Thanks for your good wishes @HewasH2O and glad to hear your DD is enjoying life.
Very good luck to all those with DCs sitting exams this summer, especially the finalists. I hope they can all still fully relish all the extracurricular activities on offer too, like May Balls.
Here's an update on my graduate sons - DS1 (Cambridge) and DS2 (Oxford), for those who 'know' us on this long running thread:
DS1 and DS2 have had a very intense, post-Oxbridge year, doing the law conversion course, applying for Vac Schemes and TCs and studying for their law conversion exams. The competition to get a law TC in the city seems massively harder than getting into Oxbridge and I'm really proud of them both for continuing to have the stamina to keep applying to so many firms. The research involved for each firm takes days.
Both have had to relinquish a hard-earned Vac Scheme (most of which had 4 stages to pass through to the Vac Scheme point), as they clashed with another firm's Vac Scheme offer. This is so disheartening but seems to be par for the course.
Both, by coincidence, were doing a Vac Scheme - at different firms - right in the run up to the final set of law conversion exams, so didn't get time for revision, except on long daily train journeys to and from London each day. Each had several 12 hour working days, including the commute time but were undaunted. They don't at all mind the idea of very long working hours but are just desperate to get a training contract.
However, they've only just reached the next stage of what looks to be a very long process, which is getting through to the TC assessment days for their respective firms. One of these doesn't even take place until early next year! The chances of actually securing a TC are still only about 1% to 3%, after jumping through all these hurdles of interviews. DS2 (Oxford grad) has four Vac Schemes this summer and DS1 (Cambridge grad) has one.
No one on the Vac Scheme DS2 did last summer got a TC from his cohort. Firms also seem now to have set quotas of demographics for who they'll accept for a TC and this possibly works against DS1 and DS2. Being an Oxbridge grad. and male, has no advantage and may have a slight disadvantage. They'll just keep on trying and working very hard to achieve their goals.
Having them living back at home is great for me but less so for them and DS2 particularly misses life at Oxford, which suited him very well. I really wish both had applied for Masters at O and C just to give them a bit more time at university. Being in the Covid cohort and missing out so much, especially in their first years, with a whole term done from home and various restrictions during term-time, neither enjoyed as much of what was on offer as they'd have wished.
It's lovely to hear therefore on this thread about those doing a 4 year course or going on to do a Masters as well and I hope that your student DCs are making the most of life at Oxbridge. I know that some have DCs who aren't enjoying things and feel really overworked and I hope life improves for them.
Those of you who started out on this thread with me but who no longer post, I particularly wish you well and hope your DCs are thriving. I do think that the twenties isn't an easy stage of life for young people, especially nowadays and all we as parents can do is keep on encouraging and supporting them as best we can.