Choosing a College
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(Original post by 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?
Sorry I scared you, didn't mean to imply that ChCh has become rabidly anti-private school or anything, just pointing out to all those people who think it's like it was in the 20s that we have EVEN (more or less) ratios and try to widen access (not use +ve discrimination - as if there were anything positive about it, grr.) They will not turn you down because of your school, whatever type it was.
As far as the refurbishment is concerned, I don't think anything is certain yet. i can see why you're annooyed, it's one of the reasons I chose ChCh as well, but if you do have to live out in 2nd year I think the college is planning either to buy a building (so you don;t have to live actually out, you'd still be in college accomodation even if not on-site) or to contribute to living costs in sosme way, as obviously you can't be expected to pay more just because you had the misfortune to be in the year where this refurbishment was happening.(DAMN Andrew McIntosh and the listing of Blue Boar! Though I guess if it hadn't been listed they'd have pulled it down and built something else anyway.) And talking of Blue Boar, only about half the 1st year lives in it anyway, so you might not have to live out - there would only be shortfall in accomodation for some of the year. It also makes it even more likely that you will have some costs paid by college, as again it's not fair to ask half the year to pay more. -
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Alas, no. Our 1st year accommodation was refurb'd and turned into 2nd and 3rd accommodation(Original post by markabey)
Incredibly drunk, because of cheap beer in a student run bar, beery lot, close to sainsburys, new 1st yr accom this yr.
Right in the middle of town, don't have to get up early for lectures although the sports field is miles away.
I've heard "Sidney NoSex" thrown about unhappily often... (Not true) -
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Sidney NoSex is definitely not true.
Drinking is on the decline at the moment as college are trying to become more academic.
It's a 15-20min walk to Sidgwick from Sidney, but our houses are fairly spread out so you might find yourself on Huntingdon Road (near Fitz), De Freville Avenue (near the boat houses), Clarkson Road (near Wolfson Court) or St Paul's Road (near the Catholic Church) which are all quite far away from college.
I guess we're know for being northern, sociable and keen (if not particularly good) in terms of sports. We're a good college (and we're one of the 3 known as "the friendly college"). -
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Went to Mansfield. If you like small then mansfield is good. Unfortunately they choose eMacs and there are no PCs. More than your average number of welsh students, but nothing like as many as Jesus, not that this should be considered negative, my girfriend is Welsh but went to LMH. Very state-school orientated, verging on the toffophobic. Has little social groups which is amazing considering its size. Everybody knows gossip about you because its so small. Its very pretty. Accomodation isnt very good, but they finally have ethernet in rooms now. After I arrived people told me it had an LGBT reputation, though I dont think so. I didnt grow up in uk and was not impressed by the food, but apparently its one of the best colleges in terms of food. Much more geared towards clubbing than drinks parties. Hope that helps...(Original post by jimmydoerre3)
um..........how about mansfield, I applied because I really like small colleges. Whats perception towards this school. -
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I'm really keen on doing the Natural Sciences course at Cambridge, so I'd really like to apply, but I'm only going to be 17 when I start... does this affect the colleges I can apply to? Will I need to contact the colleges about this?
(I'm aware that the mature student colleges aren't for me!) -
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Tell me about it!(Original post by Helenia)
Well, that would be because you were there outside of term so most of the students weren't there. Trust me, there are lots...
*sighs*
*wishes madly for the chance to study there after applying there next year...*
Btw, not a perv, would actually like to go there hehe -
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The Oxford Alternative prospectus? Do you mean the one students make and you get from the college or something else?(Original post by midnight_tiptoe)
Yeah, I wanna know about New College too! Lol. Although I've heard some bad things about it being cliquey etc on the Oxford alternative prospectus.
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http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousufinc/pubs/AP2003.pdf i presume(Original post by mellow-yellow)
The Oxford Alternative prospectus? Do you mean the one students make and you get from the college or something else? -
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http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousufinc/pubs/AP2003.pdf
The one the students make, I think. Seems slightly disheartening, considering it's a propsectus that's supposed to make your college seem really inviting, yet students are said to be apathetic and cliquey... I dunno what to make of it really!
Does anyone know what the accommodation's like for each year - as in how are the rooms? Do nearly all rooms have ethernet connections? Which year lives in the brightly coloured cottages? Last time when I stayed in one of those for interview, the signal was abysmal and I had to make calls outside in the freezing cold! Please don't tell me all rooms have equally bad signal, lol. -
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I have two good friends at new college, so I can offer my "outsiders opinion" on what I think new college is like. I reckon that the alternative prospectus is right to an extent: my two friends do seem to have found a particular friendship group which shares similar interests and as a result socialise mostly with them. However, this is bound to happen to an extent at all colleges, maybe not quite as much as it sounds like it does at new college.(Original post by midnight_tiptoe)
http://<br /> http://users.ox.ac.uk...ubs/AP2003.pdf
The one the students make, I think. Seems slightly disheartening, considering it's a propsectus that's supposed to make your college seem really inviting, yet students are said to be apathetic and cliquey... I dunno what to make of it really!
Does anyone know what the accommodation's like for each year - as in how are the rooms? Do nearly all rooms have ethernet connections? Which year lives in the brightly coloured cottages? Last time when I stayed in one of those for interview, the signal was abysmal and I had to make calls outside in the freezing cold! Please don't tell me all rooms have equally bad signal, lol.
But anyway, just because a particular college has a particular form of social operation, doesn't mean you have to conform to it. I like to think that I myself has not conformed to my college's typical social operation....I allow myself to drift between groups (which I can divide up as: My staircase, The medics, My subject buddies, Fellow sportsmen/women, Friends of those in my staircase). So you can basically do what you want if you don't like the idea of sticking in one small group. -
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as ever, google is your friend....(Original post by parsleythelion)
Does Cambridge (the university as a whole) have an equivalent?
http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/prospective/prospectus/
