Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Advice please :)

So, I applied to do psychology at the uni of lincoln to start in september, but I'm really unsure if I'll actually make the grades. They want BBC, and I think I may have gotten the two B's (I don't know for definite), but the C is probably going to be a D, and that'll be in psychology as well :frown:

Although, I blame the fact we didn't have a teacher for 3 months, and every couple of weeks we got a new one, so we practically had to teach ourselves and the night before the exam, I had a huge row with my boyfriend. Bad times :/

Also, I had a friend last year who applied for exactly the same course, and he got in with 200 points, after he rung them up the day before he was due to get his results! :redface:

I guess theres more applicants this year, so it's really unlikely that the same thing will happen to me.

But, is it worth me ringing up soon? or the day before just like my friend? or should I just wait? I also have no idea idea what to say to them :/

Thanks x

Reply 1

Arcane Barn Elk

I would get int touch asap. They'll be overwhelmed once results are out and less likely to help. If you could get a senior member of staff at school to email/ring asap to explain the situation that would be even better. Getting in touch before the results also shows that you're genuine and not trying to cover a bad grade as you don't even know your grade yet. Good luck!

Reply 2

smagicah

Hey! Thanks for the advice :smile:

I was thinking of ringing the monday before we get our results, because I heard they get them on the sunday?! not sure how true that is though :/
But yeah, I shall contact them asap instead. Do you think it'd be better if I went in and explained? Because I'm supposed to be travelling up to Lincoln next week anyway :smile:

I'm really bad at talking to people I don't know, in person though :P

The staff thing is a bad idea though. In January we sat a module for psychology and 15 out of 27 of us got a U (I got an ever so slightly better, E :tongue:

), and some girl started a petition to get the college to pay for everyone to retake, but my teacher got angry and refused to take any responsibility for our bad grades, saying it was our fault and that we could have tried better :/, which is true, but I still believe the college failed us.

Thanks for the reply :smile:

Reply 3

Arcane Barn Elk

I think a phone call or email would be better. Also, you could include the fact that there has been a dispute with the college about the teaching provision - include facts such as when the teacher left, how many teachers you had, whether they were psychology teachers or just someone asked to cover the class, how many lessons were not taught. It is very common for colleges & schools to blame the students, but if that were the case you should still expect a normal distribution of grades; i.e. everyone in the class can't have been totally lazy and/or only capable of a U grade! It is a sign of something wrong when a majority or even a whole class fails! It makes me mad when staff cover up for the organisation in this way! Good luck.

Reply 4

smagicah

Ahh thanks for the ideas!!
I'll make sure I write the appropriate stuff down, so nothing is missed out when I contact them :smile:

It's really stupid! My first teacher "disappeared" around january '09, we only had her since september '08. She started taking weeks off, and one day just never came back, and the college wouldn't give us any explanation for why she was off! Then we had six weeks without a teacher, and then we had a supply teacher who had a degree in history!!, and then our lessons started getting cancelled again... since then we had about 6 supply teachers, who've ranged from being there for a week to a term (the ones that stayed the longest were actually pretty useless, and just read to us from a booklet :/)
From the start of our A2 course, the college changed the timetable, so we actually had a proper psychology teacher for 2 out of the 5 lessons a week (she had lesson clashes last year, so couldn't teach us), but she only taught us half of the unit, I suppose this was better than just having supply teachers, until she fell down some stairs and broke her leg in like 3 places, and took over 2 weeks off just before exam leave!
It makes me laugh too, how they can just shrug this off as us being lazy! I used to sit next to the girl who made the petition in a different lesson, and our teacher for that was really supportive suggesting that we should continue protesting, and even said herself that college had failed us :s-smilie:

Reply 5

Arcane Barn Elk

She's right, they did fail you and it is unforgiveable to balme the students. Bearing in mind the amount of detail that you need to include I would definately write or email the admissions tutor for your course asap. Make sure that you include all of that detail when you contact them! Really hope that they understand - they should do! x

Reply 6

smagicah

Hey,
So I just rang up the uni and spoke to the person incharge of the department, and explained to her that I was really anxious. She wanted to know why I didn't think I'd achieve the results, so I basically told her that my college is rubbish, which could have been very awkward if she didn't have a sense of humour :tongue:

I mentioned the fact we had loads of supply teachers, and that loads of our lessons got cancelled, which can be supported by the fact 15 out 27 of us failed. She turned round and said "that's pretty bad".
She also said that there wasn't much they can do for me right now, and that I should remain positive until I get my results.
I'm still feeling pretty anxious about it though, so it looks like I'll get no sleep the night before :tongue:

Thanks for the advice :smile:

I take it that you study psychology at uni then? :smile:

Reply 7

Arcane Barn Elk

I did my degree in psychology at Warwick Uni and am now a psychology teacher. I would follow up your phone call with a letter to the admissions tutor so that they have a record if you don't get your grade btw. Stay positive! x

Reply 8

smagicah

I don't know if I'm being a tiny bit annoying though, by ringing up and then writing to them, but if that's what it takes, I'll give it a go..
I guess it didn't actually help that I joined some social networking site earlier, the one recommended by ucas, and it shows the people who applied for the same course at the same uni, and quite a few have unconditional offers :frown:

I think more than anything, It's just me stressing out and things aren't actually that bad.
x

Reply 9

smagicah

So I've begun typing a draft letter, and although I've begun formally, I think I may be becoming too informal. I'm also unsure if I'm including too much irrelevant information. I've started by putting "Dear sir or madam, my name is blahblahblah, and I've applied for blahblahblah and blahblahblah to start in september."
Should I write the whole story in chronological order? or just put about the main facts?
Also, handwritten or typed?
Sorry for all of the questions, I tried googling stuff, but it came up with stuff about admissions for american colleges and universities.

Reply 10

Arcane Barn Elk

Definately type it, and then put the main points in bullet points and chronological order. If you want I could have a look. Just pm me and I'll give you my email.