Oxford and Cambridge current students discussion thread

[sandybayley]

Starting a new one as we filled it up!

Can't believe DS1 will be home in 2 weeks. Must remember to adjust the Ocado shop for when he's back. I suspect we may end up with a few days of his favourite meals 😊

My DD studying Vet Med has just received that email and as she has no placements as only in first year it seems the exemption will not apply to first year vets and med students. Hoping they mean to go back on weekend before the 25h but who knows at this point!

I'm quite disappointed on DS's behalf. He is worried about studying from home (noise, distractions, unreliable wi-fi). I think they should be allowed to go back, self-isolating in their households until they receive negative results from the asymptomatic testing programme.

Oxford have started updating their guidance: www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus/students/christmas-vacation

So far, all they've added today is that in general teaching will be online until 25th Jan, then move to in-person after that - exception is the practical courses (like medics, I assume) that will start sooner.

Just had a debate with DS about who is more disheartened by this news, him or his parents. Answer is we all are. He doesn't work well from here for the same reasons that ironoaks mentioned.

In theory if a student was no longer welcome at the parental home would that count as a good reason to go back to college, do you think?

@SnapSnapDragon - I told DS1 to go back to Oxford the other day when he got into a wrestling match with DS2 over the last piece of Yule Log. Do you think he can claim to no longer be welcome in the familial home 😉

Dd studies much better at uni too, despite best efforts to make it work here. Being cooped up with us does not help her focus. Especially as I've been told to shield again.

It does list as an exception "Students who need to be in Cambridge for specific reasons, including health-related reasons." It doesn't specify whether that's the health of the student, their parent, or any siblings they might be bickering with.

DD is weirdly quite happy with how it is turning out - she works better with tea in hand apparently. Tea is not a thing in Oxf because the water is crunchy. I am in awe of her resilience and optimism. Her motto appears to be "Have pencils. Am happy".

Sounds like your dd will go far in life @unescorted...very mature.

As for the other parents who are looking for excuses for their Dc in tier 4 areas to return to Cambridge which actually has a fairly low rate per 100k please don't be so selfish. I've worked with businesses in the city during the last 9 months and they are struggling... There is a need for covid rates not to rise so they can look at reopening. Two weeks out of your DCs life working at home won't mean they are struggling to keep a roof over their head or put a meal on the table.

Look at the larger picture.. If your WiFi isn't responsive change supplier... If your Dc can't study at home well they would be struggling if they had jobs at the moment because most people with good jobs are working from home and actually managing childcare at the same time.. Time to be resilient!

Sorry I don't think I've ever encountered such a selfish bunch of parents!!!!

@Frazzled6
Is the "selfish bunch of parents" directed at me?
I thought it was obvious that my comment above was tongue-in-cheek?

DS will be staying here and working from home until allowed to return. He is extremely cautious about complying with Covid restrictions. He had no close contact with anyone in Cambridge last term (including his own household) and has not seen anyone outside our household since the end of term.

My husband is a frontline NHS worker who has worked very long hours planning and delivering vaccinations. He only took Christmas Day off. I work in a school and have been planning how to implement mass testing. Apart from at work, neither of us see or mix with anyone outside our household. I haven't given my parents a hug since February.

We understand the situation perfectly, both from work and personally. A friend died from Covid in April and my cousin died from Covid six weeks ago.

Go and take your judgement somewhere else.

Frazzled We are just sad and venting. That's healthy.

No it wasn't obvious @ironoaks given your post at 17.46...Read it again....!

That is harsh - most parents of uni aged students are stressed by the situation, not just on this thread. You are looking at a cohort that were the first to endure new SATs, new GCSEs, A levels being fucked up and now they are trying to support their children through a car crash of a year. The OxBridge students are mainly kept in colleges and infection rates in both Cambridge and Oxford were lower in areas with high numbers of students, indicating that the student population was less infectious than the wider population. We have all had to put up with COVIDIOTS in our areas and it is not students fault that other people have procreated and now need to juggle wfh and childcare.

@Frazzled6 - I'm not sure you're a regular poster to this thread? @Ironoaks DS is a fresher like my DS. Both have had a crappy 2020 (like everyone) with cancelled A Levels and CAGs and a lot of uncertainty. They've worked really hard to get to Oxbridge and it's perfectly normal to be frustrated that their return will be delayed. Not selfish in anyway.

Frazzled stop with the sanctimonious stuff. I have a DS working as a junior doctor on the Covid ward of the London hospital which was front page news this morning (photographs of ambulances stacked up around the bays and then the block) who's worked right through Christmas incl Christmas Day. Still working today. A DD is also working in another London hospital, front line. This I-can-top-you-with-vicarious-tragedy is wearing, to say the least, and we can all do it. To be fair, all the parents on here are imaginative enough to be aware of the bigger picture.

My dd is also a fresher this year frustrated yes.. Lost her original offer following A level fiasco which was later reinstated. Its a crap year but she understands that she's actually fortunate.. She's not lost a relative, not had parents who have lost jobs so in the scheme of 2020 it's disappointing and she's handling things in her stride.

Cambridge covid rates increased in October when students started/returned to Cambridge.. This is without the current variant which apparently spreads more easily.

Its time to think of others...im sure my dd will look at life in a more positive manner and be very grateful for what she has rather than what she doesn't have...missing two weeks of university is nothing compared to what a lot of families have lost this year.

You have no idea what our children / families have lost this year. If you want comparative shite - 2 friends, a parents job, and a relative that can't be seen on life limiting pathway. What does that achieve - yes I am still annoyed that DD will have all that and the thing she has wanted since she was 14 pissed up the wall by something she can't control. Yes I am angry, beyond spitting but that does not make me selfish.

@Unescorted is right. @Frazzled6 you literally have no idea what others on this thread have have been through this year (I work for a business who has had to deal with the absolute worst of the pandemic) so please stop your preachy nonsense. And no I don't want to get into a tit for tat so let's stop now.

Hmm, Frazzled raises an interesting question, albeit it's a shame that he/she resorted to insults. Is it selfish to want life to go on relatively normally for young people? Especially if you think they've had Covid and/or don't pose a threat to others? If so, I'm guilty as charged although I plead innocent to the charge of personal self interest. Personally I'd be prepared to risk getting Covid (and I have an underlying condition) if it meant that our kids could have their education and jobs back. To me that sounds more selfless than selfish, but I'm not about to start insulting people who have different views.

I’ve spent New Year’s Eve with my children, the three eldest of whom would much rather have been out partying with their friends, but stayed at home because they are not selfish.
They have obeyed the rules throughout the pandemic. They understand the need to do so because their father is an NHS doctor treating covid patients (and working a 7 day week I might add).
Wanting my children to be able to go back to university to work is the weirdest example of alleged selfishness I can imagine.

Happy New Year all. Dd has received a communication from Cambridge that she won't be going back until the 25th at least. She's pretty cut up about it - she's been a complete hermit since she arrived home and not mixed at all.

Yes indeed - a very Happy New Year!

DD was emailed yesterday evening to say only internationals and those with agreed early returns could come back. No other early returns will be sanctioned until the college has worked out what is ok withing the guidance and what isn't. I kind of get a sense that Yule Log wars may not cut it....

So not the two fingers up response I was hoping for :)

Happy New Year! Let’s hope 2021 is a lot brighter...

DS didn’t go out at all over the Xmas break and went back before NY - he and some of his friends have continuous rental.

Really hope everyone can get back soon - it’s all such a mess and I feel the young are very much paying the price.

Nothing from DD's college yet. They had given her an early return date of 10 Jan, so she will need to know early next week whether or not to book a test. She would be on her way now if she could.