Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

LydiaJ

Just discovered that one of my friends - the mega-brilliant one who became an FRS a little while ago - has a mathematical thing named after him, and his own (albeit short) page on wikipedia. And to me he's just a mate and DS's godfather.

lostinrates

LydiaJ wrote: »

I thought I'd replied to this, but now I can't find it. So...

Well done Nikkster!
:T:j:beer::T:j:beer::T:j:beer::T:j:beer:

I thought I had replied and cannot see it either.

I am really proud of you nikkster. Whatever happens now you have ache over a great deal that you didn't think you could a few weeks ago. I am mightily impressed and adore you even more now.

Edit...I have no idea what ache over was meant to say. Sorry!

mystic_trev

vivatifosi wrote: »

My school was just happy to churn out factory fodder.

How true, same for me. Early 70's you had to either be very clever to go to Uni, or posh and clever! Only way I could have progressed was at some kind of FE College. If you were a girl you left school and worked in a shop or joined a typing pool. If you were a bloke you got an Apprenticeship or a dull office job, I got the latter :rotfl:

Big break was getting a Job in Insurance in London. After a couple of years I got offered a lowly position in a Lloyds syndicate, doing the donkey work,what was referred to as an 'entry boy' There was me plonked next to the boss, who was educated at Eton, lived in a house with a moat around it and drove a Rolls Royce! Me? educated at a secondary modern, lived in a three bed semi with my parents and couldn't afford a car!

The rest is History:D

chewmylegoff

LydiaJ wrote: »

I am so sorry that happened to you. I'm glad the other college was more civilised.

My experience of Oxford was that nobody cared what kind of school you'd been to, although some of the state school students expected that people would. Also, some of the state school students didn't feel able to admit to their home friends where they were at university. There was one bloke from somewhere in London who just told his mates he was going "to college" and when they asked which college, he said "Merton College" and allowed them to assume it was some kind of FE place in Merton in south London for two years before he let on that he was actually at university in Oxford. (The founder of Merton College, Oxford came from Merton, which was a small place some distance from London back then. He endowed the college with some land around there, which became much more valuable 650 years or so later when London expanded.)



I think there's a BLitt as well, and maybe others.

That was mainly my experience of Oxford as well. I had a few friends there and I went out with a girl who was at Exeter College for a year as well, so spent a lot of time there and enjoyed it, I don't think anyone would have been in the least bit interested which school I went to.

Balliol definitely wasn't doing all it could to make state school pupils feel comfortable though. Aside from being laughed at in interview i was also sneered at a couple if times for not wearing a suit despite the fact that they wrote me a letter telling me not to!

Whether I was just unlucky with the people I came across or it was deliberate is a different matter. Given that my school was virtually a public school in all but name it was surprising and may have been even worse for people applying from comprehensives.

Alternatively it could just be because I was a bit of a knob without realising it. There's a least a 50% chance...

chewmylegoff

mystic_trev wrote: »

How true, same for me. Early 70's you had to either be very clever to go to Uni, or posh and clever! Only way I could have progressed was at some kind of FE College. If you were a girl you left school and worked in a shop or joined a typing pool. If you were a bloke you got an Apprenticeship or a dull office job, I got the latter :rotfl:

Big break was getting a Job in Insurance in London. After a couple of years I got offered a lowly position in a Lloyds syndicate, doing the donkey work,what was referred to as an 'entry boy' There was me plonked next to the boss, who was educated at Eton, lived in a house with a moat around it and drove a Rolls Royce! Me? educated at a secondary modern, lived in a three bed semi with my parents and couldn't afford a car!

The rest is History:D

My mum went to Bristol in the 60s (so did my dad but his dad was a commander in the navy so posh enough...). Mum's family were east London working class so definitely not posh. I don't think she was outstandingly academically talented although would have been at the top end. She did get some kind of bursary thing from ford at dagenham - I'm not sure of the exact details but she wouldn't have been able to go without that. I think the fact that her much older brother didnt go to uni and was working to support the rest of the family was also key otherwise she wouldn't have been able to do a levels.

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

That was mainly my experience of Oxford as well. I had a few friends there and I went out with a girl who was at Exeter College for a year as well, so spent a lot of time there and enjoyed it, I don't think anyone would have been in the least bit interested which school I went to.

