Oxbridge 2020 (thread number 9)

[DadDadDad]

What a year! Just as we've all become experts (at least in our own minds ) about how to write Personal Statements, Oxford admission tests and Cambridge STEP, the complicated dance of the interview process, and how to simultaneously boost our DSs' and DDs' confidence while preparing them for the possibility of disappointment, we have a new topic to learn: statistical modelling of expected grades.

Of course, like all those previous topics, we're not in control of teacher projection and OfQual rejection, but we have this thread to support each other through the coming months.

All welcome. For the record, I have a DS with an Oxford offer for a humanities subject.

I like to think that they will effectively be in "households". It's then no different to any other group of adults living with each other. Oxford & Cambridge are luckier than most in that they are already geared up to tutorial style working. Online lectures shouldn't be a problem to the Netflix generation. It's all going to work out just fine, once they have their grades in hand, like yours do.

I agree Hoghgyni I believe it will work out fine. Mainly because there is no other option. I think we have to remember that whilst there will be a 'new normal' this won't go on forever and our generation are very adaptable. DS says is fine with on line lectures - he just wants to go! I think he's lucky that his college takes a relatively high number of Maths students so he hopes to find some 'study buddies'. He has also joined a Maths applicants WhattsApp group and they seem to be getting started on some first year stuff already.

D1 has joined a couple of offer holders WhatsApp groups too, one for her course (tiny) and one for the faculty. So far most of the chat has revolved around the group being infiltrated by a load of offer holders from a different course and university (I'm trying not to give too much away) for the lols. Counter measures are planned...

So she seems fine, I think getting used to the idea that it is not going to be the experience she thought, at least at first. A friend who is already at Oxford, going into her second year, has been told that they probably won't be back in Oxford until January.

Other friends are weighing up their options - some are considering reapplying next year, a few are going to see if they can defer. I think so much depends on how the grades go.

DD went to a college offer holder's party online on Saturday. One of her best friends was at a course party at the same time. A couple managed to be at both at once, which helped break the ice a little there was then some 3 way chat going on.

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www.varsity.co.uk/news/19266
Another article from Varsity following the initial disclosures. It’s an interview with Virgo, the Pro Vice Chancellor at Cam and covers some of the issues being discussed on here so thought it might be of use.

DD tends to think it could be quite a fun year to go to Oxford, with everyone having been banged up for months. No thoughts of deferring at all.

That's a really helpful article, thanks for posting @chitchattery. I am somewhat reassured, having got myself into a state of high indignation and frustration after seeing the first headline.

I'm interested that so many DC seem to be in group chats with people in their course and college. DS knows nothing about these and I'm a bit worried everyone else will "know" each other by the time they all start. How did your DC find out about these groups? I fear that they all got each other's contact details at interview. DS was not so friendly I'm afraid.

I like your DD's attitude @goodbyestranger . DS will be extremely grateful to be anywhere other than home. He has made me promise to visit Oxford with Ddog regularly. DDog is a fan of pub lunches so that works well for everyone.

@SnapSnapDragon - I think DS found his college group having meet a few people at interview and his subject group via TSR.

How did your DC find out about these groups?

DS was already in a Discord group for Cambridge offer-holders. Last week he started following the CambridgeUniversity2020 Instagram account, commented on a photo, and another offer-holder from the same college sent him a message and invited him to the college group chat. The CambridgeUniversity2020 account has a story with who to contact for each course group chat, so he did that too.

Our elder DDog also a fan of pubs sandybayley. We live a couple of doors away from a very popular pub and DDog makes a dash to the pub any time our gate is left open. He's totally thrown by lockdown - it's tough on pub-going Ddogs.

Ha! Our walk on the local common takes us past a couple of lovely pubs and Ddog makes a dash for each as we go by. Fortunately the posh pet shop (sells his favourite chicken chipolata sausages) is still open. They know him by name 😉

www.caths.cam.ac.uk/planning-for-next-year

Also this one from my Alma mater (not DD’s college) which basically says the same thing but at least apologises for the way it was communicated. Hopefully colleges are following up with this sort of reassurance to students both new and existing.

SnapSnapDragon - DD has joined a FB group which her college's JCR set up for offer holders. They sent her an email. But I don't think she's actually done much more than join it and lurk in the shadows. She's not a fan of social media, or socialising in general!

DD was in a group chat from UNIQ for her subject, which evolved as everyone went their separate ways, then grew again after interview & moved on again after offer day. I think she found her College group on Instagram and plucked up the courage to join. I think there are around 50 members so far, with around 20 who are more active. I assume it will grow as the DC become more confident that they will be there in the autumn.

Goodbye DD shares your DD's optimism. She is fed up being cooped up with us & is looking forward to making new friends who are all venturing out into our strange new world together but apart.

I can't really imagine all those undergraduates consistently complying with social distancing. I imagine that most of them will decide they're low risk and will start socialising normally. Universities are no doubt trying to protect themselves against claims, and to protect their staff.
I think they should be prepared to undertake that all small group teaching and supervisions will be face to face from October. And work on that over the summer. And there is a suggestion, isn't there, that only a (hopefully large) percentage of undergraduates will be allowed in college, with others being forced to stay at home or find rented accommodation?

Auntlouisa
I wondered that. "As many as possible" is not the same as "all". If they work out that they can only safely accommodate X% of students living in college, how will they decide who gets to move in? Would final year undergraduates get priority? Or incoming masters students who only get one year at Cambridge?

DS had a nice reassuring email from the college. He’s not in any group chats. Not his thing as a dyslexic.

Now just to try to get on to the student finance website and go back to worrying about grades 😬

Asked D1 about WhatsApp groups. She said if you go on Oxford Offer holders 2020 Instagram, there are links for groups - by college, courses, faculties. There are a few just on Facebook but she refuses to use fb!

Hello everyone. Yesterday the Ofqual blog published interesting article about the impact of Covid19 on exams across the world. Sorry I haven’t managed to link but it is worth a look. What stands out is that the UK response (cancel A levels and GCSEs - teachers award grade) is an outlier. German students are sitting exams as normal. Other countries are using coursework which was always intended as part of the final grade, but inflating its importance. Many countries are putting exams back by a month or so but still allowing students to sit them. Vietnam, Ghana and Azerbaijan come into this category. Yet the UK with a supposed gold-standard secondary education simply rips up the rulebook and denies students any input. Is anyone else angry about the way our children have been treated so contemptuously?

I don't think they have. What do exams show - a snap shot on a day in time. Their centre assessed grades will show that professionals who know them well believe they would achieve those grades after assessing 2 full years of their work.

If they were treating them contemptuously they would have said the 2 years count for nothing, keep on plodding on for longer than usual and take your exams later, with no recent teaching and while we are at it let's completely stuff HE too.

Also I am glad they made the decision as quick as they did so that there was no more worrying over whether courses were finished or not or whether effective online learning would be out in place quickly enough in a way that did not disadvantage any students. The swift decision took away a lot of anxiety for many.

Nope not in the slightest bit angry. Probably because I don't think our children have been 'treated contemptuously'.
They will get the grades the teachers think they would have achieved in the real thing and if they don't like it they can take the exam in October. What's the problem?

No one has set out to victimise our children. Everyone is deeply inconvenienced. People are losing jobs, businesses are collapsing, mental health and domestic violence problems are on the rise and people are DEAD. The fact they haven't done their exams and might miss a few parties at freshers is quite frankly the least of anyone's worries.