My son went from his single-parent, council estate/comprehensive background to Oxford
and I must admit, I was worried that he'd meet with class prejudice and be bullied by the posh lot.

Didn't happen, though. Most people were friendly and he had a great time. When my mother asked him if he had problems with the snobs, he said 'Naaah, everyone's as common as me!'

Physics - the great leveller!

He's now off to CERN via a PhD in California. Couldn't really have done any better if his mum and dad had been millionaires.

Well done, Oxford. You proved me wrong.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 9:19, 11 replies)

grats!
So have you retired and are now living off your son's success? You've earned it :)
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 9:42, closed)

Pfft
might get a weekend's skiing out of him!

He'd better bring chocolate though.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 12:58, closed)

Congratulations!
And thanks, it's put my mind at ease a little, I'm off to do my PhD at Cambridge this Autumn via a comprehensive and Sussex uni, so I'm also a little apprehensive but that makes me feel better!

*Clicks*
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 10:17, closed)

I'd second that
I did Physics at Oxford at it's not all Champagne and Bullingdon Club trashing of pubs. If you steer clear of the Oxford Union etc. it's like an average university - just with shorter terms and tutorials.

In fact I was at Nottingham Uni for a bit and I used to joke there were more "rahs" and pashminas there than in Oxf.
( monkeybananaraffle, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 10:54, closed)

Clever boy!
Good job mum!
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 11:08, closed)

Congratulations
I went to Oxford from a comprehensive in the Midlands. Only problem I ever had was in the bar in the first year when some braying twat told me to 'fuck off back to your council estate'.

Before I'd really registered what had been said, someone had stood up to punch him and was being held back by his mates, and the barman had told him to get out and not come back. Absolutely no one backed him up or complained about him being barred.

No problems after that.

I think generally its not an issue - there's just always one or two prats.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 13:31, closed)

Worst Sonny had was a drunk who sidled up to him, swayed a bit,
pointed to Sonny's round spectacle frames and slurred ''Harry Potter! Harry fucking Potter!'
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 13:44, closed)

indeed
My other half is the offspring of a Moroccan taxi driver and a Cardiff dinner lady and managed to make friends with everyone at Cambridge. As well as transforming my own prejudices of the Cambridge lot.
(cypherspace is not a toaster, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 14:19, closed)

Yeh, its nowhere near as posh as people think
And the worst of them tend to keep to themselves anyway, so you only meet the "normal" ones. There's a (smallish, but) noticeable excess of private school students, but there tend to be more of the "parents scraping enough money together to get their bright kid into a good school" type than I saw when I was a a private secondary school.
( Tedium Alduce me to interlow myself., Fri 2 Apr 2010, 14:44, closed)

Oxford's pretty good
Like Tedium said the poshest of the posh tend to rent out of college and do their things, but everyone else integrates really well. And the Eton lads I've met have actually tended to have exquisite manners
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 16:38, closed)

Nah, Oxford's a dump
(shanterbabs, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 19:28, closed)