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Oxford College - Cannot decide :O

My Oxbridge tutor in college is wanting us all to choose a college so she can make sure we dont all apply to the same one as someone else doing the same subject. I have narrowed it down to 4!! I just cannot seem to choose between them :s-smilie:

the 4 are St Johns, St Hughs, Wadham and Keble college. I want to study Medicine if that helps! I just want peoples views, pros and cons, anything anyone has to say that can help!! Pleeeeeeeease!

Reply 1

bysshe

12

Have you visited them all? If you have, then just think about the one that you liked the most on the Open Day and go with your instinct. There isn't an obvious right answer, and they all have their pros and cons, so if you really can't choose, just pick one at random. It's unlikely that if you apply to Wadham and get in, for example, that you're later going to find yourself regretting it and thinking "I really wish I was at St John's instead". Practically everyone ends up happy at their chosen college, and even the people who are pooled (like me) seem to be very happy most of the time.

Reply 2

nexttime

22

Scourfield

My Oxbridge tutor in college is wanting us all to choose a college so she can make sure we dont all apply to the same one as someone else doing the same subject. I have narrowed it down to 4!! I just cannot seem to choose between them :s-smilie:

the 4 are St Johns, St Hughs, Wadham and Keble college. I want to study Medicine if that helps! I just want peoples views, pros and cons, anything anyone has to say that can help!! Pleeeeeeeease!

I liked Keble - good atmosphere and great location for the science area. St Johns is very nice and rich which has its perks but i didn't like the whole 'you can't go on the grass ever' thing.

What do you like about them?

Reply 3

ByronicHero

20

Wadham was one I considered, so my opinion would be to chose there.

Reply 4

littlehobbit

10

St John's is a bigger college than the rest, but I like Wadham. Like the above have said, you have to go and visit them before you can really decide! :smile:

Reply 5

CocoPop

18

Scourfield

My Oxbridge tutor in college is wanting us all to choose a college so she can make sure we dont all apply to the same one as someone else doing the same subject. I have narrowed it down to 4!! I just cannot seem to choose between them :s-smilie:

the 4 are St Johns, St Hughs, Wadham and Keble college. I want to study Medicine if that helps! I just want peoples views, pros and cons, anything anyone has to say that can help!! Pleeeeeeeease!

This website might help:

http://www.chooseoxfordcollege.co.uk/

Also take a look at the alternative prospectus. I found it really helpful:

http://www.ousu.org/prospective-students/ap/

Reply 6

hobnob

14

CocoPop

This website might help:

http://www.chooseoxfordcollege.co.uk/

Hmm, that's quite biased towards certain colleges due to the criteria it uses, though... :erm:

Also, a lot of the data it's based on is quite old and it doesn't look as though it's being regularly updated. It's a bit of fun, but no more than that, really.

Reply 7

Teebs

16

Cooking facilities v hall food. Look into that.

Reply 8

live_on_fascination

8

Scourfield

My Oxbridge tutor in college is wanting us all to choose a college so she can make sure we dont all apply to the same one as someone else doing the same subject. I have narrowed it down to 4!! I just cannot seem to choose between them :s-smilie:

the 4 are St Johns, St Hughs, Wadham and Keble college. I want to study Medicine if that helps! I just want peoples views, pros and cons, anything anyone has to say that can help!! Pleeeeeeeease!

I was in the same situation as you last year, only between John's, Jesus, Queens' and Lady Margaret Hall. I ended up choosing John's on the basis that it has four years accommodation and is right across the road from the main languages area. It is a lovely college and there is a little area of grass you're allowed to go on! That said, I ended up being pooled - to Lady Margaret Hall! I'm actually very happy about that because it also has four years accommodation and, despite it being further away from the centre, it's gorgeous. I loved the interviewer I had there, she was really sweet and really made me feel at home at the college.

If I were you I'd just choose whichever one you fancy. At the end of the day it's not really going to matter, and you may even be pooled to one of your other choices! Perhaps also look at how many people there are in a year at the colleges doing your course (for me, I applied for beginner's Russian, and there won't actually be any Russian students at John's in freshers 2010/11, for example, so I was lucky to be pooled elsewhere!) John's also has a reputation of having many very good candidates; from my interview experience, of the people I met, about a third got into John's, a third were pooled (and accepted) and the last third were rejected (pooled or not first). So that's a probability of 2/3! Of course it might have just been my experience and it may not be the same, but John's likes to accommodate as many students as possible (e.g. I'm going to LMH, a friend of mine is going to Wadham, another to Keble, another to Pembroke) so it's worth a go!

Conversely, I have a friend who applied for medicine at Keble (she's the first in my school to be accepted to Oxford for medicine for over ten years), while another wasn't even offered an interview at St John's. It's a balancing act; I'd just say choose wherever you feel is best. Good luck!

Reply 9

Huw Davies

11

Athena

They're fairly different choices - Wadham is big, liberal, got a reputation for the best parties in the university, two mins walk from your lecture theatres as a medic, but only offers two years accomm. as an undergrad; Keble is also big, a bit more male-dominated (good at Rugby, JCR elections not necessarily female friendly...), still close to lectures, three (?) years of accomm. Nice formal hall on Sundays. St Hugh's - bit more of a walk, good for the Summertown exam schools, bad for anything on the High Street side of Oxford, three years of accomm. St John's - rich, three years of accomm., got a bit of a reputation for turning out posh twits (but everyone I know from St John's is lovely and really down to earth), possibly a five-seven min walk from lectures. I would really, really encourage you to go to the open days at the end of June and choose then - and colleges WILL take two people in the same year at the same school for the same subject - happened for Biology at Wadham a few years ago.

Never really got that impression about John's - they make a big effort to attract state school pupils and their applicant numbers reflect that, so it's a bit of a surprise to me.

Reply 10

Scourfield

OP

8

Thanks to everyone whos replied! I am going on an a trip with College to see each college, however im just leaning towards st Johns as my key preference. Its just, I was wondering, if its one of the top, richest colleges, how much of a chance I stand on getting in! I dont want to apply somewhere where I wouldnt stand a chance of even getting an interview! And for Medicine, Id imagine St Johns would be gathering only the top of the top! However they have the largest intake of state students... so Im unsure :frown:

Reply 11

Huw Davies

11

Scourfield

Thanks to everyone whos replied! I am going on an a trip with College to see each college, however im just leaning towards st Johns as my key preference. Its just, I was wondering, if its one of the top, richest colleges, how much of a chance I stand on getting in! I dont want to apply somewhere where I wouldnt stand a chance of even getting an interview! And for Medicine, Id imagine St Johns would be gathering only the top of the top! However they have the largest intake of state students... so Im unsure :frown:

For medicine, you are shortlisted for interview based on your GCSE and BMAT results. It doesn't make any difference which college you applied to. You're interviewed at your college of choice, plus another one which is allocated at random. Neither college will know whether they were your first choice or not. You may get an offer from either - if both want you, you get your college of choice. It's possible to have an "open offer" made if you're considered a good enough candidate, but both colleges are full - this means that you are guaranteed a place of Oxford, but which college you end up at is decided after results day.

All this is designed to minimise the effect your choice of college has on your overall chance of getting into Oxford, so you can worry less on that score.

I wouldn't get too hung up on any college being "top", with consistently better applicants (or indeed about the quality of applicants for medicine being typically higher than for other subjects).

If it's St. John's you like, there's no real downside to applying there, so do it! Assuming nowhere else grabs your fancy when you see them.

Reply 12

Plato's Trousers

17

To be honest, it probably doesn't really matter. Unless you're doing a small subject, all of the colleges have tutors in most subjects, so if you are doing something small you might want to pick a college that has a tutor in your field. Otherwise, they are all good and many of your activities (teaching wise) will be centralised anyway (through the University).

I applied to do Chemistry and pretty much stuck a pin in the map and chose University College. I had a great time there and never wished I had gone anywhere else. Of course, my lectures and practicals were all in the Chemistry department anyway, so your college is more where you live and your social centre.

Like most things, you make friends there, you get used to the place and it becomes home. Had I gone to another college (via an equally random choice process) I am sure I would have liked it just as much.

As for St John's it's always been quite academic and keen on being top of the Norrington Table but then again, so was the college I went to and I was far from being top of the heap academically yet they let me in! ;-)

Good luck!

Reply 13

7589200

18

ive heard good things about St Johns

Reply 14

7589200

18

Huw Davies

Never really got that impression about John's - they make a big effort to attract state school pupils and their applicant numbers reflect that, so it's a bit of a surprise to me.

same - my grammar school sends loads of students there as opposed to other colleges

Reply 15

Turdburger

16

Plato's Trousers

To be honest, it probably doesn't really matter. Unless you're doing a small subject, all of the colleges have tutors in most subjects, so if you are doing something small you might want to pick a college that has a tutor in your field. Otherwise, they are all good and many of your activities (teaching wise) will be centralised anyway (through the University).

I applied to do Chemistry and pretty much stuck a pin in the map and chose University College. I had a great time there and never wished I had gone anywhere else. Of course, my lectures and practicals were all in the Chemistry department anyway, so your college is more where you live and your social centre.

Like most things, you make friends there, you get used to the place and it becomes home. Had I gone to another college (via an equally random choice process) I am sure I would have liked it just as much.

As for St John's it's always been quite academic and keen on being top of the Norrington Table but then again, so was the college I went to and I was far from being top of the heap academically yet they let me in! ;-)

Good luck!

Grout fun

Reply 16

Plato's Trousers

17

Turdburger

Grout fun

aah, yes, indeed. Pete Grout..."what's special about 1729?"

Reply 17

RichE

15

Scourfield

Thanks to everyone whos replied! I am going on an a trip with College to see each college, however im just leaning towards st Johns as my key preference. Its just, I was wondering, if its one of the top, richest colleges, how much of a chance I stand on getting in! I dont want to apply somewhere where I wouldnt stand a chance of even getting an interview! And for Medicine, Id imagine St Johns would be gathering only the top of the top! However they have the largest intake of state students... so Im unsure :frown: