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 😊

DD (at Oxford) also vague about end of term. Current assumption it's the 5th - but as others, say isn't that just going to lead to a scrum? Uni page vague about lateral flow testing....

Next year's accommodation causing a bit of stress. She and most of her friends on 4 year courses so required to live out for one year but can be year 3 or 4. Have looked at a couple but rents are high and whether they can live in next year (year 3) dependent on various ballots. DD (who like her mother likes to plan and is prone to other thinking) a bit anxious I think. Estate agents saying lots of students looking earlier than normal in Oxford - but they would say that.

Can't wait to have her back. Currently the thing keeping me going. If we can't see family I can probably cope with that as long as we can hunker down, cook, walk and watch telly.

Thanks Sandy. DD popped home on Thursday eve and is going back today. She had steak on Thursday and pasta very late last night, as College doesn't really do either of those.

Ellie DD's college has amended their usual 10am Saturday leaving deadline to anytime between Friday 4th & Sunday 6th to stagger pick ups. Your DD may get a similar email.

Ds has been allocated a time slot on dec 5th but reckons he’s one of the last to leave with others given slots on dec 3rd and 4th.

Hogh thanks for that - will double check. She's actually in what would normally be postgrad flats - but there is basically no parking. Dropping off was OK as students arrived over quite a period.

D1 has also been looking at living out next year, and her college mother said it does seem to get earlier every year - a few years ago, no-one thought about it until the summer, now this year many of the houses have already gone.

They are horrifyingly expensive.

DS has heard from his college (C). He can leave anytime between 4 and 9 December; he just needs to submit an exeat form with the date he is going.

Is it unusual for a supervisor (C) to run over 4 weeks late with marking essays? DS1 (English) has now got a backlog of 3 essays (out of a compulsory 6 for the whole term - so 50% of all essays for that supervisor) handed in well before deadlines (some 4 weeks ago) but not yet not marked.

As I've mentioned here before, his college has a very unusual system of not doing the supervision on the essay but simply discussing the text/s before the essays are even marked. This means that by the time any essay has been marked, it's too late for further dialogue, dependent on the feedback - that might help with improving that essay or even thinking about writing style and essay construction for the next essay.

So it feels - to me - that the whole Oxbridge supervision/tutorial system isn't really manifesting as you'd expect at DS1's college. But is this also the case with other colleges too? DS1 seems very laid back about all this but I'm really curious to know whether his experience is unique and how it might effect things for Tripos, if other colleges are doing it the traditional way.

Separate to this, DS1 is still being woken up by noise in his corridor at about 2.30am/ 3.00am but feels it's too sporadic to do anything about it nor does he want to be the one to complain. Is it also unusual for noise disturbance in the middle of the night to continue to this time in term?

It's all just so so different from DS2's (O) experience - both the academic side of things and the utter peacefulness of DS2's O college where everyone seems studious, yet much more sociable during the daytime. DS2 has hugely more reading to do for each of his essays and is expected to write a lot longer essay than DS1. He's relishing it though and getting good feedback. Each tutorial centres on the essay and takes things further beyond the essay, yet also provides immediate feedback on the essay, the level at which he's working and further thoughts and ideas that will eventually help with revision.

To me, this feel much more the Oxbridge way, academically - but maybe I'm well behind the times and DS1's C college is the new way forward that many colleges now have?

Hi, @mutterphore my dd is studying Vet Med at Cambridge and is completing around 2-3 essays a week and receiving feedback after a day or so. She is at a smaller, traditional college.

Lovecats, your DD is having a very similar experience then to DS2 at O and DS1 had expected this too. He says his supervisor seems to have plenty of time to update their Twitter account constantly, yet no time to catch up with essay marking!

I guess there's nothing he can really do about it but I'd like to know whether he's getting a raw deal or just a different experience that won't be detrimental in the long-term.

@mutterphore - it must be frustrating if the essays are not marked in a timely manner and receiving feedback is very beneficial to future work as you said.

Maybe the college is easing them in gently for the first term?

Hi @mutterphore, it does sound frustrating. You said before that other students are not writing essays on time. Could it be that they are waiting until after the supervision and therefore are able to incorporate ideas from the discussion? Perhaps your DS is paradoxically putting himself at a disadvantage by sticking to the deadlines?

My DT1at C having a very similar time to your DT2 @mutterphore. A supervisor described by her DoS as fastidious and goodness he is. Essay submitted the day before her supervision and the basis for her supervision which is 1:1 and intense. She had a steep learning curve about what the essay is meant to be for her subject , so different to A level. She has a different supervisor for her next paper next term. Is that likely to be case for DT1? Maybe one duff term is par for the course. DH still complains about the anatomist in his degree teaching him more about turtle limbs than human ( medic not vet !!).I can quite see why DT1 might be feeling short changed. Did he choose his paper?

Lovecats, I assume the college must be easing them in very slowly as some people are not doing all the essays anyway and that's apparently fine.

Snap, it's not that others are handing in essays later on - more that sometimes others aren't doing the essays at all (it's all very laid back) and the supervision is a general discussion about the text/s rather than focusing on any essay question.

On the one hand, I can see the advantage or just having an overview of the text/s the era etc but on the other hand, my own experience as an undergraduate was that I relied on my essays for exam revision and so it was really helpful to have focused on a particular essay question and had it pulled apart and criticised shortly after I'd written it. That then allowed me later on to go back and add bits and improve it. I can imagine in the third year re-visiting a topic or text/essay and then having that kind of general discussion but in the first year, I'd have thought it would be more helpful to get a better sense of - given that essay title, this is how best to approach it and this is where you could therefore improve it.

