Corona Cohort Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave

[Monkey2001]

Supportive thread for parents of Y12 students going into Y13.

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4240252-Thread-16-Corona-Cohort-Year-12-2021-Zooming-through-Summer-Term

I did maths and we had 8 hours/week which felt fine, although I can't claim that I did a lot of maths in the rest of my time! I had friends doing English who had 4 hours/week. Engineers and medics had the heaviest timetable, pretty much 9-5 with Wednesday afternoons off.

Meant to say that it varies, but seminars in my experience were 12-25 people, tutorials 3-5 students.

I had between three and 8 hours a week depending on how many modules I was doing. I head job by second year and worked loads of hours!

That said, I was overall very hardworking. We had to read loads and do essays.

I don't actually remember, in those days, scientists doing any more in terms of lectures etc and the ones I knew definitely did not work harder!

In subjects like English and history you probably thrive if you are self motivated. DS1 (politics, second year) does very little to fill his copious time...

I did history (6-8 hours a week). I liked the opportunity to set my own timetable and plan my time. I was naturally a bit of an introvert though. The downside of a humanities subject is you don’t necessarily make friends on your course, especially if it’s a big year group and you do different modules with different people.

Thanks all, it might not have been quite as much as 20 hours but I certainly remember being really shocked that my geography student housemate only had 8 hours. We did make friends on our course with there only being 40 of us, but it was a bit insular TBH, there were plenty of fallings out as well as friendships.

I don't remember doing much work by myself either, only revising and doing my final year project.

I think my course must have been very unusual - or it was just a very long time ago! I did a BSc in geography, starting in 1986. My first year I had more hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials than I had had for my A levels. 5 - 6 hours apart from Wednesday which was a half day. Even in my final year I still had about 15 hours a week.

Hoping that if DS gets a place to study his choice of STEM subject, he'll have plenty of contact time, at least in his first year, as motivating himself to get on with work is not currently his strongest suit

I've just remembered Dd previous school owe us money from last year. The Prom deposit and lunch money balance. The lunch money alone is worth at least £12 I feel I would be really tight to ask for it back except that;

They put the lunch money balance toward the non existent delayed prom ticket without asking first

They refused to send out in post certificates using previously mentioned money. We 'just had to wait'

I'm feeling pretty hacked off about it all.

Then again, I did find a library book of theirs in Dd room the other day.

What if they've just kept all outstanding balances though? I'm not quite sure whether to bother chasing though

I did English, so a relatively low contact course: I honestly can't remember but I reckon I was probably doing maybe 6 courses at once: core courses would have had a 1-2 lectures + a tutorial a week, options probably less (some of my options definitely were tutorial only): BUT obviously lots of reading: I remember one fateful week where we realised we were expected to have read at least 4-5 Dickens novels by the end of the week ;-) Admittedly, we probably should have spotted it earlier ... I had a good mate doing history (agree with others that I made more friends outside my course than my science/medic mates) and we were quite disciplined about going into the library to work/read. Tbh, I can't remember it feeling like a real problem, but I was quite keen/loved the subject.

(Oh, and the Dickens was for one of the 6 courses, plus we'd have been expected to read around/critical reading as part of prep for that week)

It wasn’t a problem for me, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t suit Dd. She’s very sociable, loves group learning, thrives on being part of a group generally (only this year have I managed to persuade her that she can go somewhere on her own without the world caving in!). There are other reasons why an academic humanities degree wouldn’t suit her but this was also a factor. She tends to feel low if she spends too much time alone. So she decided on a vocational course.

But we’re all different. @AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore I do remember leaving all the work til the last couple of weeks of the semester! I also remember cycling home with about 15 thick library books strapped to the back of my bike!

@crazycrofter making the right choice is so difficult, I don't know how people without parents who research for them manage! DS1's GF always wanted to do medicine, but got ACD for her A levels despite working very hard (I think she is dyslexic, but has not been formally assessed). She decided (before we really knew her as they got together at beginning of gap year) to apply for Biomedical Science and plan for graduate medicine (very rarely a good decision), but switched to nursing before starting, which has worked out very well for her. She has enjoyed her placements and would have hated being stuck in her room doing on line lectures. She has also done brilliantly in all the assessments because she is top of the nursing cohort, which has been great for her after the A level disappointment. I think she might have liked midwifery even better, but a practical subject had been a great choice.

I don't think my two would have done at all well with low contact time, DS1 barely did anything outside lessons unless I told him to!

I know, I also wonder how kids without overinvested parents manage! I've already started researching ideas for year 10 ds!

DS has a UCAS day at school today. This morning he suddenly mentioned having done some university and course research. As he’s been completely averse to looking at anything this seems like a small miracle.

Current thoughts are Geography. He has made a list of some universities which I think is based on subject content although possible more random. List includes St Andrew’s, Kings College London, Bristol, Manchester and somewhere else I think.

