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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Workload at Oxbridge - honest feedback please!

209 replies

rhubarba · 20/03/2022 14:05

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!

OP posts:
londonmummy1966 · 25/03/2022 23:58

My friend who went to Oxford became a teacher earning max 45k p.a. I went into law and earn 175k p.a. What does that tell you?

That you had different interests. One of you clearly loved their subject and wanted to share it with the next generation and one of you knows the price of everything and the value of none.

Ericasdog · 26/03/2022 09:17

That you had different interests. One of you clearly loved their subject and wanted to share it with the next generation and one of you knows the price of everything and the value of none

This is a bit of an odd one in that teaching is pretty high up (top three) on the list of professions for Oxbridge (might be just Oxford) grads. I've always been puzzled by this because I had assumed that people went to uni to improve their earning potential.

DahliaMacNamara · 26/03/2022 09:57

Let's be grateful not everyone sees education in terms of earning potential.

Ericasdog · 26/03/2022 10:05

Let's be grateful not everyone sees education in terms of earning potential

But so many of them (Oxbridge grads, that is)?

beeswain · 26/03/2022 10:10

This is a bit of an odd one in that teaching is pretty high up (top three) on the list of professions for Oxbridge (might be just Oxford) grads. I've always been puzzled by this because I had assumed that people went to uni to improve their earning potential.

I sincerely hope people go to uni to study a subject they love not to increase earning potential! DS set his heart on Oxford because he saw an online lecture in his subject when he was in Y12 , watched several more once he realised he could get them and fell in love with the way he saw his subject taught. Surely that's still the value of education? Tbf I think Oxford and the workload would be a pretty awful experience if you didn't love your subject.

DaffTheDoggo · 26/03/2022 10:14

My friend who went to Oxford became a teacher earning max 45k p.a. I went into law and earn 175k p.a. What does that tell you?

Nothing?

Ericasdog · 26/03/2022 10:48

"I sincerely hope people go to uni to study a subject they love not to increase earning potential!*

Really?

SophieSellerman · 26/03/2022 10:56

My DS is at Oxford (PPE). He finds the workload unproblematic - but he absolutely loves the subject, and is particularly well suited to it, so was already spending a lot of his spare time reading even before he went. He's now in his room reading a philosophical tome. He also has a massively time-consuming hobby and still finds time to do that. IME, Oxford works best for the young people who can do it all pretty much effortlessly. My other DC wisely chose to go elsewhere!

ofteninaspin · 26/03/2022 11:04

My DC are absolutely hoping to increase their earning potential with their Oxbridge degrees!!

ofteninaspin · 26/03/2022 11:12

I agree with SophieS. You need to be able to comfortably manage your academic work without sacrificing your other interests to really enjoy/get the most out of Oxbridge.

thing47 · 26/03/2022 11:29

@Ericasdog

That you had different interests. One of you clearly loved their subject and wanted to share it with the next generation and one of you knows the price of everything and the value of none

This is a bit of an odd one in that teaching is pretty high up (top three) on the list of professions for Oxbridge (might be just Oxford) grads. I've always been puzzled by this because I had assumed that people went to uni to improve their earning potential.

God, really? What a depressingly utilitarian view of higher education.
Ericasdog · 26/03/2022 11:37

*My DC are absolutely hoping to increase their earning potential with their Oxbridge degrees!!"

Very sensible of them.

SophieSellerman · 26/03/2022 12:08

@ofteninaspin

I agree with SophieS. You need to be able to comfortably manage your academic work without sacrificing your other interests to really enjoy/get the most out of Oxbridge.
Yes - enjoyment is also a really big factor. DS does enjoy his subject, massively, and his hobby - but also seems to manage to spend a lot of time in Wetherspoons, while still turning in First Class essays. I have a lot of friends with DC at Oxbridge, and the ones who get the most out of the whole experience are the ones who can do the academic stuff easily. If you're spending all your time on the academics, you lose out on all the other things on offer, which is a shame - as there's so much more to university than just your degree.

As I say, my other DC have been happy doing their very different things. I'd on balance put that above the prestige and potential earning power of an Oxbridge degree.

Greatauntdymphna · 26/03/2022 13:17

@Ericasdog

Let's be grateful not everyone sees education in terms of earning potential

But so many of them (Oxbridge grads, that is)?

