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Post by westender on Nov 11, 2010 22:38:45 GMT -1
And a little more light on the horizon today ;D several WE school students, including the wean, have been recruited into a Glasgow University initiative to encourage bright kids from seriously under-performing local state secondaries to gain a place next year. Focus West identifies local kids who are potentially Glasgow Uni material and invites them to take part in first-year lectures and tutorials for a day here and there from now until May. Their attendance, contribution to classes and general willingness to study are marked and credits given for their work when they make their formal application for entry. I'm feeling pathetically grateful for the wean being given this opportunity, frankly I've been pretty upset lately that higher education seems more and more to have become the privilege of those with serious dosh, while state schools in big urban areas struggle. All animals are equal but some are more equal than others? PAH! Excellent news. Get that wean learnt!! At a decent university! ....Um. Is the wean's school "seriously under-performing"?? Surely not.
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Post by ozneil on Nov 11, 2010 23:20:19 GMT -1
Mate of mine's younger brother went to Hillhead High ( if it still exists) Went to Cambridge & became president of Cambridge student union & majored in Mathematics and Economics. So its possible
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2010 1:06:09 GMT -1
Dont seriouisly bright kids get scholarships?? Yeah, if they come up with a decent enough sob story. Some parents have been known to lie about their financial circumstances and some actually pretend to separate to give their kids an advantage. Shock horror surprise. Anyways, scholarships are few and far between here now. Even in our most best universities, as opposed to the pretendy ones, it's all about getting revenue from foreign students. Two kids, same qualis-the one from outwith Scotland with the dosh gets the place over the local kid. Which is precisely what the Focus West scheme is helping to mitigate. Oh and by the way---our kids now have to state their parents' academic background on their uni applications. Two kids, same qualis--the one where neither parent has a degree gets bumped up the waitlist ahead of those who have a parent with one. I know parents who are starting to lie about that as well. And I'm bliddy well tempted, I can tell you.
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rdt2
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Post by rdt2 on Nov 15, 2010 12:45:36 GMT -1
Dont seriouisly bright kids get scholarships?? Two kids, same qualis-the one from outwith Scotland with the dosh gets the place over the local kid. Oh and by the way---our kids now have to state their parents' academic background on their uni applications. Two kids, same qualis--the one where neither parent has a degree gets bumped up the waitlist ahead of those who have a parent with one. Er, no! The number of government-funded places is set by the very government. We take non-EU students over and above that - as many as we can get. And the point about parents' degrees? That question has always been on the forms. If you've evidence that it's being used for positive discrimination, I'd like to see it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 14:40:32 GMT -1
Er, no! The number of government-funded places is set by the very government. We take non-EU students over and above that - as many as we can get. And the point about parents' degrees? That question has always been on the forms. If you've evidence that it's being used for positive discrimination, I'd like to see it.I've strong, recent anecdotal evidence from am academic source at Edinburgh University that this form of social engineering is happening. Might also find this Telegraph piece from last year interesting; A number of universities have explicitly stated that being in care or being the first in the family to attend university will be looked on favourably in admissions. A spokesman for Liverpool University said that while being in care did not trigger extra points, the university does "ensure that care leavers are considered carefully so that an appropriate offer is made". At Oxford University, candidates who are predicted three A grades but who also tick three out of five contextual indicator boxes, including time spent in care, are guaranteed an interview. The university said it only checked the information on care leavers at the stage that applicants have received an offer but it was not aware that any candidate had supplied incorrect information. At Edinburgh University, humanities and social science and geography departments give "additional credit" to students who have parents who have not previously attended university. However, the admissions office does not check if the information provided on parental education levels in the Ucas form is correct. Nottingham University has no system to check if background information provided in the Ucas form is correct. Yet the university's admission policy says an applicant's examination grades may be "valued more highly" if they have been in care or their parent have not attended university. Evidence collected by Ucas suggests that some sixth formers do lie in their application forms. www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/6033484/Students-lying-about-family-backgrounds-to-win-university-places.htmlWidely reported at the time and since.
