Woo hoo! Congratulations to your son. Trinity has a nice central location although further away from the Mathematical Institute than Worcester.
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Congratulations!!! Delighted for him, but not surprised 
One of the Collegekids is a Trinitonian. She loved it there and made a really great group of friends (3 people from her first year staircase [dorm] were in her wedding this summer). Some gorgeous rooms (one of her rooms was designed by Christopher Wren) and a nice hall (though tbh Worcesterâs is prettier), very handy location, excellent porters (the people at the front gate) who really watch out for their own. Trinity takes college families seriously, and his college parents (2nd year students, one from his subject, one from a different subject) will be in touch in August.
Well done to you also: I have a pretty good idea how much it takes to get all of the pieces together to get them there!
Revel in the moment & donât worry too much about the practicalities for now! most things are easier than you expect (the battels (billing) system takes a little getting used to, but they are very nice about it).
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Wonderful news! So happy for you!
Congratulations!!! I am so excited for you and your son!!!
Congratulations! Is the offer unconditional (just sending in official copies of last yearâs AP and SAT scores) or does he need to take more APs this spring?
Once itâs fully unconditional (and assuming that he will accept without waiting for US admissions) you should start the visa process fairly early as there are lots of public sector strikes in the UK (a âwinter of discontentâ pace Shakespeare) which could delay things.
You have to wait a fair bit until you can start the visa process. The Home Office requires a CAS from Oxford before you can start the student visa process. Oxford wonât issue that until late spring/early summer after they have reviewed your financial declaration form.
Thank you to yâall for your kind words!
I am having a weird freak out now that heâs gotten his official offer: I think the lizard side of my mom brain has taken over for a moment, screaming ânooooooooooooo - you canât let the duckling swim SO FAR AWAY!!!â
No worries, I am not influencing the kid (who, incidentally, is very far away at the moment on a school trip), and I definitely remember why I think Oxford is a good fit for him in the first place, but, dang⊠this feels weird.
@Twoin18 So, itâs called a conditional offer, but heâs already met all of the conditions and just has to officially show proof of them. I was confused at first (and couldnât find the details on UCAS), but thatâs what it said in the end.
Thank you @collegemom3717 for the insights into Trinity - any and all information welcome at this point (she says, quietly stuffing the premature t-shirt with the Worcester logo into the goodwill pileâŠ).
And, yes, it was quite an effort to get to this point - but thatâs also what thrills me the most - the kid put a lot of âoff roadâ work into getting to this and it payed off. I hope that the take away will be âits worth it to try for somethingâ. The road less traveled and so on.
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Thatâs exactly what happened with my son. He ordered official SAT/AP score reports for Oxford and received his unconditional offer letter from his college within three weeks.
And PS - you can send me the Worcester t-shirt!
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Oh, sure @HazeGrey - if you pm your address its yours!
Do you by chance know if the Oxford colleges have individual college board codes or how does that work?
Nope- just the university: 6706
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Correct - he sent to the University number and it made its way to his college admissions tutor/officer.
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So, got over my panic attack and am starting to be tickled pink at the thought of the young one going to England. What a winding road this has been!
He got his MAT results and he is slightly above the average for offer holders (hey! Im learning the lingo!), which for some reason I find wild reassuring.
I was only able to speak briefly with him since yesterday, but I told him about all of the posts and on this thread, heâs bowled over by everybodyâs kindness.
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Iâm so happy for you and Math Head!
Trinityâs location is awesome, my favourite street (the one with the book stores!).
It has a famed rivalry with Balliol next door, which used to have the nerdy reputation as opposed to Trinityâs jocky one, but those reputations have mostly ceased to be meaningful these days.
Recommend the Old Bank or the Old Parsonage to stay. Have fun!
