How often do you go home per term?

My family is fairly orthodox and as I am a girl, they would really like it if I come home for the weekends - or even just for one day.
My older brother, who studies chemistry at university, cbrings his work home with him every friday/saturday and goes back to his uni on sunday.
I'm planning on studying medicine, hopefully at oxbridge, and i would like a rough idea on how often some people go home. The workload is intense and I imagine I won't be able to come home for an entire weekend like my brother, but do you think it would be possible to spend at least a day home every week?

How often do you go home per term (if you do go home)?

At Cambridge, and I think Oxford is similar, you are expected to "keep term". In other words, to stay at your college accommodation every night. They won't mind an occasional away day (and night), but doing it regularly may cause problems.

For one thing, as you touched on yourself, the workload doesn't easily allow it.

And Oxbridge terms are short anyway.


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Aha my family are a bit like that too. They want me back every weekend but lol I've told them if I get into Cambridge, I'll have lectures on Saturday...

I'd say the workload is a bit too high to be shifting yourself home every week, unless you live a short journey away

I live about 1.5 hours away by car but that's usually due to traffic, my parents want me to come back every weekend but I really don't think it's possible

Ah, that makes sense, so say, in theory, if i was to go back home for one day every other week (so around 3-6 days per term), would that cause too many problems?

The short term time gives me some ease because that means even if I can't go home every weekend, the "break" would be soon to avoid conflict at home

I'll let a current or recent student reply on how strict this is in practice... I'd suggest 1 or 2 a term may be ok, but more may not.

I'll keep this thread open in case a current student wishes to share what they do, but thank you for your answer! I guess i just have to explain how intense itll be to my parents

My family is fairly orthodox and as I am a girl, they would really like it if I come home for the weekends - or even just for one day.
My older brother, who studies chemistry at university, brings his work home with him every friday/saturday and goes back to his uni on sunday.
I'm planning on studying medicine, hopefully at oxbridge, and i would like a rough idea on how often some people go home. The workload is intense and I imagine I won't be able to come home for an entire weekend like my brother, but do you think it would be possible to spend at least a day home every week?

How often do you go home per term (if you do go home)?

I live about 1.5 hours away by car but that's usually due to traffic, my parents want me to come back every weekend but I really don't think it's possible

Wherabouts do you live. I heard if you take a direct train from King's Cross, the journey is about 45 minutes.

How far away are you? If you live within reasonable commuting distance then I it's definitely possible to go home for the weekends occasionally but I think it's very likely that you will not want to do this regularly. The issue isn't the university regulations, I do not think that anybody pays a huge amount of attention to that unless you're spending an extremely noticeable amount of time away (I've gone home for the weekend several times without anybody asking any questions), the issue is more that your workload is going to be extremely high during term-time and it's probably not in your interest to go away from your working environment for the weekends. I think it's absolutely fine to do it a couple of times a term but I do not think it's recommendable to do it weekly..

Have they said they live in London? If so I'd personally recommend the Oxford Tube or X90, it's not as fast as the train but you don't need to book it in advance and it's very cheap. I usually get a set of 12 tickets which equates to something just over £5 one way.

@jneill is right, at Cambridge we have to keep term meaning we have to attend 8 full weeks of term, 3 terms a year and if we don't keep term (record kept by your tutor in the form of exeats at the end of term) then you can't be conferred your degree at the end of your time there. You can, however, make up for lost time as long as you do attend the correct number of days per academic year.

In short, we can go home to visit, but you will have to make up for the lost time (if recorded that you have left). Some people do leave without mentioning it, although risky, it isn't checked rigorously.

You can do 1 maybe 2 days unnoticed. Regular visits home would have to be declared and the days that you do miss of term will have to be made up in order for you to successfully keep term.

Wherabouts do you live. I heard if you take a direct train from King's Cross, the journey is about 45 minutes.

Have they said they live in London? If so I'd personally recommend the Oxford Tube or X90, it's not as fast as the train but you don't need to book it in advance and it's very cheap. I usually get a set of 12 tickets which equates to something just over £5 one way.

I made a mistake earlier in the thread by saying i live 1.5 hours away, i live just over 1hr away by car and i realise now the workload will be quite intense to leave every weekend, thank you for your reply!

Ooh, so say if i was to miss 3 saturdays in one term, i would have to make up for it later?

Also, would it count as a missed day if i were to leave Saturday morning but come back saturday afternoon/evening?