Magdalen Oxford gets rejection letter from student
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Original post by Jeester
No one ever came to my sixth form.
No one ever said I had a chance of getting in. (I'm now hoping to go to Oxbridge for an MSci or PhD.)
No one ever said I had a chance of getting in. (I'm now hoping to go to Oxbridge for an MSci or PhD.)
I'm sorry that not every single college gets a personal visit. Mine didn't either, I will admit that most of the visits are to colleges in the South though I suspect that is because of the shorter distance.
Original post by Jeester
No one ever came to my sixth form.
No one ever said I had a chance of getting in. (I'm now hoping to go to Oxbridge for an MSci or PhD.)
No one ever said I had a chance of getting in. (I'm now hoping to go to Oxbridge for an MSci or PhD.)
worldssmallestviolin.jpg
As has been pointed out, the internet abounds with this information. Blame UCAS advisers at schools for having no idea what they're doing, if someone must be blamed; not Oxbridge. Oxbridge does all it feasibly can.
I don't think anyone here has linked to this article on Elly Nowell yet:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2012/01/23/carolyn-hitt-teenager-elly-nowell-s-oxford-university-blast-does-state-school-students-no-favours-91466-30178647/
According to this article, she has actually been awarded a place, but was unaware of this when she sent the letter.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2012/01/23/carolyn-hitt-teenager-elly-nowell-s-oxford-university-blast-does-state-school-students-no-favours-91466-30178647/
According to this article, she has actually been awarded a place, but was unaware of this when she sent the letter.
Original post by Pi!
I saw this yesterday in the news and I knew it would cause a ****storm on TSR.
The news got it from us, not the other way around.
TSR 1 - News 0
This site will take over the world one day, I can just feel it
Original post by Firran
Well the first thing they asked me in my interview was whether or not I wanted some water. And if you need some water just ask for it for gods sake.
I guess it depends on the college, I wasn't saying they were all like that. I just thought it amusing that I wasn't the only one who'd noticed
Original post by nohomo
I don't think anyone here has linked to this article on Elly Nowell yet:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2012/01/23/carolyn-hitt-teenager-elly-nowell-s-oxford-university-blast-does-state-school-students-no-favours-91466-30178647/
According to this article, she has actually been awarded a place, but was unaware of this when she sent the letter.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2012/01/23/carolyn-hitt-teenager-elly-nowell-s-oxford-university-blast-does-state-school-students-no-favours-91466-30178647/
According to this article, she has actually been awarded a place, but was unaware of this when she sent the letter.
Are you sure that's right? I thought that, if an applicant withdraws their application, there's no way of telling if they would have got an offer or not?
Original post by la-dauphine
Are you sure that's right? I thought that, if an applicant withdraws their application, there's no way of telling if they would have got an offer or not?
Unless the college sent their letter before they received hers.
Original post by michael321
Unless the college sent their letter before they received hers.
True! I assumed that more newspapers would've picked up on it if she had actually been offered a place though. I have a friend who knows Elly and according to him she did withdraw her application before they'd sent out a decision letter.
this girl should be aware that employers who do internet searches of applicants are becoming more and more common... i'm not so sure potential employers would be overly impressed with this immature attack on oxford especially if she takes the bar route in the future as there will be a number of oxford grads there...
disliking oxford and subsequently withdrawing your application is one thing.. but sending a childish prissy letter to them along with it AND then "showing off" to the press about it by contacting them is another.. and a potential mistake that she will regret. the internet doesn't forget.
disliking oxford and subsequently withdrawing your application is one thing.. but sending a childish prissy letter to them along with it AND then "showing off" to the press about it by contacting them is another.. and a potential mistake that she will regret. the internet doesn't forget.
Original post by Bellissima
this girl should be aware that employers who do internet searches of applicants are becoming more and more common... i'm not so sure potential employers would be overly impressed with this immature attack on oxford especially if she takes the bar route in the future as there will be a number of oxford grads there...
Precisely. Good luck getting into a chamber or firm worth a damn now that you've insulted the alma mater of a good load of successful lawyers.
