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I envy Oxford students so much!

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Original post by im so academic
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.


Says the oxbridge fanatic...

It is actually disturbing how close you associate yourself with the brand. It's became like an extension of your personality.
I don't browse TSR much, but whenever I read an oxbridge thread you are always there. With 15,000+ are you just sat there clicking refresh?
Everyone on the forum has played along so far but it is becoming beyond amusing.

Furthermore, I don't agree with your point. Students should consider much more than just the course, there is the location of the uni, the social aspects, the total financial/living costs and depending on which course you want to study, reputation is indeed an important thing.

Please start giving out oxbridge advice when you actually get there. Your whole demeanour is premature and fake.

+rep if you agree
- rep if you disagree
I'd like to see where this goes...
Original post by Picnic1
I do indeed. I was the shyest , nicest person that anyone could hope to meet (if they had chosen to speak to me) for years who only poured out their ideas in writing. I was full of ambition - I wanted to be a true renaissance man- a top journalist, film critic, author, philosopher, actor. Then I had a godforsaken year at a cold and lonely university being ignored by badly dressed miserable students when I might as well have been at home with my loving parents and done all my studying directly from the source, from the books of the great writers themselves, rather than from the lips of some comfortably numb middle class, dry and bored academic. And for the agony of becoming severely depressed (and the stiff upper lippedness of not burdening my problems on other people - a problem that could not be remedied by continuing to study at that particular university at that particular time in any case) I ended up getting sent down despite that university admitting that they should have proactively checked if I needed help in some way- you know, when I wasn't attending lectures (attendance and punctuality always previously a strong point at school) and when I was failing exams for the first time in my life. I bet there aren't many people sent down in this day and age. So I kind of despise a certain kind of nicety that academia uses where you are supposed to express gratefulness for even being there (rather than them trying to work out what individual contribution you can bring). Every time I do something out of the ordinary like writing an essyay on philosophy or architecture or popular music, a comedy sketch , a sequence of poems or getting a letter published in a magazine or newspaper I wonder why my ex-university regarded me as less than ordinary. I can only imagine that they had less imagination than I had hoped for.

Now that's off my chest...

Regarding Oxford , if there is a Beatles option then shouldn't a university that prides itself on being one of the world's best take every measure to try to gain the people who have the best perception on that? They will only get that from hunting from them, not from relying on them being contacted by them (when they might be rejected anyway because they don't have what is deemed as sufficient academic credentials).


I'm sorry to hear you had such a rough time. It's now apparent why you seem to have such an issue with Oxford.

If it's any consolation to you, I tick various minority boxes (working class, comp-educated, Asian, female, disability) and despite similar circumstances to you in some respects, I did not find my undergrad experience cold or lonely, nor were most of the students miserable. Admittedly some academics were more interested in teaching than others but overall I had some absolutely amazing tutors who continue to look out for me even now I've left. I had far more good tutors than bad and when I thought a tutor was crap or being an arse, I was usually quite vocal about it. (Indeed I was known for not taking any **** that came my way lying down! :biggrin: )

I'm severely depressed and psychotic and my last six months of Oxford were spent in a psychotic episode/nervous breakdown. Everything possible was done to ensure that I could remain within the uni and leave with a degree. I was pulled out of all my lectures and tutorials and sat my Finals in more comfortable circumstances.

Despite being so ill and occasionally labelled a troublemaker, a lot of time and effort was invested in pinpointing and nurturing the individual contributions I could make to my faculty and college, both academically and in an extra-curricular sense :yes:

Obviously my experience doesn't negate yours and vice versa. My illness was awful and terrifying at times, so I have plenty of bad memories of Oxford as well as good. I wasn't always dealt with properly, so I can empathise somewhat with how you feel and what you're saying. I hope what I've written will give you some hope that either the Oxford you attended has changed into a better one, or that your own experience (which I'm not trying to discredit or belittle) is not representative of the university as a whole. I don't talk too much about my bad times because they were specific to my exact situation. I don't think much of it is in danger of happening to anyone else and thus I will always encourage people to apply :smile:

As for the Beatles: popular music studies is a new academic field, across all unis. There are few unis which actually have a popular music expert (and in any case there are few actual popular music scholars) and the current state of popular music studies means it's rather naff. (Should I be well enough and get funding to pursue a PhD, I have every intention of changing this :biggrin: )

Oxford sought out one of the best people they could find for my Beatles course. I still believe he's a crap excuse for an academic and deserves a smack in the face, but that's just me :biggrin: He had a very good perception of the subject but was rather dubious :ninja: I've no doubt he probably was the best option though: I just found him rather offensive :biggrin:
Original post by Mick Travis
I've been trying to think where it comes from. Truth is I was quite a miserable child prone to grandiose ideas. I liked to think I was smart - although intellectually speaking a big fish in a rather small pond - it's been hard for me to take on board that others are more able than me and you have to accept being good enough in life rather than the best all the time. A bitter pill to swallow.

There is also the romantic way Oxbridge is portrayed in our media. Perhaps it's not entirely realistic but if you believe like me that Britain is on the whole a rather grubby, rundown country then it's very appealing.