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In case he wants to brush up on the lectures theyâll begin with: https://twitter.com/oxunimaths/status/1613555183405117444?s=21
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+1 for the Old Parsonage- for afternoon tea if nothing else! VanBrugh House is also lovely, and a similarly easy walk to Trinity. If the sticker shock gets to you, the Buttery is much simpler, directly across the street from the Trinity Gates and is (by local standards) a little less expensive. Even less expensive, and simpler-but definitely historic!- is the Tower House, which is just around the corner from Trinity. It seems ages away, but if you are planning to go over with him, you might want to book ahead.
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I would think about booking his flight fairly soon. But at current exchange rates, UK to US return flights are usually quite a bit cheaper than vice versa (and singles much more expensive than either) so if you can use miles to get him a one way trip for late September that may work best, then he can book return flights to come home for Christmas later on.
However, if you are thinking of going with him, note that the British dropoff system gives less time for goodbyes than most US colleges (Brits are emotionally repressed anyway so thatâs fine 
). Thereâs generally nothing laid on for parents and heâll likely have to dash off to a drinks reception that afternoon. And you donât decorate (or do much at all to set up) your room since you have to move everything out at the end of every term. Having a single room it also doesnât matter if you donât unpack and live out of a suitcase for the first few days.
Personally I wouldnât go for dropoff, especially to somewhere like Oxford where town center parking is a nightmare and itâs very simple to get the bus straight from Heathrow. I might have a different view about the complexities of travel to somewhere like St Andrews thatâs miles from anywhere.
But itâs such a lovely place for a mini vacation!
I recommend sending him over on the plane with a suitcase and go over a couple weekends later, with more suitcases. And mostly buy stuff there. He wonât survive with California clothing.
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@Twoin18 is 100% right in everything except âdonât bother goingâ- itâs fun to go! Take the bus up together, take him to John Lewis or M&S to get his pillow and duvet (no point bringing those) and see where your boy is going to be! You can take him to get his sub fusc- or he can do it with other people in his staircase.
I agree with the others- he will need much much less than you think! But do pick up a couple of glasses, cups, plates, forks/knives/spoons, and a kettle.
As @Twoin18 noted, the expectation is that you move out of your room at the end of each term. Depending on the staircase you can sometimes pay to keep the room through break (the nicest staircases are used for conference visitors, etc out of term), but if not Trinity has a place for international students to store their stuff. Order a set of the zipper Ikea storage bags*, which take up no room in the suitcase, and when he is madly packing up at the end of the term itâs quick & easy. He will thank you!
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Well yes, but a very expensive trip from CA. By all means combine it with a holiday in the UK, but flying there just for dropoff would mean spending a couple of thousand dollars when youâll barely see him. And remember that he wonât have much time during term, especially a couple of weeks in. If you have time and money to travel round the UK for a week or two before dropoff then thatâs a different matter, September weather can be quite reasonable (for the UK, not California).
Just think of the last monthâs weather here in CA as good training for him! Hopefully he likes cups of tea (with milk and sugar), if not start nowâŠ
Hahahahahahahaha @Twoin18 - I think weâve just established that you are not a Jewish mom. There is NO WAY Iâll let my underaged offspring relocate to another continent without at least having dropped him off. Not that I think he wouldnât manage, heâs good at traveling, but⊠youâd have to handcuff me to the foundation of my house.
And, I mean - itâs Oxford! The city of Dreaming Spires, home to the Bodleian, a visit to which is an my bucket list! I donât care about any to dos for parents from the university or decorating his room with anything, but I do want to see the whole thing. All joking aside: itâs also my experience that missing someone is way easier if you know the space they occupy (Mr W works all over the world for longer period of timesâŠ).
Iâve already bribed the pet sitter and am thinking of maybe first going to London with the young one to see some friends and relatives and maybe even do some work stuff and then spend some days in Oxford, buying bedding and maybe subâŠuhm, sub⊠well, that. Having high tea!
We are a tea drinking family, so no need for practice there.
Blockquote He wonât survive with California clothing.
Thank you @Tigerle . I just ordered a winter coat/jacket on sale. A proper one, not what Californians call a winter jacket.
Does he need an english bank account, do you think?
Oh, wheeeee - this is all very exciting. Itâs also really nice to kind of be done with the application anxietyâŠ
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