conflicted whether to move to london for uni or go to oxford for english lit?

OP

Original post by Anonymous

Not to be mean but getting into Oxford isn’t a given; so apply first, see whether you get in or not, and then start thinking about these things.

It’s a tad bit pointless worrying about it right now (ie unnecessary stress) as it might just cause you more mental stress if you do decide on Oxford but miss out on getting an offer ;/

yeah i literally said that at the end. i said that it could be that i don’t even get in in the first place. i’m not assuming that i’ll definitely get in, just weighing out my options right now.

Reply 8

eeeli

If you like London you don't necessarily have to miss out on it by being in Oxford - Oxford has a really useful coach service called the Oxtube that runs to and from London all day and all night. It takes a couple of hours but makes it very easy to go to events in London, even if they finish quite late. Oxford also has great opportunities to network if you're interested in screenwriting/journalism - there are loads of student newspapers you can get involved in and I know quite a few people who've ended up writing for major national papers as a result of that, or getting internships at those papers or places on prestigious journalism courses. Oxford also has a thriving student film and drama scene that is very well funded and well connected so there are plenty of opportunities for screenwriting too. I definitely wouldn't dismiss Oxford just because it is small (and I would also note that loads of people I know from Oxford ended up moving to London for work after their degrees). If you do get in I think it could be an amazing opportunity for you!

Reply 9

Original post by kaxxxxc2

It has always been my dream to live in london, i love a good party/night out and i’m very sociable, and i adore the diversity london offers. it’s also perfect for career prospects as i want to be a screenwriter or a journalist so there will be lots of opportunities for networking and things like internships. however, i recently got my alevel results and i received A*A*A and i’ve been very tempted to apply to oxford. however, it’s not really my scene. i hate small cities and if i move to oxford i’d be in an even smaller city than the one i’m from. i’m not posh at all, i’m the daughter of working class immigrants so it might be hard to fit in, depending on which college i get into. and also, if i go to oxford now, will i ever be able to move to london? it might be harder if i try to move there when i’m no longer a student. if i move to london i’d most likely attend king’s college or UCL which are amazing unis but studying at oxford would be amazing, i know the workload is quite crazy and i love a good challenge when it comes to my education. it would just be a great experience i think. also london is ridiculously expensive, especially at the moment. obviously the outcome depends on the unis i actually get into, it could be that i don’t even get into oxford.

I am not sure why you think that studying at Oxford might somehow prevent you from moving to London afterwards. The population of London includes many Oxford alumni, often working in good jobs and enjoying everything that London has to offer.

Suggestions above that there is little or no fun for students in Oxford or in London are incorrect. These are two of the most enjoyable cities to study in (I have studied in both). If you can get into (or by now have got into) Oxford, then yippee. I am biased in thinking Oxford the best university in the World, but regardless of that Oxford is a great place to live and study, and travel between London and Oxford is easy and cheap.

Did you apply?

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Stiffy Byng

I am not sure why you think that studying at Oxford might somehow prevent you from moving to London afterwards. The population of London includes many Oxford alumni, often working in good jobs and enjoying everything that London has to offer.
Suggestions above that there is little or no fun for students in Oxford or in London are incorrect. These are two of the most enjoyable cities to study in (I have studied in both). If you can get into (or by now have got into) Oxford, then yippee. I am biased in thinking Oxford the best university in the World, but regardless of that Oxford is a great place to live and study, and travel between London and Oxford is easy and cheap.
Did you apply?

thanks for taking the time to reply to my post! as a working class person, it might be a bit harder to move to london after uni as it’s very expensive without the safety net of a student loan. either way, i applied to cambridge instead as i liked the course more there and i got in! but now i’m not sure if going to london is something i want anymore. but i’ll see after uni.

Reply 11

jonathanemptage

21

Sounds to me you already know it’s got to be London Oxford is lovely but it sounds to me like you wouldn’t be happy there and being happy where you’re studying is most important.

