Oxbridge 2020 (6)

[Justneedatemporaryname]

New thread ready for when the old one gets filled up!

I think Girton (and homerton) are best described as outliers aren't they, DDD?

DD considers it a hill only from the POV of cycling down it, which she avoids (so she says). We'd only done off-road cycling as a family so she did have a road session with an instructor in the summer hols before going. And when she arrived, she in turn taught the girl who's now her bestie.

Thanks @jaguar67. Definitely needs a 'crash course'. I had read about students needing a bike for the sports grounds as well, as certainly saw a LOT of bikes on the college tours!

Butting in again (and waving to Errol)...

DD is now a 3rd year at Cambridge. She was pooled but unaware of it until her offer came through. She was really worried as she had never seen the college so I booked a B&B and we went for a visit in February half term. She managed to contact someone from the year above at school via social media and he kindly showed us his room and chatted to both of us. We then met some other people from the year above him (2nd years) in Newnham. I taught at DD's school so knew them all and had taught them.

When we got back to the B&B, DD confessed that she actually quite liked the pooled college but was less impressed by Newnham. Part of that was the 1st year rooms she saw were warm & en-suite whereas the Newnham one was Victorian with communal bathrooms. She was a bit concerned by having to cycle or walk to Chemistry and other NatSci buildings as she originally applied to Corpus.

3 years on, she is really happy being on the west side of the town in her pooled college as most of her time is spent at the West Cambridge site. Apart from a bit of Grange Road, almost all her journey is on lit cycle paths. She has a really nice bike at home but we spent £8 on one from our local recycling centre. It's a hideous shade of pink, but as DD points out, nobody else would want to be seen on it, so it has lasted 7 terms so far.

If you do get a surprise next week, don't panic. We decided to take a look and everyone we met at the pooled/current college was lovely. They were happy for us to rock up and wander around, particularly as DD hadn't been there before. It's important to know what you are working towards. DD absolutely loves it and is really happy there. Best of luck for everyone next week.

So for Cambridge the possible responses next week are:

1. Original college -yes
2. Original college - no
3. Original college - you were pooled but still no
4. Pooled college - yes

Is that correct?

I studied at one of the colleges referred to above as "hill colleges" and have never heard them called that. I thought hill colleges was a Durham thing.

Anyway, for the record, Castle Hill does feel quite steep at 1am, particularly after a few beers and a kebab. However all of the colleges in question are much better accessed via Madingley Road, which is quite flat and a very pleasant walk/cycle to the Backs and many of the academic departments. They are in a prime location for Maths and Sciences.

Also you don't get bothered by inquisitive tourists.

@Coleoptera - thanks for the best wishes. DS1 is much better. His school gave him permission to sit all his mocks at home this week. He did two papers today and has announced he'll take the rest at school.

He's picked up very quickly in the last couple of days. I think the young can do that after illness but I know I'd still be languishing on the sofa.

Unsurprisingly his illness has been a huge distraction for us in the last all and we've thought very little about d-day. We're assuming it will be a 'no' so anything else would be a lovely surprise.

Seriously massive LOLs at "hill colleges"

A friend's DS has applied to Sheffield, went to open day, walked all over the city to see all the halls and departments, came home (to Cambridge) and could barely walk the next day. "I didn't realise anywhere in Britain could be so steep," said the poor sheltered snowflake

Terfin I was born in Cambridge but moved to Edinburgh when I was a toddler. I'm told I was very disgruntled when expected to walk up these funny new things called hills.

Anyway it is apparently a thing: Varsity article on hill colleges

Terfin, there's only one answer to that, possibly. Exeter.

I had a London-raised cousin who went to Exeter who had to quit because he had asthma and he just couldn't cope with the hilliness.

I suppose they should call it Higher Higher Education

The writer of that article needs to discover Jesus (so to speak): lovely buildings and site (cricket pitch on the grounds not flung out somewhere remote), and virtually no tourist traffic. (In fact, the one tourist I remember encountering there was probably a bit lost as they asked me "is this the way to King's College?" ).

Anyway, I've just been wonderfully distracted by this topographic map of Cambridge. en-gb.topographic-map.com/maps/dgf/Cambridge/

If you were starting from John's Meadow (elev 28ft) it's a 55ft climb to Murray Edwards, but surprisingly the latter is a very similar elevation (around 80ft) as both the Dept of Zoology on Downing Street and Addenbrooke's. Of course, it's another 31ft up to Girton. (Sorry for the use of feet, but that site doesn't appear to have a metric setting).

Yep that writer sounds a right misery. And obviously never tried cycling over Haslingfield Hill!!
DS was put right off Kings by the thought of walking out in the morning straight into tourist cameras but the other colleges in the centre are really no worse than living in any old building in an English city. ("Oh how QUAINT" Is often heard outside loads of houses!)

Lol - Varsity is a student newspaper and the language is probably reasonably normal for a teenage undergraduate. I really wouldn't read too much into it!

DD said yesterday to open her letter when it arrives on Tuesday and to e-mail her at school with the result, since I'll be here on Tuesday and she'll be at school. Her college has said it sends letters either way. I'm glad I don't have to have it sitting there waiting for her to come home. Main focus will be on catching the letter as it flies over the gate ahead of it being intercepted and chewed up by the dogs (our postman throws our letters cheerily over the gate). Track is supposed to update which she can access at school but I do quite like the fact that she's letting me be custodian of the decision.

@GoodbyeStranger
Oh, I thought the first thing to happen is the email from the college, and that they post a letter same day, so you'd receive the letter the day after you get the email?
Is Oxford more letter-based and Cambridge is email then letter?

@Daddaddad Jesus does seem a good balance between trad style and peace And right by the river and the boat houses for rowers. And the "quiet" section of the river. I saw a blog or something from a student saying she jogged along the river there. You couldn't in the busy section, as it's private for the colleges, right?

There are all sorts of permutations across the Oxford colleges FingernailNibbler but DD's college has said it will be not sending e-mails other than to international students so only the letterbox (aka gate/ patio/ flowerbed) to monitor. Never had a DC expecting a decision where Track updated so no experience of the timings on that.

DD's preferred (Cambridge) college website says all decisions will come out by email. Offer letters to follow, if successful.

@Daddaddad, that is excellent map action.

I live on Castle Hill (one of the 80ft + bits) which made for an amusing conversation with the insurers when we moved into our house. Because it's within 200 ft of the river they were convinced it was a flood risk .

Still, I'm a bit surprised by the Department of Zoology - if you stand on the Castle mound and look out over the city it's not noticeably higher.

@FingernailNibbler - nope, river is open for runners all the way up. No private bits, you can run along in front of college boat houses if you want too. Although this is above Jesus Green lock, once you get into the city centre the college gardens come down to the river side so there's no footpath.

Ha ha - two bags of McCain oven chips on each shoulder of that Varsity writer.

Hill colleges, indeed. I did wonder where, if one takes one's driving test in Cambridge, is the hill start performed?! There is that bit of an incline by Kettle's Yard, but otherwise...

Move over Chicago, Cambridge is the true "windy city". Aspirants (and visiting parents) be warned, the wind whistling down those side streets is brutal ; every nerve in every tooth starts singing and your eyeballs start bulging.