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...

www.ox.ac.uk/students/new/arrive Has your DC completed all the steps here? Getting their Bod card on arrival day is key to everything.

DS is about to start third year and has applied for nothing so far.

Graduates from his course seem to be targeted for finance / analyst / management consulting type careers, but he is not interested in these at all.

He definitely wants to stay on for a fourth year to do Part III Physics.

He is hoping for some work experience next summer, ideally in a lab or doing scientific computing to assist with a research project, and the opportunities for this are advertised from January onwards.

It's the thing at the start of Step 2, "Once you have signed and returned your University card form, and in advance of the start of term, you will be sent your University of Oxford Single Sign On IT account details, giving you access to central IT services." which hasn't happened, sadly. I have seen that DC really did return the University card form!

[Facepalm] so sorry! Can't read!

@freshersmother DD received an activation link via email mid September. She also had an email to say if she hadn’t received the link and/or was having problems setting up, to contact the IT dept at her college ( their email was given).
Perhaps an email to your DCs college will resolve things?

Thanks for the information, that's very useful!

Hope it’s sorted soon!

freshersmother my DS has filled in the form and has access to the emails but no physical card yet. Hoping card will be provided on Sunday - is coming around very fast!

Very good luck to all those with DCs starting at Oxbridge shortly. I hope it goes smoothly, including travelling there and all your DCs settle in happily.

Great news about your DS already having a job lined up, @ofteninaspin . That must feel a big relief for him and gets it out of the way. My two are quite anxious about the next stage, post Oxbridge and although they've got some idea of careers, the competition is fierce and all the applications which they start soon (and in DS2's case has already begun), will take hours of time and attention.

I keep telling them there's no rush and they could even take the gap year they both missed out on due to Covid but they seem determined to press on into the working world. The uncertainty of that next step may be a major distraction to enjoying their final years at Ox and Cam and focusing on academic work too.

However, both are really looking forward to returning to uni. next weekend. For one of them, packing is just about done and my tiny car will be bulging at the seams with everything he takes. For the other, he'll probably only pack the night before and take minimal stuff.

Regarding changing courses, I've heard anecdotally about this happening at C but only after needing to reapply to the new course and do the entrance test in direct competition with the cohort also applying. However, it might be a lot simpler in some cases.

@Chisquared, agree internship applications are a lot of work. There are so many deadlines to be aware of and multiple rounds to each application. Although the applications can be started before term starts, the later stages inevitably clash with an academic deadline or a BUCS tennis match or whatever. It's quite a juggling act.

@Ironoaks if it helps, DD was in that position in her chosen branch of NatSci, but this was 2019. She did really well in her disrupted 3rd year so was eligible for the Part III. The City is not her thing - she had an idea of what she wanted to do, but for now is concentrating on her PhD.

@HewasH20 where. & when do they get Bod cards?

and can I just check - undergraduates are arriving on Monday yes?

There is a great deal to be said for that mutterphore, not going with the lemming like rush at Oxford/ Cambridge for internships over the summer and job offers in the September before graduation. Just applying with results in hand. That seems to be a much more productive and enjoyable way of achieving the same end, on the whole. Mine have been split down the middle pretty much as to which way they go, but the ones with early offers can see the good sense of the other tactic, in hindsight. There really is no rush and overall very little to be gained and arguably a certain amount to be lost in hurrying into internships in the second year vac (or third year, if on a four year course, obviously).

Freshers are arriving Sunday/ Monday/ Tuesday depending on college.

The sky won't fall in without a Bod card, plenty of time.

I am setting off from Scotland tomorrow morning to drive a huge heavy suitcase down to Oxford, fingers crossed the ferry will sail (windy). But this is for a third year who went on ahead to see bf, leaving me with the huge heavy suitcase to escort on its own.

DS1 who read Medicine at Oxford and so was there six years and helped out a lot with freshers is with me and says really don't worry about the Bod card. Or anything. There are lots of mess ups for freshers and they all get sorted within the first few days.

DD lost her Bod card recently on her way to the station to catch a train to get home to go on holiday with us. Some kind soul returned if to her College despite it not having her College name on it. There are nice people out there.

Good luck with your epic journey tomorrow. How long will it take?

DS had an internship this summer (end of 2nd year) and is also applying for 3rd year internships (he's on a 4 year integrated Masters). He's interested in a couple of different areas so hopefully he will get something that helps him think about roles after University. He's another one seemingly desperate to get out into the world of work.

DD did an internship with a research project group at our local university after her 2nd year and found it soul-destroying, I don't know whether they didn't like a young female C person in their male on-Oxbridge (but still RG) club or whether she was useless, but she found it completely boring and it took months to get the travel money that they promised her. After her finals, she did another internship online for a company based in C and had a blast. She was able to go into the office to meet people as she moved into her "postgrad" house towards the end of it. So my take on internships is that they are not all great.

Good luck @goodbyestranger with your drive. It makes the drive from Devon seem quite easy. I'm trying to decide if the A303/M25 is comparable with the ferry. What is a Bod card?

That's a very reassuring post. DS1 (O- going into his final year) didn't even try for an internship. He had a pretty boring summer once his sports fixtures and choir tour were done as all his friends were busy with internships and had no time to meet up let alone travel. He spent most of the summer at home mooching and revising (didn't look for a job either as sport and choir cut into the blocks of time.) I was worried that this will affect his chances once he's graduated.I hope not.

@Malbecfan - a Bod card is the University library card allowing you entry to study in the Bodleian Libraries.

I think dd was really lucky with her internships, they were useful and interesting and they gave her much needed confidence. None of them lasted all summer, so she did get sufficient time to mooch.

Her last one directly related to what she is doing now, which made her a good candidate I think. But there are many paths to the same place and I'm sure very many others will be in a similar position having taken a different route.

Thanks @goldfinchonthelawn

DD loses hers with startling regularity.