Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Tales from the first term - how are they getting on?

71 replies

seagull70 · 08/10/2014 13:44

I thought that a catch up would be nice to see how everyone is getting on as we haven't really chatted since the build up to results and clearing.

DT1 - loving it. Quite a few issues with her accommodation and a few glitches with her course but everything seems to be coming together. She loves her flatmates (she is the only one of two English students in her flat, so is loving the multicultural aspect).

She has made so many friends and has socialised more in the last few weeks then she ever has before! She is doing loads of cooking too. One of her flatmates has his mum come over once a week to do his laundry and another was caught trying to fry an egg last week without actually cracking the egg first. Just an egg in its shell sitting on a hot dry pan

DT2 - very wobbly to begin with. She's in Belfast so not that close. We stayed for 3 days with her just to get her through all the initial bits as she was very very panicky. She has gradually found her feet though and is loving her course. Has taken delivery of a lab coat and dissection kit and can't wait to get into the gory side of things. I think that around 80% of her weekly budget goes on booze, 15% on books and laundry costs and approx 5% on food

Lovely Boy - a wobbly start again and a few issues with finance but he's getting on with housemates and gradually finding his feet. His course is a killer though. Pretty much 9 till 6!

They all seem different somehow, more confident and grown-up. Will all be home for 'Reading Week' though at end of this month so I'm bracing myself for the wonderful chaos

How are your DCs getting on? Hopefully no disasters and everyone is settling in x

OP posts:

BeckAndCall · 15/10/2014 09:05

I so agree with you BOF - i used to queue on a Sunday night with my 10p to phone my parents.... now my DC text me at any time they feel like it. Im sure its the parents who actaully beneift more!

On the boy thing, hattie, my DD is more OK about it than she thought she'd be - shes a scientist so there are lots of mixed labs of course and her activities are very mixed. And her corridors mates do seem lovely.

secretsquirrels · 15/10/2014 13:25

Waves to BeckAndCall
The summer of cooking lessons has paid off , and the flat mates have started to share the cooking so DS gets a meal cooked for him sometimes. He has even admitted to eating everything on the plate without question. Even cucumber. Eighteen years I failed to cure the faddy streak. Two weeks at uni and he's eating cucumber
He didn't sign up for any clubs and I think he now regrets it. His flatmates are all very busy doing stuff he isn't interested in.
He doesn't have much free time though, 24 hours a week of lectures plus supervisions and tutorials and then assignments on top.

Medge68 · 15/10/2014 16:38

Thanks Hattie - I've had a long text conversation with her today and she seems better than she was. Lemsip! - I should've sent her with some - packed paracetamol but lemsip has a psychological effect doesn't it? Bet the tutor loved the girl with the sickbag

Medge68 · 15/10/2014 16:51

Sorry Hattie - very rude of me! Meant to say glad your DD is feeling better

hattymattie · 15/10/2014 17:00

Medge - DD was shocked that the supervision wasn't rescheduled for the sick.

Secret - that's a heavy load - is that medicine? DD says that the third years told them to do a couple of activities to keep a work/life balance and sanity. Surely it's not too late to sign up for things.

secretsquirrels · 15/10/2014 18:16

hatty no it's maths which is known for being lecture heavy. He had hoped to do some sports but when he went to taster sessions he felt they were after established competitors for the teams rather than beginners. I don't think it's too late to sign up for other clubs, and of course if I were there I would twist his arm persuade him .

BeckAndCall · 15/10/2014 18:34

Hi secret - so it sounds like hes settling in OK? Happy with the way it turned out in the end? - it is a great place for Maths

My DD, too, has 24 contact hours a week - very heavy schedule (NatSci) but not too much in the way of additonal assignments yet. Her friend (medicine) had two essays in freshers week (or freshers half week as it is there) before even any lectures!

secretsquirrels · 15/10/2014 19:35

BeckAndCall I am sure he is in the best place for him. Academically it is still very demanding but most importantly he is happy, thriving socially and coping far better than I even dared hope. He is just buzzing with excitement about the work.
Glad to hear your DD is settling in. I think she made the right decision on the rowing . Both my DSs took up rowing a few years ago and it's brutal on the river on those very ice cold mornings.

