Choosing an Oxford College

pendragon

What have you been doing on your gap year rachel?

Working - I worked at the Faculty of Music for five months which *really* sucked so now I've left I'm working for a holiday rentals company in Oxford. And last summer I went on a grand tour of Italy. :cool:

Reply 181

pendragon

13

Rachel

Working - I worked at the Faculty of Music for five months which *really* sucked so now I've left I'm working for a company called Holiday Lettings in Oxford. And last summer I went on a grand tour of Italy. :cool:

I love Italy :p:

, did you spend much time at Paestum and Pompeii?

I also liked Rome, Naples and Sorento, and spent a bit of time in Florence. Ive got myself the Michael Thomas tapes to learn Italian (the man is a language learning genius). :biggrin:

Reply 182

Agrippina

15

pendragon

I love Italy :p:

, did you spend much time at Paestum and Pompeii?

I also liked Rome, Naples and Sorento, and spent a bit of time in Florence. Ive got myself the Michael Thomas tapes to learn Italian (the man is a language learning genius). :biggrin:

Pompeii, yes! :biggrin:

Basically we went to Turin - Milan - Verona - Venice - Jesi (near Ancona, to visit a friend) - Naples - Pompeii - Rome - Florence - Pisa - Genoa - Nice - Avignon - Paris - home. Quite a journey! :smile:

We also visited other places while we were there, like Bergamo, Como, Brescia, San Marino, Sorrento, Herculaneum etc.

Reply 183

kitsune

12

woww!!! that's a trip! :p:

Reply 184

clueless101

chewwy

fine - http://selectsmart.com/plus/select.php?url=OXCOLLS I must now apply to Christ Church. the test told me to.

Is there one for Cambridge? Ive already decided on the college methinks but am just curious!

Reply 185

friendlyneutron

11

I got Trinity for the cam one, random!

Reply 186

OppressedMass

13

Just choose the one with the coolest scarf.

Reply 187

sarahliz12345

That would be Christ's then - hooray for brown!!! :top:

Reply 188

pendragon

13

clueless101

Is there one for Cambridge? Ive already decided on the college methinks but am just curious!

The tab test :wink:

- http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=16515089826852201595 (posted by someone else in 172) :smile:

Reply 189

paddy

14

Does anyone know what Fitzwilliam is like for sport or drama?
Also how is it academically? Are there any stereotypes of Fitz students?
And not that it matters, but what is it like architecture-wise?
Thanks!

Reply 190

WokSz

17

100%) 1: St. Hugh's College (1886)

crap ... lol.

Reply 191

kitsune

12

(61%) 25: St. Hugh's College (1886) LOL!

Reply 192

WokSz

17

damn you Kitsune lol :P

Reply 193

harrison247

Hey people,
I'm currently in lower sixth and hope to study maths at Cambridge, so I want to go to the maths open day. But the thing is I have to choose a college to look around as well. Since I don't know anyone who goes to Cambridge and the prospectus says pretty much the same thing, I was wondering if anyone could help me narrow things down a bit - e.g. if you go to a college which you particularly like, or if there were any that you would avoid for any reasons (bad reputation, location, whatever).

Any information would be great, and don't be afraid to give opinions about stereotypes of any particular colleges. A reply of any kind to my email, [email protected] , would be greatly appreciated, long or short.
Thanks, harrison247

Reply 194

Willa

11

If I was in your position I would try and get on the Trinity College Maths open day. Why? It's a central college (which are always worth a look around to get the feel of them) and it has (arguabley) the best reputation for maths in cambridge so any maths related application questions will be easily answered. For exactly this reason many people might suggest not going for it....since Trinity College stereotypically attracts the best of the best of the best mathematicians, and so the rest don't stand a chance. But I would play this open day situation to your advantage: I would try and get on the trinity open day (hopefully it's not oversubscribed), and use the opportunity to get a feel for the competition, thinking that those around me were probably somewhere near the top end of the applicant ability list.

But either way, whatever college you choose you will probably get some time to go nosing around the other colleges, so it's no biggie

Reply 195

Jerby

Hi,

I really like the look of Christ's College - from the website, prospectus etc., it seems a nice place to study. However, the College is regarded as one of the more 'academic' ones. Although I've never read it explicitly, I've almost inferred that it is a harder one to get into. This makes me worry - given the competition, should I consider applying elsewhere?

