Current Oxford/Cambridge students support/chat continued (2)

[Panicmode1]

The other thread is nearly full so I took the liberty of starting a new one...

@PettsWoodParadise Thank you

@Juja - I’m not sure what subject your DC is looking at for a Masters, but Oxford will accept a ‘strong 2:1’ for some. The VFM thing is definitely worth considering- some of the fees are truly eye-watering.

@HewasH2O thank you, all v helpful

@LaundryFairy yes - the VFM a good point. If he progresses qualifying as a Social Worker the good news is the Masters is paid for.

@WhatTheFusc
I don't have any experience about resits personally, but my child was very worried about passing their 1st year exams this year. They said most students were crying after at least one exam. So i was worried and was forward planning for a resit.
I think focus on the positives here - they have passed some of the exams, so they are clearly capable of passing. They just need to focus on what remains now, and with some effort, should manage.

Maybe contact college to ask if can go through paper with someone to see what could be done better next time?

do they revise better at home (with your support and home comforts) or maybe in local library without distractions of internet etc?

Maybe also have an honest conversation - were they struggling through the year? were they partying too much? what do they think might help going forward? I think that is a hard one but if they announce they hated it and it wasn't the right course you can start to consider other options. Be gentle though, you don't want to blame them (although i suspect you know this).

These exams are the toughest they have ever sat so far, and they will be very different, as they have found out. If they got the place, they should be able to manage it with hard work I feel.

Very best of luck and please come here for support - it feels almost shameful to say 'my child is struggling at oxbridge' when you were so proud of them for going,and they will have been the shining star at school. But it isn't shameful - they are playing at world class level now. Do we laugh at the person coming 8th in the olympics?

Sorry, I missed this. One of my DDs who had also never failed anything got 17% in her first Prelim paper, had to re-sit and got 76% in the September exam with no additional/ onerous revision that I recall over the summer. I do know that she was pleased that it was the 76% that was recorded on her uni transcript. She barely answered anything in the original exam - brain freeze.

We had a lovely day on Tuesday at DS’ graduation (featuring a surprise visit from the King and Queen of Belgium, no less, who were there to see their daughter, the Crown Princess Elisabeth graduate!)

Thanks again to all on here who have given wise advice from their years of experience. I’m sure I’ll be back here soon as DS continues on to do his master’s next year.

@LaundryFairy so pleased all went well - no royalty in the morning ceremony but we had a great time and the sun shone despite the forecast. DC1's college put on a lovely lunch in gazebos on the front quad and it was good to chat to his tutors as well. They were super supportive about next steps.

A very happy day...

@Juja I would happily have traded our Royal family for a lunch in a gazebo!

Glad it went well @LaundryFairy .

C PhD DD1 has spent the last week hiking in the Alps, should be back tomorrow. Non-C graduate DD2 has another interview this coming week and the cafe she worked in last year is desperate for her to return so at least she should have some money coming in. ATM she is enjoying watching the Olympics with me and doing some sewing.

LaundryFairy and Juja good to hear that you both had lovely days. We arrived in Oxford on Thursday to drizzle followed by spectacular rain, eclipsed completely by a dinner at the Cherwell Boathouse for all eight siblings and various partners plus my brother who flew in from Warsaw. On Friday we woke up to fabulous sunshine and a lovely afternoon ceremony followed by a drinks reception at DD4's college which most of the siblings came to too (two had to go to work on Friday). DD4 went out with friends in Oxford in the evening and resurfaced on Saturday morning significantly the worse for wear. Not even equal to a small bit of bread from our lunchtime picnic in the Parks but the ducks were happy to be fed it instead. We've made it back home a couple of hours ago (long trek!) but the radio was too loud for DD4 in her delicate state so a very peaceful drive. A really wonderful graduation to finish off the round of the DCs' undergrad graduations and only one more postgrad one to go for DS4's DPhil (well possibly two if the Cambridge MPhil DS ever gets around to graduating but I think the moment has passed). Hope all remaining graduations go well and that the sun shines for those too.

(DD4 very pleased to find the promise of £100 in her graduation certificate envelope from her college too).

@pivoinerose Sounds like a fantastic 48hrs even if a gentle approach was required heading north. Congratulations to DD4.

We had the opposite journey north- DC1 driving with loud music which he considers essential to his driving!!

So lovely to hear about all these graduations! We have to wait until November. Meanwhile, we moved DS into his flat in London ready to start work next week. All feels very grown up.

The end of an era (ish) @pivoinerose. Hope those who are career focused have happy & successful careers. Those following a more academic route will hopefully make a difference too.

@pivoinerose, what a lovely gathering of your Oxonian clan! I'm glad you got all of them together, at least for the meal and that DD4 enjoyed her graduation to the full. Also nice to hear that you might still have two further post-grad graduations to attend.

@LaundryFairy that sounds like an extra special graduation for your DS and @Juja I'm pleased you also enjoyed your DCs graduation and supportive tutors chat afterwards too.

@Malbecfan I'm glad your DD1 and DD2 are both having good summers and good luck to both of them.

@beeswain that's really exciting for your DS starting work and in his own London flat too! I'm sure you'll all have a great time at his graduation in November too.

Meanwhile, my DS1 and DS2 will be starting year 2 of their post-uni law courses soon and have had busy summers so far with Vac Schemes etc. I'll keep dipping in to this thread and hope to hear updates from anyone who wants to contribute.

@mutterphore - that year passed quickly- hope they are enjoying their Vac schemes.

@beeswain Hold onto that delayed gratification - I'm sure you'll have a great time when graduation comes in November.

DC1 now settling into a manual job for the summer to save up for a deposit to move to a city to get work experience in a social work related job. They like you to have 6-12 months experience before applying for the Social Work training course. The good news is they pay your Masters fees and provide a reasonably generous bursary for Year 1 then a salary in Year 2 so I imagine they want people who know what they are getting into.

DC2 is swanning around Europe writing a novella in three MFLs helped by college travel grant. We get fun photos from various cultural sites.

Many thanks HewasH2O. The Pro VC at the Sheldonian's parting shot to the graduands was to now go out and change the world. I'm not sure that any of mine are in the game merely to get big bucks - just one, arguably :) All the very best to your DD for her future; I hope that it's happy too.

And thank you to mutterphore. Fingers firmly crossed that your two get offers by the end of the summer. Please let us know.

Yes Juja, a very good couple of days. I do not envy you the loud music one bit! Showing my age big time on that front.

Wow this really is the end of an era @pivoinerose . I thought when DD4 left school things would never be the same - now you live hundreds of miles away!

@mutterphore it's always good to hear from you & follow your DSs' journeys. Best of luck to both (and you).

DD1 is now writing up her PhD and as there is some money left in her research budget, she is getting some experiments repeated. For a change, she is back in C - we are all going to a surprise family event together next month which is when I hope to see her again. Coincidentally, DD2 has just interviewed online for a company a few miles from this event. She should hear tomorrow whether she needs to go up for an interview in person.

@Malbecfan All the best of luck to DD2.

Hello everyone, it's lovely to hear about the graduations and summer projects. Very best of luck for those going on to employment and new research opportunities, and good luck with interviews.

I would like to ask for some guidance on internships/work experience for next summer.
My DC has been volunteering abroad this summer, not related to their degree in any way, but they are learning a lot about themselves and i think it helping their personal growth and development in a big way.
However next year, (after second year) they are hoping to become a bit more career focused. Their college has a dedicated office to help with this sort of thing, so should they just go and ask in there? should they be writing to companies on spec? Is there anywhere companies advertise their summer programmes that they can look at?
When did your DC start looking/applying?
Thank you for all your wisdom and knowledge - it is really totally different to when i went to uni (and of course a totally different type of uni too!)

Hi. Am I right in remembering your ds is a Maths student? If so, I remember ds found finding a 2nd year internship quite challenging as the majority if Finance/Quantative roles were looking for 3rd years. Oxford University do have summer research internships if that would be of interest. There are also quite a few shorter Spring week internships over the Easter break. My ds got experience with a v small start up which a tutor recommended (tutor knew the grads who had started the company ) so that might be another route.

I would echo @beeswain - DS found that lots of companies wanted 3rd years. However, he is currently doing a civil engineering internship with a large well-known company, but it's not what he wants to do, and they don't really have enough work for him....however, it's a name that will look good on his CV and he's learning loads of soft skills...!

I would advise starting to apply as early as possible for things - DS had an internship coordinator in college, but from what he said, they just gave him about 25 pages of names of companies offering internships and told them to find ones they liked the look of, and apply! DS left it very late and had missed lots of deadlines, so it's probably worth starting to sift now for next summer.

Oxford offers several subject specific micro internships. DD applied for a STEM one for the summer of her second year. For third year she was offered lab work in her tutor’s lab.
DS (Economics) did conventional banking internships in second and third year. These have well publicised application deadlines which are quite early in the academic year.
DS’s girlfriend (Cambridge Engineering) sent her cv off to a small company in the States that specialises in the niche area of product engineering in which she is interested and they took her on as a summer intern. The paperwork was a bit complicated but she got a lot out of the whole experience.

This was DS's experience of trying to find a summer internship / placement in scientific research:

1st year: most summer placements ask for at least two years of undergraduate experience so instead he attended a summer lecture series (online due to pandemic restrictions)

2nd year: he applied for 25 projects, reached interview stage for 4, but wasn't successful. He spent the summer volunteering with a science outreach organisation instead.

3rd year: he was fortunate enough to be offered a place with his top choice. Unpaid but with flights reimbursed and a scholarship for living expenses. He received the offer early in the application cycle, which took the pressure off. There was a lot of admin to make the trip happen but he feels that the experience was worth it.
DS has recently found out that they are submitting the project for publication and he'll be listed as co-author, which is exciting.

4th year: with PhD offer and funding confirmed, he has made the decision to take the summer off. He doesn't spend much during term time and had saved enough to make this possible.

@sytron ds has had an internship after both first and second years, but I think that may be partly because he's studying CompSci. The first year one was organised by a very dynamic cousin of mine and not that many of his cohort did one that summer (some did much more amazing things, as always there are people running start-ups or setting up new charities etc etc, alongside plenty of others who do normal jobs!) The one he's doing now he got via a process that started in the first term of the year- I think the first steps on the application were in November. I think he heard about it originally from talking to people in the years above, and also just searching for available ideas - he knew he wanted to try working in London so just looked for opportunities there.