I actually agree, I felt the same, but i realised I gotta move on and then get a masters at a top uni :biggrin: then murk it.
Stop your bitching and get on with life.
Reply 164
Only... only... Oxbridge matters?
"only Oxbridge matters", he says.
oh my BWAHAHAHAAHAAHA oh god HHAHAA

Too funny.
Reply 165
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Thanks for your detailed and insightful post and I am very sorry to hear about your experience and in admiration that you finished your course. I am also in admiration of anyone who finishes their course- so that will be most of you reading this. I didn't study at Oxford by the way - I was referring to somewhere else.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Picnic1
Thanks for your detailed and insightful post and I am very sorry to hear about your experience and in admiration that you finished your course. I am also in admiration of anyone who finishes their course- so that will be most of you reading this. I didn't study at Oxford by the way - I was referring to somewhere else.


Thanks :smile: Well I'm sorry to hear you had a rough time, wherever it was :console:
Reply 167
Original post by Copacetic

Yes you're right. I'm sorry- I'll stop it! I know nothing about some such subjects as are studied at Oxford so who am I to say that the ones that I'm interested in are necessarily just as or more important.
You don't just pick a university because of the name and its reputation, you pick it because it offers the course that interests you the most and thats the important thing, the simple thing is while Oxford and Cambridge are the best universities in the UK they are not the best in every single subject.
You also have to look at what you want to take away from university and the location, I'm used to living by the sea and for me I would hate to be somewhere like London and be miles away from the seaside and countryside but then I wouldn't like to be completely isolated either. So fair enough you now regret your choice but at the time you should have picked the university that felt right for you, if you're university is the best in the subject that you want to go on to pursue as a career thats whats going to matter to employers that and how well you present yourself.
Reply 169
Original post by Charlottie93
You don't just pick a university because of the name and its reputation, you pick it because it offers the course that interests you the most and thats the important thing, the simple thing is while Oxford and Cambridge are the best universities in the UK they are not the best in every single subject.
You also have to look at what you want to take away from university and the location, I'm used to living by the sea and for me I would hate to be somewhere like London and be miles away from the seaside and countryside but then I wouldn't like to be completely isolated either. So fair enough you now regret your choice but at the time you should have picked the university that felt right for you, if you're university is the best in the subject that you want to go on to pursue as a career thats whats going to matter to employers that and how well you present yourself.


I'm really not bothered about employers. Of course they aren't just looking for Oxbridge people. But it's full of amazing, sophisticated people, unlike the university I went to.
Original post by Mick Travis
I'm really not bothered about employers. Of course they aren't just looking for Oxbridge people. But it's full of amazing, sophisticated people, unlike the university I went to.


What university did you go to and why don't you do a masters at Oxbridge? On the other hand the grass is always greener on the other side, I always thought that college sounded more sophisticated then when I got there I realised that it really really wasn't and it is indeed full of idiots just tiding the time before they can collect a giro. (Not that I'm comparing my college to Oxbridge) why don't you go on an open day to check it out and meet some of the students then if you do choose to do a masters you already know some of the people.
Original post by therealOG
25 students in my year have been accepted into Oxbridge. Of those 25 I'd only rate one person as truly "special" (i.e. He is extremely intelligent and passionate in his subjects and has a personality and attitude that will get him very far in life). The rest are very clever and intelligent people but they are by no means "special". And you forget that the London uni's have the pick of the very best international students (LSE's international undergrads make up 50% of the whole undergrad population).


Do you go to an Independant school?
Original post by Billydodger
Do you go to an Independant school?


A state grammar school.
Reply 173
Original post by Billydodger
Do you go to an Independant school?


No, a state grammar.
Original post by therealOG
A state grammar school.


ok
Original post by Mick Travis
I've been trying to think where it comes from. Truth is I was quite a miserable child prone to grandiose ideas. I liked to think I was smart - although intellectually speaking a big fish in a rather small pond - it's been hard for me to take on board that others are more able than me and you have to accept being good enough in life rather than the best all the time. A bitter pill to swallow.


same. though my current course is more rigorous than the oxford equivalent :tongue:
Original post by im so academic
How could you not have heard about Cambridge?



some people are thick - and some people are bright.
Original post by street.lovin'
They are no better than any of us. Of course they are intelligent, but intelligence =/= being special.
Well, if they have another leg coming out off their bum, then I would say they are special - or rather strange.
They are just extremely clever, that is all.

PS* To be honest, I live in Cambridge and I am working at a restaurant where majority of customers are the cambridge students, I even got to know many of them, I am yet to see a person that can be classed as 'special'.



you do not think that being extremely clever is special?
so what does impress you then?? very tall people???
Original post by SteveCrain
Because knowing about Cambridge was never, and is still not, imperative. I rarely read newspapers, watch the news, and the first time I heard of it was when my sister applied there.
In short, I don't care about it.



you don't care about cambridge. what else don't you care about? do you care to know the whereabouts on your face that your mouth is such that you can eat? what sort of a basic level of functioning are you operating at??
Original post by bluesky42
Loads of people are intelligent. It's hardly special.



well loads of people are clever nowadays, now that they've lowered the exam standards!!!

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