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...

That's great that he's so ready @PermanentTemporary

Really hoping this time next week it's all packed and ready here. DS is of the opinion that he can get everything he needs either in Cambridge or on Amazon but I'd like him to sort at least some of it first! I can see a couple of late night shopping trips coming up...

Honestly... most of it was just a trawl through the house (though as I've had to clear my mum's house recently we did have more spare stuff than average). The rest we did in a single trip to Dunelm.

DS doesn't get his room allocated until arrival, but we know he has a double bed. So we went to IKEA last night and spent a small fortune on new bedding and stuff for his gyp room. He's had his 'last night out' with his friends as most of them go this weekend, and it is all feeling real now....but he's very ready to go. His supervisor/tutor (not sure which) has also booked in an 0800 meeting on Monday 3rd, so he was a bit shocked by that!!

Slightly panicky after hearing about dc having room allocations and meetings with tutors etc. My son has no room allocation, no idea about what’s happening during freshers and to be honest, is still very half hearted about it all 😩

@Panicmode1 what is a gyp room?

Oh and no WhatsApp groups or any other social media contact from any other freshers!

@ScarlettDarling Don't worry - there's been very, very little from DS's college. I asked him to email the accommodation co-ordinator because he's 6ft 3/4 and so had asked to have a double bed/no sloping ceilings, and we needed to know whether to bring single or double bed sheets etc. They replied and said the only thing that they would tell him was that it was a double bed...so not hugely forthcoming! (Gyp room is a small kitchen/ette type thing apparenty - they vary in terms of the facilities that each one has - so we've assumed there will be a hob so he can cook basic snacks, but if not, I'll bring all of the new pans home for DD who goes to uni next year!).

There has been nothing from the college in terms of 'college parents' or any freshers info (that we have seen) - he's had a 'safety briefing', some work to do and a couple of online lectures already - but I wonder whether that is because his degree (engineering) is fairly full on and they want to make sure their maths brains are firing properly before they arrive!

The tutor/supervisor only contacted DS a couple of days ago - and did say that you will get your timetable and everything you need when you arrive - "but I wanted to get a time in early as you will have a lot to do in the first week". DS was under the impression that he was just going to be drinking and socialising like other freshers until lectures started...it sounds as though he's about to get a rude awakening 😁

@Panicmode1 Thanks for that. My son is also a 6’3” giant but we’ve assumed he’s got a single bed as there are only a few doubles in his college and he says he’d have been told if he was allocated one of them. So I’ve bought all of the bedding in single size!
As for kitchen stuff… I’ve got him one saucepan and a baking sheet! I think his cooking will be basic and perhaps he’ll just make sandwiches etc and eat his main meal in the canteen (or whatever the strange name for the canteen is… I have a lot to learn!!)
Im feeling super wobbly again, not helped by having an absolute stinking cold, but need to keep reminding myself that even though he’s at the other end of the country, the UK really isn’t that big and we can be there in a matter of hours if needed.
Waaah!!!!

DS is 90% packed for third year. He doesn't actually go to Cambridge until 1 October, but likes to be organised and prepared.

The volume of workload in first year (NatSci) was quite challenging. DS found the second year to be much more manageable. Does anyone know where third year falls on this scale? He is doing Physics if that makes a difference.

Please don't worry about meetings with tutors. DD will be supervising a number of freshers this year and is still waiting for her groups to be allocated. She doesn't even know which colleges apart from her own she'll be going to. It will all sort itself out in the next 2 weeks.

A gyp is a small kitchen. DD's had an electric hob, microwave, kettle, fridge (no freezer) and toaster. However, as I have posted here before, her naughty floor clubbed together and bought a tabletop oven and they have cooked Christmas (Bridgemas - 25th November) dinner. They also managed to fit 8 people in to eat, but I have no idea how. DD only bought Sunday brunch and some formal dinners in her entire undergraduate time from her college. She self-catered everything else.Breakfast is muesli with non-dairy milk/yogurt & lunch is last night's dinner. She was able to live on her student loan by doing this.

