2017 seems so long ago, now .....

Xenia · 13/05/2022 16:35

www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4548828-2017-seems-so-long-ago-now

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ErrolTheDragon · 13/05/2022 18:52

DDs been given notice on her rented house, it's being sold to first time buyers for a ridiculous (imo) amount of money. It's a pity, it was in an ideal location for them and has a parking space.

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bettbburg · 13/05/2022 20:22

My dd is still studying too, she's got three years to go.

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Haffdonga · 13/05/2022 20:53

Thanks for the new thread @Xenia. Amazing we're still going!

@bettbburg what's your dd studying? 3 more years is quite a stretch.

@ErrolTheDragon sorry to hear your dd is having to move. I hope she finds somewhere as good.

Ds is supposed to be starting his elective in Sri Lanka next week and in 2 minds about what to do due to the civil unrest and curfew there. The uni have been incredibly vague basically saying well we understand if you don't go but you'll need to find something else to do instead. The people at the hospital in Sri Lanka have said it's all fine. At the moment he's looking at delaying his start and hoping things will be clearer one way or another in a couple of weeks.

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Needmoresleep · 13/05/2022 22:06

Hello all. A year to go with DD and two years with DS. DDs finals are in June, and as she is on placement during the week, her weekends are lost to revision.

The elective sounds a pain. DD’s was complicated to arrange, but she was lucky that a Consultant in Bristol agreed to be her fall back. If she didn’t manage to get a place in London, she could spend the eight weeks with him. Not as exotic… as London and certainly not as exotic as Sri Lanka, but he was in the speciality she is interested in, so it would have been time constructively spent and the box ticked.

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bettbburg · 13/05/2022 23:49

Haffdonga · 13/05/2022 20:53

Thanks for the new thread @Xenia. Amazing we're still going!

@bettbburg what's your dd studying? 3 more years is quite a stretch.

@ErrolTheDragon sorry to hear your dd is having to move. I hope she finds somewhere as good.

Ds is supposed to be starting his elective in Sri Lanka next week and in 2 minds about what to do due to the civil unrest and curfew there. The uni have been incredibly vague basically saying well we understand if you don't go but you'll need to find something else to do instead. The people at the hospital in Sri Lanka have said it's all fine. At the moment he's looking at delaying his start and hoping things will be clearer one way or another in a couple of weeks.

She's doing a masters relating to psychological therapy.

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bettbburg · 13/05/2022 23:51

@haffdonga dd was supposed to go to Sri Lanka but ended up in southern India instead because of the unrest, it all worked well though. I hope it gets sorted out for your DS.

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Eve · 14/05/2022 06:14

Hope things work out with Sir Lanka , frustrating to have plans thrown up in air at last moment.

I’m currently on way to Germany to see DS where he is on a volunteer project at the moment - catch him here for a few days before he heads off to Greece on another project.

came via the tunnel last night which was so easy & quiet - only ever travelled the tunnel in school holidays before when the queues & delays are awful.

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bigTillyMint · 14/05/2022 10:42

@Haffdonga, my DDs friend is due to do an elective in Sri Lanka too - August I think. DD was going to go with her before so they could travel for a bit, but has decided it’s too dodgy now, but friend still planning on elective.

Have a good trip @Eve

DD is on a grad training programme, but they also have to study for a related qualification in leadership and management whilst working, so is technically still studying!

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Xenia · 14/05/2022 19:19

Sri Lanka sounds exciting - lovely people. I think my area has the highest number of them of anywhere in the UK. My sibling when a medical student did his in Australia.

My son who flew abroad on holiday yesterday arrived fine to a dull day (in the UK it is the hottest day of the year so far). I am sure it will be fine - they are in a villa with its own pool and it will be nice to have a break before his exams.

I am sorry the Errol daughter is having to move.

No sign of my twins moving out yet but as they are working for me until 2024 it's fine although there will come a time when they should go.

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Carriemac · 17/05/2022 09:00

Electives can be in interesting areas , often with unrest but if the Uni is happy for them to go then I'd let them go.
They are usually risk averse

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Haffdonga · 19/05/2022 18:48

Spoke too soon - Sri Lanka has been put on the government's no-go list so ds is now officially without an elective and 10 weeks to fill with something vaguely medical. He's gutted. Oh well, we might even get to see him over summer after all!

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Xenia · 19/05/2022 19:24

I am sorry. I did see in the last 2 days some press covered about Sri Lanka in that context. I hope he can find something else. One twin is back very late tomorrow night or rather early hours of the morning from trip abroad and then they are both into exam preparation mode until middle of June until exams are over (unless they have any resits which I am hoping is unlikely as they passed all the harder, core modules pretty well which they did in January). We shall see.

