I envy Oxford students so much!

Oh my god, I so agree with you!

I'm in year 11 at the moment but I went on a few school visits to Cambridge, and I NEED to go there, I don't care if it's not the best university for my course, Oxbridge is Oxbridge. I want to be able to say I went to Cambridge

I mean, I just can't bear not getting in, even if I go to Imperial or something I would probably be sad that I didn't want to be there and wanted to be at Cambridge instead

My current aim in life is to get into Cambridge, let's see how it goes

No. And I'm not telling you which school I go to. But it is a state grammar school

Incidentally, many Oxbridgers waste away after having achieved 2:1s and descend into being nobodies....

I go to a state grammar school and we only get about 5 per year into Oxbridge

Oh my god, I so agree with you!

I'm in year 11 at the moment but I went on a few school visits to Cambridge, and I NEED to go there, I don't care if it's not the best university for my course, Oxbridge is Oxbridge. I want to be able to say I went to Cambridge

I mean, I just can't bear not getting in, even if I go to Imperial or something I would probably be sad that I didn't want to be there and wanted to be at Cambridge instead

My current aim in life is to get into Cambridge, let's see how it goes

Watch Junior Doctors on BBC3 and you'll realise that going to Oxbridge doesn't count for s***.

The worst doctor on the show by far, is the chick who went to Oxbridge.

OK, Goddess of all Knowledge, what is the meaning of life then?

You should aim to go to Cambridge because you're passionate about the course there, and for the subject.

They can spot people like you who want to get into Cambridge for the sake of the name.

Awh, now, don't get all angry because some people don't hold academics dear to their heart. I'd like to say that what I said in my post wasn't slating people who aim to go to Oxford, not at all. I just slated those who don't get in, and whine about it, 'oh woe my life is average'- get a grip. They just need to open their minds up a bit and realise there's so much more that life can offer them.

Mick, you have bought in to the fantasy of what Oxford is supposed to be like. Have you even visited it? You don't see C S Lewis and Tolkien sipping ale in a smoke filled pub you know. And you see mostly nondescript students - they don't try hard to look nice during the day. They probably feel that they don't need to - their potential partners are Oxford students. They think that they have it made. They mostly lack even that loosely entertaining sense of 'rahness' that might make going to those universities like Durham a little bit interesting.

And the buildings... photos make Oxford look like it is dominated by honey coloured, ivy crept colleges. But Oxford doesn't actually feel like that at all. Most of the colleges have a very similar appearance to them which makes it a duller experience than visiting Cambridge colleges. Basically, a typical Oxford college looks like a blueprint for every redbrick university that came along perhaps centuries later - except for the Bodelian library and the Hertford Bridge which looks like some badly fitting pastiche of Vienna. (By comparison, a typical Cambridge college might look like a castle, stately home or cathedral with some exceptional exterior detail). To be fair, Oxford may have some good INTERIOR detail in places. But one of ist 'highlights is Christ Church Meadow. visit it- it's a park. No, Lewis Carroll isn't holding a Mad Hatter's Tea Party (although there are plenty of dull middle class people frequenting the Lewis Carroll shop). It's just a park. The stone that Oxford colleges are made from and the busier environment (they are mostly on non pedestrianised roads) results in some colleges having crumbled in places.

Basically the students at Oxford seem are probably just slightly more of a workshorse than other people, potentially (but not always) at the expense of a personality. Personally, I would find their quiet reticance (which I am capable of but rely on people to draw me out) to be depressing and the city itself to be as well. I'm someone who'd want to strike up a conversation about the merits of The Doors over The Beatles and I think that it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack- particularly when the said university wouldn't be interested in studying popular music as an art in its own right - and I would unfairly be looked upon as a working class person with ideas above their station unless I fit in to the cliques and academic cliches that being an 'Oxbridge mind' requires.

Look at the list of nobel prize winners associated with their institutions, and the mark these people have made on the world and I think you change your mind. Also whether the particular course you do at oxbridge is not the best at oxbridge the oxbridge name will get you very far in life.

You should aim to go to Cambridge because you're passionate about the course there, and for the subject.

They can spot people like you who want to get into Cambridge for the sake of the name.

Well that is kinda what I was trying to say but the advice is a bit limited, harsh and skewed.

I would never have been interested in Cambridge if it wasn't for my vague aim to go to an Oxbridge university. The person's only in Year 11, I think they're allowed to pick on prestige alone at the mo.

Obviously by the time I chose my course in the summer of last year I had moved on from that, but it's not as simple as being able to "spot people like you who want to get into Cambridge for the sake of the name". Of course a huge chunk of why I applied was the name, they didn't 'spot' that because they didn't care why I was applying for Cambridge but instead how interested I was in History.

So yes, the point is to be interested in your subject, but you don't have to particularly be able to justify your choice of university. I did get the "why history, why Cambridge" question but that's only a starter question. I think it's safe to say that Oxford would be much the same.

I go to a state grammar school and we only get about 5 per year into Oxbridge

Really?

I hadn't heard of UCL until about a year ago and I didn't know that ICL was really good until about a year ago. But it's kind of hard to read a paper/turn on the news on results day/etc without hearing that Oxford and Cambridge are 'good'. Out of interest, how did you manage not to have heard of Cambridge?

You should aim to go to Cambridge because you're passionate about the course there, and for the subject.

They can spot people like you who want to get into Cambridge for the sake of the name.

I wasn't saying all Oxbridge students are stupid, I was just pointing out that going to Oxbridge didn't give this girl any advantage at all.

Well medicine is an anomaly regards university - as in it doesn't matter where you go, so a Cambridge doctor isn't going to be any different to a Cardiff or Barts one. It is unfair to judge a doctor's ability on a heavily edited TV programme though.

The difference is probably because Oxbridge applicants at our school get sooooo much preparation and help with their application. They get multiple mock interviews, have group discussions and extra classes concerning their subjects, Oxbridge students who previously went to the school come back and chat with the applicants about the whole process and give them tips etc.....

I reckon this is one of the main factors in getting an offer from Oxbridge. Many of the 25 who were accepted had good grades but they weren't super good. What set them apart was the extra support and guidance that gave them an edge in the interview and personal statement. After all, a large proportion of our teachers are Oxbridge alumni.