[jus2sik]

(Original post by nexttime)
I feel like Oxford needs a little defending, before everyone is (entirely unjustly) put off applying!



And her alternative to 'elitist' Oxford was... LSE, where 60% of students are rich enough to pay the £20,000+ international fees



I don't dispute this at all. HOWEVER, do bear in mind that a single open day or unjustified stereotypes are also not very good indications of how happy you will be. I came across some terrible characters at open days - never seen anything like that at all once i got in. Presumably these characters are toffing their way around other universities out there.



I've been at Oxford 4 years - never come across anything even close to that. No one has ever compared wealth, no one has ever asked what 'gadgets' i have, nothing



To be fair, the wealth of a college is an interesting talking point and it actually does impact on student life. I guess some people take that 'selling' of the college a little too far though huh?



Nope - 60% are from state schools. And private schooled people are still normal kids, not stuck up monsters.



I can honestly say that in my 4 years of Oxford i have never come across anything even close to the anecdotes circling on this thread.

i cant tell if your stupid or you were high when you wrote that, read what i said, and tell me why you felt the need to quote me

[brooksh1]

I turned my oxford offer down a few weeks ago. Don't get me wrong, I loved Oxford and my college, but I also had an offer from Durham and they were going to offer me a bursary of £20,000 over 3 years and the course was better there. My family aren't that well off, so I took my offer at Durham to take the stress off them aswell. But overall, the course was the most important thing for me and I also felt that Durham was offering more in terms of fieldtrips. tbh I'm not sure I would have coped with the pressure at Oxford and I'll never know if I did the right thing, but I'm sure I'll enjoy Durham (which for my subject, Geography, comes straight after oxford in the league tables)...

[charlottewilliams9]

My friend turned down Cambridge for UCL because she preferred the English course there plus they allocated her to an all girl college (Newnham I think?) and she said she wouldn't be able to cope living with all girls :L


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Chiseph]

The thing with Oxbridge isn't just the getting in part, it's staying in that's really tough as well. I know a couple of people who rejected Oxbridge because they knew that even though they could get the A-level grades needed, they didn't want the huge amount of pressure that Oxbridge puts on their students, so they opted for other unis that, funnily enough, basically made the same offer.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App

[nexttime]

(Original post by Chiseph)
The thing with Oxbridge isn't just the getting in part, it's staying in that's really tough as well. I know a couple of people who rejected Oxbridge because they knew that even though they could get the A-level grades needed, they didn't want the huge amount of pressure that Oxbridge puts on their students, so they opted for other unis that, funnily enough, basically made the same offer.

Oxbridge have the lowest drop out rates going so... not entirely correct! It is true though that if Oxbridge see you heading for a 2.2 or below they will start asking questions as to why that is the case, which is far less true of other top unis.

[Chiseph]

(Original post by nexttime)
Oxbridge have the lowest drop out rates going so... not entirely correct! It is true though that if Oxbridge see you heading for a 2.2 or below they will start asking questions as to why that is the case, which is far less true of other top unis.

Ohh, I wasn't aware of that - I only said that because of what I heard from former Oxford students. Guess they were bragging a bit then!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my Galaxy Nexus

[flywithemma]

(Original post by swbp)
People on TSR have the assumption that if you're very intelligent, you have to go to Oxbridge; this is far from the truth.

One of my best friends did 7 AS levels, getting A grades in english literature, history, philosophy, biology, psychology, french and spanish. She got 100% in 3, and wants to apply for english and history. However she isn't applying to Oxbridge; she hates their elitist principles and wants to go to either York or Edinburgh. People need to understand that Cambridge and Oxford do have their downfalls - they work you into the floor and quite often don't allow you to have a typical student experience due to the workload.

I would definitely take issue with the second part that I've bolded. I've just finished my first year at Oxford, and I'd definitely say that I, and the people I know, have had a 'typical student year'. In fact, I've gone out and done more 'typical student' things than some my close friends who are at the likes of Leeds... Sure, you don't have much time to just sit around and do absolutely nothing, but if you plan your time you can definitely afford to have an active social life and still keep on top of your work.

(Original post by swbp)
The way your sister was treated sounds harsh, but to be honest i'd rather my school were more strict on who applies to Oxbridge - they'll let anyone. For example my friend got AABC in her AS levels and they encouraged her to apply - she was obviously rejected post interview, it's just common sense that you wont get into Oxford if you have a C at AS.

