Current Oxbridge students - continued again...!

[Panicmode1]

Think the other thread is full....!

I had a little shock when ds finally allowed me to look at one of the emails myself. I had the impression that working was allowed in all holidays, but it specifically says that they will not have time to work in the Christmas or Easter holidays. DS working during these did not form a major part of our financial planning but it does make it very clear how dependant he will be.

Not sure how it works at C, but at Ox it is a little different from UNIQ and OppOx - DD did both of these and was initially asked to attend a bridging course. We think this was a response to something in the application process, probably the admission test. It's in no way expressing any doubt as to your DS's abilities and being worthy of the place, but it is intended as a boost to make sure he starts from a place of confidence. Having an extra week to acclimatise and start uni life is definitely a good thing.

@pinotnow He will probably be exhausted at Christmas, the first term is an onslaught to the system, hopefully in a good way. To some extent ability to work may depend on the subject. Some people do work of course, but DD had work set and start of term collections to revise for. Her tutor advised them to have two weeks off over the holidays and study the rest of the time. She's not managed to work much this summer either (hard to pick up temporary jobs) so better budgeting needed next year.

@pipgems those are excellent results, so it is unlikely to be related to them.

I seem to remember that students coming from schools which traditionally don't send a lot of students to O/C really benefit from a bridging course. In DD's case, there was a lad from the year above in her college and her school sent several students to Oxbridge each year. They could explain some of the strange customs etc. Those without that support are offered it via a bridging course.

@pinotnow DD slept for most of the 1st week of the Christmas break as she was exhausted. There was definitely no time for any sort of paid work at Christmas or Easter. She did work in the summer holidays though.

That all makes perfect sense and I have passed on all your messages thanks so much for the replies DS is feeling a lot happier about the situation now 😊

Pipgems, DD says she got a lot from her bridging week. It gives you an extra week to familiarise yourself with your surroundings and start to meet people and in her case all board and lodgings was covered! This year she will be amongst the student helpers.
Selection is probably on some demographic criteria. Though it seemed a bit random to us and in our case their was previous Oxbridge experience with a sibling, but it was still very useful.
Congratulations and best wishes to your DS

That does make sense @TenSheds and @Malbecfan - I don't want him burning out and not making the most of the opportunity. Much simpler anyway not to worry about work until the summer.

Hi, sorry if this is not the right place to post. My son is starting oxford in October. He says he has to move in on Monday 6th October, we thought it would be over that weekend before, not on the actual Monday. The uni pages seem to say it's the Monday too....

If it says Monday, it's a Monday. I'm fairly sure we had a Monday

@Cysco we had a Monday move in too at Oxford

I don’t know how the Oxford week works but Cambridge week starts on a Thursday. DD only has supervisions, tutorials, lectures and exams on weekdays (including sometimes on bank holidays) but some of her friends have had them at weekends especially if they have labs.

Thanks for your replies 🙂

@Cysco ours says Monday 6 October too

@Cysco Monday 6th October is 0th week in Oxford which in Michaelmas Term is also freshers week.

Drop off days vary by college to manage traffic levels in central Oxford. I’ve just checked back and DC1 was Monday 4th October 2021.

DC2 was there in -1 week for a language course staying in a different college and her college allowed her in early over the weekend as it was silly travelling 6 hrs home and back.

In case you haven’t picked up Oxford don’t use dates - instead appointments are say Tuesday of 3rd week.

5th week blues is common and many colleges have visiting llamas and other pick you up events.

You can download the electronic diary of this from Wolfson college - I’ll find a link

Electronic Calendar of Oxford Term Dates and weeks

https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/oxdates/

@CyscoWe always took D1 on a Saturday as we had to stay overnight (5+ hrs drive) so it's worth your DS contacting the college to ask if it's possible to move in at the weekend.

Thanks all, we have a long drive too , will enquire xx

@Cysco dd is starting at Oxford and arrives on Sunday 5th. Maybe it’s different for different colleges

Thanks, he has double checked today it is the Monday x

I heard from a Trinity maths student that it's easy for them to get supervisions and attend example classes for above-year maths classes due to Trinity's resources. Does anyone know if this is also true for natsci at Trinity, or at any other college?

That sounds like utter nonsense I'm afraid. In NatSci they have 4 supervisions per week, one in each subject area (or they did when DD was in 1st year). Add on the lectures and labs plus time to actually do the work set and I'd be really surprised if they had time for anything more.

If you look up the NatSci course on Cambridge's website, there are some sample timetables for all 3 year groups with different combinations of subjects/modules. Bearing in mind travel between departments (eg Chemistry Dept. out to West Cambridge), there is not a lot of spare time.

Trinity is supposedly the best college for Maths so there might be extra things laid on by them for the truly keen/exceptional students but it does not hold true across other subjects.

DD is getting ready to head back to Oxford tomorrow. This feels like it’s going to be a very different year as she’s starting the Clinical element of her medical degree. She’s also in a private flat with 3 friends not from her college.

I’m going to drive her up tomorrow after work.

We have her graduation to look forward to at the end of September.

There is only one Classics course from this year on- this is the first year of a curriculum change. Last year’s Freshers were on the old system where there was Classics I and Classics II depending on your previous language experience but it is now all one single UCAS code with different language “streams” within it. Hence why the question doesn’t make sense from your experience.

That's why I said I was wary of giving advice foxglovetree, because of the curriculum changes.

While these changes were being mooted, word on the street was that DD's course was going to be known as Beginner's Latin/ Beginner's Greek rather than Course II, which naturally delighted her siblings.

We haven’t had any info yet, but I got to work sewing my DD a black pencil skirt and bought her a white blouse at Uniglo. I understand that they will need an outfit like this to matriculate?