Thou shalt wait patiently...for UCAS to show changes in your application.
Oh the wait..the agonizing wait!
After a whole year and more of researching, planning, choosing, writing, editing and finally hitting the 'send' button, you realize it's no more in your hands. It's been SENT!
Now all you've got to do is wait. Well that's for us parents. The student concerned has to wait, yes, but has to study too. And study really hard without any distractions, if that's possible!
How does one do that when all you can think of is to log in to 'track' and check for any changes. Or may be check in the mail. Here came all my experience as a motivational speaker handy. I used my favourite quotes, pinned a particular poem near her study table (much to her annoyance, then!) and advised her to change her focus for the time being and zoom in to the 12th class exam which was closer at hand.
Easier said than done. If she got into her Universities of choice, Sheffield or Leeds, she'd be on cloud 9 and beyond. If she got into her next choice, Bournemouth, she'd be on cloud, well, 7 or 8. If she got into the others in her order of preference, she'd still be satisfied. But, WHAT IF...? What if she didn't make it to the any of them! There was a back up plan. she had applied to a couple of universities/colleges in India too. Some not so high ranking ones.
However, a 'life altering decision like studying in UK' and 'continuing with your life decision' of studying in India cannot be compared. So though there was a back up plan, it was as good as having no plan!
Yet she needed to concentrate on the exam at hand. Which I think she managed to do very effectively. We, as parents, went about our jobs routinely, keeping a stress free atmosphere at home. In fact we went a step ahead. We watched movies, celebrated birthdays that came during the exams, went for picnics, used up our 'free stay' hotel coupons, come to think of it, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves throughout my daughter's 12th board exams!
Which by the way, lasted for a whole month and half for 5 subjects.
Oh the wait..the agonizing wait!
After a whole year and more of researching, planning, choosing, writing, editing and finally hitting the 'send' button, you realize it's no more in your hands. It's been SENT!
Now all you've got to do is wait. Well that's for us parents. The student concerned has to wait, yes, but has to study too. And study really hard without any distractions, if that's possible!
How does one do that when all you can think of is to log in to 'track' and check for any changes. Or may be check in the mail. Here came all my experience as a motivational speaker handy. I used my favourite quotes, pinned a particular poem near her study table (much to her annoyance, then!) and advised her to change her focus for the time being and zoom in to the 12th class exam which was closer at hand.
Easier said than done. If she got into her Universities of choice, Sheffield or Leeds, she'd be on cloud 9 and beyond. If she got into her next choice, Bournemouth, she'd be on cloud, well, 7 or 8. If she got into the others in her order of preference, she'd still be satisfied. But, WHAT IF...? What if she didn't make it to the any of them! There was a back up plan. she had applied to a couple of universities/colleges in India too. Some not so high ranking ones.
However, a 'life altering decision like studying in UK' and 'continuing with your life decision' of studying in India cannot be compared. So though there was a back up plan, it was as good as having no plan!
Yet she needed to concentrate on the exam at hand. Which I think she managed to do very effectively. We, as parents, went about our jobs routinely, keeping a stress free atmosphere at home. In fact we went a step ahead. We watched movies, celebrated birthdays that came during the exams, went for picnics, used up our 'free stay' hotel coupons, come to think of it, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves throughout my daughter's 12th board exams!
Which by the way, lasted for a whole month and half for 5 subjects.
Good luck to your daughter Jamila. The waiting takes longer than I'd realised and with some establishments like with the AUCB (also in Bournemouth) you need to check into their own applications portal as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton for your wishes Julie, but my daughter's studying at Leeds Uni. This blog is a recount of last year's experience :)...phew its over!!
DeleteThanks Jamila for sharing your experience. I am also in the same boat. My daughter has an offer from a cloud 9 university. So far I was taking it lightly. However only now I realize that I should have worked it backwards starting from funding. Do you have any advice on this?
ReplyDeleteThanks for appreciating. 'Cloud 9'?! Please give the link Sanjay, I couldn't find.
ReplyDeleteWell I took the phrase "Cloud 9" from your post above.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has got an offer from Oxford. It is a 4 years course costing Rs 1.2 crore. So I can neither afford the course nor afford to ignore it.
Congrats Sanjay!! Wonderful offer. Your daughter must indeed be on cloud 9 while you're in a fix! You alone know the way out, weighing out the pros and cons. I can only wish you the best for taking the right decision :)
DeleteStudies in uk college are worth the money
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