Not true. Friend of mine is in his first year at Oxford doing history, predicted predicted a 2:1/1st, and he got AAAD at AS.

[swbp]

(Original post by flywithemma)
I would definitely take issue with the second part that I've bolded. I've just finished my first year at Oxford, and I'd definitely say that I, and the people I know, have had a 'typical student year'. In fact, I've gone out and done more 'typical student' things than some my close friends who are at the likes of Leeds... Sure, you don't have much time to just sit around and do absolutely nothing, but if you plan your time you can definitely afford to have an active social life and still keep on top of your work.



Not true. Friend of mine is in his first year at Oxford doing history, predicted predicted a 2:1/1st, and he got AAAD at AS.

You make good points, but my friend who applied with AABC at AS got her C in Psychology, plus she didn't take chemistry or biology which many claim are very useful when wanting to take the subject at degree level.

[questingvole]

At Cambridge there is about a 3% turn down rate and 6% missed offer rate so they make about 110 offers for each 100 places on most courses. Maths is an exception as a lot of people miss their step offers.

[anonymouse01]

(Original post by flywithemma)
I would definitely take issue with the second part that I've bolded. I've just finished my first year at Oxford, and I'd definitely say that I, and the people I know, have had a 'typical student year'. In fact, I've gone out and done more 'typical student' things than some my close friends who are at the likes of Leeds... Sure, you don't have much time to just sit around and do absolutely nothing, but if you plan your time you can definitely afford to have an active social life and still keep on top of your work.



Not true. Friend of mine is in his first year at Oxford doing history, predicted predicted a 2:1/1st, and he got AAAD at AS.

S'all bout personality in the interview from what I've heard. Somebody who I know got 13A* in GCSE and 3A* 1A at A-Level and got turned down for medicine (which is competitive so that's probably why)


Posted from TSR iPad

[fluteflute]

(Original post by questingvole)
At Cambridge there is about a 3% turn down rate and 6% missed offer rate so they make about 110 offers for each 100 places on most courses. Maths is an exception as a lot of people miss their step offers.

Maths make twice as many offers as there are places

[Sabster]

(Original post by anonymouse01)
S'all bout personality in the interview from what I've heard. Somebody who I know got 13A* in GCSE and 3A* 1A at A-Level and got turned down for medicine (which is competitive so that's probably why)


Posted from TSR iPad

Those grades mean literally nothing

[James94]

I've applied for physics and philosophy, in eight days I'll know whether or not I have an offer. If I do get an offer it'll be an unconditional as I sat my advanced highers last year and surpassed the conditions offered by Oxford. If I do get an offer, I'm somewhere between 50 and 75% sure I'll reject it in favour of either Edinburgh or Glasgow. The Oxford course is perfect for me, whereas the other courses I applied to stray away from my interests somewhat, but there are other factors to take in to consideration. The first big one is finance, I would have to pay £36,000 worth of tuition fees that I wouldn't have to in Scotland, plus living in college seems far more expensive than normal halls. The next factor would be workload, in Scotland a bachelor's is four years, and a master's is five (for sciences), I've done some first year stuff from St Andrews and found it pretty accessible, meaning I can afford to have a good social life in first year at least. I only applied to Oxford cause I happened to have the grades and I had a spare UCAS option, I didn't really study for the aptitude test and I don't know if I have the required motivation to cope with the vast amounts of work. Another point I touched on was social life, I'd be happier in a city with good clubs and music venues and I'm not sure if Oxford is that place. I could go on, but those are the main points I'm taking into consideration.

I cannot stress enough that Oxford is just another university, it's certainly a prestigious one, but there are more important things than university rankings.

[SoundDude]

One of our English teachers did, he went to UCL instead. He says he has no regrets about it

[cawcarrot]

I would only reject Cambridge for Harvard .... possibly... haha but I know many who reject Harvard for Cambridge.

[arrowhead]

Well, a friend of mine turned down Cambridge for Stanford, and then turned down Stanford for MIT.

Another guy I know turned down Oxford for Imperial because he liked the course structure at the latter more.

A few years above me, there was a girl who turned down Oxford to go to King's because they offered her a study abroad.

Someone else I know came to LSE last year over Cambridge because it was closer to her home and she saved up on rent and other expenses.

People have many reasons for turning down Oxbridge. It's rare, but not unheard of.