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What do you want to know about Oxford?

If you could ask some Oxford students anything about life at the University, what would you want to know?

There are some FAQs on the wiki, but feel free to ask any questions you have on this thread :smile:

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Hello,

If you could ask some Oxford students anything about life at the University, what would you like to know?

Having read through the thread and the Oxford section, it seems most of you want to know how to apply to Oxford.

As a result, I've made a Youtube Series called 'Applying to Oxbridge'.

It includes advice from students who have successfully made it through the process.

1. How to choose a Degree
2. The Application Process and how to choose a College
3. Admissions Tests
4. The Personal Statement
5. The Interview
6. The Result

You can check it out here: http://jamoemills.com/oxbridge

Good luck!

Jamie
(edited 8 years ago)

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If you could ask some Oxford students anything about life at the University, what would you want to know?

There are some FAQs on the wiki, but feel free to ask any questions you have on this thread :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 2
Id like to know if the city has a good night life? If the interview is as scary as everyone makes it out to be? What the accommodation for Freshers is like? How many hours a day do they do work? and how many hours is spent inside lectures?

if i think of more i'll add them haha :P
Original post by Ja-m-ie
Hey!

I was wondering, if you could ask some Oxford students anything about life at the University, what would you want to know?

Cheers,

J


It may be a silly question, but where do you wash your clothes? Do most people just take a bag to their parents or go to a laundrette?
Original post by confused dot com
It may be a silly question, but where do you wash your clothes? Do most people just take a bag to their parents or go to a laundrette?


Colleges generally (always?) have laundry facilities on site where you can wash them yourself for a small charge :smile:
Original post by ChopinNocturne
Colleges generally (always?) have laundry facilities on site where you can wash them yourself for a small charge :smile:


Oh thanks, that's a relief :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by confused dot com
Oh thanks, that's a relief :smile:


I'll add my wisdom too :smile:

Where I'm at Magdalen and most freshers are in The Waynflete (which is above sainsbury's - extremely convenient!).

We have a laundry room on the third floor that is operated by a laundry card that we top up.

Using the washing machine (7kg) is £1.20 ish and the dryer (about 9kg?) is £1.60 ish.
Reply 7
Original post by ChopinNocturne
Colleges generally (always?) have laundry facilities on site where you can wash them yourself for a small charge :smile:


All except Smellington college.
Reply 8
How many bricks make up the the main building :wink:
Reply 9
Do you have to dress formally at all e.g. for lectures and tutorials?
Reply 10
is it true that at Brasenose third year students are called "Stalwarts" ?
Original post by Ja-m-ie
I'll add my wisdom too :smile:

Where I'm at Magdalen and most freshers are in The Waynflete (which is above sainsbury's - extremely convenient!).

We have a laundry room on the third floor that is operated by a laundry card that we top up.

Using the washing machine (7kg) is £1.20 ish and the dryer (about 9kg?) is £1.60 ish.


Thanks, I'm just glad you don't have to leave the college to do it! I did have another question I forgot to ask though :colondollar: What do you do with all of your stuff outside of term time as I'm guessing you have to vacate your room for interviewees and others who may use them?
Reply 12
Original post by mabelbarc
Id like to know if the city has a good night life? If the interview is as scary as everyone makes it out to be? What the accommodation for Freshers is like? How many hours a day do they do work? and how many hours is spent inside lectures?

if i think of more i'll add them haha :P


I had an interview in december, no they're definitely not as scary as the 'typical oxbridge' interview would be made out to be. we just sat in the jcr, then when our time was to go for interview we went and came back.. noone came back crying or horrified. of course there were questions we each individually struggled with but noone was asked to amuse their interviewer or if they were a pizza what topping would they be :P
what are tutorials like? and does it get tiring writing weekly essays?

Oh this is quite specific but what's the philosophy and theology course like?
Original post by nexttime

Original post by nexttime
All except Smellington college.


lol
For how many hours a week do you actually work?
Original post by crazychef
Do you have to dress formally at all e.g. for lectures and tutorials?


Lectures: hell no. It's funny - in first term, everyone turns up to the first few lectures looking really dressed up. Then numbers begin to dwindle and people start to make less effort / will rock up in sweaty sports clothes from rowing or something (or maybe just me... :blush:). It varies a little by subject (you'll always get the few florid English types, the arsey PPEist types who take their stereotypes seriously [same sort of people who rock up to Union debates in the double-breasted tweed suits and make a point of asking questions...]), but mostly you go in what's comfortable.

