[xx_ambellina_xx]

(Original post by Willa)
So ends what I would call the OFFICIAL part of this thread. The following two stages are of negligible importance:

8. Subject Reputations: The general academic attitude to work at oxbridge can probably be scaled by the two academic tables, the Tompkins table and the Norrington Table. These tables provide scaling for how students at each college performed in their exams. It only provides a rough guide to academic attitude...some colleges will work you harder than suggested by their position in the table, some colleges are more relaxed.

Cambridge tompkins Table: http://www.fantasyfacup.com/matthew/fun/tompkins/
Oxford norrington Table: http://www.fantasyfacup.com/matthew/fun/norrington

Beyond general academic attitude, I now call upon fellow oxbridge students to help compile a list of colleges that are considered to be particularly good at one given subject. These are usually in reference to uniqueness of facilities available and so I remind any prospective student that the information below should not be an important factor in your college decision.

Cambridge Colleges
Trinity College: World Famous reputation for Mathematics
Downing College: Unique Reputation for Law (offering special law courses such as a french law double matrice)
Gonville And Caius College: Medicine (They accept the most and get lots of firsts)

Oxford Colleges



9. General Stereotype: The following stereotypes are not neccessarily accurate, and are often born out of jealousy towards the college (i try to give reasons below if I know of them).
However, you should bare in mind that any stereotype can also come from the behaviour of small groups of people at that college. For example, if the college is considered posh, it is only because there are some students there that are like that, but most likely are far from a majority. It is just percieved (possibly falsely) that they form a larger proportion at that college than any other college.

You certainly should not think that all students at that college are like what the stereotype dictates. This is absolutely not the case.

But to keep you applicants happy, here's the list. (once again I call for help from fellow students).

If no stereotype is given, it means I dont know of one

Cambridge Colleges

St Johns College: Despised in general by many students at other colleges for no particularly good reason. Although if I had to guess it would probably be a combination of: Boaties hating them because they're usually very good at rowing, Envy for their large grounds and (some would call) pretty architecture, people having bad relationships with people at St Johns. All in all this has spawned the song "I'd rather be at Oxford than St Johns". I remind you that it's all a bit of a joke and it doesnt go beyond rivarlly.

Trinity College: Has developed a bit of a bad reputation among first your Natural Scientists because of one particular individual (the reputation is spreading funnily enough). Generally considered quite a upper class college although once again that is small minority of the students there. Although given that, the college is exceedingly wealthy...but they do throw amazing May Balls (as do St Johns).

Gonville And Cauis College: Boaties despise due to their dominance of male rowing in cambridge. Known as quite an academic college, and along with Trinity and St Johns, is known as one of the more "snobby" colleges.

Churchill College: Majority Male college due to excessive engineers. Considered a bit geeky from that point of view, but mostly unfounded stereotype.

Peterhouse: A supposed link to excessive homosexual behaviour...but they brough it upon themselves by calling their JCR "The Sex Club"....they're all a bunch of jokers if you ask me.

Robinson College: Built almost entirely out of red bricks, this college is apparently rather baffling and near impossible to escape from when drunk (ask Musicboy). Supposedly going to be closed soon due to money troubles, with rumours if it being turned into Trinity College Carpark...I wouldnt put it past them though (it is their land!).

Clare College: Labelled one of the few "friendly colleges", this certainly doesnt mean the other colleges arent. Perhaps it's related to certain drunken behaviour by college individuals...but Helenia and chums can elaborate on that. This college has been exceedingly popular with applicants in recent years as well.

Kings College: Despite it's popularity with Japanese tourists, this college is famous for having an extremely active student union. Kings students always have something to protest and winge about. There is also supposedly a lot of sexually wierd people there. My general opinion is it's full of incredibly unique students who just want to have a good (if slightly disturbing) time at university.

Christs College: A reputation to academic brutallity towards students, but then again a lot of students at all colleges will say they're worked damn hard. Also well known for international applications, and rumours of giving out EE offers...so there's a plus side, they dont want you to stress over your exams if they make you an offer.

Emmanuel College: (I reserved from doing this myself, this is what the others said) Like Clare, referred to as one of the "friendly" colleges, possibly for it's incredibly popular (but overly crowded) bar. Being top of the Tompkins table it has also obtained a reputation for hard work, although you wouldnt think that from the behaviour of some of it's students.

