Is it ok to reject Oxford?

The message from my daughter's college at its open day last summer was that Oxford is not interested in the extra curricular activities of candidates. It is interested in academic achievement and potential. It is looking for people who are teachable. Oxford of course likes to see a well rounded student, and there are tons of non academic activities to do while at Oxford, but the competition for places won't be decided on who was good at football or drama.

The college advised candidates to include a few lines in their personal statements about extra curricular activity, because other universities might be interested in that, but said that Oxford would not take it into account.

Extracurricular activities are fun and people should do them if they can, but shouldn't expect them to be a factor in admission to Oxford.

Interesting but not all colleges are saying that.

The ability to juggle A levels and playing a musical instrument at grade 8 plus orchestra/bands plus sports team shows someone able to use their time well. This is essential for the short Oxford terms. You also develop the skill to work with other people - again vital.

You show passion for your subject by going outside the A level spec, MOOCs, competions etc.

You should never write a PS for one university anyway - 'a few lines' is not the right proportion.

The Master of the college and its Tutor for Admissions both said that extra-curricular activities are great, but are not a factor in the offer decision. I asked around amongst people I know: the President of a large and fashionable college, three Fellows of another large and fashionable college, and a Fellow of a smaller and less fashionable college all said the same thing.

Of course the personal statement should include info as to what the candidate has done apart from studying. Candidates should not be surprised, however, if the personal statement is not mentioned at interview.

FWIW

The head of admissions/admissions tutor at Merton gave us a very clear and to the point run through on admissions over an hour. Two slides stuck out one was ‘what we’re looking for’ the other predictably ‘what we’re not looking for’

“What we're looking for
There is no blueprint for the ideal Oxford student.
We are looking for:
Oxford students come from all over the world and from all kinds of backgrounds.
What they all have in common is commitment to their subject and academic talent.”

And this from their sum up slide:

“...in summary
YES
Academic ability and potential
Subject requirements
Genuine subject interest
Learning/assessment style
NO
Particular backgrounds
Particular school types
Irrelevant extra-curricular
activities”

So that’s Merton. Couldn’t have been more clear. They even gave the example of someone who was a national/international standard sports person and again they were very clear that that was fantastic but absolutely not relevant for the offer decision.

Sport may be irrelevant but possibly not for rowers!
'No blueprint' so I am correct that colleges may interpret this in different ways

That is just Merton and my ex-students are saying different.

Sport may be irrelevant but possibly not for rowers!
'No blueprint' so I am correct that colleges may interpret this in different ways

That is just Merton and my ex-students are saying different.

Are any of your ex-students currently Tutors for Admissions at colleges, or heads of colleges?

It may be that things have changed since those students got in. Oxbridge entrance is, I think, harder than it was when I did it ages ago. Oxford and Cambridge are, I think, even more oversubscribed than they were back then.

Hi, so I'm in y13 and i've just received an offer to study medicine at Oxford. The problem is that I'm not sure if I want to go yet. I particularly like UCL (I haven't heard back from them yet so this is all theoretical anyway), but here's kind of the reasons.

For Oxford -

- It's oxford --> it's a really good uni.
- It's a lot cheaper than London.
- It's also safer than London.
- Better societies (for me)

For London

- I think I would find Oxford stressful - one of my close friends who I'm quite similar with went to study Medicine and dropped out bc of the pressure
- I really really like London
- There's so much more to do in London
- The course has better options (SSCs, intercalation choices) for my personal goals
- UCL is more diverse (which might be better especially in medicine to meet people from all backgrounds and also I'm gay and northern with a strong accent which idk if that affects it)
- I'm not too interested in a major focus on research, which Oxford really seems keen on
- Even though Oxford is cheaper, you can't work there, and I get a reduced student loan + no money from my parents, so I would need to work to sustain myself.

I need opinions though, bc I really do like UCL but I feel like it's quite hard for me to consciously reject Oxford (I'm very indecisive which probably makes it a bit worse).

Sorry it's quite a long post but I would be curious for opinions

That's true, but because I would only be getting about £4k a year from student loans and don't qualify for the oxford bursary, it would better for me to work all year round, but I also do know there's quite a lot of support elsewhere.
I got into Worcester college

It’s crazy because I also got into Worcester for Philosophy and Spanish though but am probably gonna turn them down for Language Culture and Society at LSE. I haven’t firmed it yet but it’s nice to know i’m not the only one!!

oh wow that's a coincidence lol. was your reasoning similar to mine i like hearing it ngl

For me its a mix of the 8 week terms and how much I like the course at LSE. I feel like paying the same amount for uni as every other school but getting 6-12 weeks less is just very unfair and may take away from the independence of uni. It also feels realatively classist or at least inconsiderate given not everyone has home environments that they'd want to spend 27 weeks a year in.
The other thing is primarily the diversity of the course, I love philosophy but I became interested in it because of African philosophy, the metaphysics of race and black existentialism all topics Oxford don't appear to explore as their curriculum is disproportionately westernised.
On top of that, one of my more aspirational goals is to be successful in a creative field e.g film and I don't know If I'd have time to create, write, act etc if I went to Oxford
I really love Oxford's academic feel but I just feel like the stress may also not be worth it if they don't even want to make the effort to push for more diversity in the way LSE does. However there are deffo some cons to LSE so I'm yet to firm either.
Good luck on your decision and I would actually be interested to hear what you end up deciding as we're either gonna be in the same college in October or the same city in September so could cross paths !!

For me its a mix of the 8 week terms and how much I like the course at LSE. I feel like paying the same amount for uni as every other school but getting 6-12 weeks less is just very unfair and may take away from the independence of uni. It also feels realatively classist or at least inconsiderate given not everyone has home environments that they'd want to spend 27 weeks a year in.
The other thing is primarily the diversity of the course, I love philosophy but I became interested in it because of African philosophy, the metaphysics of race and black existentialism all topics Oxford don't appear to explore as their curriculum is disproportionately westernised.
On top of that, one of my more aspirational goals is to be successful in a creative field e.g film and I don't know If I'd have time to create, write, act etc if I went to Oxford
I really love Oxford's academic feel but I just feel like the stress may also not be worth it if they don't even want to make the effort to push for more diversity in the way LSE does. However there are deffo some cons to LSE so I'm yet to firm either.
Good luck on your decision and I would actually be interested to hear what you end up deciding as we're either gonna be in the same college in October or the same city in September so could cross paths !!

Yes it is ok to reject Oxford, however, I rejected Oxford for undergraduate due to caring responsibilities and have regretted it ever since. In terms of medicine, Oxford does actually allow you to undertake some clinical assignments in London but even in Oxford there is the Radcliffe and Oxford is at the cutting edge of medical research so even if you don’t want to go into research yourself learning about the future of medicine from the experts creating it seems a good move.

So do other universities ...

So do other universities what?