Reply 12

Original post by kaxxxxc2

thanks for taking the time to reply to my post! as a working class person, it might be a bit harder to move to london after uni as it’s very expensive without the safety net of a student loan. either way, i applied to cambridge instead as i liked the course more there and i got in! but now i’m not sure if going to london is something i want anymore. but i’ll see after uni.

Congratulations! Enjoy Cambridge! Maybe go to London after Cambridge. You can do postgrad and/or get a job there.

Class should not a prison. Going to a good university brings opportunities for social mobility. Going to Oxford or Cambridge can be life changing. It was for me. I was working class when I was born, but I went to Oxford, got a posh job in London, and now I have a posh daughter who is shortly to start at Oxford. She can only experience social mobility if she goes to prison or marries a Royal. Otherwise she is trapped in the living hell of being upper middle class!

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 13

PS: Cambridge has lots of people who are not from posh backgrounds, and please don't be bothered by posh kids - most of them are OK, and you can ignore any who aren't. I had friends at my college who were from working class backgrounds, as well as middle class friends. Those friendships have endured for decades, and most of us loved and still love our college. Only one of us working class kids had a negative "them and us" attitude to Oxford. He had a bad time, and got a poor degree. The rest of us enjoyed ourselves, none of had imposter syndrome, and we did well.

"Saltburn" is utter nonsense.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 14

OP

Original post by Stiffy Byng

Congratulations! Enjoy Cambridge! Maybe go to London after Cambridge. You can do postgrad and/or get a job there.
Class should not a prison. Going to a good university brings opportunities for social mobility. Going to Oxford or Cambridge can be life changing. It was for me. I was working class when I was born, but I went to Oxford, got a posh job in London, and now I have a posh daughter who is shortly to start at Oxford. She can only experience social mobility if she goes to prison or marries a Royal. Otherwise she is trapped in the living hell of being upper middle class!

thank you so much! i appreciate it :smile:

that’s so lovely to hear! it’s so inspiring and motivating seeing a success story from a fellow working class person. and congratulations to your daughter! how did you find moving from oxford to london after university?

that’s what i was going to ask about, actually, before seeing your second comment. thank you for the insight! i did hear that oxford and cambridge are very saturated with middle class students but then i realised that most of my friends right now are middle class. and i get on with them amazingly! i was also wondering, what would you say are the best ways to maximise potential for success, for someone from a low income background who hasn’t really been taught the ways of networking by their parents?

Reply 15

Original post by kaxxxxc2

thank you so much! i appreciate it :smile:

that’s so lovely to hear! it’s so inspiring and motivating seeing a success story from a fellow working class person. and congratulations to your daughter! how did you find moving from oxford to london after university?
that’s what i was going to ask about, actually, before seeing your second comment. thank you for the insight! i did hear that oxford and cambridge are very saturated with middle class students but then i realised that most of my friends right now are middle class. and i get on with them amazingly! i was also wondering, what would you say are the best ways to maximise potential for success, for someone from a low income background who hasn’t really been taught the ways of networking by their parents?

Social class is an accident of birth and can change. I would not get hung up on class or treat it as a barrier. Believe in yourself. You are equal to anyone who happened to be born into a different social world.

Oxbridge need not alienate you from your family. Invite them to your college. They are part of it. If you go on a social mobility journey, those close to you can come too.

I was the first in my extended family (we are of working class Irish origin) to go to Oxford. My daughter will be the fifth of us to go there. Others in the family have studied at TCD, UCD, UCL, KCL etc. We need one of us to be a Cantab!

I took to London straight away after Oxford and am now a die hard Londoner. I agree with Dr Johnson's statement that "a man who is tired of London is tired of life, for in London there is all that life may afford." For man, read man or woman.

I visited London often during my final year in Oxford. Cambridge has fast trains and a bus to London, so maybe visit. As for networking, join student clubs, maybe volunteer to help run a club, get involved in JCR stuff, check college notices for scholarships, travel grants, and careers talks. Use LinkedIn.

