They settle in and we miss them. Uni Starters 2023 - Thread 2

[spamm]

I wanted to get a news thread ready for everyone as you wake up in the Uk.

We are settling into a routine of talking to DS on FaceTime on Sunday mornings after our breakfast, which is early pm his time. It is so nice to see his smile and catch up on how he is doing. I know at some point he will have a bad day, but so far he seems to be doing so well, I am ridiculously proud.

Hope you all have a good week!

Why on earth has my post been deleted?

Hi Lucyteatime,

Your post didn't break any TGs but it quoted a deleted post so it disappears in order to remove the offending post (not yours!)

Hope that helps explain but rest assured you're not on the naughty list!

No @FlissMumsnet My post at 05:41 was deleted and that didn't quote anyone.

Back from a long day picking DS up for reading week. Very glad the EV has such good range but in hindsight I really should have pushed him to consider a uni closer to home.

Basically 6 weeks of term left now, 3 before Easter and 3 after. What a strange 'year' this has been.

DD has complained persistently about not having enough (academic) work to do. I'm sure I never had that issue! Then again, DD has so much Duracell-bunny energy she can't stand an idle second, which is probably part of it.

That's interesting @MTistheDB and dd also has a friend at Southampton on the equivalent course who is much busier. DD is filling her time with clubs and societies but still finds herself at a loose end sometimes.

My Bristol kid says the same. It’s been an underwhelming experience to put it lightly.

Some of the companion courses to DS seem to be much busier, but for his degree this has been a year of absolutely coasting. There's been no point to it at all. I'm more convinced than ever that unis should offer a fast track into year 2.

Wow that is short. Which university is that?

DS still has 14 weeks to go.

What university and what course @tribpot?

DS finishes third week of April but has seemed quite busy

It's Bangor @RoyKentFanclub . There is a 4 week assessment period in May but any exams in that period (there is only 1 scheduled so far) will be online.

Ds is also lacking academic busy-ness. It made him a bit worried. Hence the 4 jobs. Which he absolutely loves and he also loves living in London. So overall it's positive.

He goes to 4 seminars a week. And he's done very well grade wise.
So I have to trust he's doing enough. He is a workaholic though so it kind of suits him. All uni work would have sent him crazy I think.

He has to have business wear for a work event on Monday. He is going shopping with friends to get a suit. He's never had anything but jeans in his life! He's not nervous about the work. I would be! But he's very nervous about wearing a suit.

I'm shocked at how little they're actually in uni. I'm sure I was in more than that when I went. My DD is shocked as well, and wished she'd done a degree apprenticeship. When she first started she thought it was going to be too hard and she wouldn't cope, but now she's realised there's a flurry of activity for a few weeks, and then nothing much to do for weeks on end. They seem to constantly put in reading weeks/exam weeks/ half-terms which are officially part of the term, but the students are actually doing sod all. She really needs to get a job, but it always takes her ages to get on with that sort of thing. I suppose she'll realise when her money runs out.

Yeah I would definitely have steered DS in the direction of a degree apprenticeship if they existed for his subject @Lyxou

Problem is there don't seem to be many degree apprenticeships and competition to get on them is fierce. So it's not a matter of doing a degree apprenticeship OR going to uni.

I'm starting to think that humanities degrees are a con. And don't get me started on the cost of accommodation ...

DD is middling busy but mainly due to being involved in amateur dramatics. She has a combination of faculty lectures and college tutorials and supervisions each week plus a lot of reading and essays. They do give detailed feedback and has multiple one to one sessions with tutors each week and isn’t twiddling thumbs so I do think she is getting value out her BA studies. Mary Beard was sitting in on one of the guest lectures she attended this past week.

Feedback from her Director of Studies so far has been good but no exams in Y1 so she is fairly chilled. She is staying in halls for all 3 years (and only pays for 30 weeks each year so isn’t too expensive) so there has not been any time spent on looking at Y2 accommodation, which I imagine takes up time.

I am heading up next weekend to watch one of the plays she is performing in. DD is then home for five weeks over Easter from mid March. It will be so lovely to have her back home.

It's interesting that people are saying there's less contact time because my experience with dd was the opposite.
We both did same subject, at similar but different places, but she had far more contact time.
Eg. In my first year I had a week approximately 10 lectures and 2 tutorials a week. They were all meant to be 1hr long and all except the tutorials never exceeded that, and the tutorials only did one term, where one of our tutors took us in a group of 5 and could go up to an hour and a half.
She had over 20 contact hours.
We were told that we should be aiming for about 35-40 hours a week study including our contact time. She was told they should be doing 40 hours at least on top of the contact time.

I don’t think DD is busy at all academically. I do ask if she’s reading the texts etc as lecturers don’t necessarily set work but there’s still an expectation that they self study 30+ hours a week.

@Sinutab @MTistheDB @ZittiEBuoni My DD at Bristol on the other hand is overwhelmed with the coursework and says she hates the way her course is taught, struggling to motivate herself and stay on top of it all. She has to watch videos before the lecture to 'learn' the subject, then attend the lecture, then reinforce the learning with additional coursework and practicals.
She says others on similar courses at other unis do not have this three times coverage of each aspect.

@Z0rr0 that's the study tips I got from some YouTubers though - go through the lecture topics and read up before it happens then do notes and more work etc after. Also that exams aren't necessarily on what was covered in lectures!

That sounds pretty thorough @Z0rr0 if a little spoon fed. What course is she doing? I’m expecting not humanities.
The lack of contact time does mean however that DD has got herself a little retail job - zero hours contract and minimum wage at £7.50 ph. Plus two buses and two hour round trip but it’s a job!

Wow the commute seems a bit brutal @NotDonna but hearing similar stories from other students this year.

Does anyone else think this year is flying? DS finished for a month for Easter on 28th March but I'd home for a weekend before then for a charity event that he usually takes part in.

It won't be long after Easter that he will finish for the Summer.