The Student Room Group

Wait... getting into Oxford is just the start of the hard work?




Slightly late to the party (as I always am :colondollar:) but here goes...

A little about me:
I'm currently in my first year studying Economics and Management at Oxford University. I'm going to keep my college private (at least for now) just to maintain a bit of anonymity, E&M is a small course. I took a gap year before coming to Oxford, which included a lot of work and a bit of travel towards the end. I can do a full post on my gap year if anyone is interested (probably not - really not that cool) but I'll say now... it was unexpected. Right up until August 2016, I thought I was going to university that September. However, A-level results didn't quite go the way I wanted them to and I decided taking a year out to reapply was the best option I had at the time. Luckily it worked out well for me!

So here I am, a term into my degree. It certainly hasn't been all easy sailing but I wouldn't change it for anything. I started this blog for a few reasons, particularly:

1) Motivation to be the best I can be
First and foremost, I am a great procrastinator. But the harsh reality is that I just don't have the time to be able to put off work anymore. Hopefully this blog will give me some motivation, or just guilt trip me into being productive.

2) To document an accurate description of life at Oxford
There are a number of people who blog/vlog their time at uni, including Oxford, but sometimes I feel like these show a lot of the highlights and not so much of the bad times or the hard work that goes into a degree at any university. I love Oxford and I hope I can demonstrate on this blog how amazing a place it is to be, but the teaching style just isn't for everyone. It's damn hard work and long days and seemingly never-ending deadlines, and I think it's important for applicants to see both the good and the bad.

3) To show that your life isn't over if you don't get the grades you want
My A-level grades aren't terrible, but weren't what I needed to get into university in 2016. It's impossible to deny that results day was horrendous, all my friends were celebrating and I was crying the whole day. At the time, I felt like my dreams had been shattered in that second it took me to check UCAS Track. Yet a year and a half on now and I feel in a better place than ever. Your grades don't have to define you.

I'll probably add some more stuff into this main post regarding hobbies, maybe more about my journey, anything I can think about...

I am always happy to answer any questions, whatever they may be! I would love to think that I could help just one person so don't be afraid to ask me anything - I promise I don't bite :h:


Updates so far

Spoiler

(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
What A-Level subjects did you take?
How was freshers for you? :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by Sam.T.
What A-Level subjects did you take?


Maths, Further Maths, Econ and a language :smile:


Original post by plankyton
How was freshers for you? :smile:


To be honest, it wasn't really the typical freshers experience. My college were really good at putting on a load of different events - at night and during the day, always with drinking and non-drinking options - but it was just so tiring to keep up with everything. I met some great people though and went out I think 3 nights out of the possible 5. We got set an essay on the second day we arrived which was due at the start of the following week, so there was quite a dramatic switch from the Friday of freshers into that weekend as suddenly everyone had work to do. It was definitely a fun experience, but at the same time I was kind of happy to leave it behind and move into the actual term where there's more of a routine and you can meet a wider range of people :h:
How’s the courseload
Reply 5
Original post by tinycharlie
How’s the courseload


Honestly, it's a lot more intense than I ever expected. Everyone always said Oxford was hard work but I really struggled this past term with keeping up with the workload, as well as meeting new people, joining societies, volunteering and everything else. That being said, it's definitely manageable if you plan your time well (I definitely didn't to start with!) and don't try to do too much.

They said to us at the start of term to treat Oxford like a full time job and study for around 40 hours a week. I think I do more than this, but that could be because I'm not quite so efficient yet. In terms of actual workload, on average I wrote two essays a week last term and also completed a problem sheet for economics.

The first term is meant to be the hardest that we will do (certainly for E&M at least) so hopefully it gets easier - I'll update at the end of Hilary haha :smile:
Original post by desvelada

To be honest, it wasn't really the typical freshers experience. My college were really good at putting on a load of different events - at night and during the day, always with drinking and non-drinking options - but it was just so tiring to keep up with everything. I met some great people though and went out I think 3 nights out of the possible 5. We got set an essay on the second day we arrived which was due at the start of the following week, so there was quite a dramatic switch from the Friday of freshers into that weekend as suddenly everyone had work to do. It was definitely a fun experience, but at the same time I was kind of happy to leave it behind and move into the actual term where there's more of a routine and you can meet a wider range of people :h:


Essay on the second day sounds stressful :afraid: Have you started revising for prelims yet? Happy New Year!
As a reapplicant, did you reapply to the same college and did you apply to E&M the first time as well?

Also as someone who took an unexpected gap year, how did you find the switch from paid work (I presume working 9-5?) to a university schedule?
Reply 8
Original post by plankyton
Essay on the second day sounds stressful :afraid: Have you started revising for prelims yet? Happy New Year!


They definitely threw us in at the deep end :lol: especially considering we didn't have the lecture until after the essay was due. I have collections next week so I'm revising for those at the moment, so much for a nice relaxing Christmas :frown:

Original post by auburnstar
As a reapplicant, did you reapply to the same college and did you apply to E&M the first time as well?

Also as someone who took an unexpected gap year, how did you find the switch from paid work (I presume working 9-5?) to a university schedule?