Queens' College: Currently renowned for their excellent Ents nights and excessive numbers of novice rowers (probably due to Queens' ergs competition held at start of Michaelmas term).

Oxford Colleges

Balliol College: Full of left-wingers, so I guess they must be at least a little bit crazy if they're anything like Kings College Cambridge.

Oriel College: Full of Tories.

Queen's College: Full of northerners.

Jesus College: Full of Welsh people

Merton College: Full of workoholics.

Christ Church College: Full of your stereotypical "rah" oxbridge students, who after a spiffingly good game of croquet go and drink lashings of exceedinlgy expensive fine spirits.



So if fellow students could help finish this off it would be most useful.

oh, wow, how fun! I know a welsh boy at Jesus, Oxford...not sure if that's the stereotype becoming reality though...Oriel is not necessarily full of Tories, I know one particular raving leftie *i grins*...Oh, and aren't Queens', Cambridge men meant to be ridiculously good looking?

[xx_ambellina_xx]

(Original post by Willa)
i've seen that article before and dont agree with this whole business of playing the stats. It just adds to people's thoughts that you can worm your way into oxbridge if you know how

Also, many, many people play the stats. Not such a good idea, since college applications fluctuate from year to year because of the sheer number of people playing the numbers game. Pick one you like. You're more likely to do well in the interview if you want to go to that college and are vaguely comfortable in the surroundings.

[ajl61]

Hey Willa, this is looking to be some really useful stuff!

Would just like to add my two pennies (hmmm pennies and wine ). So, tayloring to Cambridge only:

(Original post by Willa)
For most people on this forum, who are applying as an undergraduate, this will eliminate 5 or so colleges...Also mature colleges (for people older than 21 only i think) are:
Cambridge: Lucy Cavendish, Darwin, Clare Hall

6 in total at the moment, being Clare Hall, Darwin, Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmunds, Wolfson. If you are under 21 you can't apply to these at all, but if you are over 21 and thinking of a second degree, i.e. as a mature student, then you can - they all accept mature students.

(Original post by Willa)
You'd be suprised with how you react when you walk into each college. With some colleges I knew instantly I didn't like it. So I can't stress this enough, if you can, visit the colleges...it will help reduce your list substantially

However, don't overdo it either. Many Cambridge colleges do look rather similar from the outside, and if you overdo it you can get rather bored and then you might cross off colleges that you might end up really liking!
Also, I would probably do a little more research before I go and visit the colleges - you have a lot more background information and you'll feel like you are wasting a lot less time just wondering around, sight-seeing everything that just looks familiar. By research, I mean things like accommodation, facilities offered (like gym and sports field if you are sporty, and music rooms or piano in rooms if you are a musician), location, telecommunication if you can't live without the Internet, food if you can't cook, catering facilities if you can. These are VERY VERY VERY important, as they are criteria on the standard of living you will be having for the next three years, and esp if you are a fussy person, you need to be really look into them, as these are mostly what differentiate the individual colleges. Some of these are discussed below.

(Original post by Willa)
5. Eliminate by Location: You'd be suprised by how lazy (or energetic) you become when you become a student. So college location may or may not be a problem for you, at least when it comes to determining how far you must walk to lectures. Some people like to be in the centre of the town, others prefer to be out of the way. Either way, if you managed to visit the universities as advised above, you will have got a feel as to where some of the colleges are, including walking distances! But here are 2 maps to help you eliminate colleges you feel are just a little too out of your way.

The criteria other than central town that you might be looking for are: local amenities, i.e. shops and supermarkets. If you aren't a confident cyclist who can balance a load of shopping bags on your handle (although I promise you'll learn fast when you in Cambridge!), then you probably want to be near a supermarket, and in Cambridge the only one in central is Sainsbury's, right outside Sidney Sussex. Otherwise Jesus is within cycling distance to the big tescos and Asda (5min I would say). Of course there are random Co-ops etc dotted around. Ask the students when you visit the college. The other criteria is obviously lecture halls. In general most depts in Cambridge are pretty central, although that does mean if you are in Girton and Homerton, you forego that half hour or even more of precious sleep time. Also again it depends on how lazy you are (and you might get - Cambridge is so small it makes you very lazy indeed) and whether you cycle or not.

