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.

Be astounded. This was 2019 and tickets were c£500. I have no idea (and care even less) about the different tiers of tickets as DD is no longer a student. However, when an undergrad, she helped organise one of the events on your list, again in 2019. The price of the ticket then was the same as is quoted on your link. I have no idea about the site you quote but would believe my own daughter over and above it.

They were 350 in the 90s so I can well believe it. I worked it, it was great fun.

Are you certain that £500 wasn't for a double ticket (ie for 2 people)? In 2018 it was £410 for a double ticket, so it would seem pretty odd if one year later it was £500 for a single ticket: https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/14721

@Malbecfan Sorry to bang on about it but if the info is wrong then it just feeds into the much bigger stereotype that Cambridge students are all posh and filthy rich, which isn't my experience or justified by the stats about student demographics. And dissuade good students from applying because they think party tickets cost £500.

I appreciate that £250 a ticket is still incredibly expensive for most students! But it's on a par with a big name star concert and you get unlimited food (and drink? Not sure) and all kinds of entertainment for many hours. And most colleges' May Balls are far far cheaper, it's Trinity and John's which grab the headlines as they are the most lavish /expensive. But no one has to go to them.

It might have been a double ticket @Wigeon . All I know is that by working and opening the 100+ bottles of fizz, DD got in free. One of her best friends from school was there as a fully paid up guest and there were photos of them together.
Whilst I agree about the point of perception of students at C, attendance at balls is not compulsory and you can live relatively cheaply there. DD took the view that frugal living for 7.5 weeks was her means to attend something nice at the end of term.

I don't know about Cambridge but at Oxford there was a huge range in the price of the tickets. My dc was a medic so there for 6 years and went to a variety of balls. Whilst I'm sure that there are some very extravagant college balls and ticket prices, none of the balls that they attended were £500 per ticket and they seemed to really enjoy the "cheaper" balls that they went to.
At the end of the day, it's only a small part of life there!

Yes the prices for balls varies a lot. D1 went to a few - her college ball I think was around £100-£150 for the non-dining tickets, and a few charity or society ones which were cheaper. They get massively expensive for the big commemoration balls and if you include the banquet, eg Oriel's for their 700th birthday this year was £400 per person - there were also cheaper tickets available. I'm sure D1 told me the Trinity ball held while she was in Oxford was £500. She did not go to that one! There are ways to make it more affordable - work on the organising committee or on the night to get in free, skip the banquet option etc.

Has anyone’s Oxfordbound child received their uni email address yet? There are other admin things to be done that dc need this address for

No, not here @Treviarpelli , still waiting for a few things from dd's college, and she reckons she's done all the necessary admin from her side.

Dd has received hers it may be college dependent.

DD hasn't either. She says she's done everything she's supposed to do so far.

After having two dc's at different Unis who had accommodation for the whole academic year, I have just realised that I (or DH) need to pick up and drop off dd and her stuff every term, and also that the window to do so is incredibly small! Crikey.

DH and I did the drop off and pick up for six years between us including one year when DC overlapped at O and C. Although terms are short and you feel like you will be back and forth, loading and unloading the car, in reality DC might stay up during the vacations or store their stuff in college and travel home lightly at Easter and Christmas. We did sometimes just fetch their stuff whilst DC competed in Varsity matches or were heading off abroad on travel grants or doing internships or whatever.

This is just dawning on me too. DD has term time only accommodation and DH doesn't drive so this will be a job for me.
I'm hoping I can do it at the weekend. It will be tricky if they have a strict window for moving in/out that falls on a weekday. I can't take 2 days of leave each term to provide removals services!

Echoing @ofteninaspinbut in the four years DS was at C, we only had a couple of trips that we had to do....otherwise he paid to stay up, or had a room that he didn't have to move out of, or had storage so could lock stuff away and then come home by train.

@WhereAreWeNow I can't comment for O, but at C, we always did weekends. C is at least 4 hours drive from home, frequently a lot longer depending on the A303 and M25.

Also, in DD's college, each room had a lockable cupboard. At the end of each term, she left her kitchen stuff, duvet, gown etc. in there, so there was a lot less to transport. Obviously it all had to come home at the end of the academic year, but often colleges can help overseas students with summer storage. Befriending the porters is a useful thing to do as they hold the keys and can be incredibly helpful.

@WhereAreWeNow For dd's college it looks like dropoff is meant to be a Wednesday afternoon and pickup on a Saturday morning....

Weekend drop off/pick up and a lockable cupboard would be ideal. I suppose once she's settled if pick ups are on a really awkward weekday and I can't get out of work I could get most of her bulky stuff at the weekend and she could get the train with a suitcase during the week.

How do you find these things out BTW? I know what day I'm dropping her off but I have no idea when she's coming back! She's not sharing a lot of information with me.

I think I picked DD up on the Saturday or Sunday after the end of term.

It’s been a while but I think college websites have term dates. There are 2 dates: one is teaching weeks and the other is something like residence weeks. Teaching weeks start on a Thursday from memory. I think we could drop off any time from the start of the residence period but before teaching started. We could collect after teaching but before or when residence ended. Maybe one of the current undergrad mums can help here.

DD’s college had a winter ball and she was keen to go to that each year. One year she had had about 2 hours’ sleep so once she had helped load the car, she slept all the way home.

Try this @WhereAreWeNow
https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/term-dates-and-calendars
I would be planning to collect the 1st weekend of December.

Worth being aware that for Oxford, move out tends to mean by 10am, so although it's a Saturday, if you're travelling a distance it can need an overnight stay. Minimum 4 hour trip for us too so @WhereAreWeNow I have indeed been taking a couple of days off each term for Mum Removal Services. Term dates are here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/the-university/facts-and-figures/dates-of-term
So first pickup will be 5th December in Oxford too.

Same as Malbec says for C, you can drop off any time from start of residency period but they want you to be there at least a couple of days before start of teaching so you are prepared and, in later terms, for tutor meetings and Collections.

There can be more flexibility if your DC is living in any accommodation outside the main college site during their degree, and not obliged to vacate in the holidays.

Worth also noting that end of year exams can be after the stated term dates and DC will need to request accommodation, and may have to move rooms (mine hasn't had to move rooms yet but has had to pay for another week each year).

Also to add, if you haven't got them already, invest in vacuum storage bags and a trolley cart! Move in/out is chaos, particularly the first time and if you're in the city centre with a half hour parking permit (the wardens are very attentive!), and personally I couldn't manage without them. (I have seen people recommending big Ikea bags but space is at a premium in my humble hatchback.)

Thanks. I had found the term dates. I'm just a bit unclear whether pick up /drop off is on last/first day of term or if there are other random dates/slots. DD has been asked to arrive a few days before start of term.

That's a great idea. My car is tiny!