I actually applied to the other place (pls don't kill me) for straight economics the first time around, but ended up missing the grades I needed for Cambridge. Ended up at the better university definitely :yep: I know some people who reapplied for the same course though, I think the general advice is to apply for a different college.

As for work, it was so much easier than uni! I really miss being able to leave work at work, my job was 9-5 (though I'd normally stay until around 6-6:30) and once I left the office, I could forget about it all until the next day. Nowadays there's always something I should be doing and I find it harder to relax as I'm always thinking about the next essay. I think I'm getting back into the swing of it now and I find setting myself some kind of routine really helps :smile:
Original post by desvelada
Ended up at the better university definitely :yep: I know some people who reapplied for the same course though, I think the general advice is to apply for a different college.

As for work, it was so much easier than uni! I really miss being able to leave work at work, my job was 9-5 (though I'd normally stay until around 6-6:30) and once I left the office, I could forget about it all until the next day. Nowadays there's always something I should be doing and I find it harder to relax as I'm always thinking about the next essay. I think I'm getting back into the swing of it now and I find setting myself some kind of routine really helps :smile:


Stage 1: Denial :ninja:

Kidding! Really glad you're happy :smile: - can't wait for some more updates! your journey must have been a rollercoaster - any advice on how to handle the situation when things go wrong? Clearly you've managed to do well!
Original post by desvelada
They definitely threw us in at the deep end :lol: especially considering we didn't have the lecture until after the essay was due. I have collections next week so I'm revising for those at the moment, so much for a nice relaxing Christmas :frown:


That's so evil hahah
oo Good luck for collections !!
Reply 11
Original post by MagicalMedic
Stage 1: Denial :ninja:

Kidding! Really glad you're happy :smile: - can't wait for some more updates! your journey must have been a rollercoaster - any advice on how to handle the situation when things go wrong? Clearly you've managed to do well!


Took the whole "rather be at Oxford that St John's" thing rather literally didn't I :lol:

I'm no way perfect at dealing with these things, but I found what really helped me this year was trying to think of things in terms of opportunities. Instead of crying over something going wrong, I try to think of it as an opportunity to do alternative, better things. I know it's cliche but the whole "sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together" quote really resonated with me this year. I also think it's so important to acknowledge your achievements too, even if you didn't quite reach the standard you wanted. My grades weren't quite what I needed but I still got some pretty decent A-level results which I worked hard to get and I realise now that I should have been proud of that at the time.

Original post by plankyton
That's so evil hahah
oo Good luck for collections !!


That's Oxford for you :tongue: thank you - I'm going to need all the help I can get!
Reply 12
#1 - New year, new goals
Monday 1st January 2018

Figured I would start off the blog by sharing what I hope to achieve this year. I always used to think New Year's Resolutions were stupid, nobody could ever stick to them and the idea of a new year being a fresh start was naive. 2017 was kind to me though and honestly, it was the best year so far. This has made me more positive for the coming year so in my excitement I've decided to set some goals and make them more realistic and achievable than previous years.

I'm hoping to get a bullet journal and track my goals using it but 2017 me didn't think far enough ahead to get one in time for 1st January, so pics of pretty journal pages will have to wait for a while. I have the Iconic Seize The Day planner (this one but navy blue) which I absolutely love but I love stationery and notebooks so a bullet journal is definitely on my list of things to buy!

Just to note, I'm writing my 2018 goals now but will probably start on most of them once I go back to uni next week and settle into more of a routine.

I split my goals into categories (wow so organised go me):

University/career

Spoiler



Health and fitness

Spoiler



Finances

Spoiler



Personal and miscellaneous

Spoiler



I hope this wasn't too long and boring and I know it's not really much to do with studying but I thought it'd be good to start 2018 off with some new aims in mind. As always - please ask if there's anything you'd like to know! I'll provide some updates on how achieving my goals is going throughout the year and tomorrow I'm hopefully going to write a quick post on some actual study related content :lol:
Some great resolutions in there! :biggrin: Though the very first one sounds absolutely terrifying to me. I spent a lot of my first year being too terrified and confused to contribute to tutorials without being directly asked. It was recurring feedback in my Provost's Collections that I was quite quiet and that my essays were on the short side :lol: :redface: :getmecoat:

Great idea to blog your experiences in here! I know nothing about E&M as a degree but look forward to following your progress :smile:
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
It was recurring feedback that my essays were on the short side :lol: :redface: :getmecoat:


I thought being succinct was good? :lol: From the little feedback I've got at my current uni the lecturers seem to prefer things that meet rather than go over the word count xD Although that could just be a quirk of the music dept here :tongue: (and their dislike of cluttering the receptionists' desks w students' work....)
Original post by auburnstar
I thought being succinct was good? :lol: From the little feedback I've got at my current uni the lecturers seem to prefer things that meet rather than go over the word count xD Although that could just be a quirk of the music dept here :tongue: (and their dislike of cluttering the receptionists' desks w students' work....)


I think the problem was I rarely hit the required 2,000 mark :getmecoat:
Original post by desvelada
Hello everyone!





