Hi Guys,
Okay, so this isn't as crazy as it sounds, but it's a problem I've been thinking about.
I'm in Year 12 and not only an international student, but also a non-EU citizen, which means that the costs of going to uni in Britain are incredibly high for me. Around this time last year I was set on going to study either in Vienna or in Belgium, because I don't find Britain that amazing (boarding school for 6 years here), the tuition costs amount to very little in comparison, and I could go home more often (Vienna is about 3hrs by train away).
I've decided to go for Oxbridge because of my teachers' encouragement, and Oxford has the course I want to do. The idea of it is exciting, because I mainly just want to be able to through myself as far as I possibly can into what I want to do, and Oxford seems to be the perfect place to force me to take on everything that I should in order to achieve what I want.
The thing is, I don't want to get my hopes up about that place, because I doubt that I'll get in, and even if it's worth the tuition fees, that doesn't mean that I would be able to afford them. Oh, and trust me, I wouldn't be able to get a scholarship. Plus, my brother got accepted into St Andrews a few years back, but then spent two years at home getting his applications for a student visa denied for absurd reasons.
So my dilemma is this: should I apply for 5 universities so that I don't focus only on Oxford (and I know this sounds weird, but I wouldn't want others to know that I'd be applying only to Oxford), should I just apply to Oxford so I don't end up wasting huge amounts of money on a university that's probably at the same level as a few others in Europe, or should I not apply to a university in Britain at all and save myself the trouble?
Please help, and thank you so much!