Btw, by location I mean the location of accommodation, not necessarily the location of the college - some you don't get to really live in college at all!

(Original post by Willa)
6. Eliminate By Facilities: At this stage it becomes useful to point out the Alternative Prospectus provided by students are each university. Just go to the university websites and search for "Alternative Prospectus" and you'll find students takes on each of their own colleges (good and bad points).
This allows you to eliminate colleges which dont have a particular facility (such as sports facility or music facility). If you're still unsure, email the college, they'll answer any question you have.
Obviously don't expect every college to have every facility, only cross off colleges that dont have a facility that is absolutely essential.

Many, if they don't have a facility, they do arrange to share to allow their students to use another college's. This mostly applies to sports - ground and gym. But more importantly, look into the accommodation - those will be your home for the next three years. Some colleges let you live in for all three years, but with many you have to live in college-owned houses (for undergrads. for grads many will have to find own accommodation), and some colleges have accommodation dotted around cambridge far away from college (and yet they require you to come to hall every night).

(Original post by Willa)
7. Pick the one you like most: At this stage most people should have a shortlist of no more than 5 colleges. I can not stress enough how important it is to now just pick the one you like most. If you sit there saying "I like them all equally" you're probably kidding yourself, there will be one which you like more than the others, so just pick it.
Stop thinking about any other factors such as reputation for courses, what other students think of that college, just pick the college you like most, if you have that feeling about a college it means you're almost certain to fit in there.

I agree to a certain extent. However, if you are one of those who just can't make up your mind, then you might want to have a look at the sort of culture within the college - like some have great social scenes, some have more academic societies and generally have a more academic atmosphere, etc.

(Original post by Willa)
REMEMBER: It doesn't matter what your college reputation is for a particular subject, in the end you're lectured by the university, not your college. It's far more important to enjoy the company in your college, and your surroundings, than to worry about being at "the best college for...."

Indeed, the only leverage you might get on that is you might have one which already have a concentrated number of good supervisors, like maths at Trinity, and your DOS may then have less headache trying to find you supervisors that he doesn't know whether good or not. But, at the end of the day, that's about all there is in terms of subject reputation and relationship to a college. And, *never* choose a college because so and so is there - you may never get to be taught by him.

[ajl61]

Oops, just realised there are four pages to this thread, rather than one! D'oh!

Had to point these out though...

(Original post by Willa)
Cambridge Colleges

St Johns College: Despised in general by many students at other colleges for no particularly good reason. Although if I had to guess it would probably be a combination of: Boaties hating them because they're usually very good at rowing, ...

That and their surprisingly stuck up noses even when they hospitalised rival sports persons when it was entirely their fault; they even appealed to charges imposed upon them for not doing things correctly which resulted the injury, let alone apologise or offer to pay for the hospitalisation!
Of course, that's where they got their reputation from. I generally love the people I'm friends with who happen to be from John's.

(Original post by Willa)
Gonville And Cauis College: Boaties despise due to their dominance of male rowing in cambridge. Known as quite an academic college, and along with Trinity and St Johns, is known as one of the more "snobby" colleges.

Also a factor which would forever put me off ever applying there - you have to pay a fixed amount of exceedingly expensive meal vouchers every term for very very disgusting food in general. And you generally live not close to college, yet you have only two slots of hall time. However, whether because of it or not, you do get the chance to get to know many people around your college.

(Original post by Willa)
Peterhouse: A supposed link to excessive homosexual behaviour...but they brough it upon themselves by calling their JCR "The Sex Club"....they're all a bunch of jokers if you ask me.

Smallest and oldest. Gets really cosy

(Original post by Willa)
Christs College: A reputation to academic brutallity towards students, but then again a lot of students at all colleges will say they're worked damn hard. Also well known for international applications, and rumours of giving out EE offers...so there's a plus side, they dont want you to stress over your exams if they make you an offer.

but, if you are extremely academic and end up with a First (ie. a scholar), they treat you like god.

(Original post by Willa)
Queens' College: Currently renowned for their excellent Ents nights and excessive numbers of novice rowers (probably due to Queens' ergs competition held at start of Michaelmas term).

Also in general extremely vibrant social atmosphere, tonnes of extra-curriculum societies in college including a big dance soc, drama soc.

