Choosing an Oxford College

Reply 2480

Incarnadine91

6

Original post by nulli tertius

The reading lamps are cheaper at Ikea

http://www.danishdesignstore.com/collections/designer-collections-arne-jacobsen

Jesus Christ, I recognise most of that stuff... Did not know my light fitting was that expensive. :colondollar:

And I'll be way more careful around the chairs in hall from now on!

Reply 2481

anyone_can_fly

11

Original post by Caecilius

Huh, bit of a mish to answer, but I might as well put the question out there:
I'm after a college that offers formal hall >4 times a week, and offers accommodation on-site (in college) for at least two, preferably three years; nice architecture is also a plus (not a big fan of St Catherine's, loler). Any recommendations? I'm going to apply for PPE.

Merton offers formal hall every day (or 6 times a week, can't remember) for the same price as the normal supper, and have accommodation on site every year except second year, when you're in accommodation on Holywell St that's about 5 minutes walk from the college. And it's beautiful. (I'm biased and I haven't even made my offer yet!)

Reply 2482

AnimalSpirit

7

Original post by Incarnadine91

Don't worry, if I held a grudge against everyone who insulted my college, then I wouldn't be talking to half of Oxford :wink:

And that nickname is completely unfounded - Ikea is Swedish, we're designed by a Dane. Big difference, obviously... :colone:

Like most other Danes, I am proud of Arne Jacobsen, but tbh I was disappointed when I heard he was behind Catz.. He also designed the Danish central Bank. Imo he did a better job with that :wink:

Reply 2483

Incarnadine91

6

Original post by AnimalSpirit

Like most other Danes, I am proud of Arne Jacobsen, but tbh I was disappointed when I heard he was behind Catz.. He also designed the Danish central Bank. Imo he did a better job with that :wink:

He was a bit batty in some of his designs, for instance the blinds let in a lot more light than they should in the morning, the lamps on the hall tables tend to get in the way of conversation across them, there exists a staircase with no stairs and he was apparantly convinced that every Oxford student would own a pair of skis. The last one means that we get storage cupboards attached to each room that are about 7 ft tall and 3 deep, so I'm not complaining! I'm currently housed in the new block which was not designed by Jacobsen, and tbh the old block is holding up much better. Bias aside, he did a good job.

Reply 2484

AnimalSpirit

7

Original post by Incarnadine91

He was a bit batty in some of his designs, for instance the blinds let in a lot more light than they should in the morning, the lamps on the hall tables tend to get in the way of conversation across them, there exists a staircase with no stairs and he was apparantly convinced that every Oxford student would own a pair of skis. The last one means that we get storage cupboards attached to each room that are about 7 ft tall and 3 deep, so I'm not complaining! I'm currently housed in the new block which was not designed by Jacobsen, and tbh the old block is holding up much better. Bias aside, he did a good job.

And we don't even have mountains in Denmark! :rolleyes:

I am sure the staircase without stairs has some sort of function.. It's functionalism after all :wink:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2485

Incarnadine91

6

Original post by AnimalSpirit

And we don't even have mountains in Denmark! :rolleyes:

I am sure the staircase without stairs has some sort of function.. It's functionalism after all :wink:

It used to be above the porter's lodge, then that got moved but you still can only get into the upper levels through the staircases either side. Very weird.

Reply 2486

ElizaDoolittle

Hi,

I am uncertain as to which Oxford College (2013) I should apply to. I would like to read Modern History.

I have 10 A*s and 1 A at GCSE, and am predicted 3 Higher Level 7s at IB (HL subjects: English, History and Spanish, with 43/45 points altogether).

I very much enjoy Choir, Public Speaking and Debating, Modern Foreign Languages, Young Enterprise and Politics.

I am from a private school (I know some colleges are more left-wing than others).
My interests are in Intellectual History, Eighteenth-Century England, and China.

Could anyone help?

Thank you!

Reply 2487

fudgesundae

16

Original post by ElizaDoolittle

Hi,

I am uncertain as to which Oxford College (2013) I should apply to. I would like to read Modern History.

I have 10 A*s and 1 A at GCSE, and am predicted 3 Higher Level 7s at IB (HL subjects: English, History and Spanish, with 43/45 points altogether).

I very much enjoy Choir, Public Speaking and Debating, Modern Foreign Languages, Young Enterprise and Politics.