Their accountant friend who has been working full time since 2020 graduation has exams over three years whilst working whereas the twins have had 2 years of studying law (as they didn't do an LLB first - had they done so it would have been the one year - this year's course only) , then (shortly) all exams over whilst no earnings and not working and then the 2 years of training. I think we prefer that with law you get your exams all done before you start work but I can see the pros and cons between law and accountancy approaches. If the accountancy is 3 years after first graduation to qualification then that is a year faster than law but may be there is some kind of probationary year after you do the accountancy exams.

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bettbburg · 20/05/2022 03:05

Sorry to hear that @haffdonga

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bettbburg · 20/05/2022 03:07

@xenia the post graduation training in psychology is very tough as you have to be working in the field, have to have (and pay for) private supervision and the sheer number of essays is very high. There's no time for any social life and we rarely see each other.

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Xenia · 20/05/2022 14:18

Bett , ah 3 more year to do. We have family in that field - clinical psychologist so I know a bit about it. Altuogh I did law- 6 years to qualify as I did an LLB and my sibling medicine and then became a consultant so we certainly know about long studying periods in this family. The twins qualify in 2024 (after 7 years as they didn't do law first so had to add a law conversion year) as solicitors but at least just about all exams should be over by mid June and in wonderful new the girl friend of one of them had her core exam marks yesterday (on sameLPC course but different provider from my twins) and did very very well so I think all 3 of them are going to be fine - passing those core exams is in my view harder than these very last exams of term 3.

Even when you qualify you are really just starting out as you donm't know that much which is practical. I think it takes to 3 years of experience after to being much good - so 9 or 10 years out of school.

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Needmoresleep · 25/05/2022 09:22

Hello everyone. DD is studying hard for her finals in June, which on top of a full placement week means we barely hear from her. And if we do, it is for her to discuss team selection for the UEFA women's football tournament this summer with her dad. DS played happily in B teams through his school career and casual 7 a side at University, whereas DD got the sports buff genes from her dad. He wisely has invested time learning about the women's game so they have common ground. I am volunteering through the tournament, in part so I can pass on some of the kit to DD. (Its pink. Bright pink is not my colour.)

DS has redeemed himself a bit by starting to follow cricket. PhD students are given study rooms to share between four or five. He started off sharing with Americans, but not has drifted into the Commonwealth/cricket room, with test matches providing the diversion whilst they grapple with data sets. I guess Americans taking an interest would be cultural appropriation.

Haff, I hope you have found a solution to the elective. When I worked abroad BC (before children) I had a couple of doctor friends who are now very senior, so lots of scope to arrange something interesting. However with uncertainty about COVID DD was worried about making arrangements for it all to collapse. In the end she asked her intercalation tutor for help. I think he will have recognised the unfinished business of her having earned a degree without entering a lab, so passed on the names of people who might be able to take her. It also keeps the door open for academic medicine if that is the route she decided to take...though this would mean I could stay on this thread for years and years. Maybe with Bett to keep me company. Last year was a disaster for electives with many having to change plans last minute. One of her friends approached the local ambulance service. Not the most exciting but useful experience for the future.

Eve good to hear that your DS and you are getting to see the world (or at least Europe.) Unlike previous groups of students most have done very little travelling, so I assume are keen to see the world. We avoided long haul trips when they were younger on the basis they were unlikely to be relaxing, and with the assumption they could do these when they were older. But no. DS only went to his first in person academic conference in his fourth year of his PhD. You can't really network on Zoom.

Xenia, are you going to have another go at a big family holiday? It would be fun with little ones around.

BTM, the studying alongside working is tough. I had to do this with accountancy exams, but in the end took the easy route and took annual leave before exams and used them to cram. We heard from my mother's executor and apparently they should complete the probate next week. Another chapter over. Once DC are settled, whenever that is, we need to look back at lessons learned and ensure our care and eventual probate is better planned. Time perhaps to set up POAs, though the thought is depressing.

Carriemac, how is your DD. What stage is she at now. (his is from memory, I hope I have not misgendered her.)

Errol, I hope your DD manages to find something near her borrowed dog. A lot of the measured designed to "improve" rented property seem in practice to be driving landlords out of the sector. Perhaps good for FTBs but no so good for those who are not ready to settle, or who can't afford to, and so need to rent.

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bigTillyMint · 25/05/2022 12:40

@Needmoresleep, my DD LOVES football - preferably mens! I am the odd one out as the only footy I enjoy was watching DS play and I doubt he’ll be going back to semi-pro level after uni! There is at least one match on TV most nights in our house🙄
We didn’t have private to deal with as DMs house was sold years ago when she first went into care, and there was very little money left in her account after paying for her care.

