killerhales

My daughter just got her first offer for 2012 entry through the UCAS admissions system.
It's for a combined honours degree at Exeter.
She does the IB Diploma and Exeter are seeking a score of 38 points, which is a tough offer (40 would get you an Oxbridge interview in most cases).

She gets her results on January 4th so we shall know more then.

She's applied for two other courses with lower rquirements. Offers don't have to be made until March 15th at the latest, I think.

Fingers crossed she hits the 38 as that's her favourite course/uni in any case.

Anyone else with uni age children?

Mummy in the foothills

I do, our middle one finishes high school in June he'll be 18. He's heading back to UK next summer, but unlike his big brother he's not really Uni material (Yet) he may be in a few years who knows. He wants to be a Policeman so we'll see what happens, he plans to start with a job and the local tech and go from there. Still I think I'll be paying international fees.
Congrats on your Daughters offer, I hope she makes the 38

Belles30

Hi,all the best for your daughter, hope she gets the result she is hoping for.

Our son will be finished VCE here in Melbourne OZ when we go back to the UK at the end of next year.

He will be looking at Uni's to do a Computer graphic gaming course.

Did your daughter apply before heading back to the UK or have you already moved back?

I believe we will have to pay International fees as we have been out of the UK for some years.

When applying to Universities in the UK is it fairly straight forward if you have equivalent qualifications as A levels?

Cheers Leigh

quoll

You may find that VCE isnt quite A level equivalent and you may have to fund a foundation year. The equivalents can be found here http://www.britishcouncil.org/au-edu...qualifications which will show that you need a very high ENTER score to be considered for even a quite mediocre uni

The IB is an internationally accepted standard which makes it much easier to transfer than a country (or even state) specific grade

killerhales

We will move back in February and my daughter will start uni in the UK in October 2012.

You can apply from mid September in the year before you are due to start uni. It is all done online through UCAS (UK central uni admissions) in a very systematic way! My daughter's application went off in early December.

You need to keep in touch with school, as you need a referee to write a reference which is part of the process, so things are a lot simpler if you apply when still at school.

I think the VCE gets converted into an "ATAR" score these days so UK unis will certainly be able to consider applications on this basis. A Level scores have become somewhat devalued and three A grades is a lot more common than in my day!

We will be paying international fees too, so are budgeting GBP15K a year tuition plus GBP5K accomodation. That's before general living expenses!

Without wishing to brag, I've learned a lot about the UK uni admissions process in the last 6 months, so if you or anyone else has any questions, feel free to PM me. The UCAS website is actually very informative with lots of videos and other material to walk you through the whole process.

Good Luck!

Belles30

Thank you for answering my questions.

You must be excited,not long till you go home.

Yes we are budgeting around £12,000 per annum,we are hoping our son can live at home,we roughly know the area we want to live in and there are universities not too far that offer the courses he wants to do.

Just hope he really puts his head down next year and does the best he can,fingers crossed.

Thank you once again and i will take you up on your offer if I hit a stumbling block on the way to ask you your advice.

Kind regards Leigh

Sue

Bursting to know ... how did she do???

killerhales

Well, she did fantastically well with 39 points!! But...

She sent a copy of her IB results to Exeter last Thursday so they would turn her conditional offer into an unconditional offer that she could formally accept, then reject the other two offers that she had also been made.

She then got a shockingly casual email saying "we were just about to write to you anyway as we have made a mistake and the combination of subjects you are seeking to study will not be available in 2012 and you should not have been made an offer in the first place"!!! WTF!

She was understandably distraught. Exeter Flexible Combined Honours/Psychology/Admissions Staff are now running around trying to see if something can be offered as a alternative.

My daughter has recovered her poise and is now saying, in so many words, F*** 'em, if they are that incompetent is Exeter somewhere I really want to go?

Anyway, we will all stay calm and wait and see what Exeter have to offer, but the most likely outcome now is that she will be off to Bristol instead.

Sue

Well I am sorry to read that, must have been a shock.

My cousin went to Bristol (graduated 3 years ago) and she loved it!

Congrats to your daughter for doing so well.

Famous 5

Really sorry to hear about the mix-up by Exeter, but Bristol has a fantastic reputation so I am sure that will be a great alternative.

Famous 5

Hi Belles30

Just on your point about equivalent qualifications, you might find that it is worth contacting the admissions departments at the universities your son is interested in to check whether they accept Australian qualifications.

I have been told by a number of admissions offices they will not accept Australian qualifications, full stop - no negotiation over ATAR scores or subjects, just a flat "No". Admittedly this is for entry to over-subscribed courses at top tier universities. However, if we don't make headway soon, I think we will be having a major rethink of our plans, again!

Famous 5

Belles30

Gosh that is worrying, We have just sent a request at a uni that does the computer course he is interested in,they have replied but not to my question as they want a bit more information,shall let you know,he might have to do a foundation year maybe.I wonder why they don't recognise Atar scores,from what I have read over the last few years British A Levels are dumbed down big time where as the VCE probably is harder these days.Just my thoughts anyway.

Bob

If he's interested in working in games, don't do one of those courses. Honestly, they are shit and a huuuuge waste of money and unfortunately considered a joke by those in the industry.

Some are definitely better than others, Portsmouth for instance, but on the art/design front they are generally still rather shit.

Bit late offering the advice now I'm sure, but seriously consider a traditional art and/or design course which will be so much more valuable, especially anything covering UX stuff. The software is all really easy and stuff you'll learn on the side anyway as you certainly won't learn them on a games course to a good enough standard

Bevm

There was something on BBC Radio 4 yesterday about this, connected to the UK people up for Oscars for computer animation work. They were saying it's hard to get the right people for the jobs because those from computer sci courses don't have the artistic skills that are most important, and no university in the UK offers the right course. So Bob's right.

You or your son might want to contact a couple of companies and ask what courses they think would be most useful to him.

Bev

Belles30

Hi,actually my son had been saying this to us,we thought he was just not wanting to do uni.We have been researching lots of info so thanks guys.He is going to have a gap year anyway,he may still do uni,he is looking at 3D modeling, and computer animation,he isn't really artistic more creative if you get my drift.He also is doing Physics and Maths in his VCE which def helps with some of the the computer work,from what I have read if that makes sense.Oh the uni we looked at is a proper Uni not just the gaming courses over the Internet.Yep will get him to write to some companies,he tried getting work experience with some here in Melb a couple of years ago no one would reply.He now is having the same problem getting a weeks placement for his media studies.