How often do you go home per term?

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You live an hour from where? Oxford or Cambridge? (You've posted in the Oxbridge forum which is why people from both universities are offering advice...).

And don't forget traffic in both cities is very bad so a 1 hour car trip can easily take much longer. Also you aren't usually allowed your own car at either university, because traffic and parking is so bad.

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Around an hour away from both

Reply 21

doorhinge

Original post by Protoxylic

Yes you would have to make up for it, typically you can make them up at the end of term (term ends slightly before some colleges' accommodation rental period ends).

As for the intricacies I'm not quite sure, I'd be tempted to say that your example wouldn't count as missing a day. But I'm not entirely sure. You'd have to email the senior tutor or your tutor for that level of detail. I wouldn't really think that they'd be that bothered, if you miss 6 hours of the day then nobody is going to notice.

The system is very outdated (as are many things at Cambridge/Oxford) so actually keeping up with that system is difficult; you can't realistically track every person. So I wouldn't stress so much about missing perhaps 2 or 3 days per term, as long as you don't miss supervisions as they are the most important thing to attend.

I don't plan on missing anything official, but thank you very much for your response! It really cleared things up for me and I'll be able to explain it to my family! I'll double check the intricacies if I do get in so not to risk anything.

Reply 22

Doones

Original post by hideseek

Around an hour away from both

So North West London/Luton then...

And which course are you actually considering at which university? The universities are different in many ways so it's relevant. e.g. some Cambridge courses have Saturday supervisions, such as NatSci.

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Reply 23

doorhinge

Original post by jneill

Medcine but i havent really made a choice between oxford or Cambridge yet (+ ucl and imperial if that's of any help)

Reply 24

nexttime

Some responses:

1) To answer your question: personally, never. Oxford was a fun place to be and lots of stuff happened at weekends and I would have felt I was missing out.
2) You do realise how long the holidays are right?
3) Beware you might have some teaching some weekends. Tutorials in preclinical years, scattered weekend shifts in clinical years.
4) The official requirements mentioned above are rarely enforced, in my experience. The time you might get picked up on it is if you start struggling. Though if someone has differing experience do speak up.
5) What do your family want you to do once you graduate? London and Oxford are the most competitive foundation year deaneries - its quite feasible one of your first job might be in Manchester working alternate weekends in A&E with very limited time off. They gonna make you risk your life driving down the M1 after a run of 14 hour night shifts? Admittedly an extreme example but point is: if you want to medicine you need to be prepared to make some sacrifices. Family life is very much one of those things.

Reply 25

Chief Wiggum

Original post by hideseek

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

The college won't know if you go away for the weekend, as long as you aren't missing supervisions because of it.

I imagine there'd be no issue with you going home every weekend if you wanted, provided you had no weekend supervisions. You'd almost certainly have to take work home with you to do though.

Reply 26

username1865079

Original post by hideseek

Medcine but i havent really made a choice between oxford or Cambridge yet (+ ucl and imperial if that's of any help)

You don't have to worry too much about the 'keeping term' rule as in reality nobody checks it (nobody reports it when they go away anyway, as long as you don't have to miss lectures/supervisions) and as long as you're on top
of your academic commitment and performance, nobody makes a fuss about how often you go home ( or wherever you want to stay at weekend).

However, what @Plagioclase said is completely right.
Workload at Cambridge is so immense (and Medicine is one of the most demanding course), you'll probably have to use a largest chunk of waking time at weekends to do some work and want to use the rest to enjoy a rare relaxing time with your friends. (Or other social activities, like club/society)
As soon as you start at Cambridge (and more than likely at Oxford or any other top uni, too), I think you'll find an idea of travelling regularly to/from home is a waste of time. And as @Chief Wiggum said, you'll probably have to take your work with you and spend most of time at home working if you want to do it so regularly.

Perhaps you can do it a few time a term if you really want to, but not a few times a month without having a negative effect.