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Carriemac · 25/05/2022 16:48

@Needmoresleep DD is good, doing her Irish law conversion exams and off to Scandinavia for the summer to travel
And work. Her twin is happy in his grad schem but she seems content to play the student a bit longer . DS1 is nearly finished F1 as a junior doctor

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Xenia · 25/05/2022 19:10

Everyone seems well which is good.
On the holidays... yesterday I booked one leaving next month (after the law exams) in the Caribbean for the twins and me. It is not easy to find somewhere that suits everyone. Probably we will have one with more family members next year. One will have done a week as my trainee solicitor by the time of our holiday and the other is taking annual leave for that week or two / a bit longer first which is better for me so I can get one started before the other although they have the same start date. Next week is the first exam week.

Well done to the need daughter re. the football.

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Haffdonga · 25/05/2022 23:13

Good luck to all those with exams coming up. It's a strange feeling to think that for some they're nearing the final hurdles after years of tests, exams and challenges that started with spelling tests, times tables and SATs!
Need, very best wishes to your dd for her finals. She sounds like she's working (and playing) hard! DS is another footy fanatic and is on the the committee to organise next year's inter uni tournament which is about the same time as his finals next year - not great timing!

Finding a new elective has been stressful for ds (and perhaps a valuable learning experience). The friends he was going to Sri Lanka with booked an alternative option but ds was a bit slow off the mark so missed the last remaining slot to join them. A UK based option seemed even harder to organise (with no help from the uni) so he's opted to go for one of those do-it -for you companies and is off to Tanzania next week ( in a frantic panic trying to get the right jabs, documents and permissions sorted before he flies).

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Needmoresleep · 26/05/2022 09:37

BTM and other footie fans should look out for the Women's UEFA in the summer. Venues are all over the country and quite a lot are not sold out. There will also be "fun zones", the London one is in Trafalgar Square and will, I think, be screening matches. Pre Lockdown we went to some of the qualifying matches of the Women's World Cup in France, then DD got last minute tickets to the semi finals and finals in Lyon and ended up flying on her own to Geneva, taking a train to Lyon and staying in the last available AirBnB on the other side of the city. It was fun, more like the Olympics, with a lot of mums and daughters as well as dads and sons. The game is different. I suspect that the last World Cup was the last tournament that the Americans, who are physically stronger, will dominate. The Spanish were already showing real ball skills and were almost balletic.

Haff. Good luck on the jabs etc. Tanzania sounds fab. I had an early hope that DD could go to the US, and stay with her brother, as the medical school attached to his University has a strong reputation. (I suspect neither would have shared my view that them living together for two months was a good idea so I was quite sneaky.) However the US' visa restrictions and waves of Omicron put paid to that idea, and too many of DD's friends last year ended up scrambling around for something in the UK. The other overseas options became unworkable and though she made an early formal application to another medical school, as we knew a consultant who was willing to take her, they never bothered to reply. She will be able to live at home, and since she will have exams out of the way and is on out placement, she won't need to find accommodation in Bristol which will be a big saving.

Carrie sorry about my confusion. I knew one was a medic and there were twins but got them confused. Good to have the first year of F1 out of the way. That is the next hurdle. DD would prefer Bristol or London or the South Coast where my mother's flat is, but all are seriously competitive, so the focus is on identifying a preferred fall back that she can add to her list. It will do her good to live somewhere completely different.

Xenia, the Caribbean sounds great. We don't have any great plans. Whilst DD has lots of ideas but no obvious implementation.

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Carriemac · 27/05/2022 08:12

@Needmoresleep F1 really needs a support network of fellow medics so I hope she ends up near her friends . DS is currently holiday with his other 3 medic flatmates in a small camper an - they are a fab group who really mind each other

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bettbburg · 27/05/2022 08:53

We're doing the rounds of universities again this year, so far the shortlist is virtually identical to the last time we did this.

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Needmoresleep · 27/05/2022 09:03

Carrie, that sounds like good advice. I belong to a walking group, all of a certain age other than the occasional medic. It is such a long training and so long before you can settle down. One was doing specialism training at a local hospital and neck deep in work and exams, so welcomed the chance to have a proper leg stretch, even if with bunch of oldies. Ditto a registrar whose appointment at their University town was cancelled at the last minute for budget reasons so was forced last minute to locum elsewhere. Throw in the isolation of lockdown and it was potentially tough. Training and collegiate support seem to have changed. A consultant friend said that when she did her clinical training, in the days when it was pre-clinical and clinical, there would be a departmental drinks at the end of each placement to include students, doctors and the ward staff. Now office space is so short that doctors are likely to be encouraged to continue to wfh when they can.

DD is lucky in that some of her friends come from an area with a relatively unpopular deanery so she is thinking of applying there as well as London and Bristol where most of her school/university friends are. It would mean her starting out with a core group of friends, as well as getting away from the south. She either loves it, and stays...low house prices! Or knows why she chose to return to London. (Once qualified, London jobs tend to be far less competitive.)

Small camper van....for four. They must get on.

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Higher education

2017 seems so long ago, now .....