A levels 2021

[Manlyman]

Thank you Kenyancowgirl They have had careers events so far but he already knows what he wants to do to a certain extent. I will keep an eye out for an options post 16 evening. I know he will drag his heels to make an appointment with anyone so I imagine I will have to keep on at him on that one for a while! That’s really interesting with regards to being the first to go to university. I didn’t know that but I imagine it is really competitive.

[kenyancowgirl]

Careers advisers are there to help a student achieve their aspirations, so, just because he knows WHAT he wants to do, their role will now be helping him to achieve that.

You want a post 18 options evening, not post 16. There is a lot of info online re unis - try and get to some open days if you can, to get a feel for the different sort of institutions - these also give you the opportunity to speak to Admissions tutors about him being 1st gen uni student.

[loobylou]

How's everyone doing?
DD is so looking forward to having the Christmas break; she is really enjoying sixth form but has found the workload quite a lot.
She's been to a taster day at a university which she loved but doesn't seem motivated to look at any other courses/universities - she feels it's a bit early for all that. However she's quite keen to have a parent with her if she attends open days (as opposed to the taster when she went with just friends) and I'm thinking I'll need to book annual leave so I'd like her to get on with it. She says school hasn't mentioned anything though so maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself.
How's everyone else getting on?

[kenyancowgirl]

Most unis have mid week AND Saturday open days - so you don't have to miss too much work! But you do need to book these days - not like when we just used to pitch up and wander round! It is unlikely that school will tell you when they are as there are so many - it is up to her to organise that with you - but school may have a maximum number of school days that she can miss for Open Days (ours allows them to miss 3) It is easier if they have an idea of what they would like to study at Uni as then they can narrow it down a bit - DS2 is clueless currently...!

[Tinkers]

It’s worth doing some in year 12 as you might find there are date clashes.

[loobylou]

Most unis have mid week AND Saturday open days - so you don't have to miss too much work! But you do need to book these days - not like when we just used to pitch up and wander round! It is unlikely that school will tell you when they are as there are so many - it is up to her to organise that with you - but school may have a maximum number of school days that she can miss for Open Days (ours allows them to miss 3) It is easier if they have an idea of what they would like to study at Uni as then they can narrow it down a bit - DS2 is clueless currently...!

She definitely knows what she wants to do at Uni which is helpful. She said this morning that she wants to look at courses over Christmas so she can make a list of possible open days.

[Eccentric]

Dd looked at Cardiff and Birmingham in October and intends looking at 3 or 4 others in June 2020 which will allow her to see as many as possible before deciding where to apply. She went to Birmingham with a friend and to Cardiff with me because it was too far to go in a day. She loved Birmingham and said that although she really like the sound of the course at Cardiff she felt quite unsafe in the City because it was so far between the course venues and the accommodation.
Dd has said she won't look at Cambridge because it sounds really snotty. So far she says she wan't to look at UCL, Barts and Edinburgh. Any other suggestions for Medicine?
DD also says that it is quite hard to keep up with the work for A levels. The hols seem to be spent catching up.

[ToadMum]

Unfortunately, Medicine is probably mostly a question of, 'Where am I most likely to get an offer?', rather than, 'Where do I intend to go?'. No good falling in love e.g. with a school placing a lot of emphasis on the number of high grades at GCSE with lowish GCSEs, even with really good A level predictions, or one prioritising the UCAT with only a middling score there and so on. etc.

Useful to know that one really doesn't want to go somewhere, I suppose, but a little bit cutting off one's nose..., if that's the place where one's 'attributes' would be the best fit.

[kenyancowgirl]

+1 to TM.

All medical schools are covered by the GMC so are rated the same in that respect. She needs to be honest with herself about which ones meet up to her best way of learning as that is where they differ - if she is considering Birmingham and Cardiff then she made that want to consider Leeds, Southampton, Bristol, Leicester, UEA as well. Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield also.

[Daogroupie]

Odd to dismiss a university because it sounds "snotty"

What does that even mean?

Imagine an admissions tutor dismissed her because she "sounds snotty"

She should go to the open day and make her own mind up about it. DG