Now that it's been sorted, I feel I need to pick up on this:
As ahsat said, academics don’t normally like to be needlessly pestered,
Do academics assume that non-academics are happy to be needlessly pestered? 😀
(I've been following the thread because my eldest is the same age and going through the process. Just keeping an eye out for any interesting inside info.)
Glad it's worked out, having gone through it all last year.
It’s not an offer, obvs depends on the submission and possibly interview, but at least SHE’S BACK IN THE GAME!
Fantastic news!
Do academics assume that non-academics are happy to be needlessly pestered? 😀
Haha, more like folk think that academics sit around with all the time in the world, chatting to students for hours on end and sipping coffee/booze, like you see in films. I wish!
we all know about the SCR wine cellar, don't try to pretend..
TroutWrestler – there are many scenarios where the wrong address ends up via the form she completed, e.g. she put an address in thinking it was only used for account login and any important comms would be by post (as the letter saying no thanks was!), she put an address in because it was the one she remembered and forgot to change it to a better one later, and perhaps the least culpable: the autocomplete in her browser put the email in for her – I’ve seen it change mine between work and home depending which phone number I start typing. Yes for something so important she should have been more careful, but then if it is the critical route for Comms UKAS should probably validate it works too (send you a link to click). She’s probably 17 getting used to real life for the first time and the fact that old people like us expect her to use email far more than her generation do. I’d cut her some slack. In 2022 – if UKAS send a critical message they should probably back it up with a text!
I suspect it is more likely that the school have set up the accounts in bulk in advance of handing them over to the pupils. I oversee scores of UCAS Applications each year, and as challenging as it is, I really do not think that this is a good idea. I am not blaming anyone, more wanting to understand how it has gone wrong to ideally prevent it happening again in the future, maybe with a less successful outcome.
@theotherjonv - Do you now have access to the email account concerned? If not I would strongly advise that you get in touch with all the institutions to which she has applied and update the email address to the correct one. There will be many communications from the Unis regarding other stuff - arranging accommodation, for example - and you won't want to slip through that net either.
Yes, we do and we always did / had it. It might be an old email @aol.com and now replaced by an @gmail account but the account is still live and accessible (and will of course be watched as well)
The issue was that the autosync that collated all her emails from college, gmail and aol and supposedly put them into her Aplle mailbox (Mac, iPad, iPhone) had stopped syncing from the aol one some time back.
Good plan though to make sure that Warwick, Kent and RHUL all have her new gmail anyway.
Holy thread resurrection!!
After all the good advice, and having got back into the system she had to submit her portfolio and then we waited......for what seemed an interminable time...... until she got called for an 'interview' last week. Which was actually a panel thing, where they had to work together with others being interviewed and also do some 1-1 activities with the course tutors.
And she finally got an offer today which she has accepted!!
Thanks again everyone for helping us to sort this. Just need the grades now.....ABB or eguivalent ('cos one of her courses is BTEC)
That's awesome, tell her well done!
Great News!! It's good to know that honest mistakes don't rule out good candidates, unlike in many job application processes.
My Daughter is in Y12 and has set her heart on Philosophy at Cambridge - no pressure!! We are about to start visiting her other options soon too. We had a good chat about being realistic, whilst still aiming for the moon.
She won through to the national finals of the Cambridge Student Debating Competition, held in the Cambridge Union where the great and good of the world have debated and spoken. The whole experience really lit a fire in her.
Excellent outcome!
👍
Great news theotherjonv.
@dantsw13 MCJnr is in his first year at Cambridge, doing music at Pembroke. If you have any questions I'm happy to pass them on if I can't answer them for you. "Lit a fire" was how it went with him.
MCTD - thanks. It's that kind of place isn't it? My wife & I were both in the bracket but didn't have the bottle. Back then as working class kids I think we both thought we wouldn't fit in. Whilst there's still plenty of snobbery, it is definitely changing.
We stayed overnight for her debating competition. Some of the conversations you hear from groups of students are a bit different to when I was at Leeds!!
"Lit a fire" - Warwick's not Oxbridge, it's not even Durham Castle where I lived for a year but we had the same on the day we visited; in a way it helped it was an autumnal misty day and as the sun broke through and more of the campus revealed itself the various parts of the modern campus and the central square just started to fit together. And then on seeing the performing arts spaces, which is her real passion (hence media and creative for her degree) her eyes started to really sparkle with the wow! of it all.
My challenge at all the places that we went to was 'could you see yourself here for 3 years' and to that the answer was a resounding yes!
I think often there's an assumption that Oxbridge is best. In many subjects it just plain isn't. As in Schools, getting the one best for you is far more important than going where you think you should.
Your daughter must be properly chuffed and relieved. It's been a tough few years for teens, when they should have been out clubbing, singing and meeting people.
STW never ceases to amaze me with the spread of amazing jobs we cover! I don't suppose anybody is the Philosophy admissions tutor for Clare College........?
Oxbridge isn't necessarily the best for quite a few subjects - eldest had the option of maths elsewhere or music at Cambridge, so he's following the dream.
Some of the conversations you hear from groups of students are a bit different to when I was at Leeds!!
Jnr is studying music, but isn't good enough to play in the main uni orchestra - half the National Youth Orchestra seem to be studying there but doing everything but music. That puts into perspective what he's living with, and learning from.
Last week he attended the pre Union meal, he was quite excited that Vince Cable was there. He ended up sat next to.the guy that set up Independent Sage, who had a lot to say apparently. Whole other world for a lad who's primary school failed Ofsted and his secondary school would have done without a well timed change of academy status - though one of the girls from our village in his year made it to Oxford to do maths
Posts crossed - my lad applied for a different college, had (online) interviews with someone from there and someone from Pembroke. His first choice college didn't want him but Pembroke took him through the pooling system*, and he reckons its the best thing thst could have happened to him. Different college's do seem to want/attract different types of people, Jnr is one of the ambassador team that promote the college and work with prospective students at open events, and he reckons he can see the "type" at that stage.
*Pooling is definitely not the same as The Sorting Hat, but honestly, I find Hogwarts comparisons the best way of getting my head round the wonderful craziness of the place.
My daughters path is village school & State Grammar - she has quite a strong view on which colleges she likes, but as you say, with pooling you might end up with something completely different.
Even the other collegiate universities aren't quite the same as the oxbridge way of doing things - more a social collegiate system than the full monty. If she doesn't get in, it won't be for the want of trying. Essay competitions, philosophy workshops, debating clubs ; definitely trying to tick as many academically relevant Super Curricular activities as possible.
I know she would flourish there, but it's a tough gig where all the applications are strong. Even if she gets the grades and yes the interview, she could still just not be the lucky one on the day who they want.
