Has anyone ever rejected an Oxbridge offer?

I am going to be putting Oxford as my insurance after Imperial College.

The students with the highest grades or the most naturally talented students don't necessarily want to apply to Oxbridge. It's perfectly possible that, for all Oxbridge's fame and guaranteed high ranking in league tables, the majority of AAA+ students don't. There are a number of reasons including:

1) Oxford or Cambridge don't teach the particular course that they want to study.
2) Oxford or Cambridge don't appeal to them as cities in which to study - or other cities might appeal to them more in a variety of respects. For instance, some might conclude that The Castle in Durham attracts a lot of particular competition and therefore potentially a higher calibre of student than some colleges at Oxford or Cambridge.
3) Some other university might seem better than Oxbridge for a particular subject when the student looks at the particular staff who are teaching there at the time and the particular facilities that are available for that subject.
4) The course content at another university might appeal to them more.
5) An open day might reveal more engaging staff and students at other universities for that particular student's purposes.

I knew someone who applied to Cambridge, was accepted (I think that it was for English) and chose to go to Durham instead. This is possibly partly because Durham is relatively close by and he wanted to became a vicar, which Durham obviously has good standing in. But English at Durham is possibly more competitive in some years than some Oxford or Cambridge colleges anyway.

Yes.

*subscribes*



Not Cambridge Maths!

For instance, some might conclude that The Castle in Durham attracts a lot of particular competition and therefore potentially a higher calibre of student than some colleges at Oxford or Cambridge.

I wish there is some scheme for rejectees to sign up for offer from offer decliners.

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How come? (I'm not going to do an imsoacademic on you, just genuinely interested, I don't know much about comp sci)

I got an offer from Cambridge for Maths, but turned it down because I got a better vibe from York.

Evidently it's nowhere near as good, and the job prospects are subpar, but I felt I would feel happier there.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone on TSR know of someone who put Oxbridge as their insurance or just rejected the offer outright? And why did they do it? I know Oxbridge doesn't appeal to everyone (Someone in my family decided to leave Cambridge after a year and ended up at UCL), but I've never heard of someone rejecting an Oxbridge offer.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone on TSR know of someone who put Oxbridge as their insurance or just rejected the offer outright? And why did they do it? I know Oxbridge doesn't appeal to everyone (Someone in my family decided to leave Cambridge after a year and ended up at UCL), but I've never heard of someone rejecting an Oxbridge offer.

People do it every year: http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/facts_and_figures/undergraduate_admissions_statistics/school_type.html

Scroll to the bottom, it shows you the average of offers to types of school, and acceptances of those offers.

EDIT: Actually, it only shows maintained acceptances.