Oxbridge applicants 2026 - thread 2

[ArchitectureMum]

Someone has to be the OP and I have no fate to tempt now in this journey.

Congratulations to all the Oxford offer holders. Some lovely stories yesterday afternoon.

Comiserations to those who had different news yesterday. I hope your DC are doing ok and beginning to look positively towards their other options.

Good luck to everyone waiting for news from Cambridge on 28th January.

And hello to all the Oxbridge observers - alumni, parents of past and future applicants. It is always a thread of highs and lows and it was a privilege to be a small part of it for this cycle.

Wishing everyone luck. I'm so nervous for DD. She's got a gruelling 5 hours of exams today (2 separate topics) with just 20 mins lunch break in the middle. I hope she can power through.

I really feel for those with 2 exams on one day! Brutal. Good luck all.

So far so good for dd after a very rocky first exam. Nice long break now until the next one.

Yes best of luck to all your DC. Mine starts quite late so she's just trying to keep up momentum at the moment. I so hope it works out for her and all of them - they've worked so hard to get this far, it'd be gutting to miss the grades but you just never know with exams.

My Instagram is showing me Oxford graduations- do they finish super early in their final year?

@Treviarpelli- there are graduations all year round. You pick a slot that works for you. DS1 and DD graduated in the September after their June finals.

First STEP exam today - how did they find it? My daughter thinks she didn’t do well. I am hoping it was a bad one (even though I hear they are all pretty hard)!

@Treviarpelli no!

A colleague’s daughter is at Exeter and the daughter has just finished year 2. As far as I know, Oxbridge students are still in residence.

DD1 is now lecturing there. I met up with her on Sunday at Wembley and she was moaning about 1st years not knowing their numbers (candidate numbers??). From memory, this is coming up to the time of year when the “May” balls and fun things happen.

Last week of exams here, Physics today, English Lit Weds, Further Maths Friday and she is Done. Hope all the young peeps are managing okay through the slog.

Penultimate exam today, just one more next week. Apart from first one, all since have been 'fine'. Then it's the LOOOOOOONG wait to results day. DD still fairly stressed about meeting her offer, but hopefully a bit less stressed than she was before these exams began!

DS feeling despondent - I think he peaked too early with revision and is now exhausted. Felt terrible about exam this morning as he said his heart wasn‘t it in.
Two more to go here

Sorry DS feeling so fed up, similar vibes here, very tired and being full of cold not helping. Friday cannot come soon enough.

Same vibes here. DD revised hard in weeks running up to exams but mainly focusing on her first exam which she was worried about. She seems to have lost momentum now and isn't revising much at all. 3 more to go. She has said most were "fine" but I'm not sure it's enough to meet her offer grades.

Hello everyone, jumping in as I hope that this will turn into a thread for the 26/7 cohort! I know we're in the lull before Results Day but I recognise some MNers here and I'm getting back in the saddle having fallen off the forum for a few months. DS already has his place for NatSci at Cambridge, having deferred entry from last year, and is just finishing up an action-packed gap year. Best of luck to all iin the long wait!

Roll on Aug 13th… 🤞

Someone mentioned the C (Cambridge) word yesterday which made me realise I had, until then, successfully put everything to the back of my mind for at least 3 days!

Anyone else's dc had reading lists sent, despite still waiting for grades? Dd was feeling fairly relaxed but stress levels just notched up again!

Have your DC been invited for their pre-uni/school leaving meningitis jabs? DD had her first last week.

DD has a reading list. She already has her grades though, so it's not causing too much stress. I can only imagine what she'd have been like if she'd got it this time last year so huge sympathies.

And thanks to @RobinEllacotStrike for flagging that up. DD no longer at school so I think she'll have to organise this herself. I am sure she didn't have one last year, is this a new thing?

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2026/07/young-people-urged-book-lifesaving-meningitis-jab-high-street-pharmacies/

Thank you! We will get onto that right away.

Dd booked in for her Men B but we never got an invitation, I was sent a link by another school parent.

DD takes care of her own medical stuff now and she said she got an invitation by text from our GP surgery.

You can book the freeMen B vaccine through a pharmacy for 17 and 18 year olds here: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/vaccination-and-booking-services/book-a-menb-vaccination-appointment/

It's a one-off programme because of the cluster of infections and small number of deaths in Kent - apparently this age group going to university are 7x more likely to catch it than their peers not starting university, so it's well worth getting done before they start.

They need 2 doses at least 28 days apart and they can get the second dose in their university town, if they don't have time to get both doses before starting uni.

Thanks so much everyone. DD also does her own medical stuff and did not get an invitation but I don't know how they'd know she was starting university, tbh. She's on a gap year. Anyway, she's just waiting for her shifts at work to come through and then we will book it. Good point that she could get the second dose at university but would be good to have it all done and dusted in case she forgets!

And she has booked herself in now. Phew!