I am from a private school (I know some colleges are more left-wing than others).
My interests are in Intellectual History, Eighteenth-Century England, and China.

Could anyone help?

Thank you!

New, Magdalen, Christ Church and Merton are the choral foundation colleges. New probably has the most famous choir. These colleges also happen to be among the most traditional.

Reply 2488

ElizaDoolittle

Hi,

I am uncertain as to which Oxford College (2013) I should apply to. I would like to read Modern History.

I have 10 A*s and 1 A at GCSE, and am predicted 3 Higher Level 7s at IB (HL subjects: English, History and Spanish, with 43/45 points altogether).

I very much enjoy Choir, Public Speaking and Debating, Modern Foreign Languages, Young Enterprise and Politics.

I am from a private school (I know some colleges are more left-wing than others).
My interests are in Intellectual History, Eighteenth-Century England, and China.

Could anyone help?

Thank you!

Reply 2489

_Memphis_

Hello everybody,

I am planing to apply to Oxford University for 2013 entry.

Right now I am busy choosing the right college for me (E&M).

I recall having found a statistic in which the amount of students in each course at each college was listed. Can anyone give me some information on this statistic?

Thank you very much!

Reply 2490

nulli tertius

21

Original post by _Memphis_

Hello everybody,

I am planing to apply to Oxford University for 2013 entry.

Right now I am busy choosing the right college for me (E&M).

I recall having found a statistic in which the amount of students in each course at each college was listed. Can anyone give me some information on this statistic?

Thank you very much!

Unfortunately Oxford doesn't offer a course in joinery. :tongue:

Reply 2491

astro67

10

Original post by _Memphis_

Hello everybody,

I am planing to apply to Oxford University for 2013 entry.

Right now I am busy choosing the right college for me (E&M).

I recall having found a statistic in which the amount of students in each course at each college was listed. Can anyone give me some information on this statistic?

Thank you very much!

Have a look at the links from http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/colleges/undergraduate_numbers_by_college/index.html

That should tell you what you want.

Reply 2492

logiadoevus

2

Original post by ElizaDoolittle

Hi,

I am uncertain as to which Oxford College (2013) I should apply to. I would like to read Modern History.

I have 10 A*s and 1 A at GCSE, and am predicted 3 Higher Level 7s at IB (HL subjects: English, History and Spanish, with 43/45 points altogether).

I very much enjoy Choir, Public Speaking and Debating, Modern Foreign Languages, Young Enterprise and Politics.

I am from a private school (I know some colleges are more left-wing than others).
My interests are in Intellectual History, Eighteenth-Century England, and China.

Could anyone help?

Thank you!

It doesn't matter. If you're good enough to get a place, you'll get one. Apply to the one that appeals to you.

Reply 2493

icycreamy6

I've been doing a lot of research and reading comments on the Student Room. I'm actually interested in University College (I'd like to study law), but it seems like not much is said about it.

Has anyone been there?

Thanks!

Reply 2494

fluteflute

OP

19

Original post by icycreamy6

I've been doing a lot of research and reading comments on the Student Room. I'm actually interested in University College (I'd like to study law), but it seems like not much is said about it.

Has anyone been there?

Thanks!

I went to their open day. It was very nice :smile:

Reply 2495

La_Mignonne

6

Okay so I'm entirely at a loss at which college to choose! I know you can do an open application but I would like to find one that I think would suit me if that makes sense :smile:

I want to study Jurisprudence (Law) so obviously a college that isn't a million miles away would be ideal. I don't mind walking but anything over a 40 minute walk from the Law Faculty would be a little too much hassle for me.

I'm not a relatively sporty person but I'm quite sociable and I prefer to have a wide circle of friends and so I was thinking maybe a larger college? Yet I would like one that's quite warm and welcoming with a close knit community so a smaller college would perhaps be better for that.

I've also heard on the grape vine that some colleges are more inclined to accept state school pupils than others? I go to a state school in Northern Ireland which has sent a few pupils to Oxford in the past but it's hardly renowned for sending many pupils to Oxbridge.