Assuming the thread isn't 'fake and gay', which I'm almost positive it is, then I envisage a career as a failed lawyer followed by a career as a despised, moronic, social liberal politician in your friend's future akin to most of the politicians in the UK.
Original post by Bellissima
disliking oxford and subsequently withdrawing your application is one thing.. but sending a childish prissy letter to them along with it AND then "showing off" to the press about it by contacting them is another.. and a potential mistake that she will regret. the internet doesn't forget.
I don't think she sent it to the press. Her friend got hold of it and posted it on TSR.
Original post by BGH122
Precisely. Good luck getting into a chamber or firm worth a damn now that you've insulted the alma mater of a good load of successful lawyers.
Assuming the thread isn't 'fake and gay', which I'm almost positive it is, then I envisage a career as a failed lawyer followed by a career as a despised, moronic, social liberal politician in your friend's future akin to most of the politicians in the UK.
Assuming the thread isn't 'fake and gay', which I'm almost positive it is, then I envisage a career as a failed lawyer followed by a career as a despised, moronic, social liberal politician in your friend's future akin to most of the politicians in the UK.
It was all over the news
it amazes me how people can't even be bothered to do a quick google search without first posting their garbage.Original post by A level Az
It was all over the news it amazes me how people can't even be bothered to do a quick google search without first posting their garbage.
it amazes me how people can't even be bothered to do a quick google search without first posting their garbage.i think he is referring to whether she actually sent it. I think I read somewhere that she just wrote it as a joke and sent it to a friend rather than to oxford itself. I CBA to research it properly though so either way w/e
Original post by LiveFastDieYoung
i think he is referring to whether she actually sent it. I think I read somewhere that she just wrote it as a joke and sent it to a friend rather than to oxford itself. I CBA to research it properly though so either way w/e
She sent it both to her friend and to the university; the friend (who is the OP) made it public.
I think that your friend's letter is immature, disrespectful and arrogant.
Regardless of any moral issue regarding elitism/discrimination that she is trying to highlight, to send a pompous rejection letter to Oxford is pathetic and defeats any issue that she was trying to raise; if your friend decided that Oxford was not the university for her, that is her choice, but she should have rejected in the normal mature way. Yes the university would send a similar type of rejection letter, but they are perfectly qualified to do so, as in this case, it is us, the students, applying to and trying to impress a prestigious institution against huge competition, not the other way around.
I may think this way, perhaps, because I am some 7 years older than most of you, as it seems to be a typical immature rebellion that a teenager would be proud of, that many of you are finding "epic" or "legend", which she may come to regret. (I would not like to label all teenagers this way, as there are many that are very mature)
Regarding elitism, I would love to attend Oxford University, I do not come from a public school, nor do I even come from a middle class background, I come from a single-parent, council-housed, working-class background. I do not find a grand, formal setting, like Oxford, intimidating, in fact, I find it inspiring. Oxford can't do much about their beautiful grand old buildings that intimidated your friend, but if she feels tortured by 3 lecturers interviewing her from behind a large desk with her seated on a stool, I suggest that she hide at home and never enter the real working world, as having been in the working world now for the past 7 years I can advise her that she will probably have some more horrific interview experiences to come. As someone else stated, future employers may not look kindly upon this when researching a candidate, I know that I certainly wouldn't, as an employer I would be worried about the lack of respect and immaturity that the letter shows, I would be worried that she would not be able to feel comfortable in certain situations and may not develop good relationships with colleagues/clients from different backgrounds.
It seems that your friend had made up her mind about Oxford before she arrived or she had some kind of inverse snobbery to her nature, I could be mistaken, but the fact that she sent this immature letter seems to hint otherwise.
Coming from the background that I have and having had a varied work career, I have met a huge variety of people and I have a wide variety of friends, those from public schools to those from working-class backgrounds. All my friends are lovely from either background (obviously or they would not be my friends), however, I can actually say that I have met far more inverse-snobs, those who like to preach hate on those who are posh, than those who are elitist snobs, probably as it seems to be far more acceptable these days to "toff" bash and those that I know from more privileged backgrounds are so worried about being labelled a snob, that they go too far in the other direction, giving excuses for unacceptable behaviour of others as an example, in fear that they would be labelled a snob for disagreeing with the behaviour.
