Sixth Form choices - Friends or Dreams

OP

Original post by Jubz1

If you find mixing well with new people and can still visit your friends, I would recommend the latter

Do you know anyone who has kept in touch with high school friends after going to a different college. Was it awkward? or time consuming?

Reply 3

Ndella

I'd go to the better one. You do know the main purpose for a sixth form is for education and not making new friends right? You can always keep in contact with your friends.

Reply 4

Mike_123

Original post by lokolika

I have two choices of sixth forms. My local sixth form which is pretty good and is second in the country where all my friends are going. It had about 4-6 Oxbridge acceptances.
Or a sixth form in central London with even better results and a nice change from the norm. I want to stop going to school with all the same people (exl. my besties) and I want to have some adventure. the school is also better and has 9 oxbride acceptances.

If I was a loner I would choose the second one in a heartbeat, I dream about going there. But I love my best friends and have known them all for about 10 years. I know we won't still be friends if I move school but is this a possibly and how do you keep in touch. I will also save so much time as I won't have to make new friends and i will be free to study and do what I want as my friends know me so well they would never expect me to do anything else. Whereas in a new school I would have to make all new friends that wouldn't be close as I would only know them for two years. Im used to knowing everything about my friends and I don't know if I could handle superficial relationships.

Would I do better in the future if I have a solid group of real best friends or am I throwing as possibly fantastic educational opportunity for my friends?

Do you think that the colleges are really that much different?

(St Dominic's - local first and cardinal Vaughn as London second)

The difference in oxbridge entrances is marginal and it doesn't seem like much of a difference. I had the same decision to make between my current grammar school and a better one which had about 3x more oxbridge entrances. I'd say that A level isn't really how good your teachers are, but how good you are at independent study (my teachers were terrible btw). So if I were you, I'd probably stick to your current school. You might get depressed if you change schools and have no friends which affects your school work.

Reply 5

Jubz1

15

Plenty, half my high school year has gone to our local college including myself. Other half are rather scattered.

Most have hardly kept in touch with each other, other than the odd contact here and there. People just slowly drift away so it's not exactly awkward. I would recommend a weekly catch up with your best mates, others will slowly drift away anyways.

Reply 6

nohomo

No man you've got to stay with me ...

Spoiler

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Mike_123

The difference in oxbridge entrances is marginal and it doesn't seem like much of a difference. I had the same decision to make between my current grammar school and a better one which had about 3x more oxbridge entrances. I'd say that A level isn't really how good your teachers are, but how good you are at independent study (my teachers were terrible btw). So if I were you, I'd probably stick to your current school. You might get depressed if you change schools and have no friends which affects your school work.

Ok thanks that actually helps a lot. I think its mostly the fact that in my school I've known everyone since primary school, so for most I would love a change but for my best friends I feel like they would help me reach my potential just by being around.

Reply 8

OP

Original post by nohomo

No man you've got to stay with me ...

Spoiler

Do I know you or something?

Reply 9

Mike_123

Original post by lokolika

Ok thanks that actually helps a lot. I think its mostly the fact that in my school I've known everyone since primary school, so for most I would love a change but for my best friends I feel like they would help me reach my potential just by being around.

I've been told that the best friends you make are the ones at uni. When you guys break up when you go off to uni, you'll promise to keep in contact, but I've heard that in reality uni is where you make real friends. I could be wrong though. It seems to me that you want a change, and if that's what you want then by all means follow what your heart desires. I think it's good to reach out of your comfort zone, you'll gain a lot of confidence. If you're interested in oxbridge (cambridge) economics then feel free to PM me for advice :smile:

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Ndella

I'd go to the better one. You do know the main purpose for a sixth form is for education and not making new friends right? You can always keep in contact with your friends.

Hmmm, people say that but do they really especially when A levels are so time consuming. My main problem is that I think that my mental health and grades could suffer if I left my friends before Uni. But obviously I can never know until I try. All 4 of my 10 year best friends will all be together and I will become the outsider.

