Another Path to Greatness - Part II

[BigWoollyJumpers]

Here we are.

@Chilldonaldchill did you have the Pfizer vaccine? I’ve heard side effects are worse after the second dose (and vice versa with AZ).

Brilliant news midlife massive congratulations to your DS!

Still keeping fingers crossed for your DD Bend 🤞

[quote bendmeoverbackwards]**@Chilldonaldchill did you have the Pfizer vaccine? I’ve heard side effects are worse after the second dose (and vice versa with AZ).[/quote]
Yes I did (and have heard the same thing). There seems to be some truth in it. It also seems that the younger patients (relatively. I'm nearly 50 ) get worse side effects. Most of the elderly barely noticed other than the sore arm.

Yes.. come on Durham .. an offer for Bend please!
I had fever, chills , nausea and upset stomach and a headache with the first AZ vaccine . I am hoping the next one will be side effect free but yes- it was also strangely good to know that it was actually doing it’s thing

I had the AZ one and had alternating hot and cold all night. Hopefully the second dose won’t be as bad.

Is anyone left still waiting for Durham? I’ve lost track.

ha, not many yet who have had 2nd dose of AZ but the only one I know was off sick for 2 days.
Still waiting to here from 2 unis...

Fingers firmly crossed for your DD bendmeoverbackwards.

Fantastic news mid and about time.

It has helped me feel a little better today. Had my AZ jab early yesterday morning at the same time as DH. He just has a sore arm, I have had a rough night, upset stomach, headache, shivers and I ache all over. Not as bad as flu but like a mild dose. Still feels absolutely shit though.

Fingers crossed now for bend. Come on Durham, this is getting ridiculous.

I have a dodgy tummy post jab (AZ) too and feel a tad out of sorts. I thought a steady jog around the park might make me feel a bit perkier, but it didn't. No great surprise! I'm trying to be brave as DH has his tomorrow.

I'm too full of brain fog to be trusted to fill in the census today. It'll have to wait a bit!

DH and I both had the virus last March. When we had an antibodies test in August at the chemist, he had the antibodies and I didn’t, which was odd, but apparently men are generally found to have the antibodies whereas women aren’t (but women more prone to long Covid). This is what the chemist said. Anyway, DH had the jab the other day and felt ill quite suddenly - so went out on an 80 mile bike ride to “get some oxygen.” . I haven’t had it yet and it seems there might be a delay for the late 40s. I’ve also developed tinnitus this year, weirdly, so god knows if that has something to do with Covid.

Come on Durham - get your act together, it’s nearly the end of March. And you LSE.

No symptoms yet, perhaps I am a slow burner and will feel bad later. Enjoying being looked after though. Still in bed with coffee brought up.

If any of you are experiencing any side effects not mentioned in your vaccination leaflet, do use the yellow card system or the information given on the form to report your side effects for the purpose of data gathering

On a different subject, I was just thinking earlier how utterly ridiculous the C feedback was. Despite the fact that there is absolutely no standardisation of interview questions whatsoever between colleges (and possibly between candidates interviewed by the same college); not to mention the fact that some candidates are interviewed twice (ie assessed by 4 people), while some are only interviewed once by two people - they actually, in all seriousness, believe that they can grade interviews to the decimal point? Give me a break. Fair enough, if they want to say, “oh he was roughly an 8, but she was more like a 10.” Or even if they want to give half points - eg 8.5. But how, on earth, did they get the “.2” in the 8.2 they scored him. Did they really sit there, with straight faces, discussing decimal points, knowing full well that there is no attempt whatsoever to standardise these interviews. It makes the whole process seem like a nonsense.

Well we've totally gone off topic today haven't we?!

There was a lot in the press recently about how HRT can protect against Covid as oestrogen, in particular, boosts the immune system. I assume women who aren't in need of HRT already produce the oestrogen they require for hormonal stability.

To that end, I'm wondering whether that's why we are suffering a bit more after the first vaccine than the XYs in our lives.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it and we're just soft.

PS @BigWoollyJumpers - you are living the dream having coffee brought up to you in bed. I don't get that on my birthday or Mother's Day!

Sorry to hear about those suffering vaccine side effects.

