What do you want to know about Oxford?

Reply 380

nexttime

22

Original post by tizzieb

I'll probably fall into the second group, to be honest, as I seem to be allergic to alcohol :colondollar:

That's not a common allergy is it!? :tongue:

What college are you at to do medicine? And what are tutorials, lectures etc like? Also, are there many dissections to do? (do you use cadavers? some uni's do, some don't).
Do you think I would have enough time to have a little weekend job in oxford to earn money for fees etc.?

I am at Merton. Tutorials are useful - you do a little preparation then get teaching in groups of 2-5, which allows you to control the speed you are taught at and ask any questions you will. Some tutors are better than others, though.

Lectures are just someone talking at you for an hour, really - kind of like you would expect :tongue:

Notoriously difficult to stay awake in, especially after you've had 3 hours straight already! A lot of the time you will doubt the value of being there, but when you try to analyse it objectively, you have to conclude that information does go in. Or at least i conclude that... and frankly, the amount of work i would do unmotivated by myself in my room is 0. That is possibly their true value.

Practicals can be fun, and occasionally useful. Histology practicals are horrifically boring.

We do prosection i.e. we see professionally pre-dissected specimens and discuss/point out structures with teachers in groups of 6-8, once a week. Its pretty gruesome for the layman. Good fun.

You are not allowed to hold a job in term time at Oxford. However, a) you can have a job in the extensive 24 week holidays and b) Oxford is one of/the cheapest university to study at. Rents here, including all bills and cleaning, can be thousands of pound lower a year, plus no need to buy textbooks, no travel costs, and a top notch financial support network in place should you need it.

Reply 381

such_a_lady

16

Original post by flywithemma

Can you play a sport at college even if you're quite bad and haven't played since Year 10? :tongue:

Reply 382

michael321

14

Original post by dbmag9

Snipers.

Spoiler

Oh yeah, you'd have to be a total knob to do it. But I was just wondering.

Reply 383

flywithemma

14

Original post by such_a_lady

Can you play a sport at college even if you're quite bad and haven't played since Year 10? :tongue:

Yes. Most definitely :smile:

Reply 384

such_a_lady

16

Original post by flywithemma

Yes. Most definitely :smile:

Yay! They will have to put up with my crap rounders and netball skills :biggrin:

Reply 385

flywithemma

14

Original post by such_a_lady

Yay! They will have to put up with my crap rounders and netball skills :biggrin:

Haha, I haven't actually encountered rounders at Oxford yet, although this is clearly where the captain of the blues rounders team will come in and shout at me...I guess it's not really the right time of year to be playing it.

I want to play croquet in the summer. :cool:

Reply 386

dbmag9

15

Original post by flywithemma

Haha, I haven't actually encountered rounders at Oxford yet, although this is clearly where the captain of the blues rounders team will come in and shout at me...I guess it's not really the right time of year to be playing it.

I want to play croquet in the summer. :cool:

Mertonians (alright, just the insane people I hang out with) were playing croquet pretty much up until the end of Michaelmas. :cool:

Reply 387

nexttime

22

Original post by dbmag9

Mertonians (alright, just the insane people I hang out with) were playing croquet pretty much up until the end of Michaelmas. :cool:

Have the hoops been out still? They're meant to be put away before Michaelmas even starts! Oops. JCR's meant to sort that out.

I guess there is no downside to them being out, until the gardeners complain or something.

Reply 388

dbmag9

15

Original post by nexttime

Have the hoops been out still? They're meant to be put away before Michaelmas even starts! Oops. JCR's meant to sort that out.

I guess there is no downside to them being out, until the gardeners complain or something.

I think someone asked to have them out again, I recall there being some discussion about that.

Reply 389

medbh4805

20

Original post by such_a_lady

After reading you guys enthuse over the Oxford internet speed, I decided to do a test of my own...

Rather embarrassing. To be fair I'm on a wireless BT Infinity Fibre Optic connection...

Lol.

Reply 390

Jeykayem

7

Original post by nexttime

Probably a mixture of the two you've stated there, leaning more towards the experiment side of things in later years. A typical essay will be between what you can write under exam conditions in 40 mins, up to maybe 3000 words or so? :dontknow:

Original post by michael321

I misread that at first to mean the average Oxford student writes 3000 words in a forty minute exam. I almost died...

Original post by Veronique:-)

DUDE. i applied for English, I used to think essays were my forte (<--- haha practicing using big words) BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL (insert blasphemous word here)???/ how does anybody write that fast? 40 minutes = 500 words for me, at most, when I'm in a momentum (listening to enraging dubstep and feeling like Chuck Norris. ) During exams...I just can't write a single essay over 800/900 words in one hour.
3000 words = 12/13 pages. How on earth is that human....

do they ACTUALLY expect you to write that fast? Excuse me while I go weep hysterically -_____-

I know from reading the report from my dyspraxia assessment that Oxford students are generally expected to write 30 words per minute on average in exams. My average in the assessment was 23 wpm, which explains why I have so many ellipses throughout my lecture notes from when I just couldn't keep up with the lecture slides. :sigh:

Original post by Lac.

I have a couple of questions :smile:

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about choral scholarships, what the experience/commitment is like, and the level required (especially at Queen's or Merton, but also in general). What are the choral trials like?
And, most importantly, ( :colone:

) do you get wear a scholar's gown?

Also, this is probably a long shot, but do you know of any (classical) percussionists, and their general standard, or of the facilities available? I don't play the most portable of instruments! :tongue:

Thanks!

Since you said 'in general' I feel like mentioning that Trinity's choral scholars don't get to wear a scholar's gown (but the organ scholars do). Then again, our chapel choir only sings at one evensong service a week and has one weekly practise other than that. I'm guessing there could be a correlation between time commitment and eligibility to wear a scholar's gown, but I could be completely wrong! :redface:

Reply 391

chookieman

In terms of Rugby at Oxford, I've played to quite a high standard before, but I wouldn't want to go as far as trying to get a blue.. however, does that mean there is no competitive rugby to play, how competitive is inter-collegiate rugby, and how does this work?

Reply 392

dbmag9

15

Original post by chookieman

In terms of Rugby at Oxford, I've played to quite a high standard before, but I wouldn't want to go as far as trying to get a blue.. however, does that mean there is no competitive rugby to play, how competitive is inter-collegiate rugby, and how does this work?

Colleges have teams, sometimes combined teams (eg Merton-Mansfield), and cuppers competitions are inter-college. No idea what the levels are like, but there's definitely competition at most levels.

Reply 393

chookieman

Original post by dbmag9

Colleges have teams, sometimes combined teams (eg Merton-Mansfield), and cuppers competitions are inter-college. No idea what the levels are like, but there's definitely competition at most levels.

Cheers for that, but could you elaborate on what cuppers competitions are?

Reply 394

Dnibara

Are you allowed to stay at Oxford over Easter break?
And also, what do people do with two giant 6 week breaks?

Reply 395

Veronique:-)

6

Original post by Jeykayem

I know from reading the report from my dyspraxia assessment that Oxford students are generally expected to write 30 words per minute on average in exams. My average in the assessment was 23 wpm, which explains why I have so many ellipses throughout my lecture notes from when I just couldn't keep up with the lecture slides. :sigh:

Since you said 'in general' I feel like mentioning that Trinity's choral scholars don't get to wear a scholar's gown (but the organ scholars do). Then again, our chapel choir only sings at one evensong service a week and has one weekly practise other than that. I'm guessing there could be a correlation between time commitment and eligibility to wear a scholar's gown, but I could be completely wrong! :redface:

okay that's it...hyperventilating. 1800 words an hour? which means WRITING annnddddd paying attention to the lecture? Isn't it allowed to bring a laptop and just type? I'm a fast typer, I just can't write to save my life -______-

Reply 396

dbmag9

15

Original post by chookieman

Cheers for that, but could you elaborate on what cuppers competitions are?

Inter-college competitions.

Original post by Dnibara

Are you allowed to stay at Oxford over Easter break?
And also, what do people do with two giant 6 week breaks?

Generally not; colleges make lots of money from conferences and suchlike. There's a lot of vacation work to do as well as revision; in term it's hard to properly consolidate what you're learning since it goes so fast. And people do regular holiday things too, of course.

Reply 397

Dnibara

Original post by dbmag9

Generally not; colleges make lots of money from conferences and suchlike. There's a lot of vacation work to do as well as revision; in term it's hard to properly consolidate what you're learning since it goes so fast. And people do regular holiday things too, of course.

Do you actually get assigned work? Or is it just mostly revision?
It just seems a bit weird only spending six months of the year at school :s-smilie:

Reply 398

nexttime

22

Original post by chookieman

In terms of Rugby at Oxford, I've played to quite a high standard before, but I wouldn't want to go as far as trying to get a blue.. however, does that mean there is no competitive rugby to play, how competitive is inter-collegiate rugby, and how does this work?

College standards vary, both between colleges and within a given team! The best players who play for their college are certainly of a very high standard.

I'd suggest giving it a try - you can always drop out if the team is not so great. Also, there is under-21 blues as well as the full team if that interestes you.