 Poster: A snowHead
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.... can't get into any of the universities of his choice - with 6 A-grade A-levels (including 3 A* grades) - so he's planning to teach skiing in Switzerland this winter.
This report from The Telegraph
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Appropriately hailed as a genius in that rather than grubbing around on the clearance rat wheel he's off skiing.
Non-story though - as if anyone who gets straight As is guaranteed a place at major universities these days. Can't have interviewed well though to not get a single offer though he didn't exactly act tactically with a banker among his choices.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Probably had a poor personal statement.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Grades are one thing - the top unis are looking for more than that, with huge numbers getting the highest grades.
And his personal statement probably was drivel.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Autistic children are normally incredibly gifted, academically but the downside of Autism is a lack of social skills. I'm not saying that this student is Autistic but it would show a shocking lack of perception by the unis if he didn't have any offers and the interviewers were not aware of such a trait.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| cad99uk wrote: |
| Probably had a poor personal statement. |
He went to a private school! They go through them endlessly, word for word . 
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| Quote: |
Autistic children are normally incredibly gifted
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nonsense (maybe you're basing your opinion on the movie "rain man")
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A-levels no longer serve their original purpose.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| maggi wrote: |
| cad99uk wrote: |
| Probably had a poor personal statement. |
He went to a private school! They go through them endlessly, word for word . |
Some do, or they didn't, and now the teachers need to make a big thing out of this "travesty" as otherwise it must be their fault somehow...
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maggi, But you can't polish a t**d 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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He got his expected grades though so getting result earlier would be no use.
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Six a-levels? I did 3... the oxbridge candidates did 5. Six just implies pretty much no social life whatsoever... draw from that what you will!
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You know it makes sense.
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God knows, I don't think they've made class times shorter (was 5 years ago for me ish), I guess German was probably a gimmie so 5+1 isn't unreasonable. Still... one person not getting into Uni with good grades isn't exactly a decent sample size. Seems like the media are making a big fuss out of the shortage of places because it fits the recession sucks theme.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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27% of kids got a frikking A
How does that help unis figure out who are the good kids and who are the thickos....
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Poster: A snowHead
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And he's disappointed?
I'd much rather to spend a season skiing than to carry on learning!
Especially economics, borreeeee!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm sorry but 6 grade As these days is probably equivalent to a mix of As and Bs 10 years ago - and that's not good enough to get onto the best courses. The fact he went to a private school probably counted against him as well, as many unis perceive straight As at a private school as less of an achievement as straight As at a state (which if a good school is probably true - they will spoon feed them in very small classes).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Britain's most highly-qualified 18-year
is a German 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Don't mention the war!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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It's a fair point. He's German. "Britain's" in the sense that we educated him since age 16.
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YOU! CLEARINK! THREE VEEKS!
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| beanie1 wrote: |
| I'm sorry but 6 grade As these days is probably equivalent to a mix of As and Bs 10 years ago - and that's not good enough to get onto the best courses. |
Llet's be fair to the kid, he did get three A* grades, which based on proportion of these marks awarded is as good as getting an A 'back in the day'. Sadly they're never going to reduce the numbers getting an A grade to a more believable level so the A* does help distinguish the top performers.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Steady now folks I know this kid and he is a good kid and sometimes goes on this forum with my son
I think the system and most definitely the college let him down big time
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blockhead, Not the first time that I have heard of a fee paying school letting its pupils down.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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blockhead, agree there are some remarkably sour grapes on display here. Going to Switzerland is an inspired move. You can't chuck a glove in Verbier without hitting a banker or hedgey, and given that it's virtually the law that they all read the Telegraph he'll have a job/sponsorship though uni within the first two weeks of arriving, I've seen it happen. Good luck to him (although I suspect he won't need it)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| beanie1 wrote: |
| I'm sorry but 6 grade As these days is probably equivalent to a mix of As and Bs 10 years ago - and that's not good enough to get onto the best courses. |
Sorry but that's dangly bits. You have to be clever and still work to get those sort of grades, especially the sciences - A level Chemistry isn't a joke!
Going to a private school probably didn't help, but to get a place at a good uni the worst your personal statement can be is 'very good' - the statements seem to be what the uni's use most to decide on places. My mate had 3 A's, but due to no interesting hobbies/extra curricular schizzle she had nothing to write about in her statement, hence no place.
The kids should play the game more though, "I want to be a teacher/lecturer/something else valuable (to society)" will always get you more points than "hmm I think I might want to work in a bank or something else that will get me lots of money..."
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With a few hundred thousand people applying there are always going to be a few weird looking results. And those become news stories. Oxford (his first choice) applications certainly used to be on a college-by-college basis. 30 years ago I was the least qualified medic out of 4 in my year in my college with a grade 1 S level and AAAB at A. But a friend was at another college with BCD - so you could get quite perverse looking variations.
