The Student Room Group

Choosing an Oxford College

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Original post by Athena
No, not really - some UK students will have heard of Sarah Lawrence (my old college, Wadham, used to take a lot of Sarah Lawrencers). High schools are called high or secondary schools (or occasionally academies...), and there are one or two sixth forms (final two years of optional schooling) called colleges, eg Hills Road Sixth Form College). But as everyone at Oxbridge is a member of a college, we're not going to have a problem with SLC as a name :smile:


Okay so I think I understand now, "School" -incorrect "University"-perfect, and "college"-also fine. Mental note taken! Haha I just use "school" so often as a synonym for university, it's going to be such a hard habit to break. But I will start today!

You went to Wadham? I applied there as well! (Naturally, as I am from SLC) It looks like a great college. I hope you enjoyed it. :smile:
Original post by slcstudent
Thank you so much. I know my questions are pretty random, it's just that I've done a lot of research and now I'm just worrying about the little things. :wink:

St Catz sounds like the perfect place for what I'm hoping to do, and I am so looking forward to next year! I think the size of the school--(I did it again! NO!) EDIT: I think the size of the university is actually to my advantage, and I think I'll fit right in. I'm looking for a place with a lot of variation in its student body, so the size of St Catz sounds perfect. (it's still small to me, I'm at a university with 1500) But you do have the entire university of Oxford to consider as well...

Loving the artistic opportunities, loving the visiting professor, loving the viking funeral!

Thanks! Hopefully I'll see you next year!


It's really fine, good you're doing your research - so many people come to us with impossibly general questions so it's nice to be able to give some concrete answers for a change :smile:

I think you mean size of the college (St Catz college = smaller federated body within the wider university of Oxford) but yes, it really is an advantage I think. :biggrin:
Original post by slcstudent
(it's still small to me, I'm at a university with 1500)


My god - that university is tiny!
Original post by nexttime
My god - that university is tiny!


You have no idea. It's ridiculous.
Original post by Incarnadine91
It's really fine, good you're doing your research - so many people come to us with impossibly general questions so it's nice to be able to give some concrete answers for a change :smile:

I think you mean size of the college (St Catz college = smaller federated body within the wider university of Oxford) but yes, it really is an advantage I think. :biggrin:


Well I'm happy to pose concrete questions for concrete answers!

So this system makes perfect sense: Smaller colleges within the University of Oxford. It's a new concept for me, but you've explained it quite well, thank you. So I guess my question would be this: do you think there's a larger sense of community within the college or the university as a whole? Pertaining to what we call "collegiate pride" I guess. (It's not really a pertinent question, just a fun one and I'm curious :smile:)
Original post by slcstudent
Well I'm happy to pose concrete questions for concrete answers!

So this system makes perfect sense: Smaller colleges within the University of Oxford. It's a new concept for me, but you've explained it quite well, thank you. So I guess my question would be this: do you think there's a larger sense of community within the college or the university as a whole? Pertaining to what we call "collegiate pride" I guess. (It's not really a pertinent question, just a fun one and I'm curious :smile:)


Well actually, there's a bit of both. What I've found is that firstly people have loyalty to their subject (Historian: Geography's just colouring in! Geographer: Well we do more work than you...) and then to either science or humanities as a whole (Scientist: You only have two lectures a week? Ridiculous! Arts student: You try reading 20 books a week and then we'll talk).

Beyond that sort of joking about colleges tend to have rivalries, yes, for instance St Catz has a rivalry with Magdalen because they're big, posh and next door. (Magdalen: We have a deer park! Catz: Well we have a car park!). Our rivalry is just a small one, the worst it involved is a bit of spray paint and Magdalen's deer, but colleges like Balliol/Trinity or Lincoln/Brasenose have feuds that everyone knows about. It's all in good fun, of coursem and mostly only gets seen in sporting fixtures. :smile: Whatever college you go to you will be proud of it and will defend it within a few weeks, tops. The college is your biggest source of 'community' because it's part of your identity and where you spend the most time. However...

Even people of opposing colleges will unite in favour of Oxford against Cambridge! I don't know if your university has a rival, or if you can think of any that do, but think of that and then apply it to being the only two universities in the country for a long time, competing for the place of best university in the world, and add 800 years of history of this. Yeah. In every university-level sport (and even plenty of non-sporting events) the 'Varsity' match with Cambridge is the most important thing in the calender, never mind the national championships or anything like that. :colondollar: Again, it's not that serious outside sport, your regular Oxonian or Cantabridgian will usually just tease each other about our respective places in the league tables. (Oxford: Oh I'd rather be a leper than a Tab... Cambridge: Oh yeah, who's 1st in the world then?). But as Oxford is obviously the oldest and the best it's not really worth discussion. But yeah, there's 'university pride' to a degree, and as loads of clubs and societies work on a university level there is a sense of community there, although not as strong as within the college. People have said that we'll even put aside our differences with Cambridge against somewhere like Yale or Harvard, but I don't know how true that is....