Original poster

seagull70 · 15/10/2014 22:56

A difficult day today. There was a very tragic accident involving one of the freshers at DD's university. Not someone she knew personally but it's left everyone feeling very shaken up and I just wish she wasn't so far away

OP posts:

hattymattie · 16/10/2014 09:38

Seagull - that sounds awful[

Beck - DD has 16 hours for law but also had two essays before even getting to uni which were marked and returned (on internet) within 24 hours.

Secret - icy damp mornings on the river would deter me that's for sure.

Littleham · 16/10/2014 18:38

Sorry to hear about that seagull. Difficult if you are a long way away. I guess the only thing you could do is send her a treat in the post to cheer her up.

Kez100 · 16/10/2014 18:59

:( Seagull.

Medge68 · 16/10/2014 21:22

Seagull, that's horrible and too be so far away from your DD when something like this happens is the pits.

Littleham · 17/10/2014 10:21

Disgruntled text from dd1 - woken by a fire drill at 5am! At least she couldn't be late for lectures.

PurpleAlert · 17/10/2014 14:14

My DD had that last week at her hall Littleham. She doesn't sleep well as it is so was not impressed.

Needmoresleep · 17/10/2014 14:55

Squirrels, my son has found it difficult to get into a sports team. The standard is very very high. He has tried a minority sport though is reserving judgement as he seems to be the only undergraduate. He needs to apply and be interviewed for the other thing he wants to do, though is hopeful he will be OK.

That said not finding things immediately may not be a bad thing, as it presumably allows for taking up what your friends are doing. Looking back I mainly did a lot of "hanging out", relieved to escape home, or in my case, boarding school. I am pretty sure DS is working harder than I ever did. Its nice he wants to be fully engaged in other activities but wonder whether this will be the main difference between school and university. At school they do want you to be involved in more beyond your subject. At University perhaps the focus needs to be on academics, and it is not a University's role to make a wider provision.

summerends · 17/10/2014 22:29

Needmore there is a theory floating around, backed up by some anecdotal evidence, that those students who had a lot of extracurricular activities at schools are less likely to embrace the non academic opportunities at universities due to 'activity fatigue' (obviously not talking about national level sportsmen or music students).
What do others think?

Kez100 · 17/10/2014 22:37

I've little experience. My daughter is studying her hobby so she is quite happy to immerse herself in her studies. It has a huge practical time committment as all art disciplines do and with the reading as well as the typical flat activities, so seems to busy to do anything else.

She has sort of got over her fright of being followed but won't go out on her own in the dark, so that's scuppered any plans to join societies as most are on a different campus.

Littleham · 17/10/2014 22:44

I agree summerends. If they are completely overloaded, it stands to reason that they will burn out. We have curtailed activities a lot for our dc's for GCSE's and A levels, because they were just flagging so much.

The rest allowed dd1 to plan what she wanted to prioritise at university (actually she got quite bored by the end of the summer).

secretsquirrels · 18/10/2014 10:31

DS was completely single minded about his subject (also his hobby Kez) and did zero extra curricular at his school or sixth form. His sports interests were purely recreational and done only occasionally. In fact both my DC rejected a 6th form which was heavy on participation / DofE etc.
He wanted to try a few new things at university but in actual fact his workload doesn't seem to leave much free time, certainly not for competitive sports which require regular commitments for training.

PurplePotato · 19/10/2014 10:40

Seagull, that's awful - hope they are all getting some support.

DS seems to have signed up for anything and everything - says he wants to try it all but will then cut back to the few activities he likes the best. He's also been selected for the football team for halls, which is great as it's just playing friendlies against other halls - so should give him some exercise without being too demanding.

I still haven't spoken to him since we dropped him off. Lots of texts but would be good to hear him. Might try to Skype later today.

Flip

1 2 3