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Higher education

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

University life for freshers (2019/20) - we're hopping towards Easter with a pandemic to avoid **Title edited by MNHQ**

970 replies

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 19/02/2020 19:28

Previous thread

OP posts:
justasking111 · 11/03/2020 13:27

The bubble thing is so apt. Message from DS yesterday. You`re not panic buying are you mum? My lip biting retort. No son but I have bought enough so that if we have to isolate you will not starve when you come home. He also last month said he and girlfriend were booking a holiday abroad, I said to hang fire and see how virus panned out. He huffed and puffed, but I think girlfriends parents said the same.

He is likely to be invincible re this virus, but his parents are not I am 63 his dad 69.

Alicatz66 · 11/03/2020 13:31

Was !

ZandathePanda · 11/03/2020 16:46

Benji I think we both have 2 daughters 3 years apart?? Dd2 (the one with the viral encephalitis) has only managed the equivalent of less than 4 days of school this year. If GCSEs were cancelled it would be fantastic for her. However we were told they are likely to spread them further into July if it got really bad rather than cancel. We are considering her options as she needs (ideally) 12 hours sleep a day and can concentrate for 20 mins at a time which won’t fit in with exam days.

Dd1 is doing ok at uni but feels she’s missed out socially by being at home a lot. Hope your Dd feels better soon Gin, her timetable sounds value-for-money but hard going. Sounds like she needs a good rest.

Benjispruce · 11/03/2020 17:33

Yes @zandathepanda 2000 and 2004 for my DDs. Will your DD2 not get special consideration for her exams anyway?

ZandathePanda · 11/03/2020 18:05

Benji that’s what we are trying to work out. She can get up to 5% but if she misses the exam because she’s asleep or ill it’s 5% of nothing. Interesting what they’ll do if covid-19 is doing the rounds as I presume many will be missing exams altogether. Dd1s uni course isn’t exam heavy but I expect there are some that could be affected badly there too. A Levels are potentially the worst nightmare year I would have thought?

Kuponut · 11/03/2020 18:55

@Ginfordinner I'm giggling at the Durham Uni Oxbridge joke - as a previous Durham graduate myself.

Our uni, in response to COVID19... are cleaning door handles. That's it so far.

bigTillyMint · 11/03/2020 19:05

@Benjispruce, my two are most definitely in a bubble. They don’t watch TV, just Netflix, though I think they read the news - not bombarded as much as us.

@ZandathePanda, really sorry for your DD. My DS missed most of Y11 due to serious illness, but was able to sit his GCSES, having dropped some. I know another girl from the year above was redoing Y11 with his year group, so that is definitely possible if not ideal.

I reckon that we will be over the worst by the time the exams start. Hopefully.

Ginfordinner · 11/03/2020 20:20

Goodness, it's all doom and gloom. Thank you for the good wishes everyone. I love this thread as everyone is so supportive.
Sending good wishes and get well soon to your DD2 Zanda Flowers

And to everyone's else's DC who are struggling.

DD's course is very exam heavy. She has mock exams every week now, and she is definitely kept on her toes workwise.

justasking111 · 11/03/2020 20:36

@Ragwort the Gower brownies were a great hit. Many thanks.

Benjispruce · 12/03/2020 07:24

Durham has cancelled all overseas field trips. DD will be so disappointed as she was due to go to S Africa.

simbobs · 12/03/2020 08:03

I think it inevitable that overseas travel will be limited, but better safe than sorry. I am just hoping that DD doesn't get sent home from France, where she has just arrived for a 4 month period, an integral part of her degree. Not sure what unis will do in such cases.

SchrodingersKitty · 12/03/2020 11:38

About to pick up DS from Oxford tomorrow. Was getting worried about having to use public transport but a friend has kindly agreed to drive me. My concerns are that I have asthma (and the end of a chest infection which I'm pretty sure pre-dates possibility of it being corona virus) and DH, as long-time readers of these threads may remember, is under investigation for a brain lesion. I hesitated to ask this friend, as I am a nervous passenger and I find her driving a bit hair-raising, but my anxieties about the risks of infection outweigh that (I will be paying her for missed work and petrol).

