Choosing an Oxford College

so by this data

http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/college-success-rates

am i right in thinking that its untrue when oxford say 'you have an equal chance of getting in no matter where you apply'....? because for my subject (english), people who choose somerville have a 40% chance of getting in, whereas jesus only has an 8% chance...
or am i completely misunderstanding? seems like a pretty big difference :confused:

Most likely, Somerville didn't get a lot of applicants while Jesus got a huge amount. Jesus also has very few places. Hence a lot of applicants to Jesus must have been pooled elsewhere if they were considered good enough. On the other hand, Somerville must have accepted a lot of pooled applicants. I haven't seen the data so the alternative could just be that Somerville received a few, competitive applications while Jesus received a lot, not all of which were competitive.

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Reply 4341

DCDude

10

Original post by MNem

so by this data

http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/college-success-rates

am i right in thinking that its untrue when oxford say 'you have an equal chance of getting in no matter where you apply'....? because for my subject (english), people who choose somerville have a 40% chance of getting in, whereas jesus only has an 8% chance...
or am i completely misunderstanding? seems like a pretty big difference :confused:

So, you are a prospective student looking at colleges for English. You come across the web page for english at Jesus, and find that they are bragging on their webpage that all of their finalists achieved firsts last year (which is pretty amazing). How many ambitious students might look at that and think- oooh, I like the sound of that- I might increase my odds of getting a first from Oxford if I choose Jesus college for english compared to (say) Somerville. Plus, they have 28 places to Somerville's 12 so my chances have to be better on even getting in, right?!

Wrong. Your subject has a 20% admissions rate, and they look at applications across colleges. No matter how many applicants Jesus gets- 100 or 200 or 50- they won't interview more than about 60, and all the ones that are viable candidates that they do not have space to interview will be reviewed by the group.

As another poster has noted, the 'success' rate is different every year, because it depends entirely on how many people are impressed by the web page versus how many are put off by the food (sorry, Jesus, it was just an example!). Witness Worcester stats the year Emma Watson was there.

Really truly your ELAT will be *way* more important to getting accepted than which college you apply to. Choose the one that you think you would like to go to most, knowing that you have a 25-30% chance of being pooled anyway.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4342

Kingsley L Hunt

Hope this is the right place to post this. Thinking of applying to Oxford for biological sciences, and trying to make a decision over a possible college choice. My interests are mainly in the zoological side of biology, especially conservation, and so I'm interested in the kind of work the WildCRU do, which I think is postgraduate level research, but is linked to Lady Margaret Hall. I was wondering if by being an undergraduate at LMH, it would give me any an advantage in increasing the chance of working, or potential postgrad work, with the WildCRU and the researchers there? Or if the chances would be the same regardless for which college I apply to. As this would probably be a big influence on my choice of where to apply to. Thanks a lot.

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Reply 4343

hahahoran18

5

I'm interested in studying persian and Arabic at Oxford. Has anyone got advice on what college I should apply for?

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Reply 4344

amol_chalis447

3

Original post by hahahoran18

I'm interested in studying persian and Arabic at Oxford. Has anyone got advice on what college I should apply for?

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Have you checked which colleges offer your course? If so, do list them so we know as well.

We'll also need something to work with. What factors are important to you? A good starting point is to think whether you want a big or small college, a central college, accommodation for all 3 years and also things which are important to you personally.

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Reply 4345

Isobelkp

Original post by hahahoran18

I'm interested in studying persian and Arabic at Oxford. Has anyone got advice on what college I should apply for?

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The only person I knew doing persian did it at John's. But that was because it was close to the department. A lot of language stuff is departmnetal, so college choice is less about teaching. Look for colleges with good accomodation, and maybe some travel grants for your year abroad.

Reply 4346

Isobelkp

Original post by Kingsley L Hunt

Hope this is the right place to post this. Thinking of applying to Oxford for biological sciences, and trying to make a decision over a possible college choice. My interests are mainly in the zoological side of biology, especially conservation, and so I'm interested in the kind of work the WildCRU do, which I think is postgraduate level research, but is linked to Lady Margaret Hall. I was wondering if by being an undergraduate at LMH, it would give me any an advantage in increasing the chance of working, or potential postgrad work, with the WildCRU and the researchers there? Or if the chances would be the same regardless for which college I apply to. As this would probably be a big influence on my choice of where to apply to. Thanks a lot.

