Current Oxbridge students - new year, new thread

[TenSheds]

Fresh new thread for Oxbridge parents group therapy! With freshers moving in and existing students returning, reckoned someone ought to take the initiative so there's a home for all the news, blues and reviews.

The last continuation thread filled up before anyone set up a new one so hopefully existing and new Oxbridge parents find this one.

You could check the college handbook to see what the rules are about eg kettle/coffee maker in his room. D1 had a similar very limited "kitchen" in her first year in Oxford (actually more like a cupboard with a toaster, microwave, kettle and fridges) though she did not have any bedding supplied. She was very glad of the kettle and we sent a coffee maker as a first "4th week blues" present which she loved. Apart from that, something for the room (eg rug, cushions, blanket, lamp, picture of the cat) a good travel mug (Contigo are great) a fold up reusable shopping bag and a first aid kit I put together in a free makeup bag. A laundry bag (blue ikea bag is good for this) a small clothes horse is useful and you may need hangers.

Meant to say, d1's college allowed a kettle but it had to be on a tray!

Blu tack not allowed - so drawing pins needed for the noticeboard.

Mine had to empty their O room at the end of each term but some friends had rooms where they could leave their stuff so they stored stuff there
also, some rooms have lots of lockable storage

Hello all, glad to have found this thread, Ds will be going to Oxford in October, his main excitement seems to be related to the Varsity ski trip which he booked on this week - it has a freshers whatsapp group although no one’s really chatting on there only asking practical questions about skis/ passes etc. Having had one dc just graduate, I’m finding it strange not to go into full ‘buying all the equipment’ mode but have got mattress topper etc and he’s v minimalist which is probably just as well as it’ll have to be moved every few weeks. We’ve had lots of info from the college, I’m sure the next few weeks will fly

@balzamico- the Varsity ski trip is a lot of fun. DS really enjoyed it. I seem to recall a story about a DC on a previous trip who ended up thinking she was (maybe actually was) being followed by a wolf and messaged her mother. Not a message you want to receive as a parent 😬

@HoneyMobsterlo that might be the week I’m glad he’s pretty crap at communicating when he's not here!!! I’m delighted he’s gone ahead and booked it, he’s skied with me for years and is ready to go further and faster!! (another thing to worry about!!!)

DS had a blast every year on the Varsity ski trip....and is off to Japan this winter to work a ski season before he starts his 'proper' job. Definitely good to have a non communicative student for that week!

Congratulations to all the new starters. I have a NatSci DS at C, now going into second year. He loved his first year but definitely worked hard and much harder than his school friends at non C/O universities. He’s aware of the privilege he has with the demanding work, tiny supervision groups and big expectations but has thrived and grown into it much quicker than I expected. It’s what he wanted and he reminds himself of this when the workload seems a lot!

Moving out of rooms every term is a pain so packing light is good, but we did add a mattress topper as good sleep is so important. Probably not feasible if you don’t deliver by car! Prepare for huge traffic queue just to get into the city if the college is central - suggest arriving as early as feasible / sensible.

As others say, embrace the college parents / family if possible. They are so sweet about how seriously they take it, and it’s a lovely way for new freshers to be helped to find their feet and start making friends.

Hi all. I'm finally getting to join. Poor dd and I have had a stressful time waiting for a remark but it worked out and she's been accepted for Law with German Law at Oxford. So we're a bit behind with everything!

@Fatsnowflake this is wonderful news - so delighted for your DD and for you as well. What a stressful couple of weeks you’ve had.

My DD is heading back for her 4th year after her year abroad. Not German but she is planning to go into the Law after finals.

Hope you can now enjoy the planning for starting in early October.

I’ve dropped DD1 off at Cambridge today.

she is doing NatSci & has a 3 week bridging course. The cohort were eating in the beautiful dining hall tonight.

fantastic day 🙏🏼

We have a DS partway through a stem degree at Oxford and to be honest it's not going that well.
I don't want to say too much on here, but if anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. I'd be happy to chat via pm. Thank you.

Sorry to hear that @Longmanbill My DD is same age at Oxford but not STEM (E&M) but feel free to PM me if you want a general rather than very STEM specific chat. Hopefully someone else can help with STEM.

So sorry to hear this...my DS did an MEng and had a REALLY tough 2nd Yr and wobbled at the begining of Y3 too.....do feel free to PM me if that's in the right ballpark....

I have heard that the second year of engineering is tough. I am half holding my breath.

DS did Chemistry and it was at times impossibly hard. I mean that literally as they saw fit to put impossible questions in exams. It very nearly broke him.

Why would they do that? What would be the point? Did they ever explain or justify it?

DS have moved on @Stockpot - apparently they thought it was a way to stretch people. I’m no scientist but it seems to me a way to destroy a love of the subject.

It’s seems a really silly approach. And a little mean.

Sorry I can't really help @Longmanbill as DD is Cambridge and has never said anything like this. One of her schoolfriends studied Chemistry at Oxford and loathed it, mainly for similar issues.

My general advice would be to speak to his pastoral tutor, an academic who is in a completely different department as they have no stake in the game, other than to be supportive. Can he talk to 3rd years in his college for reassurance?

I think it varies by subject when key exams are in Oxford if exam related but for E&M it seemed very strict but at end of first year. Fail once you can resit, fail twice you are out, no exceptions unless special circumstances at time of exam then you I think rusticate for a year then resit again and if pass then continue. Second year no exams that count. Obviously similar at end of second year would be worse with funding rules. But if it is something like this I would speak to tutor and see if anything can be done but also emphasise to your child that there will be a solution and be very careful with mental health. In my day at Cambridge if you failed twice or where at risk of you just changed course so I was quite shocked by this. I don't know if anyone did fail twice but they had one subject (finance) with lots of questions in not covered previously. And the rules appeared to apply whatever grades you had got in other subjects though it maybe they were just threatening the students to make sure they worked.

There's also an Oxford University Parents group on Facebook which is private if you can't find someone with relevant subject on here.

@Longmanbill sending you lots of positive vibes, my two at Oxford aren't STEM so can't help with recent experience but it sounds tough.

I was STEM several decades ago and at one stage in my final year I almost threw all my files in the Cherwell I was so stressed and thought it pointless - I had an amazing tutor who had me out to lunch with his family and sent me home to climb some mountains for the weekend. I returned with some perspective.

It is tough and it doesn't help if tutors aren't helpful but now there is lots of help - the key is to ask

Exam ranking query

My DD is considering applying to Cambridge for Medicine in 2027.
I heard they are ranked according to performance in exams. And that results are not mainly pass or fail but 150/280…
Can someone verify this please.
I feel that might be a lot of pressure for the students and make them minimise their achievement.

I’d appreciate if anyone whose child is in Cambridge (particularly Medicine) can shed some light on this.

many thanks

All subjects are ranked for exams, but it is no longer a public list. They just find out their own ranking with their exam results.