Oxford / Cambridge - current students support / chat thread 2022

[DadDadDad]

Continuing a thread for anyone who wants to talk about their sons' and daughters' experience being a student in Oxford or Cambridge. (Or nephews, granddaughters, sisters, uncles - or if you or they have now graduated but you want to share your thoughts - all are welcome!)

Some of us on this thread go back to I think to late 2019 when our DCs were going through the admission process. A lot's happened since!

Over to you...

I knew your ds was at DD's college @mutterphore !
From what she's said the accommodation has been a nightmare for the office this year. Apparently no postgrads have got any accommodation (and I think the accommodation where your ds is normally quite heavily PG with about 20 second years as overflow) because your ds's year and my DD's year (though slightly less) were such bulge years due to covid /exams etc. 90% of her friends are also in that accommodation. She actually got first choice but that's because she's in one of those groups where the staircase contains hugely expensive en suite rooms alongside tiny caves with shared bathroom and enormous rooms with shared bathrooms too. So you need a big variety of budgets in the group applying for the same staircase which she was lucky enough to find (she's in the cheapest one!)
I hope your ds is ok though. I suspect the accommodation office were tearing their hair out...

DD stayed single nights at a couple of different Oxford colleges on visits during the summer before her first term, and she found one of them great and another absolutely awful. It really is very variable. Her second year room doesn't seem to have quite the wow factor that was there when we opened the door on arrival in her first year (very soon dissipated by the scattering of her belongings), but she thinks it's a better room, which is what counts. I'm just glad she gets to stay in college throughout.

If the 'double' bed is literally two small / normal width single mattresses side by side (is this accommodation rented out in vacations and replacing one single mattress if necessary is cheaper thsn replacing a king / 6ft?), would using two single sheets work?

Presumably the housekeeping department, or whatever its correct title is, would be able to advise.

Thanks for the useful advice about bedding size. That's very helpful. It does seem to be college dependent whether you get a good room or otherwise rather than uni. dependent.

Not sure whether your DD is at the same college, @Greatauntdymphna as I don't think DS's college has quite that layout/ accommodation situation but it's probably best not to speculate about each other's colleges, so as to preserve confidentiality for our DCs.

Anyway, DS1 seems completely fine with his accommodation and it was just me who was irritated that he never heard back in response to his emails, yet some of the girls seem to have been given special consideration for their own requests - although this might just be pure luck I suppose.

DS had his registration email through yesterday for Cambridge which he sorted but he can’t get his .cam email to work. It just doesn’t recognise him. He can now access various sites but not email which he’s a bit concerned about as he doesn’t want to miss emails. He emailed the Helpdesk but hasn’t heard anything yet.

DS is sharing with two others. All three of them are eligible for upgraded accommodation in a more picturesque court, but the college is unable to accommodate the three of them together in the posher rooms. They've decided to stay together in the basic accommodation, so DS will be spending his third consecutive year in a brutalist ziggurat by choice. 😂

@Ironoaks I was slightly surprised when I saw how basic DD's 3rd year accommodation was. She was delighted because it was in a building that was scheduled to be upgraded in the next couple of years, so it was cheap. Because it looked so shabby, she could leave her stuff there over the vacations. However, the heating worked and there was a massive kitchen with a proper oven and a freezer, which was a massive improvement on the gyps. Of course Covid came along so she only got 2 terms' benefit, but she was happy.

At the end of the day, whilst it's lovely to have college accommodation, part of me thinks that the student experience should be a bit cruddy, if only to remind them that home is not so bad. In the late 80s, my rent in a large northern city was less than £17 per week in a 3-bed house which we shared with some of the local slug population.

At the end of the day, whilst it's lovely to have college accommodation, part of me thinks that the student experience should be a bit cruddy, if only to remind them that home is not so bad.

DD collects the keys to her private rental next week. Somehow she secured herself a house with a garage, dishwasher & a balcony. Our own uni house was next door to a football stadium and came with it's own police horse stationed in the front doorway when the 2 local rival teams played!

We've had all sorts Malbecfan, across the family, and since they all shared three to a room at home in Devon, a room of their own however much of a dump, was always greeted with enthusiasm with an en suite regarded as the absolute height of luxury - all relative. Noise has to be par for the course at uni surely - they need to ship out to the library if rooms aren't quiet and wear earplugs or use pillows over their head if it's too rowdy at night.

I do think that the fairest system for Oxbridge colleges is the method where rankings in the room ballot are inverted between second and third year. I assume that there's a good reason why that method isn't adopted by all colleges but I haven't really turned my mind to what the reason might be.

Also Malbecfan poor DS4 was knocked off his bike in Oxford a few days ago, by a van. I only found out today, not through DS himself as presumably he didn't want to worry me. Bike is a write off, he knocked his head and has a cut face. I phoned him as soon as I heard but he was moving into his new house so said he'd phone tomorrow. I would far rather be told/ worry. Very lucky he wasn't totally mashed tbh.

I do think that the fairest system for Oxbridge colleges is the method where rankings in the room ballot are inverted between second and third year

Memories of my exceptionally cruddy second year room and my palatial, beautiful but FREEZING third year set come flooding back! Dd’s college dies complicated things with groups balloting together, so I don’t think theirs is a straight inversion.

Oh God goodbye! Bloody terrifying. Does he seem ok?

Rather scary - hope he is OK

Best wishes for your son @goodbyestranger . Thank heavens he is relatively OK and the bike got the worst of it. Idiot van drivers. I hope his move goes smoothly.

Thanks for those wishes. He does seem ok and the John Radcliffe seems to have been thorough. Given the circumstances it sounds as though it could have been much worse, so he was definitely lucky.

How awful @goodbyestranger - so glad to hear your DS is ok though.

Sorry to hear that @goodbyestranger - glad he's OK.

I hope your DS4 makes a good recovery, @goodbyestranger . Poor him! Glad the hospital were able to do a decent repair job on him and I hope he can get another bike sorted out soon.

last year we topped my daughter (Oxford) up to the full amount of loan. After accommodation and meals (which she had to pay for whether she ate them or not) she had around £50 a week left. She ended the year with money saved which meant she could spend it on hobbies over the summer- but she’s not big on nights out and doesn’t drink. This year she’s on payg meals and we will top up to the full loan amount again.

Oh god, that’s my nightmare! I’m really glad he’s ok. Some bits of Oxford are horrible to cycle around.

Relieved to hear DS is OK @goodbyestranger bike accidents are also my nightmare!

@goodbyestranger Best wishes to Ds4 🍀💐Basilisk x

Sorry not to have seen this earlier @goodbyestranger but I have spent the last 2 days settling my new HoD in. Poor DS4. I hope he is soon on the mend. I will let DD1 know so she can message him. It also happened to a lad from the year above them who is in DD1's college and his mental health took an enormous battering in addition to the physical injuries, in his case it was a bus. Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet as he cycled otherwise he wouldn't be here. He is such a lovely guy - well his whole family are and I'm so sorry it has knocked him sideways.

@goodbyestranger all the very best for your DS4 recovery- too many close shaves and unpleasant accidents for cyclists

A big sheaf of paperwork has arrived from the college but we've seen it all on email. There doesn't seem to be anything to be done now until 1 October. It's just possible I've surged too early.