Oxford/Cambridge - current students support/chat thread 2022 - cont

[Panicmode1]

@petitebleu - so sorry to hear about your DS. I hope that some time out over Christmas may help to give him some space and time to think about his next steps.

@HewasH20 thanks for the positive message. I do tend to catastrophise somewhat. I hope you are right.

I don’t want to politicise the thread and do of course sympathise with the academics’ complaints. But as @mutterphore said, I’m also concerned with my DC’s happiness hence my comments.

I work in an industry which is heavily dependent on graduate intakes in Sept and the New Year. I can guarantee that there are no plans to withhold jobs from potentially 1000s of graduates even if their results are in limbo.

@AndTheyFlyTheNest that must be so so hard both supporting your DC, whose hard work may now not lead to their degree / thesis being marked and/or even their finals cancelled altogether and then this affecting their future career plans - yet at the same time having an insider view on awful conditions for yourself and fellow lecturers. I really hope things can be resolved for the good of everyone.

@HewasH20 that's reassuring about graduate intakes not necessarily relying on achieved degree class. I think my concern is that if finals aren't properly marked at all and degree class therefore just reliant on prior performance, then in highly competitive career paths, the difference between an applicant with 'real achieved degree class' and one on whom degree class was estimated just from second year marks, could tip the balance in favour of the student who did actually achieve that degree class in their final year.

This is on the Oxford University website:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/news/2022-11-14-industrial-action-and-students

Indicates that students should keep working towards finals - they are making every effort to ensure sitting exams, marking and results are as usual. Hopefully that is the case.

Just as I thought @Scoobyblue

@Scoobyblue thanks for that link. Sounds like things are still really unknown at present and we can just hope that it works out for everyone.

DS has decided to approach his revision on the basis that his final exams will take place and be marked. His lectures finish on Wednesday, he has his viva for his research review on Thursday and then his exams start on 25th May. His college's graduation is scheduled for 29 June so the university departments need to make a decision on awarding degrees by then (or postpone it). If he gets a 2:1 or above then he will withdraw from this year's BA graduation and continue to Part III / MSci.

My DS has handed in his dissertation which is a huge relief. Anyone who remembers my previous posts and the struggles along the way will know this is a huge achievement. He has been told that the industrial action will not delay graduation (29th June). Worst case scenario is that they are awarded the grade they got last year which for him was a 2.1 so he is not too worried.

So pleased for you @Cliff1975

Great news @Cliff1975 .

DS isn’t concerned by the strikes as his (small) department have been very reassuring to finalists. Exams start in just under three weeks.

@Cliff1975 - that's great to hear

Good news about your DS and his dissertation, @Cliff1975 . After all he's been coping with, he's really pulling it together. You must be so proud of him!

@Ironoaks good luck to your DS with his viva for his research review.

DS1 and DS2 start their finals in less than two weeks and are working hard but so far, not too nervous. DS2 (O) has been reassured that his exams will be marked one way or another. DS1 (C) has had a vague reassurance too - at least, he's being told just to assume that exams will go ahead and to carry on revising. So fingers crossed that their hard work won't be in vain.

DS2 has yet another assessment/ interview day for his career aspirations, only a few days before his first exam but I think he's getting used to these now. No definitive news though on the results of previous assessments/ interviews but he and DS1 now have a plan in place, regardless, for further professional qualifications, post-degrees.

Very good luck to those who have DCs also revising now for finals and also those with DCs doing other exams too this term. Hopefully, our DCs can also enjoy their summer term/ last term.

That's great news @Cliff1975 well done to your ds.
DS has his undergrad finals starting in just over 3 weeks but all being well has another year on an integrated Masters. He doesn't appear to be too nervous, he says there is one course where the final paper is renowned for being beastly so he is prepared for that but it is also his last paper so hopefully won't know his confidence. He's a bit cross that his faculty has exams that run right to the last day of term (an in fact last year ran a week OVER the end of term) so not much of a break before his internship.

Interesting to hear about this term's finalists; good luck and good fortune to them all. Our DS is in the last term of first year so in a different place. He has thoroughly enjoyed his course so far, sticking with a GF he met in the Michaelmas term and is now revising in earnest for 4 3 hour exams in the first week or so of June. An internship is most unlikely until next summer so he has to be imaginative about what he gets to do this year.

I'm reading about May Week and summer events in order to avoid thinking about ds's exams. Along with sending him a pen with top that looks like a dinosaur, which will obviously help enormously.