Hobbema, I wish DS1 had the experience your DT1 is getting! I think that every single supervision this year is in-house and the college picked the paper so they had no choice this term (modern texts, which seems to be the wrong way round - but there you go).
I know DS1 is currently picking his Shakespeare options for the third term and isn't sure whether his choices might then mean he has supervisions at other colleges (online or not) - but I think his second term is the less modern (not sure what era!) paper and it's all in-house.

DS1 meanwhile tells me he really really likes his supervisor and is completely fine with how things are. He's very pleased that with this - his main - supervisor/DOS - they've actually had a few face to face supervisions (outside) this term, which feels to him like a massive 'treat' given absolutely everything else is all on Zoom. He has that supervision with one other supervisee and their slot is always the last of the 4 supervision groups for that DOS in the day.

It's probably just me doing my usual -'comparing with the other son and then worrying that one is getting on better/is happier/ is having more advantages' - which is typical me!

He has a different supervisor - also in-house - for 'Practical Criticism' where they get some passages to look at shortly before the actual supervision (a bit like at the interviews) but then are supposed to write the (much much shorter type) essay after that supervision (I think?) and hand it in shortly after that. All those supervisions have been on Zoom, so he's not even 'met' face to face the other two supervisees or the supervisor (except when he had his interview with him). There are often weeks when they're actively told not to do an essay for this and so that supervisor doesn't seem to be behind with his marking as he has so much less.

We’re collecting DS2 from O on 7 Dec. After 20 essays and a bout of covid he needs some tlc! DS1 wants to stay in C for a bit longer but if he does he’ll need to take the train home as our availability to collect him is limited. Can’t wait to see them but I fear it will be a pretty tame Christmas.

@mutterphore, I think your DS1 is getting a raw deal. I know my DD1 is a 4th year scientist, but in her 1st & 2nd years, things were marked quickly and returned to her. I suggest your DS speaks to his DoS or personal tutor. When DD had an issue in her 2nd year, her personal tutor (RE/Theology specialist) was brilliant and objective. Some of the supervisors are early PhD students themselves, so you might find that they too are finding their way.

Malbecfan, I kind of think that too but there seems little to be done about it. You see, the supervisor in question is actually DS1's DoS also and a long established supervisor at the college. DS1 really likes him and gets on very well with him.

Apparently the supervisor is also a tutor and was giving lots of support to his tutees during the social isolation of most of the first years. So DS1 feels he can't really say anything about the unmarked essays as his supervisor must have been extra busy (though still finds time to post a lot on his Twitter account!).

Meanwhile, DS1's tutor - who he's only met for a 15 minute Zoom chat during the first week of term and who is a very pleasant and very young mathematician - hasn't made any further contact with DS1 and would clearly be 'junior' to DS1's DoS. So even if DS1 wanted to contact his tutor proactively (which he'd never do) and mention the issue with unmarked essays and supervisions not centring on the essay, his tutor may feel unable to do or say anything himself.

Oh for the days of school when a parent could have a quiet and sensitive informal word with a teacher to flag up an issue or to clarify a situation! I feel I could sort it all out within a few moments myself but now as a parent of a grown adult, all I can do is sit back, suggest, advise and not get involved, whilst off-loading on MN!

Looking on the bright side, DS1 has had an 'easy ride' for his first term, academically and hasn't felt any of the usual pressure many Freshers can feel at Oxbridge (and elsewhere). On the other hand, the part that worries me is that DS1 might be disadvantaged for Tripos compared to those who have quaked in fear at more rigorous supervisions this term but moved onwards and upwards towards their desired class of degree!

Hello, everyone, just found this thread - thanks, sandy for starting it. I hadn't even twigged that the last thread had reached 1000 and was wondering why new posts had dried up!

DS has ended self-isolation, so we are back to the routine of hearing little from him. DW saw that he had liked a Facebook group set up for a college ball in May - I guess there is a non-zero chance that such an event will happen.

Am quite impressed by DS's ingenuity. He wanted to do an upper body workout but it's not easy with gyms being closed. His solution was to ask one of the girls in his bubble to sit on his shoulders while he did squats. V nice (and trusting) of her.

Hmm, thinking about it, that must have been a lower body workout.

I'm just waiting for @SnapSnapDragon to add lower body workout

Not even going to follow that chain of thought Dx3!

@SnapSnapDragon - are you sure a workout what was motivated him to get a young lady to sit on him 😉

Some of DDs friends apparently does some 'exercise' pole dancing and demonstrated at a party using a tall thin young man.

Just catching up with the new thread.
DD was due to end isolation yesterday after two positive results in a house of five but she became unwell on day 14 and had a test today. Hoping - for the sake of the whole household - that it comes back negative. They were all looking forward to a real life Oxmas formal on DD’s 21st birthday which they won’t be able to attend if they need to isolate again.
On the topic of households of one, this was the original strategy of New College based on en-suite rooms and no kitchens. Freshers inevitably socialised in random groups and New had a high number of positive results early on in term.
DS is coming home on Dec 5th. Have heard very little from him in recent weeks but brief messages suggest he is quite content. DD’s college won’t budge on dates so she is coming home a day earlier than DS and having her last tute at home.