Slightly late to the party (as I always am :colondollar:) but here goes...

A little about me:
I'm currently in my first year studying Economics and Management at Oxford University. I'm going to keep my college private (at least for now) just to maintain a bit of anonymity, E&M is a small course. I took a gap year before coming to Oxford, which included a lot of work and a bit of travel towards the end. I can do a full post on my gap year if anyone is interested (probably not - really not that cool) but I'll say now... it was unexpected. Right up until August 2016, I thought I was going to university that September. However, A-level results didn't quite go the way I wanted them to and I decided taking a year out to reapply was the best option I had at the time. Luckily it worked out well for me!

So here I am, a term into my degree. It certainly hasn't been all easy sailing but I wouldn't change it for anything. I started this blog for a few reasons, particularly:

1) Motivation to be the best I can be
First and foremost, I am a great procrastinator. But the harsh reality is that I just don't have the time to be able to put off work anymore. Hopefully this blog will give me some motivation, or just guilt trip me into being productive.

2) To document an accurate description of life at Oxford
There are a number of people who blog/vlog their time at uni, including Oxford, but sometimes I feel like these show a lot of the highlights and not so much of the bad times or the hard work that goes into a degree at any university. I love Oxford and I hope I can demonstrate on this blog how amazing a place it is to be, but the teaching style just isn't for everyone. It's damn hard work and long days and seemingly never-ending deadlines, and I think it's important for applicants to see both the good and the bad.

3) To show that your life isn't over if you don't get the grades you want
My A-level grades aren't terrible, but weren't what I needed to get into university in 2016. It's impossible to deny that results day was horrendous, all my friends were celebrating and I was crying the whole day. At the time, I felt like my dreams had been shattered in that second it took me to check UCAS Track. Yet a year and a half on now and I feel in a better place than ever. Your grades don't have to define you.

I'll probably add some more stuff into this main post regarding hobbies, maybe more about my journey, anything I can think about...

I am always happy to answer any questions, whatever they may be! I would love to think that I could help just one person so don't be afraid to ask me anything - I promise I don't bite :h:


Updates so far

Spoiler




Hey! Looking forward to your posts x :h:
Original post by desvelada
#1 - New year, new goals
Monday 1st January 2018

Figured I would start off the blog by sharing what I hope to achieve this year. I always used to think New Year's Resolutions were stupid, nobody could ever stick to them and the idea of a new year being a fresh start was naive. 2017 was kind to me though and honestly, it was the best year so far. This has made me more positive for the coming year so in my excitement I've decided to set some goals and make them more realistic and achievable than previous years.

I'm hoping to get a bullet journal and track my goals using it but 2017 me didn't think far enough ahead to get one in time for 1st January, so pics of pretty journal pages will have to wait for a while. I have the Iconic Seize The Day planner (this one but navy blue) which I absolutely love but I love stationery and notebooks so a bullet journal is definitely on my list of things to buy!

Just to note, I'm writing my 2018 goals now but will probably start on most of them once I go back to uni next week and settle into more of a routine.

I split my goals into categories (wow so organised go me):

University/career

Spoiler



Health and fitness

Spoiler



Finances

Spoiler



Personal and miscellaneous

Spoiler



I hope this wasn't too long and boring and I know it's not really much to do with studying but I thought it'd be good to start 2018 off with some new aims in mind. As always - please ask if there's anything you'd like to know! I'll provide some updates on how achieving my goals is going throughout the year and tomorrow I'm hopefully going to write a quick post on some actual study related content :lol:


Good goalss xx

P.S I am sooo not good at connecting with people . I'll meet someone who I think is interesting and nice, then forget about them so that it deffo one of aims too . :tongue:
Reply 18
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
Some great resolutions in there! :biggrin: Though the very first one sounds absolutely terrifying to me. I spent a lot of my first year being too terrified and confused to contribute to tutorials without being directly asked. It was recurring feedback in my Provost's Collections that I was quite quiet and that my essays were on the short side :lol: :redface: :getmecoat:

Great idea to blog your experiences in here! I know nothing about E&M as a degree but look forward to following your progress :smile:


I'm already regretting committing myself to that one already, I like hiding in the corner pretending I don't exist :lol: though I've come to realise that although there are often people saying very intelligent things I could never think of myself, there are also a lot of people stating the most obvious of facts and just sounding clever because 1) they phrased it nicely and 2) they actually had the courage to speak up.

I got the same feedback about short answers at the end of term :redface: I think the exact words were "sometimes her work seems a little rushed" - oops!

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
I think the problem was I rarely hit the required 2,000 mark :getmecoat:


Quality, not quantity :yep:
Reply 19
Original post by Lilsthebest
Hey! Looking forward to your posts x :h:


Yay! Looking forward to not just talking to myself for the next year!

Original post by Lilsthebest
Good goalss xx

P.S I am sooo not good at connecting with people . I'll meet someone who I think is interesting and nice, then forget about them so that it deffo one of aims too . :tongue:


I think my combination of laziness and shyness is not a good one when it comes down to meeting new people :redface: luckily 99% of people I've met so far at uni are absolutely lovely which makes it a whole lot easier!

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