Thread 16 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Zooming through Summer Term

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Careful round students in Newcastle and Durham too! Covid has swept through them very quickly.

Some of you might be saddened by this article

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/19/novelists-issue-plea-to-save-english-degrees-as-demand-slumps

There was someone on WIWIKAU panicking about the Cumbria degree having been axed.
The cult of STEM is indeed visible all over MN.

Does anyone here know how the U.S admissions system works? I’ve watched a couple of YouTube vids on college admissions and it seems they can apply to quite a wide range of universities on average about 12! I’ve always felt the UCAS system limits students too much with just 5 initially and then down to 2. I wish there was more choice.

God, *Piggy, that is SO depressing!

DD is applying to a handful of US colleges Shimy, though since covid she has shifted her priority to more European/UK unis because of the risk. There is lots of info on the Fulbright pages, but in essence, like Scotland, most undergrad courses are 4 years and take a liberal arts approach, like a broader IB with students choosing their major by end of year 2 to specialise more. It works well for students who have wide interests and also want to participate in extra curricula more than UK, but not advisable if they want medicine/law as they can only study those post UG.

Yes they cost, but there is also financial aid for international students from many high ranking, based on family income that is not loan/paid back. Entry is based on several factors that include transcripts of GCSE/predicted A/IB grades, references, essays, and SAT/ACT scores that are mainly test optional for 2022. But that has pushed up the number of applications.

Just to add there is no application limit (each one costs), most use portal called College Board; but you can try and secure an early place in the first rounds of early decision admissions (Oct) if you know where student definitely wants to be, some are binding and restrict you from applying elsewhere. Circa 30% of places can go at that stage, remainder in regular decision cycle that accepts submissions by Jan 2, offers anytime after to April, with acceptance ms around May. Offers are not conditional on summer results, though may be rescinded/questioned if way off predicted grades.

@Piggywaspushed that really is so sad. English is what I applied for but then my life took a different turn and I didn’t end up going to university at all.

We’ve been informed today that DS2 (year 10) needs to self isolate due to close contact having a positive lateral flow. They are following up with PCR so keeping our fingers crossed they come back negative.
Luckily he had his birthday last week and exams were done over the last two weeks

Oh no! Fingers crossed.

@Piggywaspushed: Eng grad here: wow, that article makes for sad reading - I find it utterly unimaginable that any uni wouldn't have an English degree: it feels like such an absolute basic! I do think the commodification of degrees and the university process has changed things so much. I studied English because I enjoyed it so much, and it makes me sad that today's students are encouraged less to study what they love. @EversoDelighted: dh and ds are off to Royal Holloway this morning, less because it's somewhere ds would really consider I think, and more just to have a flavour of uni life as we've not made an of the the f2f tours yet. Ds was very impressed by Warwick open day (online) yesterday and is finally starting to engage more with the idea of going to uni and the excitement of looking at the courses: although the course requirements of AAA and the tutor's assertion that they don't go through clearing at all was slightly intimidating!

DD looked around UCL yesterday, as she happens to be there right now. She finishes school next week, so she's been doing lessons online from London. She really wants to go to the Bartlett, but no one got in last year from her school apparently, so she needs other options. DD is quite keen on Edinburgh, but isn't it harder to get into Scottish Unis? I'm trying to persuade her to apply to Bath as it's the architecture course with the best employment prospects ( and the highest grade requirement) but she is adamant she wants to be in a large city ( preferably London). All of her friends want to be in London too, so I'm fighting losing battle .

Manchester had their open week last week, medicine talk was yesterday, which was good. The most interesting thing they said was that they are intending to have on line interviews for 2022 because they worked well for them. A friend whose brother is an Admissions tutor at Cambridge (Engineering) said the online interviews were not good and they relied more heavily than usual on admissions test scores.

I think on line interviews generally change the outcomes, but will be interesting to hear what others decide to do. Cardiff and Newcastle have not decided yet. Medicine, Oxbridge, architecture, nursing, other health professionals will all be affected.

One of my students had a shambles of an online interview. There are certain unis that interview a fair amount outside of healthcare (and education still interviews for undergrads) : Warwick and Manchester spring to mind. There was also some chat about online interviews advantaging the already advantaged. It didn't occur to Cambridge, for example, that not all maths applicants would have fancy smartphones and gadgets. I am not sure interviews are levellers anyway and online could make it worse.

New thread needed vvvv soon!

@Piggywaspushed as an English teacher you will have the most relevant perspective on this, but it seems to me that the only bit the govt can be blamed for is narrowing the GCSE curriculum, if that has put students off English A level. My DC were very keen to give up English, so I don't know so much about it, but my perspective is that the reason A level English is becoming less popular is because sixth forms are generally offering more subjects , so availability of Media Studies, Film Studies, Lang & Lit, Law, Politics all be impacting the popularity of English, and Psychology has come from nowhere to be 5th most popular.

Although Gavin Williamson is a prize idiot, I don't think the Tories are anti traditional degrees like English. I just checked his wikipedia and he has a BSc in Social Sciences from Bradford.

Anybody doing a new thread? Only 12 left in this one.

I think the government is very anti the Arts in general. Film and media have been around for over 20 years, and its definitely not that. It may well be something to do with the new GCSE but I am not convinced really about that. Speaking to kids I teach it has more to do with the excessive value placed on future earnings and on STEM (the rise in psychology is an interesting outlier in the earnings bit but perhaps they don't know!). When we had ASs and 4 subjects, Eng Lit was very popular so it has a lot to do with that. Girls are leaving the arts and boys aren't crossing back. History is also dropping in take up. Sociology (right near bottom of earnings tables) is buoyant.

There is an anti intellectualism which is quite pervasive. Kids don't read, don't analyse, don't ponder. They get spoon fed and prefer subjects with spoon feeding approaches.

Don't get me wrong : if you love science and maths (and/or need them for eg medicine) that is fantastic. I m v old fashioned : do what you love!

I had forgotten the bit about kids not reading because they spend their lives gaming and watching "influencers". DS2 really loved reading until about Y9, would read a book a day in holidays, but now barely every looks at a book, just watches a lot of youtube. DS1 stopped reading for pleasure around Y6. Both had excellent teachers for GCSE English but no longer enjoyed reading.

I might set up a new thread. Maybe "Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave", or is that too negative?!

@ealingwestmum thanks. Do you know how the universities manage their numbers? If each student is holding several offers I’m assuming there will be a deadline by which they have to decide. Do they also have to choose a firm and insurance? I’m just curious how that is managed by the Unis so people aren’t just holding onto places indefinitely.

I miss ds1 and his reading. He used to make up his own little comics and being very strong in art, used to include some amazing comic characters & made up super heroes etc. He was so imaginative. Now he’s a gamer .

Only 6 posts left, so I have made thread - apologies for uninspired title!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4275545-Corona-Cohort-Y12-into-Y13-braving-the-storm-of-the-third-wave?watched=1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4275545-Corona-Cohort-Y12-into-Y13-braving-the-storm-of-the-third-wave?watched=1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4275545-Corona-Cohort-Y12-into-Y13-braving-the-storm-of-the-third-wave?watched=1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4275545-Corona-Cohort-Y12-into-Y13-braving-the-storm-of-the-third-wave?watched=1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4275545-Corona-Cohort-Y12-into-Y13-braving-the-storm-of-the-third-wave?watched=1

Ooh thanks @Monkey2001