Balliol definitely wasn't doing all it could to make state school pupils feel comfortable though. Aside from being laughed at in interview i was also sneered at a couple if times for not wearing a suit despite the fact that they wrote me a letter telling me not to!

Whether I was just unlucky with the people I came across or it was deliberate is a different matter. Given that my school was virtually a public school in all but name it was surprising and may have been even worse for people applying from comprehensives.

Alternatively it could just be because I was a bit of a knob without realising it. There's a least a 50% chance...

I know DH didn't wear a suit. In fact I know what he wore exactly, because a cousin of his who he stayed with for his interviews saw what he was going to wear and freaked, phoned his parents yelled at them for having no parental responsibility then took DH shopping. He was a don and didn't buy DH a suit. Incidentally he was the only person I. Dh's family to give us a wedding gift..(and we only got one two from my side,...you don't expect gifts if you elope I think that's fair) ..a boxed set of ingmar Bergman DVDs. I think its a fabulously brilliant gift, though confess have only watched two. DH hasn't watched any.


I also know what the cousin bought was awful if that helps. (I took it to oxfam with DH) But probably less awful than the t shirt DH was going to wear.


Edit...I'm not sure but I think DH might have said cousin made him shave and get a hair cut too......but that might have been building up the negative image in my own mind of DH turning up in some heap like a mess and having a sort of Cinderella transformation.....

misskool

Nikkster wrote: »

Well, the email I BCC'd myself on has just arrived in my inbox.
I have the dregs of a box of wine drained into a glass.

And a whole 5 minutes to spare.

Nikkster wrote: »

At least half of science is witchcraft. I'm pretty convinced.

well done!! :T:T:T

And now to the hands of fate.

And yes, science is mostly witchcraft No idea why some things work some days and the rest doesn't.


went to brunch in brighton. parked car 2h 20mins and we were charged £15. DH is incandescent and would like to burn the greens at the stake. I'm still in shock.

misskool

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I have a scummy BSc. I thought you only have to do one year to get an MSc in a subject but you have to have a BSc first, but not necessarily in the same subject?

Accountancy is the same as Oxbridge degrees. Once you have been qualified for a certain time you can pay a fee and call yourself FCA instead of ACA. I can upgrade now as I have 10 years' post qualified experience exactly as of today which is a nasty reminder of the passage of time.

I think you get automatically upgraded as well. My sister didn't want to be an FCA but they insisted (and charged her the extra £150 or so to be an FCA instead of the ACA)

Your scummy BSc should be (Hons)?

I'm misskool BSc (Hons) DPhil (Oxon) PGCertHE (Sussex), and soon FHEA. None of which ensures I have full time employment so qualifications are just for show really. :rotfl:

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

well done!! :T:T:T

And now to the hands of fate.

And yes, science is mostly witchcraft No idea why some things work some days and the rest doesn't.


went to brunch in brighton. parked car 2h 20mins and we were charged £15. DH is incandescent and would like to burn the greens at the stake. I'm still in shock.

Well.....maybe it will be a while before I suggest we meet at the pavilion then. :eek:


We're having turnip curry for supper. I'm hoping its not too spicey with my pills and that it agrees with me in all other manners. Its one of my favourite meals.

vivatifosi

Zag, if you're around can I please ask you a question? As an OU tutor, what percentage of people would you say did it for a qualification and what percentage did it for the enjoyment of the subject/enrichment/other non-quali related reasons?

I'm curious as to whether or not the OU is losing students now that their prices have gone up. Not so much the degree students but the ones who did it for other reasons.

I've seen a course I quite fancy (it's world history) on Coursera. It is a Princeton Course that runs for the same 3 month period with the same lectures as the actual Princeton course. The lectures are recorded and uploaded the same time as the paying students take it. You buy and study the same core text (£29.99 on Amazon). Only difference is that as Princeton can't mark 70,000 essay scripts, you upload them for peer review, which follows a set of guidelines. Plus of course you don't get a certificate to say you studied at Princeton.

I'm trying to think why the second group will continue with the OU when there's so much good stuff for free.