Oxford reality check : just how hard do they work the students and if terms are short cant they relax ?

[Realitycheck1]

Ds doesn't want to go far away for uni ,lots of reasons and I'm happy with that. Oxford is actually very close and London but he doesn't want a city like London

Predicted 3 a stars

Really liked the open day and some colleges but has been put off by reading about the 5 week burnout and the volume of essays each week.

However on the open day one of our guides said yes it's hard work but easier than a levels !

Ds doesn't feel he would cope .
But I think if he...hard working naturally motivated studious student can't cope who can

I fully appreciate Oxford is Oxford but the other pluses for us are, it's so close , it's so much cheaper !
It's cosy.

I'm disappointed he's been put off to even try

There is only one other uni he likes.

What I can't understand is with such incredibly short terms don't they get time to relax ??

Bear in mind you can get a half-blue for fairly non-athletic stuff. A friend got one in croquet. 😀

Oxford is a lot of work (there is some variation in hours needed depending on subject but all of them are hard work). But on average, the people I know who managed it best are those who treated it a bit like a 9-5 job from the start. Put in your 40 hours every week and some occasional overtime. There’s still plenty of time for socialising, clubbing (though the nightclubs are terrible!) sports, hobbies etc. It’s a matter of attitude and approach.

Ok I’m thinking of our rower who
i saw down the college bar once!

Ah, I did an arts subject. You’re right. My STEM friends did have more contact time and labs etc. I suppose I didn’t really count the lectures in my mind because they were so appalling! Granted I was there a few years ago but there were lecture hand outs that had been handwritten on blue copy paper in the 70s! A lot of my lectures also clashed. I was doing a joint honours and for one of my subjects I had one tutorial every two weeks and that was it. Couldn’t attend any of the lectures in a couple of the modules because they all clashed with my other subject. So, it was basically just me in the library teaching myself which was pretty isolating. I sat finals in some modules having never been able to attend a lecture.

Agree it’s a very individual experience. Yours sounds very much like mine! I was also taught on my own a lot of the time in tutorials as my module selection didn’t align with anyone else’s in my college and I guess there wasn’t a slot for me at another college. I still don’t fully understand how the tutorial teaching was organised. I found that very stressful and intense and yes, lonely and quite boring if I’m honest.

I also had a class 25 minutes away from my college at one point. It was scheduled immediately after my other class. I raised it and was told I would just have to catch up on what I missed. They didn’t give a shit 😂

Sorry OP, I’ve slightly derailed your thread. I think my advice would be to find out everything you can about the reality of studying your DS’s chosen subject, including what a typical week looks like, expected workload, contact time and then compare this to other universities of interest. Something to consider also if it’s an arts subject, unless things have changed completely from when I was there, is that the teaching is quite formulaic and traditional. A long reading list and a list of essay titles and you just work your way through one a week. Also find out about assessment and how it’s conducted. Some subjects were assessed by exams at intervals and coursework, whereas mine was a massive battery of exams at the very end of my course. I was being assessed on things I had studied two years previously which was hard. No coursework. Also, a lot of other unis assess by other methods like presentations and group work, which can obviously come with its own problems! Maybe Oxford does too outside of my subject area. I wouldn’t know.

Obviously my experience was a few years ago so I’m happy to be corrected. I just assumed it might still be the same as it didn’t seem to have changed for centuries when I was there! I don’t mean to sound negative. It didn’t really suit me so I didn’t enjoy it. But, as you can see, there are other posters on the thread who had the time of their life.

Yeah I don’t think there’s one answer to this q - it depends on at interlocking factors (the student’s aptitude and studying style and preferences, the course, the tutors) and how those things interact.

My kids did maths/mathematical sciences at Oxford, ie absolutely brutal and implacably escalating workload over four years. And there’s not just a lot of it - the material is hard and the pace is fast. If you miss a lecture, it’s on you to find the notes and catch up. If you don’t, your next tutorial will be an embarrassing bloodbath and the next lecture will make zero sense, and suddenly you’re floundering, and as far as the tutors are concerned that’s your problem to sort out. There is absolutely no handholding.

Looking back on it, the way they were at the most pressurised point of A Levels (couple of weeks before exams and during exams) was a pretty good indicator of how well they dealt with the demands at Oxford. Someone who voluntarily knuckles down to many hours of revision daily but remains relaxed and happy can probably cope. Someone who does that much work but feels emotionally or physically rough might not. Someone who can’t/won’t do that much work might have a fab time, but will get a less impressive result at the end of it!

We live near Bath uni and I’ve had lots of chats with students on buses who turned down Oxford to come to Bath instead as they liked cosy but preferred the structure and the student mix more. I think this comes down to personalities too and the subject - if for instance you are doing medecine you will get a lot of contact time naturally and because of placements -financially that has to be considered . Does Oxford still have the non working rule? Mind you sounds like cramming so much into short terms means you couldn’t work much anyway - I think working as a student isa very good thing - brings you back down to earth and the reality

It has a non-working rule in term time (24 weeks of the year) apart from university approved jobs with very few hours (DD has one, not sure what its called but its to promote Oxford to state school children from a region) but rest of year they can work. DD works around 8 weeks a year full time by us in seasonal work and gets about £8k for that. Though its quite variable, she was the only one on her course at her college who had worked pre starting.