Just a couple of additions for the women only colleges:

Newnham College: Generally excites the guys as one of the three women-only colleges. Perhaps mostly reputed by the rule that no guys can exit without a "note" (which somehow after a few circulations became the "permission note") after midnight. Ents is small comparatively despite best efforts, the Friday band/comedy nights generally attracts audience from the college, or bfs of the college. Strong sportingwise though, and have one of the most beautiful yet undisturbed gardens, with lovely Victorian buildings and second longest corridor in Europe.

New Hall College: The other women-only undergrad college apart from Newnham. Reputed to be arch-rivals. It is located up the hill and lots of concrete blocks. Financially not great, majorly dependent on a Japanese education foundation which leased some land in New Hall. Great Hockey team but otherwise not really top of any sports leagues. Also you have to pay gym membership to use college gym, which I think is ridiculous considering most other colleges offer it free to members.

(Original post by Willa)
Oxford Colleges...

Hey, I think there's some funny pages about the generalisation for Ox colleges somewhere online. Will dig it out

[Helenia]

(Original post by ajl61)

That and their surprisingly stuck up noses even when they hospitalised rival sports persons when it was entirely their fault; they even appealed to charges imposed upon them for not doing things correctly which resulted the injury, let alone apologise or offer to pay for the hospitalisation!
Of course, that's where they got their reputation from. I generally love the people I'm friends with who happen to be from John's.

I think the guy involved has suffered quite significantly as a result of this though of course it will lead to the respective boat clubs despising each other even more after that. But - pay for hospitalisation? What?

[Willa]

ooo which boatie "accident" did i not hear about?

[Helenia]

(Original post by Willa)
ooo which boatie "accident" did i not hear about?

I'm sure you did - Lents, women's div 2. Maggie W2 bumped Newnham W2, stopped by lodging bow ball in 7 girl's ribs, thus (unsurprisingly) breaking them.

The Maggie cox came in for a LOT of flak, from CUCBC, on the boatie messageboards and from rightly enraged Newnhamites, for not getting his crew to hold it up properly. But that was a long time ago now.

Not that I'm condoning the Maggie scum though, let them burn! (except one )

[ajl61]

The reason we were so enraged was not because of the accident - they happen, it's a sport - it's just the attitude that was taken on straight after the incident - no apologies were made for quite a few days after the incident; and also just how the other boats behave in general.

But it's true, it's been a long time, although, was it them that was rumoured to have been banned on the river for 100 years? i always wanted to find out whether this is really true - apparently there had been recordings in the history of boatclubs (or equivalent)

[Helenia]

(Original post by ajl61)
The reason we were so enraged was not because of the accident - they happen, it's a sport - it's just the attitude that was taken on straight after the incident - no apologies were made for quite a few days after the incident; and also just how the other boats behave in general.

But it's true, it's been a long time, although, was it them that was rumoured to have been banned on the river for 100 years? i always wanted to find out whether this is really true - apparently there had been recordings in the history of boatclubs (or equivalent)

Oh probably - but the sword incident (they were meant to have killed a Trinity Cox) is not true. The person who died in a bumps race in 18-something-or-other was a Clare 4 man, who got the (non-bow-balled) bows of a Tit Hall boat through his ribs whilst banked up having already bumped.

[hannahbanna]

hey thanks for the amusing and useful advice people - im going to apply for english and at the mo torn between downing and st catherines - any1 got any advice for me?

[Willa]

(Original post by hannahbanna)
any1 got any advice for me?

Did you not read what the posts in this thread said?
I havent got anything to say i'm afraid, all my opinions are up in those first 2 posts

[HannahZ]

Oxford Colleges: General Info

Alternative prospectus: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousufinc/pubs/AP2003.pdf
Official information: http://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/
Virtual Tour: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/default.html

[kitsune]

(Original post by xx_ambellina_xx)
Oh, and aren't Queens', Cambridge men meant to be ridiculously good looking?

I applied there last year and i did NOT see any good looking guy

[Helenia]

(Original post by kitsune)
I applied there last year and i did NOT see any good looking guy

Well, that would be because you were there outside of term so most of the students weren't there. Trust me, there are lots...

[kitsune]

That must have been... but prospects Queens' (ers ?) werent fit at all! I pity I didnt get in!

[tritogeneia1]

(Original post by nooneknows)
Hey,

I'm not actually at Oxford, but I've got a deferred place at Christ Church.