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Post by bormes on Nov 16, 2010 16:23:47 GMT -1
Hi rdt2, I am afraid I can not comment about myself but like rolo, I have to admit, although I am sure you are correct about the way the system is set up, unfortunately I have heard recently that there is perceived to be a lot of truth in what rolo said. I have heard there is positive discrimination for young entrants if they have come from "care" or if their parent/parents background is non academic. In fairness it is anecdotal, as I said I did not know for sure but an awful lot of parents are saying this now. Perhaps you may throw some light on this matter?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2011 20:44:19 GMT -1
And a little more light on the horizon today ;D several WE school students, including the wean, have been recruited into a Glasgow University initiative to encourage bright kids from seriously under-performing local state secondaries to gain a place next year. Focus West identifies local kids who are potentially Glasgow Uni material and invites them to take part in first-year lectures and tutorials for a day here and there from now until May. Their attendance, contribution to classes and general willingness to study are marked and credits given for their work when they make their formal application for entry. I'm feeling pathetically grateful for the wean being given this opportunity, frankly I've been pretty upset lately that higher education seems more and more to have become the privilege of those with serious dosh, while state schools in big urban areas struggle. All animals are equal but some are more equal than others? PAH! Excellent news. Get that wean learnt!! At a decent university!Breaking news... the wean's just been offered two conditionals for Glasgow ;D ;D ;D with two more courses yet to reply. Strathclyde, her 5th choice, have refused her, although the entry requirements are less. Well, the exact same happened to me 37 years back She's got a fair bit of work to do in the coming months, sure---but if she gets her predicted grades, she's in. AAAA minimum for Arts/Social Sciences? I got in with AABBBC Out of 220 starting at her secondary in S1, only three (a paltry 3!) have offers for Glasgow or other redbrick unis. One particularly bright one who applied for Oxford didn't get as far as interview; unlike my young white neighbour, who, with the same grades from a private school, is just back from hers--and was successful.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 14, 2011 21:27:15 GMT -1
Well done the wean .Give her my congrats. You must be very proud of her and rightly so I was at Strathcyde for a while
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Post by bormes on Jan 14, 2011 21:44:39 GMT -1
Many congrats to Rolo cub.
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Post by notanimby on Jan 15, 2011 10:29:16 GMT -1
Excellent news. Get that wean learnt!! At a decent university! Breaking news... the wean's just been offered two conditionals for Glasgow ;D ;D ;D with two more courses yet to reply. Strathclyde, her 5th choice, have refused her, although the entry requirements are less. Well, the exact same happened to me 37 years back She's got a fair bit of work to do in the coming months, sure---but if she gets her predicted grades, she's in. AAAA minimum for Arts/Social Sciences? I got in with AABBBC Out of 220 starting at her secondary in S1, only three (a paltry 3!) have offers for Glasgow or other redbrick unis. One particularly bright one who applied for Oxford didn't get as far as interview; unlike my young white neighbour, who, with the same grades from a private school, is just back from hers--and was successful. 4 As to do soshul science - how times huv changed, ah goyt intae that wae a A n 3 Cs and ah exceeded the requirements But alas it wiz Pishley Tech
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Post by notanimby on Jan 15, 2011 10:30:12 GMT -1
Breaking news... the wean's just been offered two conditionals for Glasgow ;D ;D ;D with two more courses yet to reply. Strathclyde, her 5th choice, have refused her, although the entry requirements are less. Well, the exact same happened to me 37 years back She's got a fair bit of work to do in the coming months, sure---but if she gets her predicted grades, she's in. AAAA minimum for Arts/Social Sciences? I got in with AABBBC Out of 220 starting at her secondary in S1, only three (a paltry 3!) have offers for Glasgow or other redbrick unis. One particularly bright one who applied for Oxford didn't get as far as interview; unlike my young white neighbour, who, with the same grades from a private school, is just back from hers--and was successful. 4 As to do soshul science - how times huv changed, ah goyt intae that wae a A n 3 Cs and ah exceeded the requirements But alas it wiz Pishley Tech P.S well done wean
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2011 19:49:01 GMT -1
Paisley Tech, now University of the West of Scotland (UWS) was very highly regarded in its time, Nota. I know many people who went there. I have two UWS grads working on my team and they are far and away superior--- ----and more 'ready for work' ----than grads from other 'new' Unis.
Thanks everyone for your kind wishes for the wean. She got an email this afternoon with her third conditional for Glasgow ;D
Can't tell you how relieved I am that she's definitely in with a chance, given the volume of applications again this year--and just maybe I can finally stop beating myself up over not borrowing £60K+ to buy her qualis at private school ;D
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Post by notanimby on Jan 16, 2011 9:26:24 GMT -1
Paisley Tech, now University of the West of Scotland (UWS) was very highly regarded in its time, Nota. I know many people who went there. I have two UWS grads working on my team and they are far and away superior--- ----and more 'ready for work' ----than grads from other 'new' Unis. Thanks everyone for your kind wishes for the wean. She got an email this afternoon with her third conditional for Glasgow ;D Can't tell you how relieved I am that she's definitely in with a chance, given the volume of applications again this year--and just maybe I can finally stop beating myself up over not borrowing £60K+ to buy her qualis at private school ;D at least ra wean wil be goin tae ra uni - wae hur feet well plnted onra grunn when ah wiz at pishley tek, first day walkin back tae ra stashun, ah wiz shouted on by a guy frae ra class - bit posh he wiz, so efter 5 minits he asks "and whit skool did yoo go tae" "port glesga high skool" says me "ah so yoo came upto glasgow high did yoo?, ah went tae ra academy maself" "nah port glasgow high skoll" ah repeat on hearin that, he says "oh I see, good bye then" and shoots off never to speak tae me again. a few days later he wiz in wan of ma chootorryills, where he states that he's only daein this course so he kin help awra poor folks - erse
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Post by heidie on Jan 16, 2011 18:29:03 GMT -1
A fine judge o charactuur frae ra sounds o it!!
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Post by notanimby on Jan 16, 2011 18:55:33 GMT -1
A fine judge o charactuur frae ra sounds o it!! Ah know ah um......
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