Whew, that ended up as a long and convoluted explanation, sorry :rolleyes: Suffice to say there's community at all levels, you'll support both your college and the university with equal strength depending on the situation. But college community is probably the most common.
Reply 2406
Is it possible to live in a College with your couple (who is not an Oxford student)?
Original post by Rupepo
Is it possible to live in a College with your couple (who is not an Oxford student)?


No, I am fairly sure you can't. Even at Harris Manchester (the mature student college) they are not able to offer accommodation for couples..
Original post by Rupepo
Is it possible to live in a College with your couple (who is not an Oxford student)?


Original post by AnimalSpirit
No, I am fairly sure you can't. Even at Harris Manchester (the mature student college) they are not able to offer accommodation for couples..


Univ does (but only for graduates) and I would be surprised if others don't

http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/college_life/accommodation_and_food/graduate_accommodation/
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Turdburger
That thing just draws up a list of averages, which is pretty useless. I think it has us (BNC) as one of the most expensive colleges as a result. However if you want to there are plenty of rooms under 700 pounds per term, which is very cheap. My friends room was 480 a term, and mine was 505 not including heating.

Its just that there a lot of very very good rooms that are pricy 1150 a term. I would stay clear of looking at averages basically.


Seriously, less than 700? Trinity has a flat rate of 1240 a term plus heating.

I thought the college fees are the same for every college at about 6k GBP a year. http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees/information/college/201112undergraduate/
Original post by AnonymousPenguin
Seriously, less than 700? Trinity has a flat rate of 1240 a term plus heating.

I thought the college fees are the same for every college at about 6k GBP a year. http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees/information/college/201112undergraduate/


I think that information must be pretty old for Brasenose, I think when you take into account heating etc. the cheapest room you can get here is more about £1000 a term. I don't know how much the more expensive ones are, I've always gone cheap as possible.

And yeah I think you're right about college fees
Original post by AnonymousPenguin
Seriously, less than 700? Trinity has a flat rate of 1240 a term plus heating.


erm, maybe 4 years ago...

1240 is still pretty expensive though.
Reply 2412
Hello

I am thinking about worcester college oxford. I find it very good but there are 2 things that i am not sure about.

1) It is very close to the pubs and clubs and that is good. However ,there might be drunken students/people making noise. Can anyone tell me if this is true?

2) How likely is to get the rubbish rooms of first year accommodation? And how rubbish are they?

Thanks in advance
Hi there,
I'm applying to Oxford to do Economics and Management next year. I'm considering Queens, Exeter and Oriel and obviously I dont want to choose the best in E&M so it would be a little little bit easy to get in.

Any suggestion? Thanks in advance
Reply 2414
Original post by angela9x0x
Hi there,
I'm applying to Oxford to do Economics and Management next year. I'm considering Queens, Exeter and Oriel and obviously I dont want to choose the best in E&M so it would be a little little bit easy to get in.

Any suggestion? Thanks in advance


Don't pick a college based on which you think it would be easier to get into. It's impossible to say and could mean you'd pass up a college you might actually prefer.

I can vouch for how wonderful Exeter College is, though. If you've any questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask / PM me.
Original post by Nag o ma Scylla
Queen's doesn't do E & M doesn't look like Oriel does either from the website.


Thanks for the help
From Queens website, it said it does take 8-10 students to do economics but the great majority doing PPE

Now I shorten my list and choosing between Trinity and Exeter only
Reply 2416
Original post by angela9x0x
Thanks for the help
From Queens website, it said it does take 8-10 students to do economics but the great majority doing PPE

Now I shorten my list and choosing between Trinity and Exeter only


Original post by angela9x0x
Thanks for the help
From Queens website, it said it does take 8-10 students to do economics but the great majority doing PPE

Now I shorten my list and choosing between Trinity and Exeter only


Queen's doesn't do E&M, but it does offer MEM (Materials, Economics and Management) which is a different course.

"Please note that Queen’s offers the great majority of courses taught at Oxford, but NOT Archaeology & Anthropology, Classical Archaeology & Ancient History, Earth Sciences, Economics & Management, Engineering, Geography, History & Economics, History of Art, Human Sciences, and courses involving Computer Science or Theology."

Oriel definitely doesn't do E&M either.

At least your list is shorter now!
Original post by Poppyxx
Queen's doesn't do E&M, but it does offer MEM (Materials, Economics and Management) which is a different course.

"Please note that Queen’s offers the great majority of courses taught at Oxford, but NOT Archaeology & Anthropology, Classical Archaeology & Ancient History, Earth Sciences, Economics & Management, Engineering, Geography, History & Economics, History of Art, Human Sciences, and courses involving Computer Science or Theology."

Oriel definitely doesn't do E&M either.

At least your list is shorter now!


Does queens have management tutors? Or do MEMers go elsewhere, I wonder why they offer MEM and not E&M, hmm any ideas?
Hi,
I want to apply to study Mathematics and Statistics in Oxford. I am choosing between Trinity College and Exeter College. I heard that Trinity College only offers 2 places for Mathematics and Statistics. Would you mind giving me ideas about this course in these 2 colleges and how to find the college statistics in Mathematics and Statistics course?

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