Edit: just happened to come across this brilliant post that may give you a quite accurate picture of the life as a Cambridge student. And I can tell you, as someone who knows several engineers and medics at Cambridge, the life as a medic at Cambridge is probably more demanding than he (engineer) described.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4185895&p=66095317#post66095317

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 27

nexttime

Original post by vincrows

Edit: just happened to come across this brilliant post that may give you a quite accurate picture of the life as a Cambridge student. And I can tell you, as someone who knows several engineers and medics at Cambridge, the life as a medic at Cambridge is probably more demanding than he (engineer) described.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4185895&p=66095317#post66095317

They seem to have a lot of trouble committing to what the minimum' is (more than 40, 40, 30 and 25 are all mentioned), but the comments on variability, motivation, being efficient and sleeping for ages once home are all spot on.

For the record, I probably averaged around 30 for preclinical medicine and I was fine. My motivations for not even thinking about home at weekends were genuinely more regarding social opportunities than work! Other people's experience can be very different though,particularly in our second year!

Reply 28

username1865079

Original post by nexttime

I don't know any ex/current-medic at Oxford but none of the medics I know at Cambridge could get away with 30 hr work, even in pre-clinical year.
And none of them could commit themselves to a club/society that requires you a regular commitment, like very active sports club. It was quite interesting (as a third party, not themselves!) to see three medics who joined their college's rowing club in the first year quickly dropped out within a few terms because of their course's workload. One of them (an experienced cox)agreed to help out very occasionally when the club needed a sub cox and another one tried to come back in the second year to row for the second boat (less commitment) but again found it too difficult to time-manage and dropped out again. He tried again in the fourth year and managed to row for the third boat for one season.
A couple of other medics I know were a member of a society that doesn't require regular commitment and that's all they could manage.
Of course there're some medics who somehow manage to fit both work & other social activities in their life, but OP should know in general all Cambridge courses (and Oxford of course) are very demanding and the medicine is one of the most demanding among them.
Many of Cambridge students I know are from the area that's around 1-hr travelling time from Cambridge and I don't know anyone who could (or want to) spend their precious time on travelling to/from Cambridge/home regularly.
If OP (or their family) really want see each other so regularly, it's much better for the family to drive to Cambridge for a meal together and go home. Much less time wasted for OP that way.

Reply 29

nexttime

Original post by vincrows

I don't know any ex/current-medic at Oxford but none of the medics I know at Cambridge could get away with 30 hr work, even in pre-clinical year.

I was particularly lazy yes.

And none of them could commit themselves to a club/society that requires you a regular commitment, like very active sports club. It was quite interesting (as a third party, not themselves!) to see three medics who joined their college's rowing club in the first year quickly dropped out within a few terms because of their course's workload.

Loads of medics in my year were rowers. Some in top boats and a blue as well - I think we were very well represented across the uni.

I'd be surprised if Cambridge were so different.

Reply 30

*Liana*

Original post by nexttime

I Loads of medics in my year were rowers. Some in top boats and a blue as well - I think we were very well represented across the uni.

I'd be surprised if Cambridge were so different.

It isn't, in my experience. At least three of the medics in my college/year were really into rowing - one trialled for the lightweights and I think still got a first that year, another was in the 2nd or 1st Men's VIII at various points and training 8 times a week. I wasn't a rower but certainly was in several societies and on committees for a couple at one point. *
I think some colleges are a bit stricter on this than others, but medicine wasn't a particular barrier to extracurricular activities, esp in the first 3 years (after that you get sent far away for weeks at a time so unless you have a car and are particularly motivated it becomes much more difficult).

Reply 31

Helenia

Original post by nexttime

I was particularly lazy yes.

Loads of medics in my year were rowers. Some in top boats and a blue as well - I think we were very well represented across the uni.

I'd be surprised if Cambridge were so different.

It wasn't for me. I rowed in my college's 2nd boat quite comfortably, others did more, though the guy who trialled for the Blues did struggle with the commitment/workload. Did a few other society things too, though not quite as regularly. I probably did more than 30 hours of work per week, but not more than 40 except coming up to exams.

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