Heard someone saying yesterday that your chance of getting into read English in one of the top 10 universities with AAA was something like 1 in 12...
Re exam grade inflation - there has been some pretty clear evidence in Maths based on comparison of performance in exams in year 1 at one university (cannot remember which) that an A in maths A isn't what it used to be. But I did an A level about 8 years ago and certainly found it as challenging as the first time round. And nothing wrong with modular approaches - it encourages students not to leave all their work to the end and to knuckle down if they screw up on attempt number one.
In the end this chap will get a place for next year - and have a great Gap year.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Fri 20-08-10 18:14; edited 2 times in total
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You know it makes sense.
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Well done to him, and I hope he gets the place that he deserves, not sure that he could do any better.
The personal statement is all dangly bits anyway, I don't think it has any reflection on how well you're going to do, in fact I think that it has a negative effect on medicine, selecting for the wrong people.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Kramer wrote: |
The personal statement is all dangley bits anyway, . |
I'd have suspected that to be the case - without interview to back it up what's to stop schools coaching intensively to write a good story. I bet some of the thickies I work with who write amazingly creative self appraisals about "leading projects" when they actually put a meeting in the diary, aced their personal statements.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| beanie1 wrote: |
| I'm sorry but 6 grade As these days is probably equivalent to a mix of As and Bs 10 years ago - and that's not good enough to get onto the best courses. |
Sorry but that's dangley bits. |
Dangley bits with a knob on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/19/a-level-results-2010
| Quote: |
| Research at Durham University has found that a candidate who would have got a C two decades ago would get an A now. |
Of course, some of those getting straight As now would have got them then. The tragedy is that they are not recognised, and may lose out on a place through the charade of personal statements.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| laundryman wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Research at Durham University has found that a candidate who would have got a C two decades ago would get an A now. |
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Maybe but here's some anecdotal evidence (which IME is as worthless as a random line lifted from a "study"): I recently found an old A-level chemistry paper of mine that I must have been given for exam practice, the date was 1997 (I took this module in 1998 and then retook it in 1999 as I got a B first time round) and really struggled with it. OK that was 11 years I've had to forget the syllabus but in that time I've got a degree in biochemistry, an MRes in biophysics and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology incorporating chunks of biochemistry and biophysics so not like I've not been working in that field and in reality I should have found Nuffield A-level chemistry a bit of a breeze. 
That said I remember seeing 1970s and 80s maths A-level papers when I was doing mine and they seemed much harder, that may just have been because the syllabus had changed in that time though it's very hard to objectively compare these things due to numerous factors e.g. experience since taking exams. IMO some school subjects are now being taught with more emphasis on vocational requirements and as such things it would have taken someone 10 years real life experience to pick up may now be taught as part of a course rather than something that you are unlikely to ever use or use a computer to work out.
Anyway, good luck to the lad, I hope he has a great time and come April, like an exceedingly good skier I met last season, he might be wondering why he has to go back to the real world.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 20-08-10 19:29; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I just got an A-Level off the back of a Cornflakes packet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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So being as I got 5 O Levels in 1974, with inflation, can I now call myself Dr Colin B?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Colin B, I'll raise you my B and 2 D's at A level in 1984...must make me a Prof. by now?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Colin B, Blunty, just call me Einstein.
That's Albert's less well-known brother, Herbert
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OK Einstein. When (a) = a helmet thread, (b) = a TO vs DIY thread, (c) a discussion on inner-tip lead and (d) the average number of posts before thread-drift, what is (x) in the following equation?
(a x 2b x 3c) / d = x
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I must admit that, with all the hay that the media have been making about A and A* grades and the huge numbers that got them, does his achievement make him a 'genius' how many other kids would there been around with a similar acheivement, just how 'special' is he? Or is he just someone that got a Newspaper interested in his story and is his situation being repeated in numerous homes around the country.
N.B. I too share the vew that exams are getting easier, but I guess the kids that have got their passes must still feel pleased with themselves. They have after all achieved now what the State wants them too - it is the employers in years to come that will inherit the problems that more passes at a lower overall acheivement standard will cause, there is nothing the kids can do to change things. I guess they can only sit what is given to them and although we might justifiably feel that when we did things they were harder we shouldn't really belittle today's students for gaining the only things that they can gain.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
Nuffield A-level chemistry
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Absolute mission - put me off science!
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| Megamum wrote: |
| I guess they can only sit what is given to them and although we might justifiably feel that when we did things they were harder we shouldn't really belittle today's students for gaining the only things that they can gain. |
+1
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FAQ
I started Economics A-Level and I didn't see the appeal, I must admit! I changed to Biology which was in the same block after a fortnight 