Oxbridge Freshers 2018

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread

A chat/support thread for parents of undergrads who have entered the quite frankly slightly odd world of Oxbridge.

Apparently we are parents to undergrads now

Furthermore Panda, how nice for you to get to hear why he loves what he is doing. No doubt that commitment and enthusiasm would have helped him to get to Oxbridge. It's lovely isn't it.

And kitten, been there with those rejections, how great it all worked out. Hope it's an interesting internship.

Hope you're recovering well Sunndowne.
DD needed a course of antibiotics for an impacted wisdom tooth at the end of term. Absolutely fine now and preparations for a physically challenging fundraiser next month are in full swing.
Congratulations to all with offers of summer internships. Applying for these alongside the intense workload is very impressive indeed.

DD Has just gone back with home cooked favourites to get on with the work. A little anxiety about the exams and one lower score in a test has focused her attention on what happens if you don't revise. It's hard isn't it - she's done so well all year (paced herself and worked hard) and just one having to/choosing to juggle too many things and she's taught a lesson! Standards are high!
She's had a great holiday though with fun/ study and educational travel.
Good luck to all.

Is everyone's dc back now? We dropped dd off this weekend. Cambridge was in full bloom and looking splendid. The tourists though. My word they make moving around tricky. Exams in a few weeks and a totally different schedule this term with lectures scattered randomly through the week.

Glad you got DD back safely kitten despite the hordes of tourists.
Hope all DCs of mum's on here settling in.
My DD's new Dos told her today she hopes she can enjoy cambridge at its finest despite exams!!

It's so rotten it's exam term when it's so beautiful! It all looks perfect for lounging about with a book, not on the grass of course.

DS is going tomorrow, he’s quite wobbly again so today has been hard. Collections at the end of the week and a different structure to the term have caused anxiety. He’s had a lovely break (much better than Christmas) so that’s making the return harder I think. I’m hoping that the lighter evenings and better weather will cheer him up and that he’ll be back in the swing of it all quickly. He told me he doesn’t know how everyone else seems to be fine and he isn’t!

Poor lad. You can tell him that dd was also a bit wobbly about it. I expect that there are many who are. It's that Sunday night feeling, magnified for them. Deep breath and in they go.

Thanks kitten, he was always the same about going back to school after a holiday and I’ve said that to him. Definitely big deep breath time, as I always say to him, the thought is often worse than the reality! Not sure who thought six hours of collections in one day was a good idea though!

DS went back on Palm Sunday! He had a submission today, and a presentation tomorrow, so wanted to be back in good time to get his head back in the game. We were away at a wedding from Maundy Thursday, so the Sunday before it had to be. I was v sad at him not being home for Easter Sunday ( we got back late the Sat) but he went to his church and had 6 friends back for lunch and board games, so he had a good time. I'm just hoping he handed the work in..not heard from him since Sunday!

Bake and yarn - hope your DS has settled back in. :)

Sorry bake, I meant I hope he does settle quickly once he goes back. :)

Ahhh. It's hard isn't it. Oxbridge demand a lot but also once they get back in the swing of it they seem to enjoy it. That's what I hope for all our DC anyway.

That’s true sunndowne, I think it’s so intense that they come home and relax a bit and then have to jump straight back in. He’s already talking about prelims at the end of term and their first year will be over! Hope he will be ok today, I thought the going back would get easier!

How is he doing Bake? Hope it went ok?/

DS picked his room for next year. I think I told you he had been left out of a group for ballot. He has ended up back on the same staircase as this year, lovely room actually, but vast majority of his 'friends' are not in college but in the colony a bike ride away. Not convenient at all for a cuppa in between studying or a shared late night film. He's feeling a bit wobbly poor love, and frankly so am I. :(

Oh bless him panda the room ballot is harsh isn’t it? There was some real unpleasantness at DS’s college and some older students had to step in to calm things down. Hope your DS feels better about it soon (and you too!)

DS was really homesick which was a bit of a shock, but he’s done his two collections today and they were fine so he’s feeling better which is a relief.

I don’t think we realised what a lot happens in the first year! There’s so much focus on them getting an offer and then getting their exam results that you almost forget what they have to cope with when they actually go!

That is tough Panda. I hope that he can find new friends that wont leave him out.

Your poor ds Bake. Homesickness is horrid. Does he have any more collections?

They do have to cope with an awful lot this year. So much growing up to do at the same time as the academic pressure.

dd describes the coming weekend as endless past paper questions, but actually she has gone out tonight and is off to the cinema, so it's not all doom and gloom. I am visiting an extra time this term though to make sure she's coping with the pressure.

Wobbles here too. DD is struggling with pressure at moment which causes insomnia. Old pattern. We may pop for tea this weekend and even next to see her in a play.
It's hard panda but I'm sure being in college will have huge benefits. DD sees it that way. The friendship bit is tricky. Dds welfare officer told her, there are always falling out/ being left outs in 1st year. Good folks will be around the corner. And nowhere is very far so cups of tea will be possible.
Bake- glad DS is doing okay. DD Has a month of mocks and revision. Crikey! She feels it's a levels all over again without same exam qu. Practise . Love her

Thanks for empathy - I'm sure he will make new friends, and will be able to stay in touch with the old ones, which he very much wants to do. He does have plenty of friends at Cambridge - department, college and church, plus a number from home who are there in different colleges. I'm sure it will all work out.

Glad the collections are out of the way Bake, hope the homesickness starts to subside quickly.

They work so hard don't they? DS had a submission Tuesday, and a presentation on Wednesday, and term didn't even start until Thursday! Presentation went really well, so that is good at least, and his official invitation to the palace for his d of e presentation arrived a couple of days ago, so he has that to look forward to mid May. I went to his scholarship presentation, so DH gets to go to DofE - I'm a bit miffed by that but we will both go to London and take him out for dinner afterwards. Don't know if we will visit again before end of term, his gps want to go in better weather, and he wouldn't want to take too much time out from studying.

Sunndowne, hope your DD settles into term quickly, it is so hard when they are wobbling and we are so far away. Glad you can go for tea though. A bit too far for us for a couple of hours really, though we do it in a day for drop off and pick up.

Thank you panda. She seems better today and needs to work teatime now as she's at her summer scheme meet and greet today in Cambridge.
Well done to your DS - great achievements.
Hope all DC manage the revision and a bit of fun kitten. I trust my DD will do pretty well but she always worries.

sunndowne. Hope she feels settled again soon, DS is back on an even keel now but it’s tough going back after a nice time at home, DS found the nighttime rescue remedy really good, if that’s any help to her.

A trip to the palace is lovely to look forward to panda, very exciting!

P.s. thanks for the moral support this week, it’s really helped knowing he’s not the only one to wobble

Sorry to hear of all your struggles. We went back last Sunday and seems v happy with the new room. There was a fight on the high street. About 15 lads who were v drunk. Where town met gown I think!

Street violence. Horrid. Feel the town's safe but actually there is a lot of inequity in Cambridge anyway according to DD and some social tensions.
Overall, a fab place to live for a few years she says though.

There is a lot of inequity isn't there. A lot of people on the streets for a small town.

Certainly a lot of rough sleeping which upsets dd, and rightly so. She revised quite hard over the hols and had a few supervisions on Skype which allowed some of her tutors to meet the beloved soft boy.

That's high tech of them