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...

So I am still so proud of DS for turning things around. However, he has been contacted today by his college to say his exam results contained typos! He still has the same result overall, a 2.1 which is amazing. However, one unit they told him he had a first in is in fact a 2.1- they had told him 10 more that he actually got and another unit they said was a 2.1 is a 2.2.

How can they be so incompetent?????

That's so frustrating, Cliff. It doesn't matter in the whole scheme of things, but it must feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth after everything he's been through. Not great for morale at all. I hope he can see it in proportion.

That really is incompetent Cliff. I imagine that many such errors get missed. Since the ability to challenge is so limited I imagine almost no-one bothers, and exams throw up such unexpected marks so often that students just don't question it. Errors must occur in the opposite direction too, which is an even bigger issue if missed.

A needless kick for your poor DS though, after all his struggles.

Yes he has been upbeat about it and is still happy with his 2.1 which so he should be!

That's really annoying @Cliff1975 but a 2:1 is still a great result, especially given his struggles earlier. He should rightfully be very pleased.

DD came home for 4 days and had one of her friends staying for 2. DD's viva exam for her 1st year is next Wednesday. She has decided that she needs to recover better from Covid so has cleared off to Portugal with her bf for 6 days as he has family out there. Bizarrely the return flights there were cheaper than a student rail fare from Exeter to just north of Reading. She wants to come back here at some point for a break but is not sure when. It feels like she has properly moved out.

@mutterphore that is a lovely update. I remember the difficulties your DS1 had when C was in lockdown.
My DS is also a choral scholar (at O) and loves it. Off for a choir tour of France in September. Currently on a sports tour for the university in baking heat so hope he's coping. I told him to text every night so I knew he wasn't comatose with heatstroke in some grubby tent somewhere.

Congratulations to @HoneyMobster's DD on her IB results. Lovely news.

Delighted to report that it's a First for DD (O). She will be joining DS in Cambridge when she starts her job in October. It will be lovely having them in the same place for a year.

@ofteninaspin congratulations to your DD and you too of course. That's brilliant news. Where will DD be working?

Often well done for your DD.
Cliffe that is a bit poor of the college.

Thanks for all your C advice. Boy child loves one of the colleges and the department. Both super chilled... Absolutely not Kings 🤔. He is now in his relaxed way looking for a relevant work placement.

DD is healing.... We have had to have some difficult natters. Ironically it will give extra substance to her 3rd year. Given the choice I would have preferred her to fail her degree.

@ofteninaspin - such wonderful news. Well done your DD!

Unescorted I think we would all agree that health & happiness beat academic glory hands down.

Having said that, congratulations to often's DD. May she continue to have all 3.

DS has received some good news today. Based on his performance in the second year exams, he will get a prize and also be a scholar next year (which seems to include a room upgrade).

He has volunteered to spend the next two weeks with a summer science roadshow, which is out of his usual comfort zone. Hopefully he'll enjoy it.

That's great news @Ironoaks Congratulations to your DS.

DD had her viva yesterday for her 1st year report. It all seemed to go well and she is now no longer a probationary PhD student but a fully-fledged one (I didn't even know she was a probationer). One of the examiners thinks she should publish her work if she can get some further results over the summer, which is exciting for her.

That sounds really encouraging @Malbecfan
She is obviously on the right track.

Congratulations to @Ironoaks - lovely to have a room upgrade adn the glory as a reward and
@Malbecfan - excellent news - all PhD students are on probation for their first year - you get confirmation after that initial internal viva - I remember being really nervous about mine - a good supervisor helps you prepare - but not nearly as bad as the actual PhD viva - that did involve many sleepless nights.

It's all gone quiet! I was in O on Friday at the same time as graduation ceremonies were taking place. It's very strange to think that after a terrible first year and a good second year that DD will be leaving the Oxford bubble this time next year.

lol @HewasH2O I thought along those lines once but DD is still there. One of her housemates is moving out today and another moving in so they are frantically packing one and cleaning up after her before the new one arrives. DD is off to Scotland soon for a walking holiday so no idea when I'll see her again 😢

DD is still there, working in college for 6 weeks. She's had her nicest room to date & has had staff/guest perks, such as a coffee machine & scouts washing her bedding for her. Hope she hasn't been getting ideas!

DS (C) came home for my birthday at the weekend. It was so lovely to see him for the first time since collecting his stuff at the end of term. He is enjoying his internship and taking advantage of living in central London. He finishes at the end of August and will be home for a couple of weeks before going on holiday with a group of Cambridge friends. DD is a bit nomadic, flitting between Oxford, home, trips with friends and her new little flat in Cambridge. She is impatient to graduate now (ceremony is in September) and make Cambridge her new base as she transitions to the world of work.

Hi all, been keeping up with the thread; good to hear how everyone is doing and about all the summer plans! DD1 has barely been home since the end of term - she did a 3 week internship in London in July (very exciting for a country bumpkin from ooop North!), then went on a week's holiday abroad with Oxford friends. We had a short window of opportunity for a UK family holiday with her last week, before she returned to Oxford to a paid role helping with an international programme in her college. Hopefully she'll be home for a few weeks in September - she needs to do some work on her dissertation before starting third (final) year - eeeek, how on earth did that happen in the blink of an eye?! She has no idea at all at this stage what to do after finishing uni, which is causing her some low-level angst.

One thing that I've struggled with is how chaotic she can be in the midst of such a busy schedule. The majority of her belongings are currently strewn all over her bedroom and the spare room, where they were dumped at the end of term, and every time she's needed to pack to go onto the next thing it's all been extremely last-minute even with a lot of help with laundry etc from me (and there's still the inevitable posting of things she has forgotten a few days later....). She probably needs a good few days next time she's home just to sort through all her belongings but I'm trying not to nag....

MiniJB I could have written your post, except DD's programme finished on Saturday after 6 weeks. It's been an enormous learning experience for her, as the programme director was very hands off. Her ideal grad job for next year has been scrapped by Jacob Rees Mogg's austerity cuts, so it's back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile within hours of coming home she was moving furniture around in her room and starting Operation Declutter. I'm away for a few days and I hope some of the boxes in my office are rationalised before we go to visit grandparents and she goes to visit the BF for a couple of weeks.

DS is now deep into his summer internship working for a young start up company. They have 3 other interns, 2 plus DS doing techy/maths stuff like software development, dynamic pricing and an English student working on marketing and branding. He seems to be enjoying the experience (but not the commuting!). It seems to be helping him think about what he might like to do after university which is good, but he tells me the tech world is insanely competitive so he's already on the case thinking about next summers internships.

Hi all, I seem to have fallen off this thread but am popping back in with the news that DD2 is joining the merry band from October... heading to Oxford to read Music, with a choral scholarship. So happy for her!

Meanwhile DD1 is working hard at a summer job plus studying for next term and DS is doing an internship in Paris... so all good on planet Pant.

Hope everyone else is having a good summer.

Congratulations, @pantjog .

DS2 has got his place at Edinburgh with some great results (almost the same as DS1 who had the benefit of the Covid grading generosity ).

Meanwhile, DS1 has been trying to get ahead on the reading / planning of his dissertation that will be the big task of his third year at Oxford (well, that and preparing for finals).