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How NOT to get your heart set on going to Oxford??

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Well if you don't get in, Kent is brilliant :biggrin:


I'm joking of course.

I got obsessed with studying PPS at Cambridge but my predicted A levels sucked so bad I couldn't even apply.
Reply 21
Original post by Anhedonia
I feel the exact same way about Cambridge. :frown: Though I have to admit, my feelings ARE tainted with a lil bit of obsession..:crazy:


Welcome to the club! :wink:
Original post by MagicNMedicine
Stay off TSR.


This is so ****ing true. Come decision day, it seems like almost everyone gets in, making you feel like even more of a failure.
The worst thing I've seen surrounding the whole Oxbridge application stuff is people being really seriously bitter towards the people who did get in when they themselves were rejected. Don't be that person that turns on their friend(s) or partner if you don't manage to get in and they do.
Original post by takethyfacehence
The worst thing I've seen surrounding the whole Oxbridge application stuff is people being really seriously bitter towards the people who did get in when they themselves were rejected. Don't be that person that turns on their friend(s) or partner if you don't manage to get in and they do.


In my experience it's the other way round and people who are accepted into Oxbridge tend to ignore their previous mates from thereon.
Original post by MrHappy_J
In my experience it's the other way round and people who are accepted into Oxbridge tend to ignore their previous mates from thereon.


So many ways to a be a dick! I'd encourage OP to not go to either extreme of dickish behaviour.
Reply 26
Original post by z0tx
Welcome to the club! :wink:


Hello! What subject & college you applying for/to? :biggrin:
Reply 27
Original post by ohvalentine
My sister went to Oxford Uni and I got an offer from them but since rejected them as my sister forewarned me that she absolutely hated it for the reason she believed she didn't experience "University Life" properly.

I think by this she meant that the restrictions placed on her (aka absolutist suggestions) regarding her social life and her work life.

She did come out with a 1st though and is now a lawyer, although she did her masters at Uni of Nottingham because she disliked the town and Uni itself.


That's really interesting actually; that was another aspect of Oxford I was concerned about. When I went to the Oxford open day, it didn't quite seem the same sort of experience as somewhere like Nottingham. To be honest, it did seem much less of a social experience than other universities.

Just out of interest, where did you/are you going for university now? I'd just be interested to have some more ideas about universities! :biggrin:
Original post by adieu
That's really interesting actually; that was another aspect of Oxford I was concerned about. When I went to the Oxford open day, it didn't quite seem the same sort of experience as somewhere like Nottingham. To be honest, it did seem much less of a social experience than other universities.

Just out of interest, where did you/are you going for university now? I'd just be interested to have some more ideas about universities! :biggrin:


Please don't be too put off based on one experience. It is true that the Oxford system isn't great for some people socially, but it's a myth that all we do is work we have no social life. What I've found is there is a lot of social stuff happening and most colleges are pretty relaxed about how you manage your time - they're not going to force you to work unless you're really failing. You have a lot of freedom. Yes there's a lot of work, but people usually adapt quickly and manage to do other stuff. I have friends at respectable universities who have so little workload that all they seem to do was socialise, which I guess is good or bad depending on what you perceive 'the uni experience' to be. I've found Oxford to be a really good balance between enriching and challenging work and extra-curricular fun.

I guess what I'm saying is to keep an open mind :smile:

EDIT: Looking at the thread title I feel obliged to say: but remember other Universities are amazing and you'll probably enjoy yourself just as much. A lot of the people I know who didn't get in seem to be having a ball at other places. A rejection is forgotten quite quickly once at uni (from what I've seen)
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 29
Original post by ohvalentine
... she didn't experience "University Life" properly.

I think by this she meant that the restrictions placed on her (aka absolutist suggestions) regarding her social life and her work life.

She did come out with a 1st though ...


That's no coincidence! Its her life, her degree - she locked herself away in her room, it wasn't forced upon her.

Having said that, i think it is fair to say that Oxford students are there to learn rather than to have a good time. It doesn't preclude the latter at all, and even from a social perspective personally i'd rather be at Oxford than anywhere else, but you know, when you've wasted your day and are having to stay up till the early hours getting an essay done, or your friends aren't around to play football or something, you do wonder whether its worth it, what the alternatives are!
Original post by MrHappy_J
In my experience it's the other way round and people who are accepted into Oxbridge tend to ignore their previous mates from thereon.


