Current Oxford/Cambridge students support/chat continued

[Panicmode1]

New thread.....!

@mutterphore congratulations to him!

Thanks for all the kind wishes. Congrats to @HoneyMobster junior. Also congrats to @mutterphore DS... what a relief to have the result at last.

Agreed with PP that the vast majority find the first few weeks a struggle, especially with regard to friendships. Everything seems to shake down in the end.

We had a lovely meal with almost all the family on Sunday. It was in La Cucina on St Clement's. Lovely Italian food (and Cuttlefish next door is also nice, incidentally).

Brilliant news. Congratulations to him after such a long wait.

@PepeLePew , I’ve never hired an electric bike in Cambridge but I remember talking to someone a couple of years ago who was picking one up to go home to Girton village. I’ve downloaded the Voi app but it wanted me to allow location services and I don’t want to do that just for research purposes. Presumably that’s why you were told you were out of range, because you’re not currently in an area covered by Voi.

Most people seem to hire electric scooters rather than bikes.

There are new electric buses from the railway station every 30 minutes to the far side of Cambridge. The journey takes a little under 30 minutes, which isn’t bad for the distance. The timetable is here.

Many congratulations to him and to you @mutterphore. What a crazy wait!

Congratulations to your DS @mutterphore . A great and well-deserved result

Congratulations to ds @mutterphore , he must be relieved to have it on paper although never in doubt.
We also had a lovely day with ds on Sunday. He looked very relaxed and happy but is deep in job applications. I'm finding I still miss him as much as I did in the first year, I thought it was supposed to get easier! I guess it's the anticipation of impending permanent moving out.

@mutterphore : Always cheering to hear of good news of this kind; congratulations all round! Although there's life to be got on with, this deserves a pause for celebration.

Thanks for all the congrats for DS1 (C). It's such good news. I'm appalled that your DC still hasn't had their final degree results, @HewasH20. Any further news about when they might get their marks?

@HoneyMobster thanks for asking about DS1 and DS2's TC applications. They're doing another round now but have 'mock' law conversion course exams pending, so have to prioritise those for a while.

DS2 (O), finally had feedback from his Vac Scheme, 5 months after it ended, only to find that the entire grad. recruitment team had left between the firm's 2 Vac Schemes and no one doing the same week with him got a TC! His feedback was read out on the 'phone by someone who'd never met him and it just said "Very good" all week in everything except for one minor thing about knowledge of the firm's commercial future. Difficult to know how exactly to improve other than keep increasing knowledge of the commercial world. Wish he could regain his self-confidence.

Well done everyone's DCs on getting awards and final degree grades. You must all be so proud.

Thank you all for your supportive words and confirming that things are going normally for my DC. After the terrible depression, DC has announced there are a few of them thinking of moving into a house together next year, so clearly the 'no friends' is just rubbish. I am glad they aren't the only one feeling a little out of their depth, and that it will settle.

Although there was some confusion when DC told me about a friend who was 'living in Jesus' and I thought they must be very religious until I twigged they were a student at Jesus college 😂

@sytron - that's good to hear. DD didn't really settle until after Christmas of her first year.

Be prepared for your DC to get sick quite soon. DD got tonsillitis in his first term and we had to organise DS1 to get her prescription for her. Her college was really helpful as well.

Don't want to be a bore mutterphore - only intending to be helpful - but that commercial thing seems to be pretty key.

@goodbyestranger - many thanks. I really value your advice on the need for more commercial awareness to improve the chances of success with TC applications. I can't help wondering whether, in this case, DS2 just got unlucky when the entire grad. recruitment team all left after that Vac Scheme week and it seems a bit weird that no one at all from that week was then taken on. My assumption is that the new grad. recruitment team then selected solely from the candidates on the week later in the year who they knew and who they'd met. However, I appreciate that there is still room for improvement for DS2. He seems to get a lot of progression to interview stage with his applications, so that at least is something. DS1, so far, has had far fewer interviews.

@sytron that really made me laugh 'living in Jesus'! I'm glad your DC has people to flat-share with next year and this is a really good sign.

@mutterphore She hasn't asked. It's not really going to make any difference to her, as she has her degree certificate already. It's of zero importance for her immediate career plan as she starts work properly in a couple of week's time. She's not interested in a traditional grad scheme job, so employers don't care whether she has a first from Oxford or a third from Timbuktu. I think the only disappointment is that her missing mark is for a subject she had specialised in & would like to know if it liked her as much as she enjoyed it!

Anecdotally, I work with a large number of new starters on grad schemes. Not a single one has been disadvantaged by delayed results. If anything it was to their advantage, as nobody had to get a confirmed degree result before starting and they can prove their worth through their actions before the end of their probation in the spring.

We met up with DS in Ely and had a lovely afternoon wandering around the market, cathedral and stained glass museum.

He is happy with his three choices for his major topics; he is finding two of them straightforward and one more of a stretch intellectually. He has had his induction for his Part III project and an introduction to the relevant software.
He has also found the optimum time to arrive at the West Hub canteen for the shortest queuing time.

How lovely @Ironoaks . It is great to hear how your DS is thriving and happy.

DD is home for the weekend. Good timing as both showers for her floor at college are out of use and there is only so much personal hygiene you can manage from a sink in one’s room! DH has gone into a bit of overdrive with cooking.

DD and I have a walk out Sunday before the roast lunch to do our annual leaf kicking malarkey in the nearby woodland (being mindful of possible hedgehogs) which DD hasn’t grown out of since she first did it aged 3.

I’ve not checked in here for a while and it’s been lovely to catch up. Dd is a first year at O and some of the posts sound so familiar! She’s had a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally, and really disliked fresher’s week. But now seems to have settled into a good essay writing routine, loves her course and lots of socialising. She’s already planning on maybe living out next year. I’m going to visit her next week, just for the day. So any vegetarian lunch recommendations very welcome!

Great to spend time with the DC @PettsWoodParadise and @Ironoaks .

We went to Formal Hall at DS1's college last night along with DD. Had a lovely dinner with champagne and wine and then went to Sandy's for cocktails and dancing. Caught the Oxford Tube back to London and arrived home at 2am. Feeling a bit tired now...

Lovely to hear everyone's updates - we haven't seen our uni children over our half term; they are coming back at the weekend - one for a few days of reading week and DS is going to whizz back from C for Sunday roast so it will be lovely to have all 6 of us at home - even if just for the day!

I have made a new thread as this one is almost full

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4930798-current-oxfordcambridge-students-supportchat-continued-2

@Panicmode1 Thank you for setting up the new continuation thread. Lovely to hear of everyone's updates.

Although I'm a newbie, I'm getting quite invested in everyone else's DC's progress and news, getting somewhat more familiar with names now.

Just finishing ...

...this thread off...

Always wanted to do the 1000th post...