That’s the thing though - if you can balance it! Lots can’t, and that is also fine.

It’s definitely doable. My DS graduated 3 years ago and DD this year, both Oxford.

It is busy and there is plenty of work but both managed to have a happy social life.

DS did Physics which was very packed in the first year but evened out after that. DD did Earth Science which was also manageable but a lot of vac time was taken up with field visits and a mapping project, so no time for a holiday job.

DD visited friends (medics) at Leeds and Sheffield and said that she couldn’t have coped with the social life, several times a week. Oxford had far fewer social events but it was enough for her.

DS reckoned that at Oxford you can succeed with 3 out of five - good grades/ sleep/ sport/ a girlfriend/ a social life - but not all.

It depends what your DC wants from the university experience. Oxford wouldn’t have suited me but both DC loved it.

Work hard, play hard and recognise that the terms are short but that doesn’t mean zero effort in the holidays.

It’s relatively short teaching blocks, with periods for self study and preparation between them. Keep in mind it’s a small place and everything is close.

If you’re study 8 hours a day, sleep 8 hours a day theres still 8 more hours each day.

If he's not comfortable reading widely & deeply, and writing a lot, then the Oxford style of teaching is probably not for him.

My experience was years and years ago but I went there and burnt out and it took a few years to recover my mental health. It makes a big difference having a supportive and stable family home within a few hours travel. If you don’t have that you are essentially made homeless every 8 weeks and have to sort out somewhere to live, work loads to save for next term, while trying to fit in your reading prep which is massive (I had the additional fun of needing to get to an actual library for the texts as this was years ago - again those living nearby had the advantage of being able to go for day mid holiday to check out and changeover all their reading)
so yeah, I’d be cautious. He needs to really really want it himself.

It is a hard slog.

At least 4 hours of lectures etc a day, 2 or 3 2500 word essays a week, a huge reading list that you have to actually get through.

You do have fun, but it will not be the same as going to a non RG or even a RG.

DD is a recent STEM graduate. She found a lot of the work in her first year a bit of a breeze, which resulted in coasting later. NOT a good idea. After her first term she looked back at the scary entrance exams, and found them laughably easy. So she learned an awful lot in quite a short time.
She had a bit of a social life, based on her interests rather than her college, and a term time Oxford job, and has a relevant graduate job now. I think the jury's still out on whether it was really the best place for her.

Your son must already have been working hard. If you are nearby you would be able to help if necessary anyway. He should do well. Everyone is in the same boat.

The most difficult thing can be imposter syndrome.

@MrsPengiuins ds is that type puts pressure on himself and is very " studious" has friends and they socialise but it's extremely tame compared to what I was doing age 17

So I also wonder it could be the wrong environment but being around similar types nights be the correct place ?? More birds of a feather ?

@JohnBullshit that's a shame if she isn't sure she had fun there ?

But regardless surely she's happy it was cheaper for her ?
Looking at the Oxford costs table the accmd and food is at least two grand cheaper than elsewhere

@Realitycheck1sounds like he’ll be just fine. If you are studious that’s good. It would be more of a shock if he was clever and just coasted to this point.

I think most students at Oxbridge will be studious and most will put pressure on themselves but its trying to make sure they have some balance especially if they find they are not top as they are used to before. If he has friends I would have thought he would be OK. The danger is when students aren't top anymore and respond to that by shutting themselves off from everyone and just working and feeling like failures. ASD or undiagnosed ASD are probably highest risk for this. There is every activity in the sun you can join though and would just encourage that.

That was my DDs approach on her Cambridge stem degree.
I guess it helps a lot of they’re already fairly good at time management and self-discipline.
She did a lot of study in the Xmas and Easter vacations (rather firmly pointing out they were not ‘holidays’ and did proper internships in the long vacs. Some holiday but not as much as she might have liked though that was in good part covid restrictions in the third year which stuffed travel plans.

she had a great time - she went there because she wanted a challenge! - but has more leisure now she’s got a full time professional job!

College makes a difference - sounds like he should avoid Merton. Honestly if you do a humanities subject, do ok with exams, and are happy with a 2.1 it is possible to socialise and somewhat coast much of the time and cram for finals. STEM it’s a lot more possible to get left behind and not be able to catch up.

@MrsPengiuins i wonder wouldn't he have the same issues somewhere else though re too much self pressure and maybe not similar types around

@Realitycheck1 Lord, yes, it was definitely cheaper. I for one was grateful for that. And she hasn't complained about the experience at all. I do think though that it's important to keep a sense of perspective about how important it is long term to have graduated from Oxbridge rather than say Exeter or Manchester.