Oxford and Cambridge current students - discussion thread for anyone with daughters, sons etc there for Michaelmas 2020 (and not just freshers!)

[DadDadDad]

A continuation thread for those attending Oxbridge for the first time this term, but it makes sense to throw it open to anyone with a DC there (or other family member, or maybe you're a student yourself or teach / work there - all welcome!) Share your thoughts and questions on college life, courses, etc. A certain virus has made it a bit different for everyone this year...

I have a DS who is a fresher at a small Oxford college in a small subject. We will be taking him there in just over a week.

@DadDadDad hope your DS is OK.

DS sent me a message to say that today was the closest he has felt to worrying about keeping up with the work. It was a perfect storm of physics examples taking him longer than he was expecting, the maths lecture having to be watched live, and a chemistry practical taking longer than expected. He says that if this becomes a regular thing then he has a plan to reduce his conscientiousness of working through every example after every physics lecture.

Sounds like a sensible plan @Ironoaks. It's been over 30 years since we were in his shoes but my group of NatSci friends still sometimes talk about how extreme the first year workload was. At the time we used to grumble about effectively doing three degrees. I coped with it by giving up maths lectures entirely. I had been to the first few, understood little and then realised I'd already covered it in further maths (but much better taught). Once I gave up lectures I made good progress and ended up choosing maths in second year. DS (science at oxford) knows this story but I've warned him not to follow my example, not least because he sent me his maths lecture notes and they are very helpful. Maybe lecturers have upped their game since my time!

Hog, I haven't been on here for a couple of days but I also wanted to send my best wishes and hopes that things improve quickly for your mum. What a perfect storm you're having.

No personal Oxbridge experience to offer up here but it does seem to take a term to figure out what you actually need to do. DD quickly realised in her first term (O science subject) that trying to do everything was impossible. She adopted a "good enough" strategy and that seems to have paid off. She manages to stay on top of the work, has time for training with her uni squad and (in non_C19 times) socialising, applying for expedition grants, internships and the myriad of other things that happen in a term.

Different courses seem to different a lot in how much work there is to do and your DS seems to be taking a sensible approach Ironoaks.

Can someone tell me how to interpret the Term Dates for January for O and C, as full term dates and start dates for the first term differed a lot?

So, looking at the website for C, for example, it sees to say term starts on 19th January but then it also alludes under 'Statutes and Ordinances' that the start date is 5th January?

I know none of us can yet know for certain what will happen about students returning to university next term but assuming it were 'as normal', what would the travel back dates be for first years in January for both O and C? (Need to know this for work reasons).

I meant to say "seem to differ" rather than "seem to different"!

Statutes and Ordinances are more of a formality. Full term is what dictates when lectures etc start, so 19 January it is for Lent Term. So, lockdowns aside I imagine many students will return on the weekend of 16 Jan.

Those weirdos in Oxford have Hilary Full Term starting 17 Jan.

At Oxford students are often required to be back in college before term starts to sit collections. My dd is in her second year and was required back on the Wednesday before the date that term officially started after Christmas (and the same would have been the case after Easter if they had gone back). But it varied by college and also by subject within the same college. So your twins will need to find out exactly when they are required to be back in their respective colleges.

We have a clash for pick up at the end of term. Neither college Is prepared to be flexible yet. DC has already booked a slot and college sats they will Issue a fine If he doesn’t leave within that slot (!). (His college is very keen on fines for all misdemeanours.)
DD’s college are adamant that there is only one Moving Out day for her particular household. Normally, they can pay for extra nights but not this time 🙁.

For Cambridge, my understanding is that "full term" (i.e. when they need to be there by) starts on Tuesday 19 January, and actual lectures start on Thursday 21 January.

I hadn't heard about the 5th January version.

Cambridge 'full term' is 3/4 of the whole term.
In her first year, DD had mocks before the start of Lent full term, and has sometimes had supos outside of full term but within the whole term.
The idea she'd only be there for 24 weeks a year turned out to be quite wide of the mark!

@ofteninaspin are you far away from your DS? I know when DD has had an issue with departure times or more often arrival dates & times, because we are 250ish miles away, her college is normally very sympathetic. She is quite good at the "my parents are key workers who can't get time off in the week" story too (lots of practice!). Personally, I think their bark is worse than their bite, in that they threaten all sorts, but when push comes to shove, they are actually quite helpful.

After lockdown 1, DD wanted to collect her stuff. She was in a college house on the main site but had left some stuff in her room and in the kitchen. The college allocated 2-hour slots. DD spoke to her friends in the house and picked a day when nobody else was going. We aimed for a slot but she let them know that due to the distance and roads, we might not be there on time. They were fine about it. We actually arrived early and she went to the Plodge to see if she could go in early or we should get a coffee. They were happy to let her in as nobody else was there, due to careful planning!