Tutorials: no dress code and you certainly don't have to wear your gown or anything. I've had raised eyebrows rocking up in summer in shorts and flip-flops, but my tutor didn't say anything. Generally, you just want to wear jeans and a shirt or something. Tutors certainly won't dress up for you, so they don't expect the same back!
Reply 17
Original post by confused dot com
Thanks, I'm just glad you don't have to leave the college to do it! I did have another question I forgot to ask though :colondollar: What do you do with all of your stuff outside of term time as I'm guessing you have to vacate your room for interviewees and others who may use them?


This term if you were living in the Waynflete you didn't have to take your stuff. You could just leave it in your room in some organised manner so the scouts can clean around it.

The people living in the High Street, another area Magdalen own, had to take some of their stuff home. However, Magdalen does provide some storage for these pupils, especially if you are an international student!

Unfortunately, at the end of next term I believe everyone has to vacate their room to allow for an extreme clean of all of the rooms.
Reply 18
Original post by dancinginrainbows
For how many hours a week do you actually work?


Err... I do PPE and I counted 40 hours a week?
Original post by mabelbarc
Id like to know if the city has a good night life? If the interview is as scary as everyone makes it out to be? What the accommodation for Freshers is like? How many hours a day do they do work? and how many hours is spent inside lectures?

if i think of more i'll add them haha :P


1. The night life is pretty damn good, and this coming from someone used to the big party city of Liverpool. There's a different club night every day, e.g. Tuesdays at Camera, Wednesdays at Park ('Shark') End, Thursdays at Bridge, and often there're multiple ones (Tuesdays at Babylove for me, personally), although the likes of Babylove are so student-catered that there's a different-themed night there every weekday. There are clubs catering to all types of music/scene taste. The Cellar's pretty good for your alternative stuff, and often has open mic nights with local/student bands.
For none-clubbers, G&Ds ice cream parlours (of which there are three strategically placed ones), the legendary hangouts, are open 'til 12am every day and are a great place to chillax at the end of the day or as an alternative to your College bar (which is often a social hub for you in first year).
The BT (Burton Taylor) Studio has two student shows on every week that run Tues-Sat at 7:30 and 9:30pm slots, and these are almost invariably high-quality; Oxford's drama scene is one of the most well-developed around. There's also a show at the Keble O'Reilly (much bigger) theatre almost every week, and there're always Playhouse shows, College-level shows etc.
Music-wise, there's a recital seemingly every night given by one of the philharmonic groups or the sinfoniettas or the trios 'n such. These (and the above plays/musicals etc) are always pretty damn cheap (if not free, thinking of the music recitals) and a great way to support your friends / meet new people / do something different.

2. Interviews are only scary if you allow them to be. If you always remember that everyone else around you is human - the interviewers included - you'll be fine.

3. Accommodation varies wildly by College and often within the College itself. A safe bet is that freshers are usually housed in the god-awful, ugliest sixties buildings of the Colleges (of which every College has at least one - unless you're Catz and it's all like that [love Catz really :P]). No worries, though; at least that way, you don't have to look at the building. And the rooms themselves are never bad - always big enough to work and live comfortably in. The buildings are usually slightly better for socialising in that creaky, pretty old staircases anyway, which you'll have when you're older.

4. Our Senior Tutor (I'm at St Hilda's) says you can't go wrong if you clock 6 hours a day doing academic things (which includes lectures) and that certainly does sound fair. If you're fairly on-the-ball and can grasp things first or second read around, it should just be like when you were in school, only you're just doing your degree subject and not loads of others...

5. Lectures vary massively by subject and by term, anyway. For scientists, many more of them are compulsory/you really need to go to them to stand a chance of not falling behind. With humanities, you've more choice - and after first year, you need to cherry-pick which lectures within the faculty are worth going to for you anyway, since all you get lumped with at the beginning of term is a big booklet full of everything going on at the faculty that term ( the whens and wheres ). Scientists usually have a couple/few hours a day, whereas artists might have two/three in a day, one another day and then a couple of days without lectures. Arts lectures can sometimes also be at random times (like 4pm... grrr) for certain topics.

Anyway... less of my finalist rambling. Hope it helps.

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