This doesn't surprise me too much. Dd genuinely loves her subject. Her teachers at school were so inspiring for her in this respect. She doesn't (currently) want to teach in schools but does want to teach at university. I can imagine her teaching though, in order to spend her life focused on this subject. She is absolutely not suited to a life in the city. I'm sure she will find something that suits her but income will not be a huge driver for her for to personality. (Dc2, who will be applying this year, absolutely is looking at institutions that will maximise earning potential).
jeanne16 · 26/03/2022 18:26

My DS did engineering at Cambridge and the workload was huge, particularly in 2nd year. I remember him being very despondent after seeing some old school friends. They were all at unis like Bristol, Durham, Exeter etc. They had all achieved 1sts and were bragging about how little work they’d had to do.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/03/2022 20:15

@Ericasdog

That you had different interests. One of you clearly loved their subject and wanted to share it with the next generation and one of you knows the price of everything and the value of none

This is a bit of an odd one in that teaching is pretty high up (top three) on the list of professions for Oxbridge (might be just Oxford) grads. I've always been puzzled by this because I had assumed that people went to uni to improve their earning potential.

Gosh that's depressing I went because I was interested in my subject and wanted a career in it. Nothing to do with earning potential.

Dd is heading into research. She will never be rich, but perhaps, like other researchers, will help enrichen the world with her work.

Not everything is about money.

Walkaround · 27/03/2022 09:16

@Ericasdog

That you had different interests. One of you clearly loved their subject and wanted to share it with the next generation and one of you knows the price of everything and the value of none

This is a bit of an odd one in that teaching is pretty high up (top three) on the list of professions for Oxbridge (might be just Oxford) grads. I've always been puzzled by this because I had assumed that people went to uni to improve their earning potential.

The good thing about Oxford and Cambridge is that they can both open doors to well paid careers and opportunities, and feed a genuine love of an academic subject. An Oxbridge degree can give people the self-confidence to make genuine choices on what they would like to do with their lives, rather than take the blinkered approach that they wasted their time unless they now become very rich.
winterrabbit · 27/03/2022 14:30

My comment was in response to other posters suggesting that an Oxbridge degree is the be all and end all to a successful career. Just pointing out that it isn't! I am actually surprised at how much importance everyone on this thread attaches to it.

cantkeepawayforever · 27/03/2022 14:49

I am an Oxbridge graduate and my college friends have followed a huge range of different careers - some high status, some not; some well-paid, some not, some conventional; some very much not.

I would say that an Oxbridge degree has not been a pathway to 'wealth and success', but for those who have remained physically and mentally healthy (a significant minority have not) it has provided a level of 'definite choice', of self-confidence, even of vocation, in choosing and sticking to a path.

Ericasdog · 27/03/2022 15:25

My comment was in response to other posters suggesting that an Oxbridge degree is the be all and end all to a successful career. Just pointing out that it isn't! I am actually surprised at how much importance everyone on this thread attaches to it

Well, there are lots of interesting things going on with these two institutions just as there are with other prominent institutions in society - they are a barometer of social norms and values, societal hierarchies, power structures, dominant narratives, etc..They are not there just to give a few hundred individuals an education.

A particularly interesting phenomenon happening at the moment is the Oxbridge drive to recruit predominantly from state schools coinciding almost simultaneously with prominent organisations moving to university-blind recruitment.

Dancingdreamer · 27/03/2022 19:39

[quote valbyruta]@dancingdreamer - the first part of your post is utter nonsense[/quote]
What is nonsense? That that my DD did 4 A levels, an EPQ and sporty to a high level? She has not struggled with the workload and has seen others who didn’t do as much struggle. That is not nonsense. It is her experience. Don’t be so judgemental when someone offers their actual experience

cantkeepawayforever · 27/03/2022 20:40

What is nonsense? That that my DD did 4 A levels, an EPQ and sporty to a high level? She has not struggled with the workload and has seen others who didn’t do as much struggle. That is not nonsense. It is her experience.

I would say it is an identical experience to DD's - also a 4 A-level, EQPQ, high level extra-curricular type person, now doing a subject famed for its workload.

sendsummer · 27/03/2022 22:16

That sort of experience usually shows that there is ‘reserve in the tank’ for coping with academic workload and of course the advantage of time management skills. I would be more concerned for how a student would cope if they had found studying 3 A levels filling most of their time. Unless of course they had to self teach major portions of the syllabus due to their school environment.

valbyruta · 28/03/2022 12:16

@Dancingdreamer

" My DD had always been used to a very busy schedule having done 5 A levels and previously played sport to a high level. She said the shock of the Oxford workload really hit those who has only done 3 A levels "

This part of your post

Plenty of Oxford students have done 'only' 3 or 4 A levels and have coped with the workload (with the occasional wobble)

FlyingSquid · 28/03/2022 15:25

I'd kind of agree, in that time management is notoriously not DD's forte, and turning the work in on time has been her chief failing in the first year.

Well, that and catching every bug going.