Seb Briggs
Distinguished Member
You will be amazed how much he could change from 16-18
Not so much sports and obviously your academic ability has to be top-grade.
But IME with my nieces they were very interested in any volunteering, jobs, social groups, and organisations you were involved with.
TBH I'm not convinced he's suitable for Cambridge.
From what you're saying he seems barely suitable for any further education until he grows up a bit.
Uni also isn't for everyone. Many have made it far in life with a good trade, entrepreneurship or just a sense of old fashioned "get on with the hard work and climb your way up"
I totally agree. He's my stepson and he's caused many an argument between my wife and me. He's clever enough to go to Uni but as I've said before you need to be a certain person with a certain attitude to succeed there and at present unless it's put in front of him like school work he struggles. He tends to come 10% then expects everyone else to come 90%.
I'd hope uni would make him as it does get mothered a lot, even by his younger sister. He has a lot of work to do and this means his attitude and outlook to things needs to change. Like has been mentioned on here, grades aren't the be all and end all and it's the you as a person and attitude and motivation which is the area sadly he is lacking in a big way
Armed forces at degree level would be at officer level.Someone earlier suggested the armed forces, maybe that would shake him up a bit and hammer out the bad habits?
Armed forces at degree level would be at officer level.
If you need a "shake up" you'll likely not pass the Admiralty interview board, or Army and RAF equivalent.
I was born at a young age and that never stopped me from getting in to Cambridge.He's very young for his age in everyway, motivation, self hygiene, understanding whats right and wrong etc. He turns down chances to do things so he can play on his xbox. I've already said that side of him alone will stop him getting in.
As you say, sink or swim.Personally I think Uni would help him mature but he needs to get there first and as I suspected when asking the question it's not all about grades. The idea is why can help prepare him.
College accommodation can be significantly lower than £700
From the university website
Living Costs 2019-20 Living Costs 2019-20
Accommodation (including any kitchen charges)£110-£180 per week1
£130-£210 en suite, per week1Living Costs 2019-20
College meals£4-£7 per meal
OK so my step sons 16, doing A Levels, good at Maths. We've been talking about Uni as he wants to go after his A levels to study something to do with Maths. Tonight he's thrown into the mix he want to go to Cambridge Uni maybe. This has thrown us a little and personally worried me it would cost a fortune in fees plus living expenses like accommodation etc and we aren't really made of money nowadays we get by. Wife says oh it's no more expensive then say Newcastle or Liverpool he was thinking of going to but surely it must be.
I'm getting premonitions of texts every other day asking for money which we simply don't have!
OK so my step sons 16, doing A Levels, good at Maths. We've been talking about Uni as he wants to go after his A levels to study something to do with Maths. Tonight he's thrown into the mix he want to go to Cambridge Uni maybe. This has thrown us a little and personally worried me it would cost a fortune in fees plus living expenses like accommodation etc and we aren't really made of money nowadays we get by. Wife says oh it's no more expensive then say Newcastle or Liverpool he was thinking of going to but surely it must be.
I'm getting premonitions of texts every other day asking for money which we simply don't have!
In that case, don't even think of him studying maths at Cambridge. I agree that Cambridge is an excellent university for maths (perhaps the best in the world), but that also means it is particularly tough, at a university generally not known for being easy. I had friends that were forced to drop out of Cambridge maths, but managed to do respectably well at other subjects there.Thanks guys great advice. TBH I'm not convinced he's suitable for Cambridge. All he does is sit in his room on his xbox, he has zero interests and doesn't show any self motivation or pro-activeness in life. He's in his top 5% in maths in his group but thats not enough we've told him. He does tend to be very lazy and it's caused many an argument and his attitude is oh I'm not doing extra school work or handing my work in early thats geeky.
He's very young for his age in everyway, motivation, self hygiene, understanding whats right and wrong etc. He turns down chances to do things so he can play on his xbox. I've already said that side of him alone will stop him getting in.