knowledge of staff and careers advisers. Careers advisers who ahve to focus on all year groups etc.

Monkey2001 thank you for the more detailed information. I know it’s tough for the Biomeds to get on - the two I know of didn’t.

Ds won the snowman competition. But apparently sir thinks it's inappropriate to put a pic online of the winning snowman. Now everyone will wonder what it he made.

No I got that wrong...the teacher has put the winning photo online 😳

Brilliant Icanbe!

I feel careers advice is a real issue, especially when it comes to competitive uni courses. Students who don’t have very involved parents can be at a real disadvantage. But equally when I was a teen we did our own research & would have hated parents sticking their noses in but thankfully my kids let me “help”!

There are lots of factors - schools are obliged to pay for independent careers advisors but these may be more knowledgeable about vocational courses or apprenticeships. Once these are paid for most schools can’t afford other resources. And it can be decades since teachers themselves sent to uni so they may not have up to date info or be aspirational enough for their students.

It varies a huge amount of course & software like Unifrog can really help with research.

@Monkey2001 I really feel for kids (and their parents) trying to get into medicine. Especially as there is such a wide variety of entry requirements. My Dd (just finishing) would probably still say that from an academic point of view, getting in was the hardest bit. The course itself is not overly difficult.

@Decorhate indeed! DS1 got in after a gap year even with help first time round, but the main difference second time was that we had learnt more about successful applications and knew how to look at various statistics. It is not just that schools cannot give good advice, they actually give wrong advice because it is so complicated. I am fairly confident that DS2 will get in either first time or after a gap year because we have built up the knowledge of how to navigate the process, and in think all applicants should see it as a 2 year application process, but they are lucky if they get in first time they apply.

Good luck to your DD emerging into FY1 at this very odd time. I would be glad that she did not qualify last year as that was a real baptism of fire. Is she managing to do an elective or are they all cancelled?

You are doing this for the second time?! Chapeau! I told my younger two they would have to do something different as I could not do it again!

For Dd the main disruption was the first lockdown when placements were halted abruptly. She ended up staying in her uni city & got some paid work that was vaguely relevant. Summer electives were of course cancelled - many of her classmates were due to do theirs abroad. She had to forego a really interesting one in the UK.

Her uni decided to get them to do projects instead in the summer term & then they didn’t have a proper summer holiday - they caught up with placements instead.

All placements were condensed slightly this year & finals held in January- so just waiting to hear where she has been allocated for F1 now

Did anyone else do any of the RG thing? I didn't realise it started at 12!

@Piggywaspushed

Did anyone else do any of the RG thing? I didn't realise it started at 12!

I'm just going to watch in my own time...you can until the end of the month I think. You can fast forward then!

Yeah, you could rewatch all the videos. I watched the parents one. The uni stalls were links to things available on their website.

Some of the talks were instantly dull but the one for parents was engagingly delivered, albeit nothing I didn't know really.

@PaddingtonPaddington

DD not really looking at RG unis as although no predicted grades yet I don’t think they will be AAA or AAB. The only one possible is Southampton so will just do open day for this one at some point but her heart is still set on a conservatoire for music performance (where it’s based on audition rather than grades).

Counting down the days till half term here although DD has an online music course, online youth orchestra and needs to record her piano performance exam but at least it’s a change from the monotony of sixth form Teams.

Dd looking at some non RG for music...Lincoln, Bath Spa and Brunel. Chichester and Surrey too near apparently. Salford has good rep too. So many have high entry grades but their average admission grades tell a different story. It makes me so annoyed. Conservatoires at least take into account all the hard work a student puts in for performance.

Huddersfield ahs an excellent reputation for music : but far maybe?

Thanks @orangecinnamon and @Piggywaspushed

Have got Southampton, Chichester, Surrey, Lincoln, Huddersfield and Sussex on the list. Possibly Cardiff and Hull too. Hadn’t thought about Bath Spa will look into that course.

DS got grade sheet and is a little deflated. the grades are great ABB but it doesn't match the recent assessments when he got top A. Top A , and top B. He did such good sociology work she asked to sue it as an exemplar. I know teachers are being cautious but, as a teacher, I find it frustrating. It misses the point of helping them to aspire.

I always put kids the positive side of a borderline , especially if they work hard.

There are no predicted grades. These are supposed to reflect his current work but all his work for sociology has been at least A. I find it hard because I teach it and know he would be better than all the kids I teach!

Ho hum. Parents' consultation soon so we will see what teachers say.

I think he falls victim (as he did a little in CAGs) of always being the third best in a class. Although I am pretty sure he is the best in his sociology class.

First world problem, I know.

@Piggywaspushed I know exactly what you mean. Yes ABB are good grades but our children don't agree if they have been getting higher in assessments and homework. I can understand why they feel deflated.

DD was recently given A A C when she thought she would get A A* A as she has consistly got A"s and then last subject As with a few Bs. The teacher did explain that they are finding it hard to give report grades at the moment without the usual tests being done under exam conditions but not to worry as DD was doing well.

We have an online parents evening later today so I hope DD is happy with the comments. She is a typical 17 yr old girl in that you can say 10 positivies and 1 negative comment, and all she hears and remembers is the 1...

On another less grumpy note, these look fab for politics, English, philosophy, media, film.

www.herts.ac.uk/study/open-days/lets-talk-about-uni

They do look interesting @Piggywaspushed Though as it’s local to us ds will probably refuse to countenance even looking at it!

Does anyone know anything about the content of Economics degrees versus A Level Economics? I just wonder if it would be going over the same ground to a certain extent?