Year 10 DD is very much interested in planning her future - she’s pretty sure on her A levels and eventual career path….

Well done to him @mirandawest! Dd seems to have been setting up her UCAS account at school as I've had a few texts from her with screenshots and 'what do I answer here?'!!

Same here @MirandaWest
Y12 DS very reluctant to engage with courses etc and forced into it by UCAS sessions this week
Y10 DD knows which course at which university 

Same here also @crazycrofter, I was sent a screenshot of the question about whether parents had been to university (um, yes DS, we have, as per several conversations with you lately) and job title of the higher earner. Told him DH's job title, reply was "really?" 🤦‍♀️

Similar here, y12 DS only recently engaged with anything post 18, y10 DD knows what course and has started thinking about unis already.

As for knowing our job titles, they have always known in vague terms but never shown any interest. Then about a week ago DD had a very specific homework question she needed help with, asked DH for help, he said "you'd be better off asking your mum about this one" and it turned out to be exactly what I do at work and have for many, many years. She had no idea and was a bit shocked.

Haha @singingstones, I was asked where the funding for the course was coming from! And she couldn't seem to be able to find Occupational Therapy on the UCAS site... No idea what she put for our job titles!

There seems to be a pattern here of year 12 DS and year 10 DD

DS will be setting up his UCAS account today and going to some presentations about different subject areas. Sadly nothing vaguely geography based though.

No idea what she put for our job titles!

I didn't realise but it's a pick list, you can't free type the job title. DH's is one of those wtf-does-that-mean IT job titles which of course wasn't an option. It has "architect" in there so I think DS just put architect

There seems to be a pattern here of year 12 DS and year 10 DD

I find it fascinating how they swing from being all grown up and ready to conquer the world, to being kids again. One minute DS is lecturing me about something or other, the next he is asking how to address an envelope.

I'm expecting DD to be easier in some ways, she'll be much more organised and proactive, but she finds exams quite stressful, so the challenge will be keeping her going through the self-doubt I expect. At their school they do a couple of GCSEs in Y10 as well as AS levels, so we are half way through 6 consecutive years of public exams. Next year is bound to be the worst

Hello all I’m a lurker, hiding behind the scenes since finding you in year 11. DD has just text from school saying draft personal statement is due in by end of today. I knew they’d had some talks at school and she’d mentioned a draft PS but thought it was due after the summer holidays.

Any pointers so I can support (calm her) her this evening? She wants to do Geography but hasn’t looked at courses or unis yet. She’s doing biology, psychology and geography a-levels. She’s stressing as she hasn’t any particular course/uni in mind and doesn’t have any work experience and her volunteering (for DoE - helped with Brownies) isn’t relevant.

I’ve had a quick look at UCAS website and some sample personal statements on a few websites and now I’m feeling overwhelmed!

@mummabear74 There are lots of sample PSs on Student Room website. The most challenging thing is how short it is!

I will paste some good advice from somebody who worked in medicine admissions, some of which well be relevant, it is a bit long, bit lots of excellent advice:

--+++++++++++-

Stick to an agreed structure. There are a few floating around but I’ve found this to be very effective:

A short introduction where you state your reasons for wanting to do medicine.
A paragraph where you reflect on your investigations into medicine (wider reading, work experience etc) and what you’ve learned about what you need. Try where possible to relate your own skills and attributes to the role of a doctor.
A paragraph in which you reflect on your academic experiences, where you’ve gone beyond the curriculum, and how these experiences have prepped you for studying medicine. Some people advise against this but, having worked in admissions, I do know it’s something that admissions tutors want to see because they want to know that you’ve got an understanding of what it’s actually going to be like to study medicine as an independent learner.
A short paragraph on what you like to do in your spare time. Don’t overdo this paragraph; coaching a football team at the weekends does not automatically mean you’re going to be a good doctor. They just want to see that you have interests outside of medicine that are going to nourish you as a person and which give you something to live for.
A short conclusion where you sum yourself up and ideally acknowledge what you hope to gain from a medical degree (I hate this paragraph but it’s good to finish what you start!).

Avoid any references to fire (burning passion/desire, sparks etc.). Try to talk professionally but like a human being. Avoid being vague i.e. anything along the lines of “I learned the importance of leadership”. Instead, try to replace these with very specific things that are relevant to you. One person I helped a few years ago said something along these lines: “after watching a doctor at a team handover, I noted how she was often the last to speak, after having listened to all the other members of the MDT give their views, which is a leadership style I have tried to emulate when leading my Young Enterprise group at school…” This was also an important lesson in editing for her as she realised that she could say something about her extra-curriculars which was far more meaningful in this section than that section and also save words doing it.

Thanks @Monkey2001 that's really helpful and I think the structure will definitely help focus her and break it down.

Does anyone know of any virtual geography related work experience available? I've had search but haven't found anything so far.