Since I went to a terrible state school (I'm now at a sixth form college), my record so far isn't awful (GCSEs - 3 A*, 5 As, 1 B), but you could hardly call it exceptional. Nevertheless, my predicted AS grades are good (A A A A A/B), and in my January modules I scored 100% in both History and English. I'm in a muddle: what would you guys do if you were me?

Cheers for any advice. :smile:

Reply 196

Willa

11

it's a no-brainer: you should apply to christs. You will not significantly affect your chances of getting in by choosing a "less academic" college. In fact, when I recently looked at the statistics, it's very clear that those colleges that are considered "more academic" or just "more popular", such as Christ's, tend to have a higher percentage of their applicants getting in to cambridge than those applicants from the other colleges - which supports the idea that the smartest students, who tend to go to the popular colleges, stand a better chance of getting in than other students: i.e. what determines if you get in isnt your choice of college, it's your ability. If you wanted to play the statistics assuming it was all a game of chance, then you would pick the most popular college.

So however you look at it, apply to christs

Reply 197

pendragon

13

Willa

it's a no-brainer: you should apply to christs. You will not significantly affect your chances of getting in by choosing a "less academic" college. In fact, when I recently looked at the statistics, it's very clear that those colleges that are considered "more academic" or just "more popular", such as Christ's, tend to have a higher percentage of their applicants getting in to cambridge than those applicants from the other colleges - which supports the idea that the smartest students, who tend to go to the popular colleges, stand a better chance of getting in than other students: i.e. what determines if you get in isnt your choice of college, it's your ability. If you wanted to play the statistics assuming it was all a game of chance, then you would pick the most popular college.

So however you look at it, apply to christs

The Cambridge statistics have no discernable pattern, and the reason for that I think is so many people playing the statistics game from year to year.

With Oxford on the other hand the patterns are generally quite clear and point towards a higher number of applicants per place at more popular colleges, and consequently a lower chance of getting in. No matter how good you are no one is guarenteed a place at oxbridge, if you want to take risks then apply to an oversubscribed college, if you want to maximise your chances I would say apply to somewhere nice in the middle of the scheme of applicants-per-place. For arts subjects its partly luck who interviews you and that affects how well it goes, some people get into places like Mansfieldwhen they apply there directly but might not have been pooled if they had applied to ChCh. At the end of the day your college doesnt matter, your degree is from Oxford and everyone ends up loving whichever college they end up at. :smile:

Reply 198

Willa

11

pendragon

The Cambridge statistics have no discernable pattern, and the reason for that I think is so many people playing the statistics game from year to year.

With Oxford on the other hand the patterns are generally quite clear and point towards a higher number of applicants per place at more popular colleges, and consequently a lower chance of getting in. No matter how good you are no one is guarenteed a place at oxbridge, if you want to take risks then apply to an oversubscribed college, if you want to maximise your chances I would say apply to somewhere nice in the middle of the scheme of applicants-per-place. For arts subjects its partly luck who interviews you and that affects how well it goes, some people get into places like Mansfieldwhen they apply there directly but might not have been pooled if they had applied to ChCh. At the end of the day your college doesnt matter, your degree is from Oxford and everyone ends up loving whichever college they end up at. :smile:

that is wrong. I had a look at the statistics myself and I was able to discern a pattern: In terms of odds it seemed more likely for you to get in to cambridge by applying to a popular college than it did if you applied to an unpopular one! It was clear that the more popular colleges had more applicants being taken out of the pool than the less popular colleges (which actually took lots of people out of the pool - in quite a few cases I think they took more people from the pool than from the original applicants). As I said in my post: it seems if you want to play the statistics, and be the fool and treat this as a game of chance then you should apply to the most popular colleges (at least at cambridge anyway). But anyone with any sense will know it isn't a game of chance, and the reason the statistics suggest the popular colleges give you a better chance is because the standard of applicant to those colleges is probably higher!
So you can't play the statistics: if you're a weak applicant, and apply to a popular college, you'll be rejected. If you think you can be clever and apply to a less popular college, you'll be rejected because they take more people out of the pool. I say you can't win by playing the statistics

Reply 199

Elles

17

pendragon

With Oxford on the other hand the patterns are generally quite clear and point towards a higher number of applicants per place at more popular colleges, and consequently a lower chance of getting in...

...to that particular college perhaps.

but to the university overall?
As Willa says for Cam I'm inclined to think the %university-successes might actually be higher for those "popular" college applicants = self selection effect & that a candidates chances depend on more than just the number of applicants, number of places & luck.

But am open to statistical persuasion otherwise! :p:

Choosing an Oxford College

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