Is this true?

I go to a sixth form made up of ethnic minorities, mainly black and Asians. Today in class we were speaking about university and I said I wanted to go Oxbridge. The whole class was surprised and were saying I shouldn't go because the students were all racist to ethnic minorities and that most of them think they're superior. Is this true? I'm doubting them because most of them don't even know any white people.

A girl in my class told us about her sister who went to Oxford for an open day and she said that she felt that, everyone was starring at her and whispering. Also a friend of mine (he is Asian)went to Cambridge to shadow a student for a couple days, he said that all the students were getting drunk and they made him feel excluded as they were offensive about his religion. Due to all of this I'm now worried about applying to Oxbridge.

Reply 1

Dinasaurus

Yeah, Oxford even has a college where they glorify colonialism by putting up a statue of Cecil Rhodes

No, it's not.

Original post by Dinasaurus

Yeah, Oxford even has a college where they glorify colonialism by putting up a statue of Cecil Rhodes

Very helpful

Reply 4

Dinasaurus

Original post by Someone32

Very helpful

I'm joking though dude, a lot of the historic stuff might be founded on certain racist foundations but what of the west isn't?

Right now though, I highly doubt there's any prolific discrimination. They're just normal people at the end of the day, I'm sure there are plenty of minorities at Oxbridge.

loads of rubbish ...

Original post by Dinasaurus

The girls sister said it wasn't only the students but also the people who live in Oxford who stared at her constantly.

Reply 7

Dinasaurus

Original post by Someone32

The girls sister said it wasn't only the students but also the people who live in Oxford who stared at her constantly.

Forget those people though, I guess in certain towns there are very low amounts of minorities so those people can act a bit funny. But you won't be going to University to meet the locals, ignore them.

Reply 8

Someone32

Original post by Zacken

No, it's not.

have you or someone you know been? how was it?

Reply 9

Zacken

Original post by Someone32

have you or someone you know been? how was it?

I spent three weeks at Cambridge for a summer camp as well a night there for my interview. I'm a minority myself. Absolutely no trouble, your friends are spewing paranoid rubbis.

Reply 10

mishieru07

Original post by Someone32

I'm Asian, and I was at Oxford for four years.

Oxonians are generally wonderful, curious, and open-minded individuals from my experience. I've never felt slighted by tutors or fellow students on the basis of my ethnicity, background, religion, or accent. On the contrary, people treated me very much the same way they treated everyone else - with kindness and respect. I've only ever had one racist slur hurled at me in my time there, and that was when I was out walking on the streets, so it might well have been someone outside the university.

Obviously, there will be some bad hats, as is the case with any institution. However, on the whole, there are more than enough nice people to hang out with.

I should add that Oxonians tend to be quite probing - I've been asked some rather thought-provoking and difficult questions about my beliefs and opinions. That's not to say that people are trying to be deliberately offensive or they're out to hurt my feelings; it's asked in the spirit of intellectual inquiry and curiosity.

Reply 11

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by Someone32

The overwhelming majority of Oxbridge students are nice, down-to-earth people who will be friendly and nice and don't act as though they are superior to you just because of your race or ethnicity. There are some people who may not have met many ethnic people before, let alone lived with or socialised with them! So you are more likely to experience (though again, such instances are relatively few and far between) unwitting racism or comments that might make you feel awkward, but that aren't intended to be racist. This is people being foot-in-mouth but not deliberately rude or hurtful - some people just don't know any better. It can be easy to forget that areas outside big cities like London and Birmingham are not as multicultural or integrated as said big cities.

As has been said above, there are some bad eggs, but then there are in any university! The great thing about Oxbridge is that either these people are very easily avoided or, if they're not, it's just a matter of reporting them to university authorities. Claims of racism are taken very seriously by the various Oxford colleges and it will be dealt with. I can say this with confidence because (as an Asian female who went to a comp in Hounslow), I did encounter some comments which I took great offence to, and eventually reported it to my tutor. My tutor (who, granted, is Jewish and thus perhaps more inclined to take things seriously) dealt with it very swiftly indeed and asked me if I wanted the person making the racist comments to be removed from the University! :headfire:

I'd be very surprised and appalled if you encountered genuine, deliberate racism at Oxford, in all honesty. I was very much expecting odd comments when I arrived there and found myself pleasantly surprised about how few were made to me/in my presence! There are some odd people who may "black up" for bops (college parties), which I personally find very distasteful, but you will never be able to educate people about their attitudes, if you segregate yourself :nah:

So if you like the Oxbridge environment and teaching style and have the appropriate grades, then by all means do apply! Don't let stories of supposed racism put you off :nah: