Workload at Oxbridge - honest feedback please!

[rhubarba]

Hi - I’ve read quite a lot on here about the workload at Oxford / Cambridge being more ‘intense’ than at other universities. I wonder how much of this is self-perpetuating hype and how much is reality? If you have DC at these universities, are they constantly overwhelmed? How bad can it actually be? I was specifically wondering about social science subjects at Cambridge (DD starting later this year). Do they really have to write three essays per week? Is there time to have a social life? How much pressure is there? Please be honest!

I have a DD doing an MFL degree at Oxford and a DS doing an MFL degree at another Russell Group university. DD and I both think the workload at Oxford genuinely is much more intense than at other non-Oxbridge universities. DD's comment is that you do have time for both work and a social life, but you don't have time to get much sleep! Terms are very intense. DD says that her friend who does history has 12 essays per term and that the amount of reading required for a history degree is huge. When she looked at her friend's reading list she thought at first it was his reading list for the term, but it was in fact the reading list for just one essay! The reading lists for DD's MFL degree are also pretty hefty, particularly taking into account that the literature is in a foreign language.

I have a DD in her first year at Cambridge doing a Humanities subject. Rest assured the intense workload is not a myth. Since the first week (yes they were given essays in Freshers Week) she has been set between 2 and 4 pieces of work a week with a heavy reading list for each piece. Most of the pieces are essays with a limited word count eg 1,500-2,000, sometimes a presentation. It’s certainly been a shock to the system and sometimes has felt overwhelming but the good news is that if they are organised, motivated, genuinely love the subject and keep perspective, they adapt to the workload and can enjoy a good social life.
It is a very different experience to other excellent unis though. Work dominates at Cambridge, face to face supervisions (2-4 a week) are challenging and there is pressure to be on your game. Feedback on work is detailed and timely. The social side definitely comes second. At Christmas she couldn’t believe her friends at Exeter, Durham, Manchester doing the same subject had 2 essays a term! She also has 2 sets of Mocks and end of year exams and coursework.
DD, ex party girl, has evolved quickly: taken up social clubs like rowing, studies 9-5pm every day and makes sure she gets together with friends in the evenings. Many don’t.
That said, she says she is the happiest she’s ever been. Bottom line is you have to love the subject, then it doesn’t feel so much like work.

My son is studying Law at Oxford. The reading burden is huge, he works all day everyday and only has a few evenings a week 'off'. He got 5A* at A Level with very little effort, this is very different. He is on his way home now and desperate for time off to sleep and as he put it 'mess around!"

DS1 is doing engineering at Oxford. It’s intense and he has had his struggles. This is his first year and I think it’s probably the first time he has found work genuinely tough after doing incredibly well at GCSE and A Levels without massive effort.

Ds1 is also really enjoying his Easter break😍

I think part of the issue is how short the Oxbridge terms are - some years ago when I was there - we were at Uni for 22/3 weeks a year. Other Unis had longer terms. I had to read 8 books a week - a lot of essays had to be written - I did 3x the amount of essays as a friend at a non-Oxbridge uni for the same subject.

I did engineering at Oxford approx 7 years ago.

Humanities subjects were on three essays a week, yes.

My usual timetable was 2/3 lectures most mornings. Lab time 1/2 afternoons a week (3hrs per session) depending on the year. And then 3/4 hour long tutorials per week. Each tutorial had about 4/5hrs worth of work to do to prepare for it. And there was only 2/3 in each tutorial group, and your work had to be handed in the day before, so no room to hide.

Eight week terms, with collections (college exams that don't count towards your degree mark) usually Friday of 0th week (ie the Friday before term starts)

Yes, it is much more intense than the RG eng courses my friends were on at other unis

Oh, and I found the pressure intense. Working life has always felt like breeze in comparison!

It is quite intense but the terms are short so you have plenty of holiday time to catch up with things.

I'd agree.

I have DS studying Physics and DD studying Earth Science.

Both have heavy workloads and are expected to do a lot of self learning. Lectures are pointers rather than teaching lots of content.

Both regularly have to submit work on Sundays.

Everything is crammed into 8 weeks so they then spend the vacation catching up on extra reading and stuff they didn't understand first time around.

After DS's first term he said that you have time for only three things so you choose between work, sport, a social life, a girlfriend and sleep.

Having said that, both are very happy there.

The work load during term time is immense. The reading lists are huge and because terms are so short it’s hard to catch up if you fall behind. I worked 7 days a week. In terms of content we covered more in one term that my friends studying the same subject (law) covered all year.

Work hard, play hard would summarise. There is time to have a social life or to do a sport/hobby but you do need to keep on top of the workload

DS1 is at Oxford doing a joint honours. He works extremely hard. Long hours in the library - often until 10pm at night. He adores both subjects, which are not hugely related and involve both lab work and essays - and he is also very focused on getting a double first. So, I suspect he could get away with working not quite as hard as he does, if he were happy with a 2.1. He's not at all stressed though, just tired. And he does have a lively social life and a love life too. So he seems to have found the balance.

I went to Oxbridge, DH went to a Russell Group university (at the same time, while we were dating), both did humanities subjects, and he reckons I did twice the work in less time (8 week terms). No one had time for a PT job during term time. I was quite diligent and did approach it like a job - get up, do lectures, or reading, or writing essays. Pretty much doing one of those 7 days a week.

