Oxford and Cambridge current students

[sandybayley]

Nearly filled up the old one...

My son has just been given permission to return on academic and mental welfare grounds, which is a vast relief as he was in a very bad way for the second half of last term. He has always been the most laidback boy and so it was very frightening for us to see him in such a spiral of anxiety. Good luck to everyone with their applications. I really hope most colleges will now let back anyone who wants to go.

True @SnapSnapDragon - DS1's college falls into the 'disorganised' category but I'm not saying which college it is!

This was useful during Michaelmas as it meant freshers were left to do as they wished and not overly managed (no Covid cases).

They haven't interviewed to assess 'suffering' (that would require organisation) but did (earlier on) insist on a GP note to prove any claims of mental health issues.

As DD is looking at colleges atm I'm inclined to tell her to opt for Brasenose or New as the two most amenable (during the pandemic) colleges unless someone tells me otherwise. DS1 is at neither!

My DS has been back for a few weeks (leak in his roof!) but the rest of his house came back on Sunday. A few are finalists though, which may be the reason.

Maybe a clever person could set up a form on google docs which we could edit and rate our DC’s colleges on...

Where is @DadDadDad when you need him?

@SnapSnapDragon

It's a shame in some ways that we're all (myself included) coy about the colleges our DC attend because between us we'd probably be able to create a league table of colleges according to their treatment of students.

Colleges encouraging everyone to return and simply asking for return dates would be top.
Colleges interviewing students and turning some down on the basis of insufficient suffering would be somewhere near the bottom..

I totally understand but is it easy to change username? I have never done it. But if it is could you post- Claracollege- very supportive, one of first to let students back on 12 Feb. DD has friend at Bluebird College- awful- still won’t let any back and locked them all in their rooms for 3 months from September... those are fictional examples, obvs!

Agree a league table would be interesting.. but ultimately might not be much use for prospective applicants when pooling , esp at Oxford ,is such a big thing. Though the naming and shaming in eg Varsity might give some cause for reflection for the baddies. I know who are being called out at C ... but it’s very anecdotal.

DS's college e-mailed yesterday and he felt that they were sounding more willing to have people back this term. They included a form to fill in if you wanted to return and you had to tick if it was because of study space/well-being etc. They have said that they will contact you for more information. DS doesn't know if that will be email or zoom interview - that's what his college did for last term and very few were allowed back. So now we are waiting to find out.

So sad to hear about the C student. Also sorry that your DS is finding it so difficult @PantTwizzler. I hope you work out how much to encourage him back to C.

Hoping that more colleges will make it easier for everyone to go back who wants to

If I had a prosepective student, I would certainly be looking very strongly at how students were treated at each college. I expect that it would be quite a good reflection on how they look after student welfare in general.

I've been trying to work out how we can do this without exposing our dc. We've all been very discrete here.

DC at one of Sandy's two named suspects. The college gave everyone permission to return after Christmas if they wanted to, then they put the brakes on when they realised how many had applied. Next they asked them to explain which exemption they were applying under & asked everyone to apply within the spirit as well as the letter of the guidance.

More students have been allowed to return as time has moved on. They have put on events within the lockdown rules, easing restrictions gradually. They've trusted the students to act like responsible adults rather than social pariahs. The library has been open & they're extending opening hours from next week. Students have been allowed to pick their households and a sensible approach has been taken to mixing. The staff have all worked with the students not against them. Even the scouts are back.

Teddy Hall report

Michelmas term – Bubble sizes were quite large (8-12 people) to allow freshers to meet as many people as possible. Dinners were served in hall. There was a marquee but people didn’t use it; instead they met up in the JCR, although this was eventually stopped by college authorities who realised that there was mixing between households. Some fines were threatened for rule breaking although I’m not sure if any were issued. Junior Dean was pretty sympathetic to students’ plight.

Hilary term – Around one quarter of first years were allowed back; others asked but were denied permission, although some received permission later and trickled back over time. Bubbles were reorganised to maximise their sizes. Again, dinner was served in hall. Controls seemed a bit stricter and college authorities a little less tolerant.

Trinity term - Most first years will be returning and there don’t seem to be any hoops to jump through. Everyone will be in households again.

All in all, pretty good and I think the college did its best. DC is grateful.

Ha! As I thought. Now I just need to work if it's Brasenose or New you're talking about 😉 I'm going to have to declare that I am not @CollegeOuting

I forgot about the work aspect. I should add that Teddy's (beautiful) library has been open throughout with no need to book.

@sandybayley you're the only one who will be outed by a name change as you're the OP.

Although students can't return to Magdalen, the college welcomed the first 20 visitors this week coming for a tour of the grounds with a free Magdalen College calendar. Nice touch.

Hertford handled Michelmas term very well and the college experience was very good. However, it has strictly implemented government guidelines since January and the library remains closed.

Christ's Cambridge is definitely on the stricter end of the spectrum with regard to Covid safety measures, possibly because a few faculty members have been quite unwell from the virus. DC happily conforms with all Covid safety measures so doesn't mind this.

The college has made a lot of effort to look after students, delivering meals and groceries to those self-isolating in college and arranging for access to fresh air and outdoor exercise.

The group emails from the Senior Tutor have at times been a bit authoritarian in tone. In general the teaching and support staff seem kind and good-humoured.

The college strongly discouraged students from returning in January, but have been more open to requests to return in April.

Nice of you to think of me. I'm not sure I've got the time to set something up and I'm doubtful about how robust a picture we can build from the relatively small sample willing to contribute their anecdotes. I wonder if there are already student websites where this kind of data has been collected?

I've kept my own counsel a bit during these discussions. I think it's shoddy how the government have just lumped students into the May stage without a more nuanced consideration of the impact, and I am baffled by the variable stances taken by different colleges. The reason I've been a bit quiet is my DS has had a relatively positive experience and talking about that feels unsympathetic to some of the horrible experiences others have described. (Trying not to be too outing, but DS is at one of the tiny colleges in O and it seems to operate well as a friendly small community where they've been fairly happy to have students back as long they have some justification).

This is so useful. I am happy to take second hand info about other C colleges too- out the tough/unsympathetic ones!

DD is at the other one Sandy has mentioned. They are really sympathetic to returners - as far as I can work out dd just needed to book a slot with the porters so the gate can be lifted & we don't get a parking ticket. Which kind of gives it away.

I am not CollegeOuting Sandy.

@Covidreport

Hertford handled Michelmas term very well and the college experience was very good. However, it has strictly implemented government guidelines since January and the library remains closed.

Have name changed; agree with Covidreport's summary re. Hertford

Incidentally, as a fairly novice Mumsnetter, I gathered straight away when I first joined this thread that the "etiquette" was not to give away your child's college or even subject, although if others had done so, personally I would have had no issue sharing those details under my usual username. Is it because people don't want their previous posting history linked to any real-life details? Understandable if so. Or is there some other reason that I haven't worked out for myself? Just curious....

I assume other poster's reticence is not wanting to inadvertently link their DC to their reprehensible MN posts.

Anyway - DD phoned this evening, she said she's been going into her college to work in the library which she's happy about. I asked if many people were coming back - apparently yes, because although the college is adhering to the letter of the government guideline of 'only for physical or mental health reasons', the students can self-certify.

Some of the discussion was about what route DH should take through Cambridge to get to her house (fetching her home next week to do her finals) because of a bridge being closed to car traffic but still has a bus lane which is catching people out.... something like that. So if you're taking your DC back that may be something to watch out for... I've no idea which bridge it is I'm afraid.