Oxbridge small minded?

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It's not at all clear that "potential" -is- utterly independent of education. An education of some description is a necessary part of a person having the relevant kind of potential (that is, potential to do well at degree level).

Reply 121

allymcb2

coldfish

Also true.

Reply 122

Turdburger

not really, its just an "on average" thing, a generalisation.

Reply 123

coldfish

Yeah, you'd have a point if you weren't completely misrepresenting what the bloke said. He just said that on average people who go to elite schools might feel more comfortable in the situation than other people and so be able to communicate more effectively. This isn't obviously false, he's not saying that all public school attendees will be better/more comfortable/better communicators/whatever than all others. He's also not claiming that -anybody- is "incapable of holding a conversation".

You have absolutely no reason to be offended by what was said.

Reply 124

butterfly_girl_5

autumn_breeze04

I went to Trinity College, Cambridge for interview (notoriously 'snobbish', unbeknownst to me at the time of applying - ah!! but also full of maths geniuses - brill! XD)
I got pooled, then rejected. I didn't think the college was in any way small-minded, after speaking to students and lecturers - in fact, I LOVED it and thought it was really friendly, BUT...
I made friends with a few English applicants, many of which got pooled.
One got in without being pooled....
the only student in our group from - guess where? Eton.
None of the others I met got in.

Is this surprising?
I'm not bitter in any way, and I can believe that Cambridge have so many applicants that its inevitable that a lot of good students get rejected. And from my impressions from the visit, I didn't think they were in any way 'stuck-up', but I'd like to hear views from current students on this and whether people from private schools have an automatic advantage.

certainly neither state or private applicants have an automatic advantage. theres a raging debate about this- and the large number of articles Ive read about this have lead me to believe theres no clear answer- some argue that the state sector actually have an advantage due to pressure put on oxbridge by the government to admit more state applicants.

I would say that on average those with a private school education have an unfair advantage with regards to academic confidence and grades, but Oxbridge does its best to counter this. I do think there is a serious problem of inequality in the british educational system which is largely causing the dicrepancy in oxbridge admissions, rather than as a result of prejudice either way.

I should also say that private school applicants are not always better educated than state school applicants and won't necessarily come across better at interview. I went to a comprehensive until yr11 and moved to a selective private school so I have experience of both sectors, and many of the 'star pupils' at my private school I dont think are all that impressive- they are clear examples that private schooling cant give you originality or intuitiveness. also, because its a very sheltered, single sex environment, many are socially ignorant or naive and the average student is much less mature than the average student in my old comprehensive- and a lack of maturity will limit ones intellectual capacity

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