Day 10

The main event of today (apart from studying of course) was a punting trip! Unlike in Cambridge, students were in charge of the punts this afternoon, which provided a lot of entertainment for the students! There were many horizontally facing boats and dramatic collisions, with one student Liz having a swim in the river! Liz enjoyed a break from the hot sun, so much so that she decided to go for a dip again. Alex, whilst originally nervous about falling in really got into punting and enjoyed herself!

That evening students enjoyed a dinner in the garden followed by a careers seminar run by an advisor for the Oxford University careers service. Students were encouraged to explore the wide range of careers in existence by listing the different jobs related to household objects such as a music album or bottle of weed killer.  Students were then given questions asked by top consulting firms and challenged to tackle them in groups. They did very well to come up with answers to tough questions quickly - for example coming up with the next date composed entirely of numbers which did not repeat themselves!

The main task of the session was designed to mimic "assessment centre" type of tasks, where job candidates are given tasks to complete in groups and assessed on how they work as a team. Students were challenged to build a tower as cheaply as possible, with a minimum height of 60cm, able to hold withstand a weight being placed on top of it. We saw a range of designs - including the prohibited but highly ingenious idea of securing the tower by attaching long strands of tape to the ceiling and the tower! The winning team went for an excellent minimalist design - well done!