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Postgrad research isn't really an important factor in choosing I think. I'm a chemist, and most of us are doing our masters years with professors not attached to our colleges. If you are interested in what tutes might focus on, look up professors at the colleges you are interested in, but you often get tutes at many colleges anyway.

Reply 4347

Isobelkp

Original post by somethin_blue

Hey!
Does any of you happen to know anything about Wadham? I really fell in love with the college. Especially with that whole "diversity" thing, since I'm an international (EU) and a bit worried about how they would feel about someone not from UK :biggrin:

And I want to know more about it, I read their whole website and am just :heart:

Wadham is nice, its big which is good, has lots of accomodation, and lots of social events and things. (Don't worry about being international btw, most students will be curious about your country, not mean or anything. Diversity is large in most colleges)

Reply 4348

hahahoran18

5

Original post by Isobelkp

The only person I knew doing persian did it at John's. But that was because it was close to the department. A lot of language stuff is departmnetal, so college choice is less about teaching. Look for colleges with good accomodation, and maybe some travel grants for your year abroad.

Thanks for the advice. Ive heard st.johns is a good college for persian from loads if people so im applying there...

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Reply 4349

fluteflute

OP

19

Original post by hahahoran18

Thanks for the advice. Ive heard st.johns is a good college for persian from loads if people so im applying there...

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St John's is a good college for everything :wink:

Reply 4350

personage

4

im also applying for English. ANyone out there got good advice about which college to apply to..

Reply 4351

personage

4

hell out there..
does anyone have good advice about what colleges are good for English applicants at Oxford. Know anyone who's been?
Thank you!

Reply 4352

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Original post by personage

im also applying for English. ANyone out there got good advice about which college to apply to..

What kinda things are important to you in college choice? Like big v small, central v further out, etc? :smile:

Reply 4353

personage

4

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

What kinda things are important to you in college choice? Like big v small, central v further out, etc? :smile:

want good tutors who like teaching, rather than researching, and to be fairly central, and rooms okish!

Reply 4354

admissionshost

1

Original post by dragonkeeper999

I'm at Cambridge rather than Oxford, so don't know anything about the specifics of the colleges. However, the Oxford admissions process with multiple interviews usually at a couple of different colleges does help a lot to even out the chances of getting into Oxford no matter now competitive the particular college you originally applied to was - so go with the college you prefer and would be happy living at :smile:

Have you had a chance to visit the colleges? I found that really helpful when narrowing down my college choice :smile:

Excellent advice.

Reply 4355

Pars12

9

Original post by personage

want good tutors who like teaching, rather than researching

Oh dear, does that still go on?

Reply 4356

personage

4

I'm not sure! is there anyway of finding out which Oxford college gets the most Firsts in English?

Reply 4357

DCDude

10

lol...did you see the post above?!

Last year all the English finalists at Somerville got firsts....but, choosing a college based on how many firsts its finalists got in any given subject is as hopeless as choosing it based on admissions ratios. Look at the Norrington tables over time, and you will see just how variable the number of firsts are at any given college. Magdalen & New are the only ones who have been in the top 10 every year for the last 7 years.

Stop trying to parse the results and spend more time looking at what the tutors are into. For example, Somerville tutors give their areas of particular interest as being

18th-century and romantic literature
Scottish and Irish literature
Austen
English literature of the seventeenth century
Medieval English Psalters
Biblical translation and interpretation
Development of the vernacular
Devotional writing.

Are any of those particularly interesting to you?

Reply 4358

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Original post by personage

want good tutors who like teaching, rather than researching, and to be fairly central, and rooms okish!

Hmm, the bold is gonna be really difficult for you to find out tbh, without speaking to lots of current or recently-graduated English students. I don't think we have many (if any!) on here :nah:

DCDude gives good advice above :yep:

Though even then: if you end up at a college where your tutor's interests are wildly different to your own, that's not an awful thing either! :h:

Reply 4359

personage

4

THanks both of you! I guess there is no forum for current English undergraduates at Oxford.
I can see what you mean by checking out the tutors. ..it's a bit impossible.
just wondering if anyone knew anything about english tutors at St john's which is my first choice.
thanks Goatherd and Dude

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