This exactly, one of my friends has been a total bitch for the past few months, and we were trying to work out when it started and came to the conclusion that it was when she got her Oxford offer.
Original post by RibenaRockstar
This exactly, one of my friends has been a total bitch for the past few months, and we were trying to work out when it started and came to the conclusion that it was when she got her Oxford offer.


aww man that sucks :frown:
yeah i had a friend who applied to oxford but didnt get in, she got into st andrews and we havent spoken since. i always thought she was a bit of a snob and we didnt have much in common anyway.
Reply 32
Make sure you don't get obsessed, it hurts so much more if you really get into something. I applied to Cambridge with the attitude of if I get an interview I'll be happy, I did little research about the place, course etc, and never went to visit there as I didn't want to fall in love with the place. As you can imagine when I got rejected it didn't sting too much as I never gave myself the chance to fall in love with the place. The only thing it did was dent my ego, which heals in a few weeks anyway. I can imagine it metaphorically stabbing you in the heart though if you've spent months getting your hopes up and really wanting to go there. Anyway, good luck, and if you don't get in you'll most likely end up at another top university, otherwise you wouldn't be applying to Oxbridge!
Reply 33
Original post by WaNaBe
Make sure you don't get obsessed, it hurts so much more if you really get into something. I applied to Cambridge with the attitude of if I get an interview I'll be happy, I did little research about the place, course etc, and never went to visit there as I didn't want to fall in love with the place. As you can imagine when I got rejected it didn't sting too much as I never gave myself the chance to fall in love with the place. The only thing it did was dent my ego, which heals in a few weeks anyway. I can imagine it metaphorically stabbing you in the heart though if you've spent months getting your hopes up and really wanting to go there. Anyway, good luck, and if you don't get in you'll most likely end up at another top university, otherwise you wouldn't be applying to Oxbridge!


I think that he who dares wins. It's best to try your hardest. When I applied I gave it my all so I'd have no regrets looking back- knowing I'd done my very best.
Original post by Blutooth
I think that he who dares wins. It's best to try your hardest. When I applied I gave it my all so I'd have no regrets looking back- knowing I'd done my very best.


Good to see you're practising for Oxford's lack of sleep already :smile:

What college are you going to next year?

EDIT:

To be on-topic to the thread, if you don't want to get your heart set on it too much, just read some of the 'I'm miserable and want to drop out' threads. Not to start thinking that life here is awful, but it might provide a bit of balance. I guess Oxford is a place of extremes, and it helps to be aware that there are two ends to that spectrum.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 35
The best way not to get your heart set on it is to realise that it isn't a case of "once you're in, you're set for life". Oxbridge in general may be seen as superior Universities but this is for a very good reason; once you get there you're pushed quite a bit harder than at even other top Universities in the UK (comparing workloads and content). So while you may come out with a "superior" degree - you've earned it.

So instead of thinking of yourself frolicking around in the snow with your sub-fusc on, with the distant sounds of a choir and other students skipping around singing about how amazing it is to be an Oxford student - imagine yourself up at 2am wondering what possessed you to apply in the first place and swearing to yourself about how you've got ~20 hours of work to do and only 2 to do them in.
Reply 36
Original post by LtCommanderData
Good to see you're practising for Oxford's lack of sleep already :smile:

What college are you going to next year?


Haha, do you have a sleep pattern? (I don't)
Original post by Noble.
imagine yourself up at 2am wondering what possessed you to apply in the first place and swearing to yourself about how you've got ~20 hours of work to do and only 2 to do them in.


See, even if I didn't already know, I'd know you're doing maths at Oxford from this :tongue:

(just kidding, sleepless and overworked students of other subjects)
Original post by Noble.
Haha, do you have a sleep pattern? (I don't)

Yeah, I don't really have a set sleep pattern. I try, I really do, but it doesn't usually work out. Last term I was getting about 3 hours of sleep half the week and horribly oversleeping the other half. This term I made it two weeks getting to bed and getting up at a reasonable time, until I hit this weekend which has just been crazy (currently working on stuff that was due at 5 PM on Saturday - and I have more stuff due tomorrow EDIT: today that I have to get done, too... no bed for me tonight!)
Reply 38
Original post by LtCommanderData
Good to see you're practising for Oxford's lack of sleep already :smile:

What college are you going to next year?

EDIT:

To be on-topic to the thread, if you don't want to get your heart set on it too much, just read some of the 'I'm miserable and want to drop out' threads. Not to start thinking that life here is awful, but it might provide a bit of balance. I guess Oxford is a place of extremes, and it helps to be aware that there are two ends to that spectrum.


Hertford. Lol, I was born ready for those sleepless nights. What are you studying?
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by Blutooth
Hertford. Lol, I was born ready for those sleepless nights. What are you studying?

Yeah, being used to missing a lot of sleep is one of the few ways 15-year-old-me's semi-severe Guild Wars addiction came in handy in life :tongue:

Hertford, hmm? I may be horrifically sleep-deprived and mixing it up with another college, but I think that's where TrekSoc meetings were in Michaelmas and Hilary this year. Nice college.

I'm maths & compsci at Exeter :smile:

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