Columbine

Via Fotospeed lith on Foma 133 paper:

Columbine, 2020

The flower was growing in front of my mum's garage, which provided a useful backdrop for the shadows to fall.  

I haven't been out with the camera much lately - my excuse being Missy's University application process, which has just started in earnest.  In the UK a central admissions service (UCAS) handles applications - each student initially makes five choices (Course&University, e.g., Computer Science at Bristol University).  The key thing is their Personal Statement, 4000 characters which they can use to make their application stand out from all the others.  Ideally, around next March-April time they will get five offers back...but that's not guaranteed, it's up to the University Admissions Team, who have to balance their allowed intake with the applications they receive.  (Each course will have a fixed number of students for that year's intake.  That number is determined by the University, who take their allowance as set by the Government and divvy it up between their courses).  An 'offer' specifies the minimum grades an applicant must meet to be accepted on the course - like ABB, or BBC if you're on the traditional route of taking three A Levels.  (Yup, just three subjects - we force our students to specialise very early in the UK.  Far too early if you ask me, as it means that if you're opting for a Science Degree you're likely to be doing Math, Physics, Chemistry or similar.  So no foreign language, no humanities.  You can see the problem...)

Once the student hears back from all five Universities those five initial choices are whittled down to two, a Conditional Firm (CF) and a Conditional Insurance (CI).  The CF is the Uni/Course combination you really want...and the CI is your insurance, so you choose one with a lower grade offer than the CF.  If, come August when the A Level results are published, you meet the conditions of the CF offer then you're in!  If you fall short, hopefully you meet the CI offer, in which case you will be accepted onto that course.  If you fall short on both CF and CI offers then all is not lost but it's not a given that you will get to go to University at all.  There is a 'Clearing' system which opens in mid-August and a mad scramble then ensues where students left 'hanging' try to secure a place on a course and University that still has places.  That's the short version of the UK University application system!  

I know, it's a bit of a crazy system and the craziness stems from the fact that at the start of the application process neither the student nor the University knows what grades the student will get - which seems rather stupid when you sit back and think about it.  The only thing the Universities have to go on are 'predicted' grades (as determined by the school/college at which the student is currently studying) and earlier national exam results such as GCSEs, taken 2 years before University.  The whole thing is much more straightforward in countries such as the US, where the SAT scores are known before the application process begins.  There's talk almost every year in the UK of changing the system but as usual after it gets kicked around a bit nothing happens.  You get the traditionalists moaning about 'standards' and such like.  And that's one word I hate to hear coming out of a so-called educational expert's mouth.