Sneaky tactics??

Kill all other applicants. Then you're assured of a place!

Don't bother.
As an Oxford tutor said to me, "If you deserve a place at Oxford, you will get it one way or the other".

I'd really want to go to oxford but if I was offered a place and my mate (mike)wasn't, I'd want to accept but would prefer to make a deal to decline on the condition that mike gets a place, purely because I think he really deserves it and deserves it more than me and onyone else I know who wants to go.

Come on, are you serious? You'd damage your own life prospects because you think someone you know (who got rejected, according to the hypothesis, no?) who you won't even know in a few years 'deserves' it more? You've got to snap out of that mentality, sharpish.

ha why should I? how damaging would it really be? If I'm capable of getting accepted then I'm capable of getting accepted somewhere else or getting a decent career. There's more to life than a career, other things are just as imporant if not more. I strongly feel Mike is more deserving and should go, so I'd rather he had a place than myself. I know that I'll get by in life just fine whether I go to Oxford Uni or not, yeah its a great oppurtunity and place to study but its not the be all and end all.

tisn't be all and end all, for sure-UCL, Imperial and LSE are damn fine unis as well-so if you don't get in, you sound like you've got the right attitude/mental game plan-but to say you wouldn't go for such a silly reason as letting 'Mike' go instead seems a bit odd...

I'd really want to go to oxford but if I was offered a place and my mate (mike)wasn't, I'd want to accept but would prefer to make a deal to decline on the condition that mike gets a place

Admirable, but utterly pointless and probably misjudged. There would be no opportunity for a "deal" -- Oxford doesn't really care, in any personal way, whether you take up their offer or not. Until you're a student there, you're just a statistic. I appreciate your sentiment, but don't admire your naivity. Let's just hope that Mike gets in as well, eh? ...

Admirable, but utterly pointless and probably misjudged. There would be no opportunity for a "deal" -- Oxford doesn't really care, in any personal way, whether you take up their offer or not. Until you're a student there, you're just a statistic. I appreciate your sentiment, but don't admire your naivity. Let's just hope that Mike gets in as well, eh? ...

Lolz. I bet Mikey-boy is one of those poor unfortunate souls who has been obsessed with Oxbridge since ewarly childhood, and would indeed make a deal with Ursula from the Little Mermaid to get there. Heaven help the poor **** if he doesnt make it...

No actually but he is just conscientious. I realise I'm really bumming mike at the moment, he can be a nob aswell, but not often. If he doesn't get he wouldn't be devastated, but I think he deserves to more than he realises.

Well then he's going against the myriad of others who say that every year, due to the competition, they are forced to reject many people they would like to accept, who would thrive on the course. I do completely disagree with the well propogated myth, "if you're good enough, you'll get in"; admissions tutors themselves say this is not the case.

Tbh, I would say going for a less competitive college is sneaky, it's actually rather sensible, provided you still like the college you chose to apply to. I'm not really familiar with the Oxford colleges, so I can't really say which ones will be less competitive, though none of them obviously are going to be easy to get into, and any differences will only be marginal.

No actually but he is just conscientious. I realise I'm really bumming mike at the moment, he can be a nob aswell, but not often. If he doesn't get he wouldn't be devastated, but I think he deserves to more than he realises.