I think anyone who goes on these forums regularly will know to take the college stereotypes with a pinch of salt, and I wasn't going to bother commenting, until I noticed someone had said ChCh looked 'too grand' for them. I've now been up there three times (two open days and interviews) and I've yet to encounter any of the stereotypes! Yes, I can see the 'grand' architecture putting some people off...but don't rule it out on any crazy social issues. It's one of the colleges that's putting a hell of a lot of effort into access, it's 50:50 private/state, and Brideshead was a long time ago!

Sorry if this sounds like a bit of a rant! But I'm definitely not from a "posh" background and my experience of the college and its students so far have been really great. So don't discount ChCh, or any other college, on anecdotes!

Thank you! So true, we are NOT all posh rahs, it enrages me when people take these college stereotypes seriously, especially when they haven't met anyone from the college in question, or have met one person who seemd to conform to the stereotype (there are always 1 or 2...but no more than any other college, they've got to be somewhere after all! Besides, not all people who went to private school are posh rahs anyway; that is another ignorant assumption that really annoys me!) Btw, we're now slightly more state school, I think last year they took a few more and tipped the balance. Also we have our own access scheme, Aspire (please ask about it if you're doing an access sticky or similar). I helped on it last year and i think it's great. We had about 40-50 year 10 pupils who stayed the night and did academic/fun seminar things; we had a very positive reaction from both them and their teachers, and i think (I hope) that we really did something to make them think about uni/Oxford for them and see that it is possible.
Anyway, just my contribution, I hope it's useful. I'll stop ranting about how great ChCh is now, but i wanted to make our friendliness and non-rah-ness known further! As well as the wonderful ChCh admissions officer. (Ok, i"ll shut up now.)

[HannahZ]

The application ratios as published in the prospectuses are not totally reliable as they vary from year to year and do not take account of pooling and open applicationswhich make a huge difference and even out the odds a lot.

Applying to a popular college does not mean that you are less likely to get in but just that you have a higher chance of being pooled to aother college and ending up at a random unpopular one.

A less popular college does not mean that you have an increased chance of getting in because you willl be up against all the people pooled from the more popular colleges as well as those that applied directly. Applying to an unpopular choice means that you are unlikely to be pooled to anywhere else. This could be an advantage if you don't want and all female college. The downside is that the less popular colleges usually have at least one significant drawback: unattractive architecture, out of town location, all female, poor, or only two years accommodation. Check any major drawback and decide how important it is to you.

This also applies to open applications which are usually distributed to the undersubscribed colleges.

Link to thread on application ratios

[badgerbadger]

I'm worried now: I applied to Christ Church on the basis of accommodation and also because it looks a lot like my school (among other not-very-sensible reasons - it was a crisis of indecision) but lately I read in a University Guide that it had become a 'champion of political correctness in recent years' and now that they put a lot of effort into fiddling the figures to get more state school applicants in?? That was precisely the situation I wanted to avoid: I had hoped that Oxford could at least be trusted to be sector-blind when it came to schooling, I had hoped that the reasons i had avoided Bristol and other public-school-phobic institutions would not apply to Oxford. Have I made a terrible mistake? I have also encountered a good deal of information about refurbishment meaning I will probably not be accommodated in my second year. If true, this means the main reasons I became enamoured of Christ Church (and of Oxford) are invalid.

How can I possibly atone for the crime of going to private school? Who is in charge of all this stuff?

[HannahZ]

You do not have to worry. Oxford is totally impartial when it comes to school background. They do not discriminate for or against anyone on the basis of state or independent school. The government want them to improve their ratios but Oxford refuse to carry out any positive dicrimination in favour of state school applicants. To increase the proportion of state school students they are using access schemes to encourage more to apply. Everyone is treated equally when it comes to selection criteria. The majority of applicants to Christ Church are still from independent schools as many state school students peceive (rightly or wrongly) that it's a posh college. You have as good a chance of getting in there as any other applicant. It is a beautiful college but popular, so you always have to be prepared for the possibility of being pooled/reallocated to another.

[badgerbadger]

*slaps self* panicked for a bit there, of course you're right; I remember noting with significance the head of the University's "get your tanks off my lawn" comment in response to Blair's proposed student quotas. I hate quotas.

That doesn't explain the widespread poshophobia that's around these days though.