I agree (as I often do!) with @ErrolTheDragon about supos and meetings outside the main term dates. I just ask DD to give me an idea of when the mum taxi will be needed and she and her sister who is not at Oxbridge try hard to talk to one another too. It is possible to do both in the day as long as they aren't bringing everything home, but it is knackering for me.

@Malbecfan, Cambridge is a 6 to 7 hours round trip and Oxford is closer to 3 hours. Doing both in a day depends on how much stuff each has to bring back. DD's college are normally flexible but not this term. Apparently the availability (or lack of) a parent to collect is not a valid reason to vary the leaving date.

Apparently the availability (or lack of) a parent to collect is not a valid reason to vary the leaving date.

Hopefully as they think about the logistics they will reconsider - anything which pushes more students into using public transport is surely to be discouraged. Last Xmas DD travelled by train with her rucksack; uncertainty in how CV might affect DH means we really wouldn't want her doing that this year. As she's in a privately rented house I'm sure her college has no say on her arrangements, fortunately for us.

Just had a chat with DS1. He's finally got the hang of a chatting - previously he was very much Q&A / need to know.

All good. All tutorials still face-to-face. Lots of work still but enjoying it.

He did say he'll have exams in the New Year. I was a bit surprised. Is that normal for STEM at Oxford?

He also says there are a fair few people staying in O for Christmas and he thinks they may come down to London. I don't think he's thought it through....

Just had the longest chat I've ever had with DS on the phone - he got a positive result back on yesterday's covid test, and is feeling a bit rough. It's infected most of the freshers in his college, but it is one of the smallest colleges and it feels like there's a good community spirit there, with senior members of the college looking out for them too.

He expects to have some exams at the start of next term, but is a bit vague on the details. He was also told that he should expect to study during the vacation. I guess with a humanities subject there are always books to read and that can take time.

He was also told that he should expect to study during the vacation. I guess with a humanities subject there are always books to read and that can take time.

DD - an engineer - had an essay to write during her first vacation. I can't remember if she had other assigned work but she did a lot of studying, consolidating the previous term's work and revising for the mock exams. Easter vacs likewise a lot of revision for the summer exams. And most of summers have been occupied with internships. She's stated very pointedly that 'vacation' != 'holiday' ... literally it's just the period they can, or have to, to vacate college. Of course, she allocates some actual holiday within the vacations.

@sandybayley, DD is an Oxford "scientist" and has exams ("collections') at the start of every term.
@DadDadDad, really hope your DS is feeling better soon. Good to hear he is well supported in college.

DD continues to isolate whilst sharing a house with two confirmed cases. I suspect it is just a matter of time before another one succumbs.

[quote Ironoaks]@DadDadDad hope your DS is OK.

DS sent me a message to say that today was the closest he has felt to worrying about keeping up with the work. It was a perfect storm of physics examples taking him longer than he was expecting, the maths lecture having to be watched live, and a chemistry practical taking longer than expected. He says that if this becomes a regular thing then he has a plan to reduce his conscientiousness of working through every example after every physics lecture.[/quote]
DS said workload improved in 2nd year as one less module and 1st year Natsci is notorious for workload.

He has also commented about how supos are supposed to be about discussing where you don't understand stuff. This was in the context of should he admit not understanding this year as supervisor reports could count towards degree ( he is 3rd year).

Also agree about vacations, NatScis are meant to consolidate. In the past there have been lab reports to write or computing projects.

Thank you for the reassuring posts about DS's workload, especially from those who have experience of first year NatSci. He has always been very conscientious about consolidating and revising all work thoroughly as he goes along, but I think is realising that this year he might need to learn to prioritise.

@DadDadDad I hope your DS recovers quickly.

DD has been pretty shocked by the workload, I think.

Does anyone have any sense of whether rooms will have to be cleared out entirely? I'm hoping that since there will be no interviews and do conference bookings, colleges will allow students to leave stuff in their rooms. I'll still be driving down to get DS regardless but would rather not have multiple trips to and from the car.

It would make no sense to ask students to clear their rooms. I'm working on the assumption that DD will be able to bring the minimum home and leave her room in college set up for her return in Jan.

I'd hope they don't need to clear their rooms this time, as you say there wouldn't be much point and makes the transitions less efficient.
Fwiw in normal times it would vary by college and accommodation details. The first year rooms at DDs were the nice en-suites used for conferences, but even with those, half of the wardrobe was lockable shelves that they could leave some stuff in, and they didn't have to clear the kitchen cupboards. And I think they could leave one suitcaseful in a 'trunk room'. After that she was in 39 week contract house/room so no clearance at all till summer.

I really hope they don't have to clear their rooms! It feels like we've only just dropped them off.

At DS's college the rooms are in one of three categories of how much they need to be emptied during the short vacations.

DS's room is in a category which in normal times would have to be emptied out and his belongings stored in a large lockable cupboard nearby.

He has been told by the college that due to the pandemic, his room is now in the category where his belongings can be left in the room during the Christmas vacation.