I think it is very dangerous to set quotas, standards to be achieved of percentage of working class students/ethnic minorities etc. I would be horrified to learn that I got offered a place at Oxford, due to my state school and working class background and that another candidate, who had better grades/performed better in interview, was rejected in favour of me, as he was from a public school. I would hope that I got into the university based on my academic merit and interview performance. If there is a huge majority of public school students at Oxford, it is not the problem of the university, it is either that the some state schools are failing, or that there is a culture of indifference towards learning in certain areas of society or that some academically able working class students are not applying either due to their own inverse snobbery or that of others, who have told stories of Oxford being intimidating/elitist.
Just a note on fees, I received a prospectus from one of the colleges at Oxford recently, which states that the fees are income assessed, so those from lower income families could be paying £3500 per year in tuition fees and there are generous bursary schemes of up to £14,000 during the course of the degree on top of the government bursaries.
Regardless of any moral issue regarding elitism/discrimination that she is trying to highlight, to send a pompous rejection letter to Oxford is pathetic and defeats any issue that she was trying to raise; if your friend decided that Oxford was not the university for her, that is her choice, but she should have rejected in the normal mature way. Yes the university would send a similar type of rejection letter, but they are perfectly qualified to do so, as in this case, it is us, the students, applying to and trying to impress a prestigious institution against huge competition, not the other way around.
I may think this way, perhaps, because I am some 7 years older than most of you, as it seems to be a typical immature rebellion that a teenager would be proud of, that many of you are finding "epic" or "legend", which she may come to regret. (I would not like to label all teenagers this way, as there are many that are very mature)
Regarding elitism, I would love to attend Oxford University, I do not come from a public school, nor do I even come from a middle class background, I come from a single-parent, council-housed, working-class background. I do not find a grand, formal setting, like Oxford, intimidating, in fact, I find it inspiring. Oxford can't do much about their beautiful grand old buildings that intimidated your friend, but if she feels tortured by 3 lecturers interviewing her from behind a large desk with her seated on a stool, I suggest that she hide at home and never enter the real working world, as having been in the working world now for the past 7 years I can advise her that she will probably have some more horrific interview experiences to come. As someone else stated, future employers may not look kindly upon this when researching a candidate, I know that I certainly wouldn't, as an employer I would be worried about the lack of respect and immaturity that the letter shows, I would be worried that she would not be able to feel comfortable in certain situations and may not develop good relationships with colleagues/clients from different backgrounds.
It seems that your friend had made up her mind about Oxford before she arrived or she had some kind of inverse snobbery to her nature, I could be mistaken, but the fact that she sent this immature letter seems to hint otherwise.
Coming from the background that I have and having had a varied work career, I have met a huge variety of people and I have a wide variety of friends, those from public schools to those from working-class backgrounds. All my friends are lovely from either background (obviously or they would not be my friends), however, I can actually say that I have met far more inverse-snobs, those who like to preach hate on those who are posh, than those who are elitist snobs, probably as it seems to be far more acceptable these days to "toff" bash and those that I know from more privileged backgrounds are so worried about being labelled a snob, that they go too far in the other direction, giving excuses for unacceptable behaviour of others as an example, in fear that they would be labelled a snob for disagreeing with the behaviour.
I think it is very dangerous to set quotas, standards to be achieved of percentage of working class students/ethnic minorities etc. I would be horrified to learn that I got offered a place at Oxford, due to my state school and working class background and that another candidate, who had better grades/performed better in interview, was rejected in favour of me, as he was from a public school. I would hope that I got into the university based on my academic merit and interview performance. If there is a huge majority of public school students at Oxford, it is not the problem of the university, it is either that the some state schools are failing, or that there is a culture of indifference towards learning in certain areas of society or that some academically able working class students are not applying either due to their own inverse snobbery or that of others, who have told stories of Oxford being intimidating/elitist.
Just a note on fees, I received a prospectus from one of the colleges at Oxford recently, which states that the fees are income assessed, so those from lower income families could be paying £3500 per year in tuition fees and there are generous bursary schemes of up to £14,000 during the course of the degree on top of the government bursaries.
(edited 12 years ago)
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