Why did YOU choose Oxford or Cambridge over the other?

Original post by warfarin

That's terrible! I'd quite fancy a change of setting! Do you know what they expect from candidates? And how would the chance of ending up in London increase? Is it not possible to choose Ox and Cam as the top two preferences?
This might be slightly off-topic, but do you guys have an equivalent of our MB/PhD programme?

You need to get a 1st to be able to stand a chance of going to Oxford from Cambridge. And Oxford must be your first choice (the unis can see where you ranked them).

You can of course choose to go to London if you wanted. I believe the application process for Cambridge/London is a competitive one, with higher-achieving applicants getting to stay in Cambridge (for Oxford students staying in oxford, there is an interview, but i don't know about cambridge students staying in cambridge).

I don't know what your MB/PhD programme is. Some Oxford students do a PhD after pre-clinical, but there isn't a formal process above normal phD applications. Usually its with the lab group you are with for 3rd year. About 3-5% of the year do that only.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 704

Original post by nexttime

You need to get a 1st to be able to stand a chance of going to Oxford from Cambridge. And Oxford must be your first choice (the unis can see where you ranked them).

You can of course choose to go to London if you wanted. I believe the application process for Cambridge/London is a competitive one, with higher-achieving applicants getting to stay in Cambridge (for Oxford students staying in oxford, there is an interview, but i don't know about cambridge students staying in cambridge).

I don't know what your MB/PhD programme is. Some Oxford students do a PhD after pre-clinical, but there isn't a formal process above normal phD applications. Usually its with the lab group you are with for 3rd year. About 3-5% of the year do that only.

I think there is :smile:

Reply 705

Actually quite a few reasons why I chose Oxford over Cambridge, course wise and otherwise.

City

I prefer Oxford as a city enormously, it's bigger and seems more like an actual city. Cambridge felt too small when I went to visit on numerous occasions, whilst still maintains a certain quaintness (especially compared to London and Manchester, the cities I'm most familiar with). I've also heard Cambrudge doesn't offer much in terms of nightlife whilst this isn't much of a problem with Oxford. Cambridge seems very much like a university city whilst the university seems like only one part of Oxford. Oxford colleges seemed closer together but I think I was just unfortunate to have walked from Newnham to places like St. Chads/ the Maths lecture place. I'm sure the train station is also slightly further out, butive only been to the train station at Oxford once and usually take the oxford tube.

Selection process
On this point I may have benefited from applying to Cambridge, I'm not sure it was more 50/50. Whilst my gcses are good (9*s 1A) my UMs avg over my top 3 was 96ish so about in line for average successful economics applicabts iirc. However, Oxford interview a small proportion for E&M an being fairly confident that I wouldn't screw up the TSA enough to offset my gcses I was fairly confident of being in the 30% of candidates to get an interview and from there I had a 25% success rate whereas at Cambridge I didn't feel getting an interview was much of an achievement and didn't tell me anywhere about where I stood, success rate is still fairly low at that point, pretty much unchanged.
If I were interviewed at Cambridge I wouldn't have been able to stay over and therefore wouldn't have had the settling in time that I had during interviews at Oxford. My interview period was also really really fun, about 13 of my friends were there, 7 being really good friend inc. my twin sister and we went out a lot ate at each others colleges (my sister ate at 6 colleges :grin:

) and because I was only interviewed for 40 minutes over and 150 minute period so u has a lot of free time. I also met lots of people, friends who interviewed and Cambridge made it seem like the interview period it's self was quite cold and aloof with not much communication between candidates.
On reallocation I would hate to have to go back to Cambridge after a month to be reinterviewed especially with January modules whereas any reinterviewing at Oxford is done during that same week. Except people with open offers everyone knows where they're going and that they have a place (open offer holders obviously know this too) at roughly the same time so no extra waiting period for anyone.
Course wise
As an economics course the Cambridge course is stronger, no doubt. But the oxfordcouesw is very flexible and management actually interests me. Also the SBS a very strong institution mainly in terms of networking opportunities; you can go to events for MBA students etc. Additionally, not everyone at Cambridge, in fact, very few, can go on to do the management course, so that might be another plus for Oxford if you're interested in management. If you're looking in terms of graduate prospects I don't think one really has a led up on the other to be completely honest.

This is purely my opinion and I think it's a decision everyone should realky make for themselves because there are quite big differences

Reply 706

Meghna96

14

Original post by Postscript

Generally speaking...

Oxfordonions smile with a warm heart
Cambridge folk seem hollow, misty, unreachable even - and not in a good way. A humanity of sorts attracted me to Oxford.

Just realised if you split it apart it's Oxford Onions :tongue:

Reply 707

nulli tertius

21

Original post by Meghna96

Just realised if you split it apart it's Oxford Onions :tongue:

Oxonians
Cantabridgians

Reply 708

Original post by Meghna96

Just realised if you split it apart it's Oxford Onions :tongue:

I think that guy just has a particular affiliation with the local grocers.