Reply 11

nohomo

Original post by lokolika

Do I know you or something?

After all the times we've been together in religious studies, you don't remember?

Reply 12

louieee

well it seems even though london is the better one, you'll do better at this one simply because you can purely focus on studies rather than the social aspect of it. More comfortable there and all of that, less hassle more time and weed

Reply 13

Jubz1

15

No forum is truly a good forum without a troll! :tongue:

A group of 4 best friends may make it better to socialise with, less awkward and they can help the conversation flow and keep things cheery

Reply 14

OP

Original post by louieee

well it seems even though london is the better one, you'll do better at this one simply because you can purely focus on studies rather than the social aspect of it. More comfortable there and all of that, less hassle more time and weed

I agree as I was kind of thinking that if I already have friends it would involve a lot less socialising than making new friends. It would just be like another day at school rather than trying to fit in with a whole new group of people. So far me and my friends have been really supportive with each others education, we even do revision sessions and stuff together. Im just thinking if making sure i fit in with new people by socialising, going out and parties would be worse.

Does that make any sense?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 15

username1118458

21

Original post by lokolika

I have two choices of sixth forms. My local sixth form which is pretty good and is second in the country where all my friends are going. It had about 4-6 Oxbridge acceptances.
Or a sixth form in central London with even better results and a nice change from the norm. I want to stop going to school with all the same people (exl. my besties) and I want to have some adventure. the school is also better and has 9 oxbride acceptances.

If I was a loner I would choose the second one in a heartbeat, I dream about going there. But I love my best friends and have known them all for about 10 years. I know we won't still be friends if I move school but is this a possibly and how do you keep in touch. I will also save so much time as I won't have to make new friends and i will be free to study and do what I want as my friends know me so well they would never expect me to do anything else. Whereas in a new school I would have to make all new friends that wouldn't be close as I would only know them for two years. Im used to knowing everything about my friends and I don't know if I could handle superficial relationships.

Would I do better in the future if I have a solid group of real best friends or am I throwing as possibly fantastic educational opportunity for my friends?

Do you think that the colleges are really that much different?

(St Dominic's - local first and cardinal Vaughn as London second)

Personally I'd go to the second one in Central London. Simply because you'll get better grades which could mean you'll end up going to a better university. That's not always the case though - since as they say it's not always about the school, at the end of the day it depends on how much effort you put in. The only exception to this would be if the college/sixth form is extremely bad, however the first sixth form you mentioned sounds just fine. I think regardless of which one you went to, you'd do fine and get the same or almost similar results.

So choose either one. :smile:

Reply 16

Okkefac

11

How many Oxbridge applicants isn't really a measure as to how good the school is, is it? And even then, there isn't that much a difference between the two.

If you're more comfortable with your friends, and the teaching and stuff is good enough at the worse school, then go there.
If you work harder at the worse school then it doesn't matter, you'll still get the great grades you need to go wherever you want.

Can you do taster days and such, because if you really hate the worse school, then I'd suggest the better even if your friends aren't there. If the worse one is still nice, but the better one is slightly better for you, then I think judging by your responses you could go to the worse one and still do well.

However if there is a large difference in quality of education (you make it sound like both are good, just one's a bit better) then I'd say go for the better one, if you're aiming high (like oxbridge or something).

Reply 17

username1229433

Stop making life-changing decisions based on friends. Go to the sixth form that you think will benefit you the most, passionate about and feel that you will achieve the best academic experience.

You have to forward into your own path.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 18

sellerofdreams

13

See, if this was a decision for university, I would tell you to take the second college. But this is just for sixth form. I would say go to the local college, because it's not very terrible and in any case your results depend solely on you. Plus going to a college and making a whole new set of friends can ve very stressful and can affect your grades. My friend went to this really competitive college for a levels and ended up coming home after the first yer because she said she couldn't cope with the new environment and it was too stressful, and she's doing really well here now.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 19

Tillybop