Oxford as 5th choice university

Hey, sorry for the provocative title, but it's true...

I want to do financial maths related studies in uni (starting 2009), and the Oxford course Mathematics and Statistics is not quite right for me, although... it's Oxford (!) which is why I want to put it as my 5th choice. However, do you think there is any point in doing so?
My top 4 choices are Actuarial Science in LSE, MORSE in Warwick, Maths with Stats for Finance in Imperial, and Statistics, Economics and Finance in UCL.

Would an early application with Oxford on it make my chances lower for any of the above unis? I've heard some talk about unis discriminating against those who are early Oxbridge applicants, although I'm unsure if it's true.
Any thoughts appreciated! (Including any ideas for a replacement 5th course)

P.S. Don't worry, I'm not late for any deadlines, I'm actually a year early! :smile:

Reply 1

El Stevo

11

No point putting it as 5th choice. If you can afford to put it as any choice, you're never going to not make your first 4.

Reply 2

Pulkpull

10

I'd say it's probably not worth the effort.

Reply 3

Aenrinn

You never know - I wasn't hugely keen on the Oxbridge idea but I had a choice to fill and the interview experience was worth it. What I will say though is don't get your heart set on it and if you don't think you'd like it there because of the course or whatever/you think it would cause too much extra stress with interview pressure etc don't worry too much about it. You seem to have four pretty solid choices already, and it's great you're thinking about it so early - I'm guessing you're going to get (or have got) straight A's with those choices, but have you thought about maybe having a backup just case? Still not strictly necessary, but if you've got a space that Oxford's not going to fill.....

Reply 4

Rudrax

12

Pulkpull

I'd say it's probably not worth the effort.

very true. The oxbridge application process is a bitch so if u dont wanna go there dont waste your time

otherwise consider the fact that you might change your mind. I was a firm no on oxbridge completely but i decided to use up my oxbridge slot on ucas and now i love cambridge

Reply 5

parkerpen

When you say put Oxford down as 5th choice you know that you don't actually rank your choices? You just list them on your UCAS form and the other universities don't know where else you have applied. Other universities won't discriminate against you for applying to Oxbridge becuase they won't even be able to know whether you are applying (and it would be stupid for them to discriminate anyway).

If the course really isn't right for you then its probably not worth applying although I imagine you might be able to do a Maths and Stats degree at Oxford and then do a masters at another university and get suitable qualifications. But an extra year of study isn't for everyone

Reply 6

Lost_in_a_daydream

It really is a personal choice! But if you have nowhere elese in mind, amybe give it a go. However I have heard of discrimination, not from the London places tho, but Bristol n Warwick.
A mate of mine had AAAB at AS and got rejected from both. He's deffo intelligent enough and his UCAS was good enough for him to be interviewd at Magdalen, Oxford (thoug he didn't get an offer)
If you have the grades, and atleast a little desire to go, have a try for it.
But if you don't your other choices will be occupation enough.
espesh LSE, it's massively competitive for places, seems in statistics, it's harder to get in to LSE for Government, than Oxford for PPE!!!

Maybe have a lower offer place as a "5th choice", though it's true you don't actually rank them anywhere on ur UCAS form.

Hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 7

jkyng1

10

if you think you might change ur mind and want to go there, then try.
otherwise, don't stress yourself out with the interview. as for the oxbridge discrimination thing, i'm quite sure that some unis actually separate those who submitted before the deadline and those after.

Reply 8

parkerpen

xkittycatx

It really is a personal choice! But if you have nowhere elese in mind, amybe give it a go. However I have heard of discrimination, not from the London places tho, but Bristol n Warwick.
A mate of mine had AAAB at AS and got rejected from both. He's deffo intelligent enough and his UCAS was good enough for him to be interviewd at Magdalen, Oxford (thoug he didn't get an offer)
If you have the grades, and atleast a little desire to go, have a try for it.
But if you don't your other choices will be occupation enough.
espesh LSE, it's massively competitive for places, seems in statistics, it's harder to get in to LSE for Government, than Oxford for PPE!!!

Maybe have a lower offer place as a "5th choice", though it's true you don't actually rank them anywhere on ur UCAS form.

Hope this helps! :smile:

Actually many many universities have higher application ratios than Oxbridge (Oxford is on average 4:1 whilst at many other excellent universities you can see 6-10:1 if I remember correctly). More applicants per place does not mean that the particular university is harder to get into as you have no information about the relative merits of the cohort of applicants. Not dissing LSE as it is an excellent university which I am applying to for postgrad but statistics aren't the be all and end all

Reply 9

parkerpen

jkyng1

if you think you might change ur mind and want to go there, then try.
otherwise, don't stress yourself out with the interview. as for the oxbridge discrimination thing, i'm quite sure that some unis actually separate those who submitted before the deadline and those after.

They really genuinely don't. Anyone who applies to oxbridge is likely to be rejected (~75%). So any university discriminating against candidates will immediately be discriminating against a huge number of other candidates.

And even those not applying to Oxbridge are unlikely to pick your university. Excellent candidates will apply to LSE, Imperial, Kings, Warwick, Durham, York, Bristol etc. The odds are that they will take a place at a university other than yours. They want the best candidates and give out offers to the best candidates.

Reply 10

jkyng1

10

yeah.....that's the theory.....but the discrimination thing was what my teacher told me. not 100% sure though.

Reply 11

parkerpen

Teachers see excellent students getting rejected from universities like Warwick and Durham and believe that it *must* be Oxbridge bias because the student is so good. But it is quite clearly not the case.

Some people who get offers from Oxford get rejected by Bristol but not by Durham. Others get into LSE, but not UCL. Some who are rejected by Oxford are also rejected by Durham but not by Bristol etc etc. If your teacher says they discriminate against Oxbridge applicants ask why they let some in, how they determine which ones to let in and how this policy benefits their university.

Oxford as 5th choice university

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