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

[orangecinnamon]

Just place marking for the New Thread!

No. Not yet anyway.

I'm conflicted about the possibility of a shielding letter TBH. Good as it means vaccine priority, bad because DH works outside the home and is very busy. It would mean some very difficult decisions.

Thanks for that @decorhate will give it a go !
I used to pride myself for being able to distinguish South vs North vs West vs East London accents ...can't do it anymore. Perhaps I've lost the gift more likely more mobility across areas.

I love different accents. I remember being quite shocked when Dd at 3 years old started talking in a Portsmouth accent. It was the speed it happened that got me. DH never lost his London accent but moved down around 6 years of age. I guess some children are more susceptible than others.

I picked up a Portsmouth accent too (moved to the area when I was about 9). I remember getting laughed at because of my accent in the new school so I probably adapted faster as a result. I live further out now and think it's faded again but occasionally hear it from others.

When do our year 12’s have to put UCAS applications in. I have tried speaking to DS1 about university choices but he just doesn’t want to discuss anything. We have got as far as he wants to do a maths degree but that’s about it. Dont know if any other DC are reluctant to talk about the future. I have suggested looking at the online tours but I’m not getting anywhere at the moment.

Same here @nard75. She says she'll do a Psychology degree but won't discuss details or look at online tours/prospectuses. I think the deadline is next January, unless you're looking at Oxbridge so there's plenty of time!

I think for dd, looking round some cities in the summer will spark her interest, so I'm trying to be patient!

@crazycrofter I don’t think the lockdown is helping at least if they were at school there would be more discussion about universities. He has visited Oxford in year 11 with the school and is in the Oxbridge group at school. Is the deadline for Oxbridge applications October? This is all new for me and DH as we didn’t go to university.

@Nard75 there is a facebook page and website WIWIKAU that is quite good (what I wish I knew about university).

My nephew got caught out for a place at Durham with Maths. Even though they did not have the additional admissions test as a requirement, it harmed his application not having done it as so many others had ! He deferred for a year quite early on upon application (luckily with regard to Covid) and is quite happily taking up a place at Lancs in October. He also had Warwick and Notts on his lists.

Look into when the maths admissions tests need to be done is my advice !

@nard75 if he's looking at Oxford I think it's 31st October and he'd need to think about the admissions test. I agree, lockdown isn't helping. Dd has been mainly focusing on looking forward to getting back to school rather than looking any further into the future.

For anyone who's interested in University of Birmingham, it's apparently now the most targeted university by graduate employers!

Eventuallydeleted hope I haven’t stressed you out mentioning the shielding 💐

DS isn’t engaging on university front, I’m leaving it till after Easter Nard the MAT for Oxford is November I think having seen our year 13s go through it. DS is going to do Maths too I think. Some seem to use the MAT as practice for STEP which is later I believe. I had originally thought that was for Cambridge but have heard that can help for other places such as Durham and Warwick.

Is it best to apply then defer if you get a place and you still want to defer, or say that you want to defer (and maybe putting people off) in the first place?

Thanks for the input I have sent some links to DS so he can look at them and hopefully we can start talking about it over the next few weeks. Is it just boys who are difficult to communicate with or are girls just as bad 😣

@Nard75 my dd is very communicative and chatty, she's just spent an hour and a half talking at me about different religions, changes in society, human rights etc etc, but if I'd tried to steer the conversation towards university options she'd have closed down, I'm sure!

Hopefully they'll come round once they're back at school and there's the peer pressure too. Having said that, a couple of months back dd did show me a short list of universities one of her school friends had drawn up, with entry requirements etc! It didn't rub off on dd!

@FoolsAssassin thank you, it's ok. He is very much "worry about it if it happens" which is wise. He's not much over 50 with good control of the diabetes and no other risk factors really so he is not too worried.

@Nard75 I find DS talks freely when we are in the car, you can get full on conversations about important things, it's incredible!

@Nard75 I think the UCAS deadline for Oxbridge 2002 applicants is 15th October 2021- after a quick Google that is!

