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...

@SilverSilverStreet Yes was the Newmarket road one. I thought I'd save time by doing click and collect. I think we'll go to the Eddington Sainsburys in future, it is the right side of town for DDs college and although they don't do click and collect hopefully better than sitting in traffic. We have lots to learn about C!

I wonder if any C parents have an ideas/recommendations of a good place for ordering a cake for my fresher DD's birthday in a couple of weeks. Her college is a bit out of the centre so thinking delivery to the Porters Lodge would be easiest for her.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on as DS' birthday follows next month. His college is fairly close to the centre, though.

@cosmiccat if you feel comfortable about it, could you send me a PM with your DD’s college so I can target my suggestions?

Are you looking for a special bakery-made one? There’s a very nice bakery in Newnham and Hills Road, which may do whole cakes as well as individual servings. Otherwise I’d probably go for M&S. There’s also somewhere good on Mill Road on the town side - I forget their name but can ask my friend who uses them for celebrations.

It may be possible to have it delivered by Deliveroo or Just Eat. There are always plenty of their people hanging about near the Market Square waiting for jobs.

I once had doughnuts from Crosstown delivered for a birthday. They went down very well.

www.crosstown.co.uk/project/cambridge/ link

DS dropped safely and at long last seems to be warming up to college life. I'm also thinking about the next stage @mutterphore - DS is on a 4 year course so 1 more year after this but the reality of him leaving home for good is looming large. I've enjoyed having him home over summer despite him being very busy with an internship. Still it was very heartening to see him looking forward to going back - which he definitely wasn't last year!

A bit early but does anyone know what Cambridge's equivalent to Oxmas is?

It's Bridgemas!

Fab. Thank you 😊

What is Oxmas/Bridgemas?!

DS enjoys Bridgemas, which peaks on 25 November. He decorates his room and wears a Christmas jumper.

I usually give him an early advent calendar - if he starts it on 11 November then it finishes on 4 December which is around the end of term. Then he comes home and gets to catch up on a second advent calendar for actual Christmas.

Christmas but a month early, so you can celebrate with your university friends .

Have to say that today was a real pleasure.

If only all students could have this uni experience.
really lovely Y2’s helping, all the college ‘parents’, and the staggeringly beautiful buildings. Ds seemed really relaxed and at home, and I envy him the next 4 years in that fabulous city.
at least I get to visit 😬

Thank you all for advice about birthday cake. @SilverSilverStreet M&S seems a good bet. They can deliver a cake for £15 with candles on the actual day. May do do donuts for next year. DD had just sent a picture of the post room (full to the rafters) so don't want to spend loads as I am not sure what condition it may arrive in! We have been to Fitzbillies before so may check them out when next in C. Nice to have lots of options.

Re: Cake
I have sent M&S Colin gift bags for birthdays (A Colin cake, plus sweets and mini colins) which was very popular.
Also the brownies from Simply Cake are very good simplycakeco.com/ and the Gower Cottage brownies via Amazon are very good too here

We took D1 to Oxford on Saturday (technically a day early as we stay overnight) and Oxford was beautifully sunny and looking gorgeous. The traffic was as dreadful as usual though! Her room is nice, quite small but lots of storage space and a fridge, she's thrilled to have her own bathroom this year. The kitchen is lovely, big and spacious with a proper cooker and hob, table and chairs and even a balcony. Enjoyed the Sri Lankan food at D1's choice of The Coconut Tree on St Clements and also delicious breakfast on Sunday at the Vaults behind the University Church. Managed to fit in another trip to the Ashmolean before heading back.

@JulesJules I popped into The Coconut Tree on Monday after dropping DS off -it was lovely even though we only had a snack. One to bookmark.

DS has been told that this term's student loan will arrive late (possibly to a delay in registration information being communicated to SFE?). I'm not sure if this affects students at just his (Cambridge) college or others too. Fortunately he has enough in his account to tide him over.

Yes I've just had a similar message from DS about the delayed loan. He will be OK too, but tough on those who may not be...

Same here from DS1 (C) and I've offered to send money if he needs it but he says he's OK so far. It must be terrible for those students who desperately rely on maintenance even just to pay for food and I hope therefore that the colleges will help out for now until the loans come through.

Yes, there will be many who were relying on that money to arrive on time and who don't have relatives in a position to lend them money in the interim.

No college is going to penalise any student for late loans. They will simply extend credit for meals and defer payment for accommodation.

If this is a general problem then DD4 will also be affected but she hasn't said anything. She has her summer holiday earnings to dip into though, if necessary.

Is it a wider problem? DD hasn't mentioned it. She might well avoid doing so in order to avert the prospect of getting Stresshead Mother on the phone. I don't have any more money to give her, but she has some summer earnings in her account as well as her usual monthly payment from us, so she won't starve.

DS2 (O) hasn't reported any news about a delayed maintenance loan so maybe it's just Cambridge?

Anyone else's DC having issue with getting a DoS to answer emails from their student offspring by the way? DS1 (C) emailed his DoS about his thesis topic at the very start of the summer but never heard back so just had to move ahead with what he thought would be OK.

Then, his DoS emailed the cohort at the start of term to arrange meetings and so DS1 replied, suggesting an individual meeting slot. He got no reply though and the meeting time has now passed and still no contact from his DoS. This is the same DoS who took over a term to mark essays in the first year, so assume they must be really busy.

DS1 - typically - is totally laid back about the lack of response from his DoS but it's in stark contrast to DS2's (O) subject tutor and pastoral tutor both of whom were in touch across the summer and set up meetings ages ago for the first week of term.

Are Cambridge just a lot more 'relaxed' about their students than Oxford?