@Ironoaks DD didn't do Physics in y3 but she enjoyed the year, mostly because she was studying the strand that most interested her. She was also able to add in a non-NatSci option, which was German for her. She only did 6 weeks of it in y8 at school so it was pretty much from scratch - it formed 5% of her final grade. Had Covid not happened in y3, she would have had a complete blast. As she had to finish the year on rubbish rural broadband, it was 2 thirds of a blast!

@Malbecfan Any ideas how many people would usually share a kitchen? The info on my son’s college website just says that ‘you will find shared kitchens across the main site on certain staircases and buildings’. It doesn’t sound like there’s going to be many kitchen facilities although apparently he’s got a fridge in his room so he should be able to manage cereal and sandwiches!

@ScarlettDarling in DD's college it was 8 in the block that freshers & 4th years use and 10 in the old court where she was for her 2nd year. She was in a college house for her 3rd year with a proper kitchen, which she loved.

No room allocation yet but a big list of meetings/inductions/ places to be and some
pre reading so far. I think he will
end up eating evening meals in college but worries no one else will so has very basic cooking equipment too. Has a mini fridge too. Rooms in the photos look most unlike the glitzy ones being posted on WIWIKAU - but also seem much cheaper!

That's encouraging, thank you @Malbecfan
DS has to take 10.5 units of courses (a lot of physics and a bit of computing), and there's no room for a non-STEM option, which is a shame as he enjoys learning languages (usually has one on the go via Duolingo). Most of the courses are compulsory but there is a bit of choice.

DS's accommodation has gyps which are shared between 3 students. 'Kitchen' would be overstating it. It's like the sort of mini kitchen you might find in some workplaces.
Fridge, kettle, microwave, toaster, 2 ring induction hob plate.
It's possible to make a meal using the facilities, but it's too small to eat together or socialise in there.

ScarlettDarling: some colleges have trundle beds — a bit odd, I think — so no room to store anything under the bed.

It hadn’t even occurred to me to buy pans for an induction hob! I’ll hold off buying him a frying pan til I know the type of hob he has access too.
Is there normally any room to store stuff in these gyp kitchens? Surely they don’t have to keep pans and plates in their bedrooms?
@Inamuddle36 thats crazy isn’t it when space is at a premium?? Guess the recurring theme here is wait and see what he gets next Sunday!!

Hello. Happy to have found this thread. DS is going to Queens College Oxford. Is anyone else? He claims not to have been told anything regarding drop off arrangements or accommodation so we are in the dark. Can you even drive into the centre of Oxford now or is it all blocked off?

There's this on their website, so maybe he hasn't been told yet:
'Freshers should aim to be in residence by Monday 3rd October 2022, when Freshers' Week begins. You are expected to move in on Sunday 2nd October. If you are being dropped off by car, further details about logistical arrangements will be provided here nearer the time. The induction events on Monday morning are compulsory: please let the College Office know if you will not be able to move in in time.'

@Ironoaks, DS's packing will be pretty last minute as he is currently in Morocco and is due back in Cambridge on September 30th. He has only spent three weeks at home which has gone so quickly. He has just received a graduate job offer which is a great start to his final year.

That's excellent news for him often. When does he need to decide?

DD has gone back to her house today with a collection of flat pack shelves from IKEA which she built this afternoon and a jungle of house plants.

DD is at Teddy Hall which also uses Queens Lane. For the first drop off in October they raised the barriers so that you could drive down (temp one way system in place). The barriers were down for every other pick up and drop off though.

Changing courses at Oxford...

Help! Does anyone know if this is possible? Ds hates his course and struggled through the first year but would really like to change. He's reluctant to speak to tutors because "it's like telling them I hate their subject which is a bit rude". But if there was a real prospect of change, he would do it. Has anyone even heard of anyone who has actually changed course? He is doing a stem subject atm and would like to change to PPE in an ideal world... though tbh I think he would consider anything rather than his own degree! He loves his college and the uni itself.

@Cornishcornettos several people changed course when I was at C back in the day - id imagine it can be done. If he can present it as a positive desire to do PPE rather than 'anything but this' would that help? There's no way round talking to the tutors i would have thought.

There's a link about it so it can't be impossible academic.admin.ox.ac.uk/student-transfer-arrangements