However, everyone I know absolutely did fit in a social like and plenty of extra curricular activities. Definitely a case of work hard play hard. I don’t actually remember being massively stressed, I did really enjoy my subject, made some excellent friends, had a lot of fun.

My dc is studying History at Oxford

Three or 4 days after arriving in the first term, she was given an essay plan and an essay, both of which had to be completed by the end of the week. Three essays per week is not unusual

The holidays may be long but there is still a lot of reading to to be done (especially during the Christmas and Easter hols)

My best friend was at Oxford, I was at Durham, both doing reading heavy subjects. She had at least twice as much work as I did (and worked more than twice as hard).

It’s very hard. I think my DS may regret going to Oxbridge due to the workload. There are lots of benefits though. But there is not much time for really enjoying yourself is the impression I get… on the plus side at Cambridge you can swap your subjects round a lot, so they can find something they really enjoy…

Yes it's very intense and the reading lists are huge. But if you learn the skill of getting what you need from the reading quickly and can fire off an essay in a few hours, it is not that bad. You aren't meant to read everything cover to cover but to learn the skill of looking quickly at huge amounts of information and picking out the useful bits. It's a big workload and intense but if you are good enough to be there, you are expected to be good enough to figure this out and manage it. I speak from personal experience.

Dd is doing a science degree at Oxford. Yes the workload is huge compared to her peers at other Russell Group unis. I presume this is one of the reasons Oxbridge students aren't usually allowed term time jobs. And as others have said, there definitely us a culture if work hard, play hard.

DS is at Oxford doing a STEM subject. He has 2-3 hrs of lectures a day, 3 or 4 small classes or tutorials a week and and 2-3 problem sheets a week plus preparation for tutorials. He works very hard, 9-6ish 6 days a week but has not yet felt 'overwhelmed'. I think this is as much to do with his diligence though - he will start prepping for the new term a couple of weeks before it starts so he has a bit of a head start.

In her first year DD had to produce 2 essays & 2 worksheets each week for PPE. This year she is taking two modules each term and has an essay to write for each every week. Christmas & Easter holidays are spent catching up on lectures, reading etc & starting the next batch.

I have a DC at Oxford and another at another RG University . The Oxford student works much harder - three essays a fortnight - than his brother who seems to be asked for a maximum of three essays a term. Terms at Oxford are also shorter and more intense.

The stories about the workload are certainly not hype. I do not think many students are really overwhelmed though. Most are pretty clever, genuinely interested in what they are studying and they learn organisational skills. They do not have to factor in travelling time - unlike students studying in London for example and the college system means they have fewer organisational problems around accommodation, catering etc.

I was there a decade ago but I doubt it’s changed much! Workload was insane, 2, sometimes 3 essays a week, translations, tutorials, lots of reading. My friends at other well respected unis in similar subjects usually did 3-4 essays a term (and their terms were longer!)

I did loads of extra curriculars and had a great social life but didn’t sleep much. Always crashed out at the end of term with a horrible flu-ey type illness which in hindsight was probably due to burnout.

I did around 50-60 hours a week. It didn't feel particularly overwhelming because it was only 8-9 weeks. You work 6 days a week, 1 day off. Then you decide if you want to do societies/ sport or partying/drinking. Remember, they're 20, full of energy and there's no housework to do so there's still plenty of time to do fun stuff in the evenings. It only gets sticky when there are time management, mental health or dodgy relationship issues.

I study MFL at Oxford (currently taking a year out for health reasons). For my course if you get your topics organised you do one essay a week (2000 words ish) plus four translations of about 300-500 words each, and 2x preparation for conversation classes, plus any miscellaneous bits of language work (grammar etc, more so in first year). In final year it will be different bc I will be working on dissertation and coursework, and I've done all my taught papers for final exams in second year. In first year I had to read one primary text (ie play, novel etc) per essay, in second year two or three per essay, as well as a bunch of secondary reading (articles, academic books etc).

So it is intense. If you've never been anywhere else you don't know any different though. And all your friends have similar workloads so you bond through working together. I think some of my favourite friendship moments come from writing essays together at 2am for an 8am deadline! Some people go out clubbing once or twice a week, some people choose to focus on sports or orchestra or drama or dungeons and dragons whatever else social club, but most people do something other than work. There's a party every other saturday night run by the JCR (the student body), which in Ox are called BOPs but idk what they're called at Cam. So social life is different to other unis, but we still have one, and for me it's been great. And yeah the vacations are long, but tbh after a week to decompress I usually have plenty to do with reading for next term, trying to revise for mocks at the start of term, and going over vocab etc.

I studied Classics at Oxford. It was intense, but to be honest with you I rarely felt overworked.

On average, I had two tutorials a week (each of which required an essay to be submitted, sometimes on the day of the tutorial but sometimes a day before), along with daily hour-long language classes and a weekly translation tutorial. Lectures were essentially optional and I went to between two and six a week depending on what I was studying, how interesting the lecturer was and how hungover I was!

I also did a lot of drama so managed to fit in regular rehearsals, and I swam 3/4 times a week. But I also went out three times a week (not really into clubbing but bars/gigs/pubs) and also spent a lot of time just hanging out with my friends.

I loved it, but I’ve always worked well under pressure and can be very efficient when I need to be!