OXBRIDGE REJECTS! What university are you going to go to now?

Haha I think anyone whos on this thread is probably in that boat. Very able, high expectations from ourselves and those around us, probably our first major failure after a history of academic success which makes the fall all the worse.
Personally, I never took the idea of not making it in seriously which I know seems very naive and arrogant but I really believed I had the qualifying abilities. So the rejection really did hit me hard. It felt like somebody I'd known since childhood had died. This dream of making it into oxbridge ripped away from beneath my feet. It left me questioning whether I was ever good enough, was I fooling myself all these years? I've since spent countless minutes trying to find something to blame for my failure. What would have happened had this gone differently, had I chosen a different college, if the interview had been on a different day. But all for nothing. It is what it is. This makes no ****ing sense

Haha I think anyone whos on this thread is probably in that boat. Very able, high expectations from ourselves and those around us, probably our first major failure after a history of academic success which makes the fall all the worse.
Personally, I never took the idea of not making it in seriously which I know seems very naive and arrogant but I really believed I had the qualifying abilities. So the rejection really did hit me hard. It felt like somebody I'd known since childhood had died. This dream of making it into oxbridge ripped away from beneath my feet. It left me questioning whether I was ever good enough, was I fooling myself all these years? I've since spent countless minutes trying to find something to blame for my failure. What would have happened had this gone differently, had I chosen a different college, if the interview had been on a different day. But all for nothing. It is what it is. This makes no ****ing sense

I don't think that sounds arrogant at all, it's difficult because you can't be half hearted about it and so it's then hard to try and pull yourself back to ground level, especially after interviews when you feel so close. I have to keep reminding myself that there are SO many good people, so there has to be an element of luck involved or we'd all get in. Which college/subject did you apply for? I think I'm gonna treat this as a trial run and hopefully results will allow me to reapply...it's a good way to keep positive about this whole thing!

Yes! You sir, have just put my thoughts into perfect worded sense.
You don't sound remotely arrogant at all, I feel the same and by the sounds of things so did my school haah. What subject were you applying for?
When I got rejected, for a couple of days after I genuinely felt like I was in mourning, my dream and my ambition I'd had for so long was just... gone. Gone with no sincerity or information past 'Unfortunately we have not been able to make you an offer.'

I felt so worthless and nasty and began to question everything about myself.

But the pain did begin to lessen and I'm feeling much more positive. I still don't feel I can let it go though. It hurts so much that it can never be a part of my life now, that I won't be going there in October after college.

What university are you looking at now?

Hey, thank you for your console and yeah I completely agree about there being the element of luck. So much of the application is completely out of our control. Reminds me of an anecdote. An employer takes a stack of applicant CVs and puts half into a shredder without reading them. A confused onlooking secretary questions the employer of his actions. The employer replies, 'I only want lucky employees in my business.' Thought you would find that amusing. I applied to do Engineering at University College Oxford. And yeah me too, I'm going to reapply if I get the grades but I have no idea what excuse I might use for taking a gap year haha