I’m sure Blakeney will go on and get a job or do something now, while Ruby will bombard her with messages and letters and calls to be met with no reply as people can’t spend all their time contacting you when they’ve other priorities.
Really why Ruby should have branched out and attempted to make other friends as having “one best friend” and that’s it is pressurised, juvenile and in all likelihood, won’t work out well.
Blakeney already has a post-grad job working social media/marketing for a vegan food company from the looks of it.
So she did all her own work, did most of Ruby's work for her, worked as the financial manager for the uni TV studio, did a lot of valuable extracurricular work, did charity work, wrote and published a children's book, didn't run home every five seconds, and had a much more active social life than Ruby. I'd assume she got a very similar grade to Ruby's, if not higher at the end of it, too.
Blakeney's was the experience that you're supposed to have at uni - getting a well-rounded education, getting experience that'll improve your job prospects, learning to be independent, meeting new people, learning new things and having fun. And now she's free of the albatross around her neck that was Ruby.
Meanwhile, Ruby's probably writing unsolicited letters to all her primary school teachers to tell them how proud they should be that she got a FARRST.
Everyone seems to be talking like she's definitely applying for a masters at Oxford. Is this idle speculation or did I miss something?
Ruby has mentioned wanting to do a Masters and has said she aims to apply for one after taking this year out. I don't think she's said Oxford, but given her history and the way she made mummy take her to Oxford so she good gaze lovingly at the buildings she wasn't allowed into and longingly stroke all the student gift shop merch, it's clear she wants to go there and anywhere else would be a disappointment.
Ruby has Studytuber Syndrome - she desperately craves the validation of being accepted to Oxford, because in her mind she's the smartest GAHHHRL who AVVER lived, and only the best academic institution will do (See also: Jack Edwards). They will not accept that their average intelligence, limited ability, lack of appropriate critical thinking and study skills, and complete absence of well-rounded interests and experience makes them a poor fit for a university with such demanding standards, so they keep applying and getting rejected.
Oxford isn't likely to want her. It's entirely possible she applied and was rejected last year and kept quiet about it, which could be one of the reasons she's taking a year out.
Jack has the same grades and very similar experience to Ruby and he's been rejected from Oxford more times than he's had hot meals. And getting accepted might give Ruby an initial boost of validation, but she would be held up to a much higher standard than at Exeter - she won't have the benefit of softball grade inflation. She won't get handed Firsts for "seminar participation" just for raising her hand, spouting gibberish and parroting quotes from critical essays/Blakeney while clearly being unable to speak or understand English.
Her usual cheating tactics and handing in unstructured drivel riddled with errors wouldn't cut it. She was looking utterly destroyed while working on her dissertation and having to try to use her brain and work independently for the first time. She isn't cut out for Oxford and it would demolish her ego.
A Masters will also be completely useless to her other than another way to defer adulthood and attempt to try to prove the narrative that she's an academic genius. Ain't happening.