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...

My friend's son changed from a single honours course to a joint honours course (with one of the subjects being the single honours subject) at the end of the first year. I haven't heard of anyone making such a drastic change from stem to ppe but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. The only way to find out is to ask.

@HewasH20, DS needs to decide quite soon. It is very early in the cycle and he has other applications outstanding but this is his preferred option. It does seem odd though committing to a job that starts in a year's time.

DC know of Cambridge friends who have changed from Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic to Art History and modern languages to Management. Although I think you can only start the latter beyond first year. DD didn't come across anyone who changed subjects during her time at Oxford. I hope your DS finds a way forward after speaking with his tutors.

Congratulations to your DS @ofteninaspin . What a fantastic position to be in as you start your final year!

At C, DD's personal tutor was in a completely different subject, so he could be very helpful on matters such as a change of subject because he had no stake in the game. Is it similar at O? That would be my first port of call. Failing that, go to the DoS on the current course.

You can. You have to park in Queens' Lane. They let you in during 0th week. IIRC (which I might not - dodgy old brain) you are allowed to come in from the High Street but not from the other end. And there may be no right turn if you are coming from Magdalen roundabout. I have memories of having to do a u-turn on the High Street. But it's very tight as both Queens and Teddy Hall parents are doing drop offs for all three year groups within the space of a few days sharing the same 5 parking spaces. DS is at Teddy Hall and they give a time slot. Queens may do the same. They are so slow in getting the info out. DS still doesn't know what day he's allowed back (you take the time you are given) so I have no idea when to take the day off work.

Often it's very nice to have one under your belt. DD isn't planning to apply for anything until she has her results, but she's not interested in most traditional grad scheme jobs.

I'm aware of someone who switched from Music to English after their first year. Presumably your DS Cornish has had a chat with lots of PPEists to find out about the realities of the course. Did he do maths and history at A level?

Hi, does anyone know if eligibility for the Oxford bursary and Cambridge bursary is based on gross income, or gross income minus pension contributions?

@Cornishcornettos , I imagine you and your DS are very familiar with this page? Also this page and section 4 in this?

Not recently, but I have known of a small number of people changing course at C, one went straight into y2 (one Maths to Computer Science, others from Maths but I can’t remember what to, one may have been Education) but others had to start again with y1. I have no idea how that would work now, with fees and disappearing grants. Things may be completely different at O, but if there’s a process for people to change course it must mean that people do.

If he wants to change from a STEM subject I assume he has A level Maths. From my DD’s experience there is a lot of Maths (especially Stats) in the y1 Economics part of PPE. That was ten years ago, though, I don’t know how much if anything has changed.

I agree about needing to show enthusiasm for the new subject rather than dislike for the old one. It’s like applying for a job.

Thank you very much everyone for the helpful advice and links. Ds did maths at A level but not history or any other essay based subjects so perhaps not ideal. And yes he has spoken to other PPEists. Good tip to sound enthusiastic for another course rather than just "get me the hell out of this" which is how it's sounding atm.

He's also talking about rusticating part way through the second year to give him some thinking time. I'm not sure though whether that would help or just prolong the agony and even whether it's allowed! Does anyone know much about rusticating? I've read the official guidance which suggests that it's not straightforward but Ds seems to think that it's a simple process and they generally agree to anyone requesting it

Goingtoqueens I had a DS at Queen's and a DD at Teddy Hall and can confirm that the drop offs are particularly challenging. It helps to be very poor at reversing: I was doing such a bad job in my big old van that the Principal suggested that I use his special parking place.

Cornishcornettos it's really quite usual to change down from joint honours to just one of the two subjects but really unusual at Oxford to change completely. One very close friend of one of my DSs - an exceptional student, always top of everything at school, a true all rounder - tried and tried to change from Physics and Philosophy to History but the tutors (this was Balliol) were very against the idea of a transfer without taking a year out and applying through the normal process having done the HAT. His credentials couldn't have been better, and he was incredibly likeable so no personality clash or anything lie that.

Good luck to your DS, I hope he finds a resolution.

The boy in question had A* in History at A level, along with others in Further Maths, Maths and Physics. PPE wasn't an option either, on the same basis of no pre test.

I knew people who changed from maths to HSPS at C (not sure I've got the acronym right there...)

I did know one person who in theory went down for a year (in fact, was very close friends with a friend of mine - friend of mine was basically living in her boyfriend's room in the same college, so the friend who'd stopped for a year moved out of her own college and into my friend's room, which happened to be near a back entrance to our college). I really think in the era of electronic passes and much tighter security, this probably couldn't happen.

I think it does sound as if his main motivation at the moment is 'anything but this' and I have to say I think he perhaps needs to go to his tutor with the problem in the first instance. At C i always understood that STEM students who were loathing their course went into History and Philosophy of Science which was part of the same curriculum so no course change needed. They then all absolutely loved it.

What is it about PPE that he loves? Would moving to a slightly different science course somewhere else be better?

DD had to write 2 essays each week and submit 2 econ & stats worksheets in her first year. Last year it was 2 essays each week. She finds it relentless, but loves the course.

Many drop one of the three after their first year, like DD has. Your DS would need to convince tutors from each of the 3 disciplines though to allow him to switch.

Is there any scope to switch to maths & phil, physics & phil etc?

@ofteninaspin - congratulations to your DS on his job offer!

Thank you @ironoaks.
We seem to have been celebrating various exam results, job offers and graduation ceremonies on and off since June which has been wonderful. Now October is almost here and our DC are off again. I wish all your DC good luck with the year ahead.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/oxford-support
This is the info from Oxford. D1 receives a bursary, it's based on the information you give when applying for the student loans, so household income as per P60s. You do not need to actually apply for it or for the travel allowance, if eligible it's paid automatically.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and support. You are such an amazing source of knowledge and help

Congratulations to your DS @ofteninaspin , what a great position to be in! My DS is using his last couple of weeks madly applying for internships for next summer. It's a lot of work.

Parents of 2022 Oxford freshers: have your DC received their single sign on information and their student numbers, so that they can register? Mine sent back their university card form back in August, which is supposed to trigger emails with the student number and SSO info, but nothing, and is starting to panic. Not sure what's gone wrong, or whether they're just generally being slow. Thanks in advance for any reassurance!

@freshersmother I think so? Ds had a precourse course he had to do which I think needed the sign on and he claims to be doing it. Tbh I should think it can be sorted out in the first few days

Hmm, I was hoping nobody would have had them in a way! I agree it can't be a "we'll throw you out of university if you don't manage to do this impossible thing" problem, but I may agree that calling the number on the registration tickbox form is a sensible thing to do tomorrow!

Is it this one? www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/new-students/student-registration/contact-form

No, Oxford!