Reply 709

hogwartian1993

9

NB: This is a perspective of each town, rather than each university as I gave that view earlier on!

I went to Oxford yesterday and I was so, so relieved I was going to Cambridge instead! Oxford is twice the size of Cambridge (and if you're like me and like a quaint, relaxed setting with things to do rather than a bustling city) then Cambridge is for you. Oxford is a proper city. Also, after going to Oxford yesterday during term time, and being in Cambridge during term time I found that the Oxford colleges are much more private and imposing than Cambridge. Its probably because Cambridge is more of a university with a town attached whereas Oxford is a city with a university. The colleges at Cambridge are more integral to the city than in Oxford I found yesterday, which reiterated what I thought before. Also, walking around Oxford, because of its size, I felt a lot less safe than when I walked around Cambridge in the dark. On the whole I found Cambridge much more welcoming, comfortable and safe than Oxford. Also, (if you're interested in this kind of stuff) when I was in Oxford a worker in McDonald's told one of my parents that someone almost got raped upstairs and thats why they close it at 9pm. Like I said, Oxford is much, much more of a city. If you're looking for a busy city with a studious environment and a wicked party atmosphere, Oxford is for you. If you're looking for a nice city/town, that isn't too busy and you're always a stone's throw away from a university college, with studious atmosphere but a more relaxed party atmosphere, Cambridge is for you. Another thing I noticed is that because Oxford is bigger, naturally I felt the colleges were further apart. In Cambridge, because its smaller you're always near a college so the university feels more cosy and inclusive whereas Oxford felt a bit more divided merely because of its size. Oh, and its commonly believed (and by me as well) that Cambridge is more beautiful. Probably because of its setting on the river Cam and its higher proportion of green, open spaces.
In a nutshell:

Oxford
- More of a city that has a university within it
- In my opinion, the colleges of Oxford seemed more private/aloof than Cambridge's.
- More touristy than Cambridge
- Known better internationally than Cambridge
- Situated between the 1st and 2nd cities, London and Birmingham which is useful. However, you do get a higher proportion of irritating tourists because of this!
- More shops in the centre of the city than Cambridge
- Has a better nightlife, such as more bars, clubs etc than Cambridge
- JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis went there
- Some roads are wider than in Cambridge which is easier for cycling though the roads
- Has the Bodleian Library
- Oldest university in the English speaking world

Cambridge

- Cambridge is predominately a university with a town built amongst it. This makes the place seem warmer, and more close-knit than Oxford
- You're never more than a stones throw away from another college
- More beautiful/aesthetically pleasing than Oxford due to its setting on the river Cam and its higher proportion of greenbelt. Also, the bridge of sighs in Oxford goes over a road, whereas in Cambridge it goes over the Cam.
- Less well known internationally than Oxford
- Consistently beats Oxford in the league tables internationally
- Cambridge is less central than Oxford so its harder to get around. The nearest big city is London, and the transport links aren't as good/frequent as Oxford
- Cambridge are more friendly and welcoming than Oxford
- Cambridge is traditionally more liberal than Oxford
- Because Cambridge is smaller its easier to get from A to B than in Oxford
- For me, Cambridge felt safer than Oxford (though it does have a higher bike-theft rate but I believe thats because there are much more bicycles in Cambridge than Oxford. Again, I could be wrong).
- Less tourists than Oxford!
- Cambridge felt more unique than Oxford. Oxford is mainly just a normally city with a few nice university buildings. Obviously its stunning, but it didn't have the 'wow' factor that Cambridge had for me.

I'll probably add to this as things come to mine and undoubtably I'm biased because I'm a future Cambridge student but I tried to be as fair as I could :')

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 710

Original post by hogwartian1993

Another thing I noticed is that because Oxford is bigger, naturally the colleges are further apart.

I think you'll find its the opposite actually. Compare maps of the two cities.

Reply 711

Original post by nexttime

I think you'll find its the opposite actually. Compare maps of the two cities.

Yeah this is what I was thinking too

Reply 712

Original post by tooambitious

Yeah this is what I was thinking too

Interestingly, the populations of the two cities are also remarkably similar (150,000 vs 130,000) Cambridge is just more spread out, resulting in the i think overall valid observations of Hogwartian1993.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 713

Original post by nexttime

Interestingly, the populations of the two cities are also remarkably similar (150,000 vs 130,000) Cambridge is just more spread out, resulting in the i think overall valid observations of Hogwartian1993.

That is realky surprising I would have expected a lot more for Oxford!

Reply 714

sjk1995

6

Cambridge, fell for it's charm when i visited.

Reply 715

hogwartian1993

9

Original post by nexttime

I think you'll find its the opposite actually. Compare maps of the two cities.

I can't be bothered to look :tongue:

I just noticed that it was harder to find colleges than at Cambridge, they're everywhere at Cambridge, they felt more spread out at Oxford. Just my opinion like I say, could be wrong

PS

Literally just gave my impressions before, people are bound to disagree and as I said, I'm biased because I've fallen in love with Cambridge completely :biggrin:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 716