Many people who have good jobs are happy to talk to students about how they got the job. Oxbridge alumni often love their colleges and turn up to give talks etc. Chat to those people. They may come from all sorts of backgrounds.

Have fun at Cambridge. If you fancy postgrad, look at scholarship opportunities in London, Oxford, and the Ivy League. Then conquer London, New York, Paris, or wherever life takes you.

Take as examples two working class English graduates from my college: one became the senior in house lawyer at ITV, the other is a publisher and educator in Tokyo. Three other college friends from working class backgrounds: one a senior patents lawyer, one a rocket scientist, one a High Court Judge.

Me? I'm just enjoying the opera, the fine wines, the skiing, the house full of books, the classic car etc, etc. Social mobility is great!

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 16

King_George_Weah

Original post by kaxxxxc2

thanks for taking the time to reply to my post! as a working class person, it might be a bit harder to move to london after uni as it’s very expensive without the safety net of a student loan. either way, i applied to cambridge instead as i liked the course more there and i got in! but now i’m not sure if going to london is something i want anymore. but i’ll see after uni.

As both an Oxford and a Cambridge graduate, let me start off by saying many cognratulations on your offer from Cambridge. Which college did you get offered a place at?

As someone who studied at Oxbridge, and now lives and works in London, I can firmly say you will not be missing out whatsoever if you wait until graduation to move to London. London is many things but one thing it isn't is cheap, and that's something I greatly appreciated in my student days. I'm not going to lie and pretend Cambridge's nightlife and social scene beyond the university is in any way shape or form comparable to London's or any major UK city of say Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Nottingham, Cardiff....... you get my drift.

BUT you have the perks of studying at Cambridge: from the supervision system, to the quirks and traditions of an ancient university and of college life, the ability to interact with students and academics from literally every background and discipline, the plethora of student and sporting societies, some of the oldest and most famous student societies in the world, for better or for worse even the Cambridge Union, and just being able to say you trod the same path as some many great figures before you, and that you did it all on your own merit and on your own terms. That is a privilege few will get to savour. Even some ten years after graduation, I am still enthralled by Cambridge every time I visit it, as if it were the first time I set foot there. The thing I valued the most from my time at Cambridge other than the teaching and networking and opportunities? The enduring friendships I made with both fellow students and academics alike, and it's an honour to go back and visit former professors, and even speak to current students about my experiences, my career post-Cambridge etc. Very few universities in the world can offer that.

Sure my approach to this may be very old-fashioned but I would be hard pressed to ever decline Oxbridge for another UK university unless there was some significant financial incentive to do so (i.e. a VERY GENEROUS scholarship). For me the cultural and academic perks of being at one of those two universities is second to none. That's not to say you can't have a great educational and social experience at any other university, and the UK has plenty of world-class universities be they LSE, Imperial, UCL, King's, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol etc. But none of those universities can offer what Oxbridge offers in terms of the experience of studying there. That's why they're unique and special and so many people want to study there.

Many congrats again on your offer and look forward to hopefully welcoming you to Cambridge in the Autumn.