Good sailing to all finalists 🍀

Good luck to all of the DCs with exams - whatever phase they are at. I can't imagine the stress of finals AND having to worry about whether they will be marked/you will get the degree you deserve.

DS is like @Clemenc0 's in that he's coming up to end of first year exams and has loved every second of his first year. He seems to have a healthy and friendly rivalry with one of the other engineers in his college as to who can do the most work/revision so hopefully he'll do OK. May Bumps start the day after his final exam and he's got a couple of May Balls and things in the diary so he's looking forward to enjoying a bit of downtime/fun at the end of the year!

Very many congrats to your DS Cliff - a major achievement, well done him!

DS's viva went "really well" and he saw a family of ducklings on the way home.

If you know any STEM students in Cambridge who'll be at a loose end over the summer vacation, CHaOS (Cambridge Hands-On Science) is recruiting volunteers for their summer roadshow. Any Cambridge students from first year to postgraduate can apply. The usual pattern is to volunteer for one or two weeks. Tent accommodation and food are provided, and they'll reimburse travel costs. DS can't volunteer this year as he'll be on an internship abroad, but he took part last summer and enjoyed it.

@Cliff1975 that's great to read. Well done to your DS. Good luck to all the other finalists and their mums!

May balls, bumps etc is all great fun, so hopefully the DC will have an amazing few weeks.

I FaceTimed DD last night as the house she is renting has been sold and she will have to move. She's pretty fed up about it but they went back to the old letting agent who has found them a smaller house closer to the centre of Cambridge (with on-street parking) and for less money than she's paying now. The new landlord doesn't require PhD students to have a guarantor (yippee!) so that's another step along the road to adulting. One of her housemates is moving in with her boyfriend so there will be 4 of them in the new place, 2 PhD students and 2 teachers going into their 2nd year of teaching. Depending on how her research goes, DD is planning to stay for the year then move back into college for her writing up as she has funding for 6 months of a 4th year. Tonight she's having drinks with the Master of the college as a reward for winning blades in Lent Bumps, so she's looking forward to that.

That sounds like a positive move for your DD @Malbecfan and reasonably straightforward given the pressured rental market.
As I type, DD is submitting a blind bid on a flat in London.

@beeswain , good luck to your DS with his finals and at least he's fully prepared for that particularly awful paper. Poor thing having his exams running so late too.

@Clemenc0 it's great to hear that your DS has enjoyed his first year so much. Good luck to him too for his first year exams.

@Ironoaks how brilliant that your DS encountered a family of ducks on his way back from his viva and it's very heartening to hear the viva went well.

@Malbecfan I hope the house move goes well for your DD and well done her on winning blades in the Lent Bumps. It must feel good that you can see her thriving at her PhD and growing up, even if this can at times be bittersweet to see your baby becoming a fully fledged adult.

DS2 (O) has progressed with another two career related applications but one of these interview assessment days in London, is right in the middle of his finals and even then, he originally had to get them to shift days so it didn't clash directly with an exam. Now the new date is mid exams and also on a train-strike day. I'm not sure how he plans to travel to London to get there in time for his interview day alongside revising for his exams but he seems fairly relaxed about things.

DS1 (C) unfortunately hasn't had as much success as DS2, in terms of interviews/ assessments, only progressing to the next stage with a small handful and they're both on the same career path but hopefully, it'll work out for both of them in the end.

Meanwhile, both have benefited from 'mock' exams which will be marked and they've found this very helpful to prepare for the actual finals - presuming these will go ahead and be marked.

mutterphore myself and three others attempted to get to London on a strike day last October - the queue for the Oxford Tube was about a mile and a half long by 10am (and having finally boarded, the bus broke down outside Westgate.... different story). The traffic into London was also horrendous. Best plan would be to go the night before and stay in London. The Tube coming back around 11pm was much more straightforward.

The whole property market at the moment is an absolute nightmare for ordinary young people.

Well done to DD1 on the rowing front Malbecfan!

@goodbyestranger , many thanks for that travel advice for DS2. I've suggested he goes down to London the night before and stays overnight somewhere cheap, so at least he's in situ. However, he says he doesn't yet know if it'll be changed to an online assessment day because of the strikes or if there might still be one or two trains running from Oxford that day. I hope the firm clarify things well in advance and he has a plan in place, so he's not distracted from his exams, one of which is the morning before the interview assessment day.