Like other DC, DS is fairly oblivious to the virus issue, despite there now being two cases at Oxford. I'll be really relieved to have him home. He's had a good term and seems really settled with a strong circle of friends, mostly outside his college, from various societies. He is balancing work and leisure pretty well and has had some good feedback on his work. He has a mentor he sees weekly for advice about managing the dyspraxia and is taking her advice (interestingly, much of it the same advice I've been giving him, which he ignored!).

(For those interested in the DH situation, since I haven't been on-thread for a while: the lesion was first found in August. They still don't know what it is, but he is still under the lymphoma team as he had that two years ago. We got the results of his third scan last week. The original area which was shrunk by steroids has not come back. The suspicious 'wispy' area from scan two has gone. There is a new suspicious area - in a completely different place - too deep to biopsy. Has none of the inflammation they would expect from cancer. No idea what it is. Watching and waiting. New scan in two months. He feels completely fine with no symptoms. My main concern at the moment is that they will decide to start treatment - and therefore lower his immune response - in the middle of the virus outbreak.)

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 12/03/2020 11:46

@ShrodingersKItty glad to hear that your DS has had a good term. Children, however old they are, never keen to accept advice from parents - not sure why....

Good to hear that your DH is still feeling fine although the continuing uncertainty must be very stressful for you all.

OP posts:
HoldMyLobster · 12/03/2020 13:03

DD's college is shutting down for an indefinite period. She's got exams next week, then I'm going to get her to come home.

We're going to hunker down, she's going to do online classes, and we'll wait and see what happens next.

She's going to be very sad - she had so much planned for next term.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 12/03/2020 13:32

I think at this rate England/Wales/NI (I guess the Scots are doing their own thing) will be the last Western countries standing. The stiff upper lip approach to face disaster head-on is alive and kicking.

OP posts:
pollyannaperspective · 12/03/2020 14:09

Excuse the intrusion, have lurked for some time.
DD at US major city university and they have moved to remote classes now, all admissions tours/events and other meetings/gatherings cancelled, students encouraged to travel home if possible, discouraged international travel for staff and students (Spring Break). Housing entry restricted to residents only. Very good communication to students and families - noticeable difference in level of info (not student specific) generally copied to family/parents compared to UK.
DS at university here in UK - more signs to wash your hands.

bigTillyMint · 12/03/2020 14:51

DS has had an email earlier saying Durham lectures cancelled from next week. Not that he has had any in ages because of the strike. So term effectively ended Hmm Any studying will be online so he can do it from home.

bengalcat · 12/03/2020 15:30

Mine said face to face lectures/labs cancelled at Durham too . There may be some online provision . She staying up until end of term next Friday though . She wanted to know if we're still going skiing - at the moment that's a yes . Easter holiday may be extended by two weeks .

justasking111 · 12/03/2020 15:32

Apart from Durham any other unis. moving towards online lectures and students working remotely??

mimiasovitch · 12/03/2020 15:42

Thanks for the brownie idea! They're local to me too. Have just sent them to dd, as she and her flatmates are having to self isolate. Hopefully their contact with the friends who are ill wasn't enough to make them I'll, but they're all hunkering down just in case. She does have a fully stocked larder thankfully, though I'm not sure about the loo roll Grin

Shimy · 12/03/2020 15:46

Hello all Smile Just placemarking again. Nothing interesting to report.

Benjispruce · 12/03/2020 16:27

DD says there’s a rumour at Durham that the whole 3rd term might be cancelled!!! I really hope that’s just a rumour. She’s so fed up after feeling the full brunt of the strike this week and now no lessons next week either!

Benjispruce · 12/03/2020 16:28

I just hope she can stay at college, she doesn’t want to come home for Easter as it is!!

Witchend · 12/03/2020 16:37

DD is coming home on Saturday!

@Benjispruce She says that there's a "leaked" letter apparently to the PhD students saying that it is unlikely they'll be back this academic year. She reckons it's a hoax.

Benjispruce · 12/03/2020 16:47

Yes that’s the one. I said the same or maybe it’s different for phd students.