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Do Oxbridge students look down upon others?

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Original post by qwertyuiop1993
Haha I personally feel rankings are a bit pointless - you can make almost any uni better than another by tweaking the methodology. I don't get this fixation with comparing how 'good' one university is to another....


The course-specific ones probably have quite a big effect on student choices, which I think is a shame, as I seriously doubt the methodology, rigour or depth of the analyses that generate them. Many of them are basically collating the results of different types of surveys, which are notoriously flawed when it comes to producer/consumer situations of a very subjective sort like this.

The pan-institutional comparisons I just ignore altogether, they can't mean a thing when you see, for example, that QS this year puts Stanford 15th in the world behind UCL in 4th! Please.
(edited 11 years ago)
In my opinion it's what a student studies, not what uni they go to.... yeah Oxbridge is real hard to get into and good on them for getting in, but I would regard a law/medical/dentistry student higher than a student studying something that isn't as "highly regarded" as those professions in Oxbridge... maybe that's just me
Reply 82
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Sgany
12
I would say there is more tension between Oxford and Cambridge than say Cambridge vs Imperial :P
Reply 83
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Millie228
9
I really admire people who get into those unis. I didn't apply - I first went to school in France and needed to choose a uni in London which accepted transfer students. Academia isn't so important to me that I'm willing to sacrifice everything for it - I am also not as into economics as I thought I was.

"Look down upon" sounds bad. But you can say that people value different things, and if someone is unsuccessful or lazy in an area you consider important, it is natural to see them as less ambitious/intellectual/thriving. I don't think negatively of people who choose different degrees but I consider the arts and a knowledge of culture important in life so I can say that I do think slightly less of those who never challenge themselves in that aspect. I couldn't date a man who's never watched anything other than Two and a Half Men or never listened to decent music. If someone from Oxbridge studying economics consider me lazy, it's not that big a problem for me. People are different. I admire ambition and passion in everybody, regardless of their field though.
Original post by Sir Fox
You aren't even a student :wink:


As I said to fullofsurprises, the elitism starts early good sir :hat2:
Original post by Fullofsurprises
The course-specific ones probably have quite a big effect on student choices, which I think is a shame, as I seriously doubt the methodology, rigour or depth of the analyses that generate them. Many of them are basically collating the results of different types of surveys, which are notoriously flawed when it comes to producer/consumer situations of a very subjective sort like this.

The pan-institutional comparisons I just ignore altogether, they can't mean a thing when you see, for example, that QS this year puts Stanford 15th in the world behind UCL in 4th! Please.


It's not so much that I have a view of what the rankings should be and disagree with what QS/HE say - I just don't feel that trying to gauge how 'good' a university is overall is possible.

The rankings portray themselves to be definitive reflections of how 'good' a university is when really the most they can say is that they've chosen a few criteria and here are the universities that perform the best according to these criteria. There's a bit of a jump from this to saying that these are the 'best' universities. For example, according to THE Caltech is the 'best' university, but as a specialised institution how can we really try to call it 'better' than, say Harvard when they have such different focuses? Is there any point?
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tooambitious
As I said to fullofsurprises, the elitism starts early good sir :hat2:


Yes, consider yourself thoroughly put in your place.
The stereotype is otherwise, but as a Cambridge student myself I have to say that on the whole we're not as snobbish or hateful a bunch as we're made out to be - we're just normal people! Sure, lots come from more privileged backgrounds, but if they look down on people (which in my experience they don't) that's just the individual way they behave rather than reflecting on all people from the same background.

And there's also a difference, I reckon, between believing you're better than someone and actually letting it show. I know a fair few scummy people at mediocre unis, that I went to school with, and I will admit I think better of myself than I do of them. But I keep my opinions to myself and act civilly round people in the interests of common decency, and I also never mentally rule someone out of bettering themselves.
There's a very funny look at Oxford in the 60s and 70s on BBC4 at the moment - Joan Bakewell interviewing people there at that time. Lots of very stuffy accents and tweeds.
Reply 89
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wibletg
3
Original post by Fullofsurprises
There's a very funny look at Oxford in the 60s and 70s on BBC4 at the moment - Joan Bakewell interviewing people there at that time. Lots of very stuffy accents and tweeds.


Thank god for greater social mobility.
Original post by ttreb
I know here on TSR that going against Oxbridge is a battle already lost.

I just want to see the general perception of Oxbridge students. Do you think they are prejudice upon us who do not attend?


Not all but invariably some do.
I have no idea, but the PhD students on my course who were Undergraduates at Oxbridge that I've met have been useless.
Original post by doomhalo
I have no idea, but the PhD students on my course who were Undergraduates at Oxbridge that I've met have been useless.


What's the course? And which uni did you graduate from?
Original post by wibletg
Thank god for greater social mobility.


I think it says more about the uses to which the BBC put Joan Bakewell than about the Sixties. There wasn't an Angry Young Man to be seen. Obviously someone else got the job of interviewing Osborne and Finney, Hockney and the young Michael Caine.The other thing was that for a Stockport lass, it doesn't look as though they ever let her interview anyone from north of Watford lest it undue all of those elocution lessons.
I don't think it's seperated at Oxbridge vs. England, people who attend the top universities know that each uni will outdo each other in specific areas.

However I think there's an unhealthy obsession found amongst people not at the top universities, stereotyping and scrutinising Oxbridge students like they're royalty
Original post by wibletg
Thank god for greater social mobility.


Funny how more state school students went to oxbridge in the 60's/70s.
Reply 96
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shonaT
9
I think it depends on the individual. I think you can can get snobs anywhere. I once went to a Wedding where one of the other guests spent most of the evening telling the rest of us how thick, useless etc. we were because we hadn't gone to Cambridge like she had. Met plenty of other Oxbridge graduates who are lovely however.
Of course we do. You are but mere mortals compared to us.

:roll eyes:

No, no we do not look down on students from other universities, lots of my best friends go to other universities and I'm sure lots of other great people.
Original post by shonaT
I think it depends on the individual. I think you can can get snobs anywhere. I once went to a Wedding where one of the other guests spent most of the evening telling the rest of us how thick, useless etc. we were because we hadn't gone to Cambridge like she had. Met plenty of other Oxbridge graduates who are lovely however.


Seriously, that blatant?? I can't imagine people carrying on like that. Was she drunk?
Actually I should mention that people at Magdalen do in fact look down on everyone else, including everyone else at Oxford. That's just life, I'm afraid.

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