Erasmus students

Interest, experience and money - what appeals?

Daughter has been an Erasmus student at Bordeaux for the last year, blogged here. How exciting to live abroad for a year, to learn the culture and language, and still to be making progress in your chosen university subject.

And financially, the year abroad becomes appealing because you do not pay any tuition fees to the university you are visiting.

On top of that, UK Erasmus students receive a top-up grant.

So daughter is literally quids in.

a Good Day

June 17th
Both my children today are having good days. Although neither has spoken to me, I've heard from them electronically. One texted that she's:

"Off to Bordeaux! :))"

which means she's got good end of second year university exam results. The other has Facebooked:

"Done"

which means he has taken his last university exam this morning and is relieved.

It's beautiful weather.

And a Good Day.

Daughter gone

Took daughter to university today. She was as high as a kite, excited and cheerful. She left us happily - almost dashed away, after new friends.

This is her room but she's blanked out because she doesn't want me to photo her.

Maths at Bristol

Daughter must have chosen well - I see Bristol maths department comes really high in the Times Good University rankings
http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/gug/gooduniversityguide.php?AC_sub=Mathematics&x=31&y=7&sub=22
being beaten only by Oxford and Cambridge.

Visit to Bristol university

Daughter & I have been to see various maths departments in universities, including Warwick, Bath, Surrey and Bristol. They offer more or less the same but ask for different A-level grades. Warwick, for instance, asks for four grade As, ie AAAA.

Yesterday we went to see maths dept in Bristol. She has to make a firm choice of university and a back up choice in case she doesn't get the grades for her firm choice.

Choosing a university

• reputation
• course
• flexibility
• type of uni: collegiate (Oxford, Durham), campus (Bath, Warwick), city (Bristol, Birmingham), metro (London)
• accomodation
• cost of living
• abiltiy
• teaching
• social life
• geographical situation

And an admissions tutor amplified on these various aspects of choice.

Where do maths grads go next?
You can't tell long term, so Bristol can only say of its recent graduates

• 30% in finance
• 20% in further study
• about 15% other
• 12% industry

Requirements are AAB results in A-levels. Bristol is turning away people with predicted AAA but only single maths.

Studying maths at university
Activities include:

• lectures
• tutorials
• problem classes
• homework
• practical sessions

In the first year you expect to do units totalling 120 credit points so as to sample all aspects of maths.

If you go on to a MMath, it's a four year course, but with the master's being mainly taught components.

Visiting Bath

Daughter and I went to visit Bath University where she had an interview in the maths department. There was the usual milling around of enthusiastic youngsters, the pleasant experience of finding someone else who is as interested in maths as you are, and the almost-always-male lecturer who provides an explanation of the course and eulogises on the department and the university.

Unfortunately, they did seem to emphasise Bath's great sporting facilities, and there were a lot of very sporty looking people bouncing around with their kit - probably because it's Wednesday afternoon when many universities take the time off studying for sport. This didn't go down too well with daughter, even though they apparently have a good tae kwondo club too.

Two other things put her off:

• the university doesn't have arts or social science faculties and she would like to meet other than scientists, mathematicians and technologists.
  
• after first year you have to live on the other side of the city and it takes 40-50 minutes to get across to the university
  

She quite liked the city; we spent a happy hour exploring the shops in the centre, including a magic shop where we found a birthday present for small cousin, and a chocolate shop...

We got back to the station in time to catch a train just after 5 o'clock.

Paying for university

I thought it was bad enough that the government gave so few years warning that my children would have to pay to go to university. I don't see it as unfair to have to pay, but would have liked to have known when they were much younger. Son is now building up his debt, having a living expenses loan of £3000 a year, and £3000 a year paid to the university. So that's a lot at the end of a four year course.

He applied to five universities, and now his sister is going through the UCAS process and applying to study maths at Oxford, Bristol, Bath, Warwick and Surrey. Their aunt in the states has just emailed to ask

"Do you have to pay to apply to universities in Britain? (Son) paid about $300.00 per application."

Thank goodness that's one expense that we don't have to pay yet.

Daughter has an interview at Surrey next week, an acknowledgement from Bristol and Oxford, but not yet Warwick and the offer of an interview at Bath in January.

Grief

My cousin is seriously not well. Some years ago he survived cancer of the kidney, but last week he was in hospital in London for a long operation, then moved to Christie's in Manchester, closer to where he lives. Now the family is asking for prayers for him and for his family, so I fear the worst.

If I hadn't been widowed 11 years ago, perhaps his death would be just a fact to me, and I would feel only sadness, but my experience means that I now care more that his wife-to-be-widow will lose him, and his children, especially his 17 year old son will be unfathered. His wife will become the sole decision maker, independent, lonely with no one to share with, the single carer for their third and youngest child. My husband's wife died when step-daughter #2 was about the same age. She never knew her mother as an adult, a companion and friend. She couldn't show off to her mother all the things that she got to do when she was grown up. I look at my 17 year-old daughter now and know that I must live some more years so that she can live happily, and grow up to what she should grow to be.

Cousin's son should be applying to university next year, perhaps like one of his sisters be considering Oxford. I wonder if he came for the June open days that daughter and I went to. Perhaps the family was too busy dealing with his father's illness. Perhaps he'll delay applying for a year. I don't know if he plans a gap year anyhow. His big sister and I never got to meet in the time that she was at Oxford, but it would be nice to meet him and perhaps offer home comforts if he wants to know. That might add in a more practical way to the prayers.

Home comings

Both Youngest Step Daughter and Son are due home soon from university. YSD was hoping to be able to stay in her present house but it transpires that the landlord isn't letting them stay and she has the hassle of finding somewhere else. But she's doing well and looks like she'll come out with a respectable degree.

S is still taking exams - I think they're called collections.

And the lodger is still with us, with a bit of an overlap, so we have to have negotiations over bedrooms.

For a few days it will be nicely busy as Son is bring home a couple of friends too - Oliver and Qu, so we'll have people in all the rooms.