Oxbridge applicants 2018 part 3

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Looks like we need a new thread.

I thought it was a fairly general policy to not allocate girls ground floor rooms

Except at the women's colleges.

It is a good point about Porters and it's well tucked inside the college.

Thanks Goodbye :)

Meant to add... I asked DD how the freshers were on the thing she was helping with, to which her response was "The freshers are great!" . And while this specifically may be assumed to relate to fiftyval's and yippeeteenager's DDs, I don't doubt its more widely applicable.

Aah, thank you Errol!

In my college the JCR ranked every room, and if you had a low ranking room you were higher up the list to choose your room in year 2. Some people towards the top in year 2 would choose a middling room so as to be very high up in year 3 and get a really really good one.

In my imagination DS will have a very small room akin to Harry Potter broom cupboard!!

Voilets: sorry to hear about dd's room. Hope she owns it and settles in quickly.

Neither of my boys' colleges had a policy about no women on the ground floor. But all students should be wary about security, particularly in these early days and always keep their room door locked.

I was surprised at the variety between accommodation available, but the prices varied massively too: so your dd should benefit from that anyway.

Arrangements for 2nd year accommodation - room ballots and so on - are generally very complicated, but also different between collleges, so no assumptions there.

roisin only one of my DC ever had a choice of rooms based on price - that isn't a general policy either, even where size and quality of accommodation varies hugely. I much prefer the system based on luck of the draw.

That said, I'm only talking about Oxford and I'm not sure where your two went. Perhaps it is standard for Cambridge.

Some colleges apparently allocate the best rooms after first year according to exam performance.
DD's has very similar nice but bland accommodation for all first years, then room ballots with the third years all above the second years; she was right at the bottom this year and ended up in a shared house rather than a college room as they don't have quite enough. But she's actually very pleased with it and will be at the top of next year's ballot (other than special needs, obv).

We all pay same price at DD's college but I think there is plenty of better accommodation to pick for other years - so fingers crossed.

I don't know how the charging works. DD's I know is about £300 a term more than the smaller room because it's publicly available info. DD put as a preference a cheaper room and apologised on allocation.

I wonder if it's completely random - the info forms about family were pretty detailed. DD is v near the porters so her mh may have been taken into account.

Ground floor wouldn't bother me except for the footfall on the corridor. I once had a ground floor flat and made the point that every house has a ground floor so the security arguments were a bit skewed.

@ErrolTheDragon - lovely post thank-you. All the helper we met were lovely so we may have met your dd.
We met some 3rd years as DP met an old work acquaintance ( "what are you doing here " called across the brunch) who was dropping off his 3rd year daughter so DD had a good chat with her and her friends. Automatic question of " where were you pooled from".
Great talk from the Medwards president reassuring us about imposter syndrome.
DD already settling in due to going on the 'flying start so had already made friends which reduced the anxiety considerably. I thought she might wobble when saying goodbye but she only came close when saying goodbye to our dog! Probably helped that I wasn't tearful.
Interesting stats about higher percentage of state school girls taken by Medwards and their reasons for remaining girls only.

At ds1 college (Oxf) fresher accommodation totally random, no preferences asked or given. But the room charges varied widely according to the quality of accommodation. (ds1 had very nice, very new, gorgeous kitchen, en suite...= expensive!)
On the basis of "how nice" your 1st year accommodation was, plus a random number, you got a ballot number for expressing a preference for yr2 accommodation. But preferences were very vague, generally just preference for approximate blocks and price band.
Some accommodation is batched and reserved for groups, who are handled separately, according to a combined score of the above ballot!

At ds2 college (Cam) freshers were asked a preference for price band, then allocated apparently randomly. But the room charges varied widely according to the quality of accommodation. (ds2 had very nice, very new, decent kitchen, en suite...= expensive!)
In term3, everyone given a totally random ballot number and a corresponding 5 min slot to attend accommodation office, review unclaimed rooms and make a very quick selection. (Advance prep needed).
Some accommodation is batched for groups, who are handled separately, according to a combined score of the above ballot.
Ballot numbers are reversed for 3rd years.

Complicated, but all in all a great deal less stressful than finding private accommodation for years 2+ which is what happens for many students at other unis.

Complicated, but all in all a great deal less stressful than finding private accommodation for years 2+ which is what happens for many students at other unis.

Heck, yes. DDs house is let per room (no worries about a housemate deserting and having to cover their rent) and everything except WiFi included. College staff do the maintenance- a leaky tap was fixed within 24 hours.
We were quite glad her summer internship necessitated negotiating the realities of 'normal' accommodation, as a learning experience TBH but nice they don't have that sort of stuff to worry about at uni.

dds is done by price band and random allocation and it was quite easy to guess where she would probably end up from that. I think that after this year it's the whole ballot, reverse ballot thingy or something...

She's settling in really well so far.

Can I ask out of sheer useless curiosity given a lot of us are keeping the college name private, how much each of the accomodation costs? dds is 4200 including kfc for her room with an ensuite.

That's a 30 week contract?

ds2's last year's room with en suite cost 4140 incl heating.
I think the KFC is extra though and included in battels.
The fresher contract was very short though: out immediately at the end of term. About 28 weeks I think.
Some of the college rooms (tiny, No en suite) as little as £2769. Most expensive about £4500.

This year's room, bigger but not en suite, is only £3735; and for that he gets a much longer contract: 32.5 weeks.

I had to google 'KFC' -kitchen fixed charge.

DDs college looks to be £4680 per year but £5475 including 'overheads (which I think would include 'kfc') and WiFi charge. The general rule is, the richer the college, the lower the rent.

DS will be 4200 for an en-suite. This includes Wi-fi and utilities which seems pretty average. For second year onwards there is off site college owned accommodation too, which works out at about 5000-6000 although there is still a possibility of on site accommodation too. It’s quite a steep increase if they do get allocated off site. The upside is that they won’t have to clear their room because the tenancy is a 10 month contract for off site.

I really thought they were having a chicken meal.

I am not sure how much we are paying? Have you already paid for room?

It is a 30 week contract. It sounds really average then. Lol Hubble! Sorry, it's probably a cambridge name.

dds bill was in her pigeon hole. It's not due for a bit but as I'd put the money in her account for it she paid it.

As one of the last to go (Tuesday) can anybody suggest, with the benefit of hindsight, anything they wish they had taken but didn't?

The one thing I remember DD asking for when DH made his second visit last year to bring the bike, was a tray. She wanted it for her kettle, coffee filter, mugs etc.

Trays can, of course, be purchased at many shops in oxford and Cambridge!