Any help at all would be good as I am entirely overwhelmed by the choice! Thanks :smile:

Reply 2496

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Hi,

Well obviously you should apply to Woosta but I'm not sure how near that is to the Law Faculty :p:

Just to let you know, there aren't colleges that are more inclined to accept state school students. What DOES happen is that people hear the same rumours as you and thus apply to certain college, making there a much wider pool of state school applicants at that college, which means more are likely to be accepted. If that makes sense? It's a self-perpetuating thing :yes:

Reply 2497

astro67

10

Original post by La_Mignonne

Okay so I'm entirely at a loss at which college to choose! I know you can do an open application but I would like to find one that I think would suit me if that makes sense :smile:

I want to study Jurisprudence (Law) so obviously a college that isn't a million miles away would be ideal. I don't mind walking but anything over a 40 minute walk from the Law Faculty would be a little too much hassle for me.

I'm not a relatively sporty person but I'm quite sociable and I prefer to have a wide circle of friends and so I was thinking maybe a larger college? Yet I would like one that's quite warm and welcoming with a close knit community so a smaller college would perhaps be better for that.

I've also heard on the grape vine that some colleges are more inclined to accept state school pupils than others? I go to a state school in Northern Ireland which has sent a few pupils to Oxford in the past but it's hardly renowned for sending many pupils to Oxbridge.

Any help at all would be good as I am entirely overwhelmed by the choice! Thanks :smile:

First of all the bad news - all colleges fall inside your 40 minute limit so you can't rule any out that way - a quick check on google maps suggests a walking time to St Hugh's of 23 minutes and even the most southerly College will be less than this. Do you ride a bike? If so, all journey times will fall even more comfortably inside your time limit. The good news, on the other hand, is you can't make a bad choice although you are right to aim to make a choice of your own - you might as well express an opinion after all. I would always recommend Somerville but I am hopelessly biased - it's large enough to provide a good range of people and activities while being famously friendly and welcoming, and we came top for the learning experience in Oxford's student barometer (an internal student satisfaction survey for non-finalists - see http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/04/19/somerville-soars-in-satisfaction-survey/) this year.

The other poster is right that the proportion of the population from the state sector at a College has no impact on your personal chance of success - it essentially reflects the proportion that apply - so the fact that Somerville has an above-average (for Oxford) proportion from the state sector should not influence your thinking :wink:

.

Reply 2498

nexttime

22

Original post by La_Mignonne

I don't mind walking but anything over a 40 minute walk from the Law Faculty would be a little too much hassle for me.

Oh wow - you could do a couple of laps of central Oxford in that amount of time! If you want <5 minutes though, that would be sensible criteria. Just check out Google maps for the closest (bearing in mind not all college accommodation is on the site of the actual college). Merton's accommodation, St Catz and New are three colleges that are probably the closest ones.

You should probably think about what kind of community size appeals to you. Mixing with other years is very much done, so its probably better to think of a college of 90 per year as a 'community' of 300 rather than 90. The range is about 200-500.

Any specific sports facilites requested? This could form some criteria.

Accommodation provision and price is something that a lot of students value - worth researching.

After that, you might just want to base it on superficial things like age, appearance etc.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2499

Festina lente

11

Original post by La_Mignonne

Okay so I'm entirely at a loss at which college to choose! I know you can do an open application but I would like to find one that I think would suit me if that makes sense :smile:

I want to study Jurisprudence (Law) so obviously a college that isn't a million miles away would be ideal. I don't mind walking but anything over a 40 minute walk from the Law Faculty would be a little too much hassle for me.

I'm not a relatively sporty person but I'm quite sociable and I prefer to have a wide circle of friends and so I was thinking maybe a larger college? Yet I would like one that's quite warm and welcoming with a close knit community so a smaller college would perhaps be better for that.

I've also heard on the grape vine that some colleges are more inclined to accept state school pupils than others? I go to a state school in Northern Ireland which has sent a few pupils to Oxford in the past but it's hardly renowned for sending many pupils to Oxbridge.

Any help at all would be good as I am entirely overwhelmed by the choice! Thanks :smile:

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Hi,

Well obviously you should apply to Woosta but I'm not sure how near that is to the Law Faculty :p:

Just to let you know, there aren't colleges that are more inclined to accept state school students. What DOES happen is that people hear the same rumours as you and thus apply to certain college, making there a much wider pool of state school applicants at that college, which means more are likely to be accepted. If that makes sense? It's a self-perpetuating thing :yes: