Is it true you can BUY your way into Oxford?

lol i was gonna mention russians aswell... my mum's friend said that their parents buy them places at oxford... and when i went there for an interview i did see a suspiciously disproportionate number of russians already studying there... unfortunately i got rejected, perhaps partly because my parents arent oligarchs

Sorry for the neg rep. Was trying to pos rep and missed! apologies again

Which of course makes it even more unlikely that they'd allow anyone in with BBB.

This is ridiculous!! Clearly most people commenting on this thread of have had no experience of the Oxbridge application process and simply see it as a chance to get their anti-oxbridge agenda across. If you had been through the process, you would know that there is absolutely no chance of this happening. During the process, almost everyone in each department will see each person who is given an offer. It's not a fleeting decision, but each application is considered in depth by many people. You don't honestly believe that there are departments full of people that have no moral objection to bribery.

In addition, if this happened, it would be all over the papers! Every year they cause uproar when some very bright students don't get accepted. Imagine what they would be like if there was corruption in the system. Oxford and Cambridge build their reputations around simply accepting the brightest students, regardless of their background. Of course they wouldn't sacrifice these world-renowned reputations for a single donation. Especially when you consider that the university and its constituent colleges are absolutely loaded. They don't need the money nearly enough to risk losing their reputation.

Just because you have one rich friend who got in and you believe he didn't deserve to doesn't mean they are corrupt. I know other, not-rich people that got in that I believed weren't good enough. This is simply a result of a less than perfect admissions process, not corruption. They try to make the admissions as fair as possible, but mistakes always happen in something as subjective as choosing between candidates.

Furthermore, for anyone that actually cares and is looking for a real answer as opposed to a chance to have a go at Oxbridge, here are some article that fairly conclusively prove this does not happen:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1365968/Admission-by-donation-ruled-out-at-Oxford.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1720940.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/01/foreign-office-oxford-gaddafi-son?intcmp=239 - the foreign office tried to get Gaddafi's son into Oxford. Oxford simply replied that "[his application was] unlikely to prosper … because Saif had no social science training, and his prior degree did not meet the requisite quality standard". If the foreign office can't get someone in, its pretty safe to say that noone can.

x

Hang on a mo. The end of your first link says...

Which is an on the record admission by someone on the inside of the admissions process saying it happens, or at least happened 10 years ago.

Interesting, I didn't read the whole article before posting it. I would suggest that this is probably a mis-quote. Newspapers notoriously twist people's words and I'm guessing this might be another case of this happening

Not many give donations before they get in, it's once they leave as a sort of "cheers" for letting them in without putting them through the same vetting process that a state school kid who also got 3 A's would go through. It's an almost unwritten rule that the wealthiest parents of just average graduates will provide a donation once their child graduates. The key to getting in therefore is all in the private school you attend, Oxbridge will always look at where you attended and then will look at your parents occupations (which you MUST note when applying to these universities)

Paying to go to the top private schools is simply a way of paying to get into Oxbridge. It's still paying your way in, but not in a way that they can ever get caught out.

Except for you can't "just pay" to get into the top private schools. You compete for a place with lots of other children from good prep schools all of whom have the advantage of wealthy parents or are on scholarships for exceptional talent. Many of these prep schools were themselves selective. Eton typically has 1400 applications for 250 places. It was common to use GCSE books as revision notes for the entrance exam at 12-13 and until recently the entire year would take French, Latin & Greek GCSE a year early with almost everybody obtaining an A or A*. Not surprisingly 150-170 with straight As would later apply to Qxbridge and typically 70-80 get in. So 80-100 boys with rich parents would not manage to "buy" a place. The vast majority of my friends who got in have gone on to get firsts.
http://www.etoncollege.com/userfiles/file/GCE%20A2%20Summer2011.pdf
http://www.etoncollege.com/userfiles/file/GCSE%20Statistics%20Summer2011.pdf
http://www.etoncollege.com/userfiles/file/Destination%20of%20Leavers%202008.pdf

Winchester, St Paul's and Westminster are similarly competitive and boys go to them from all over the country and from abroad.

Funnily enough many of their parents worry that in the current climate going to a private school would be a disadvantage when it came to decisions. Almost nobody got in without virtually perfect grades and very many of my friends had 100% in one or more A2.

People who spout nonsense about buying places are talking nonsense. The sad thing is they put people off applying, and so these rumours do enormous harm to the efforts to widen access. If you want to make it harder for rich parents' kids to get in, you need to encourage people from schools where they don't know anybody else who ever applied that it is worth a go.

The ultimate point here is that Cambridge University usually has a ratio of around 50/50 for their private/state school intake. However only around 7% of the population attends private schools, so suddenly it's looking like it may come down to money afterall. Trust me I know people who have gotten into Cambridge who are nothing special off the back of a private education, they get their interviews no problem at the very least. It's FAR harder as a state school kid to even clinch an interview, no matter what you're predicted. You'll need to have a list of other achievements to your name like the captain of the football team or a masterful piano player to even get a look in.

Why?? Because it all comes down to MONEY.

Sure, you can. How do you think all these Princes and etc go to Good Unis? lol.

If I remember correctly, Prince Charles went to Cambridge.

I know someone at Imperial in the year above who used to use money to get through.

The ultimate point here is that Cambridge University usually has a ratio of around 50/50 for their private/state school intake. However only around 7% of the population attends private schools, so suddenly it's looking like it may come down to money afterall. Trust me I know people who have gotten into Cambridge who are nothing special off the back of a private education, they get their interviews no problem at the very least. It's FAR harder as a state school kid to even clinch an interview, no matter what you're predicted. You'll need to have a list of other achievements to your name like the captain of the football team or a masterful piano player to even get a look in.

Why?? Because it all comes down to MONEY.