Silly question I know - but if anyone suffered an upset tummy, did it make you sick? The reason I ask is that I am emetophobic. When I had my first dose I felt shivery/achy for 36 hours....but with this talk of upset tummies I'm now worrying about my second dose!

But how, on earth, did they get the “.2” in the 8.2 they scored him

I hope the decimal part arises from averaging.

@bendmeoverbackwards.. no wasn’t actually sick

TheFrendo- yes I would hope it comes from averaging too, but still, how could they get to .2? There were 4 interviewers (2 interviews) so, as interviews are marked out of 10, presumably a candidate could have scored any number between 0 and 40 and then this is divided by 4? But to get 8.2 as an average, he must have scored 32.8 overall?

Also, for colleges that only have the one interview, the average would have to be calculated out of a max possible score of 20 (if both interviewers gave a score out of 10 and then they averaged it). So it could only come out as a whole number or something .5.

Sorry to be pedantic, but I find the whole thing quite strange in retrospect.

And evidence that it is a fine line, and so everything can hang on such small things. You might find that you share a common interest with the interviewer. You might be coming down with a cold and not sparkle. DD had one interviewer who mumbled and she had to really concentrate to hear what he said, and indeed at one point had to ask him to repeat three times. It very much threw her. And that is before you start on the strength of the other applicants.

I hear your frustration quest10n

I agree with needmoresleep- DS said he struggled with one of the source questions and shrugged it off as the rest of his interview and the second interview went well (as per his perception).

This could have been the deciding factor between him and another candidate

However the Cambridge graduate who interviews him said she needed a lot of guidance in some questions and she still got a place

At the end of the day in most cases we will not know why our DC were no chosen and others were

I spoke to some of my chums from DS old school - apparently the interviewers ran out of questions to ask for their successful Cambridge maths applicant as he got every single question right ....... he wasn't the most brilliant student overall and DS exceeded his GCSE grades. But obviously he was brilliant in Maths

Great news Midlife!! I'll be interested to hear your ds' college allocation.

My DH was feeling a bit achy after his jab yesterday but has taken paracetamol and feels fine now. He had AZ. My friends' symptoms seemed fairly random, none for two girlfriends but one of their husbands felt quite rough for 24hrs. They were all AZ.

Is everyone asking for Oxbridge feedback? Ds seems to have completely moved on so I don't think we'll bother...

Is everyone asking for Oxbridge feedback? Ds seems to have completely moved on so I don't think we'll bother...

I would have been interested, but DD just wasn't, so I tried to be a good mum and didn't push her . Unless you think you might have another go, it doesn't really change anything, it might make you feel better ie: I got a really good HAT score, or it might make you feel worse ie: I got a crappy interview score so they didn't like me, I was not worthy...... perhaps better just no knowing, and moving on. That's how DD feels anyway.

@bendmeoverbackwards no sickness, no nausea even for me. I am starting to feel a bit better, my head has cleared, my body just aches but is not as painful.

The symptoms started kicking in about 12 hours post jab, worst at 24-25 hours post jab.

Dh and I are mid/late 40s, no health conditions but we just think our surgery has vaccinated all those in the categories above us. Basically all of yesterday the surgery was open for vaccinations. It was run with military precision, hand gel outside, given a form inside, see a person who asks questions, into next available room for vaccination, Dh and I done together even though we were technically booked under different nurses. It felt joyous (I am trying to hold onto that feeling)

Ds didn't want feedback from C, just wanted to move on.

No feedback for Dd .. she has put it behind her and now thinks it would not have been a good fit for her. Sges changed a lot since she jumped on the oxbridge bandwagon at school and made that application. She’s found this last lockdown really challenging and is looking for a different academic work/ fun balance now.

DS asked for C feedback on the day he was rejected, but had forgotten about it tbh, until his school suddenly sent it through to him the other day. He’s definitely not thinking of reapplying! I think if my DD ever has a go at Oxbridge though, I might suggest her to go for O, all things being equal, as it sounds like the admissions process is slightly more centralised and consistent there, at least. I can also see why the vast majority of unis don’t bother interviewing as without any standardised format whatsoever, it’s a blunt instrument imo.