Reply 17

OP

Original post by King_George_Weah

As both an Oxford and a Cambridge graduate, let me start off by saying many cognratulations on your offer from Cambridge. Which college did you get offered a place at?
As someone who studied at Oxbridge, and now lives and works in London, I can firmly say you will not be missing out whatsoever if you wait until graduation to move to London. London is many things but one thing it isn't is cheap, and that's something I greatly appreciated in my student days. I'm not going to lie and pretend Cambridge's nightlife and social scene beyond the university is in any way shape or form comparable to London's or any major UK city of say Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Nottingham, Cardiff....... you get my drift.
BUT you have the perks of studying at Cambridge: from the supervision system, to the quirks and traditions of an ancient university and of college life, the ability to interact with students and academics from literally every background and discipline, the plethora of student and sporting societies, some of the oldest and most famous student societies in the world, for better or for worse even the Cambridge Union, and just being able to say you trod the same path as some many great figures before you, and that you did it all on your own merit and on your own terms. That is a privilege few will get to savour. Even some ten years after graduation, I am still enthralled by Cambridge every time I visit it, as if it were the first time I set foot there. The thing I valued the most from my time at Cambridge other than the teaching and networking and opportunities? The enduring friendships I made with both fellow students and academics alike, and it's an honour to go back and visit former professors, and even speak to current students about my experiences, my career post-Cambridge etc. Very few universities in the world can offer that.
Sure my approach to this may be very old-fashioned but I would be hard pressed to ever decline Oxbridge for another UK university unless there was some significant financial incentive to do so (i.e. a VERY GENEROUS scholarship). For me the cultural and academic perks of being at one of those two universities is second to none. That's not to say you can't have a great educational and social experience at any other university, and the UK has plenty of world-class universities be they LSE, Imperial, UCL, King's, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol etc. But none of those universities can offer what Oxbridge offers in terms of the experience of studying there. That's why they're unique and special and so many people want to study there.
Many congrats again on your offer and look forward to hopefully welcoming you to Cambridge in the Autumn.

thank you so so much for your comment and for your kind words! yes i totally agree, going to oxbridge is a very unique experience that i’m excited to take on!

i originally applied to clare college but got pooled to wolfson for 2025 entry. i applied for 2024 but they gave me a deferred offer as wolfson is a mature college and i turn 21 next year. im assuming because clare is a very popular college, especially for humanities, they decided to pass on my application to the mature colleges as im closer to the mature age than to the school-leaver age. i don’t really mind, it gives me more time to save up and get my life sorted before making the commitment to cambridge. and i’ve grown to really like wolfson from reading up about it so im excited!

Reply 18

Original post by King_George_Weah

As both an Oxford and a Cambridge graduate, let me start off by saying many cognratulations on your offer from Cambridge. Which college did you get offered a place at?
As someone who studied at Oxbridge, and now lives and works in London, I can firmly say you will not be missing out whatsoever if you wait until graduation to move to London. London is many things but one thing it isn't is cheap, and that's something I greatly appreciated in my student days. I'm not going to lie and pretend Cambridge's nightlife and social scene beyond the university is in any way shape or form comparable to London's or any major UK city of say Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Nottingham, Cardiff....... you get my drift.
BUT you have the perks of studying at Cambridge: from the supervision system, to the quirks and traditions of an ancient university and of college life, the ability to interact with students and academics from literally every background and discipline, the plethora of student and sporting societies, some of the oldest and most famous student societies in the world, for better or for worse even the Cambridge Union, and just being able to say you trod the same path as some many great figures before you, and that you did it all on your own merit and on your own terms. That is a privilege few will get to savour. Even some ten years after graduation, I am still enthralled by Cambridge every time I visit it, as if it were the first time I set foot there. The thing I valued the most from my time at Cambridge other than the teaching and networking and opportunities? The enduring friendships I made with both fellow students and academics alike, and it's an honour to go back and visit former professors, and even speak to current students about my experiences, my career post-Cambridge etc. Very few universities in the world can offer that.
Sure my approach to this may be very old-fashioned but I would be hard pressed to ever decline Oxbridge for another UK university unless there was some significant financial incentive to do so (i.e. a VERY GENEROUS scholarship). For me the cultural and academic perks of being at one of those two universities is second to none. That's not to say you can't have a great educational and social experience at any other university, and the UK has plenty of world-class universities be they LSE, Imperial, UCL, King's, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol etc. But none of those universities can offer what Oxbridge offers in terms of the experience of studying there. That's why they're unique and special and so many people want to study there.
Many congrats again on your offer and look forward to hopefully welcoming you to Cambridge in the Autumn.

I think that you encapsulate the special magic of the Oxbridge experience, and explain why it's worth striving for. Thanks!

Reply 19