Can't remember who wanted hard copy prospectuses but Nottingham's plopped through the letterbox today so it exists. Nice pics, low on detail! Nice tone, though.

DS doesn't really look at them, though. He signs up to taster sessions completely unbidden and has done a fair amount on UniFrog but looking at the actual unis I think still seems a bit remote to him.

I agree re the car. DS1 is utterly taciturn but on journeys up to uni, I have honestly felt like telling him to stop talking so I can concentrate!

When I took him to Aberystwyth we chatted all the way (until the mountain pass when we both went rather silent and pale ...)

Have just been reading an article about a student’s experience with the A Level fiasco last year - the scariest part? He almost missed his coveted place on an architecture degree because he’d not been on top of his emails.

Nagging your kids about this will be your main task next year!

Oxbridge deadline is always 15th October, but most schools want you to have done your bit at the beginning of October as they hey have to read everything, check grades, put in predictions and references. It it helps, you only have to enter the Oxbridge and Medicine options by 15th Oct, if your DC is trying for Oxford and 4 others, they don't have to add the others in until 15th Jan.

The admissions tests are end of October/beginning of November. I think they are all on the same day, so the BMAT, LNAT etc. If you apply to Oxford for Maths you do the exam before interview, if Cambridge for Maths, you don't have to do the Oct/Nov exam but instead there is a "STEP" requirement (done just after the A levels). I think Warwick use STEP too, it is fiendish!

@EventuallyDeleted

I picked up a Portsmouth accent too (moved to the area when I was about 9). I remember getting laughed at because of my accent in the new school so I probably adapted faster as a result. I live further out now and think it's faded again but occasionally hear it from others.

Kids can be so cruel, bless you. At least you didn't 'squinny' about it

No, I got a cop on instead

@Piggywaspushed

We have sent some kids off for law degrees with law A level, to be fair.

I would definitely advise against it. A Level Law confers no advantage at all when applying for a training contract or pupillage, and has a bad reputation amongst the professions. Basically, the last thing a law firm or chambers want is someone who has been studying law since they were 16, and it's viewed as a soft subject. It's not necessary to have a law degree to become a lawyer, after all.

No, I agree with most of that but I do also think the legal profession needs to modernise some of its attitudes : soft subjects etc. I teach a so called soft subject and it is waaaay harder than A level Lit, for example. The declaration about soft subjects is often made born out of sheer snobbery with no knowledge whatsoever of content or assessment methods. I think, mainly based on MN, law seems very entrenched in some dated , public schol attitudes (which actually nowadays aren't totally shared by the universities they recruit from). Why would it matter at all what you had at A level once you had been through a degree and all the other stuff? What possible difference could your A Level subjects make?

Not to study law, but the last person our school sent to Oxford had LangLit, Spanish and Law A levels! I am quite passionate about increased state schol representation at elite institutions and elite careers and the profile of what A levels can even be studied at some schools is different : for example, some comps no longer offer Lit A level but LangLit isn't facilitating subject (old money) so most unis have shofted their expectation on this for entry to English degrees. Politics has become more popular than history.Psychology has become hugely popular and no longer seems to be viewed dimly a s a pseudoscientific A Level. State schools students might well do economics without maths. Further maths isn't always available. etc etc.

All that said, I am not very impressed by law A level as it seems to be dominated by unimaginative rote learning.

Surely, not everyone who does a law degree wants to go to the Bar?

We got jabbed!! Text came through to Dh’s phone yesterday and got him panicked as he hasn’t been to the doctors in years.
When he clicked the link it was for vulnerable 16-17 year olds which was great as we knew it would definitely be the Pfizer one. When we got there, the head nurse said not only could I also get done but Dh (waiting in car) as we are carers for her! 2nd one mid May. The relief!! I know it’s not a guarantee of health but it another layer of armour.
I was dreading us getting ill, especially when Uni Dd away, as we have to monitor Dd throughout the night.
So make sure you go in with your vulnerable 16-17 year olds if that applies to any of you as you can get done at the same time!