Jesus or Worcester ?

Apologies for the billionth 'which college' thread, but I'm in a bit of a pickle about choosing Jesus or Worcester.

(Very) basically, Jesus is better for the degree I want (geography), and also looks cosy and friendly, but it seems to lack in terms of good accomodation/sporting prowess/not spread out across Oxford

Conversely, Worcester ticks all the boxes for me (best at football, big, beautiful, great accommodation etc) but I'm worried that it is not very good for geography, and leading on from this, if I apply I'll feel a bit isolated?

Let me know your opinions, and please tell me if I'm completely wrong/right

Reply 1

periodicity

Original post by lukerules1234

How do you know Jesus is "better" for geography; what do you mean by that?

In terms of accommodation, I would not want to be a Jesus finalist since I know some of my friends got put in college owned accommodation freaking miles away.

Honestly if I picked again I think I would pick based on surroundings/accommodation/vibe/interests etc. not subject.

Reply 2

username2637499

Jesus is the saviour. Pick Jesus.

Amen may you be guided to heaven.

Reply 3

beccabokka

Original post by lukerules1234

Go for the place you’d be happiest to live. You can have tutors from different colleges (at least that’s what I was told for English), so the main thing is to look for what you’d enjoy most

Reply 4

The_Lonely_Goatherd

I'm also not understanding this "not very good at geography" thing. Could you explain? I'm not sure how choosing Worcester would make you more isolated either?

If you can elaborate a bit, I can debunk any myths you may have been fed about Woosta :biggrin:

Reply 5

lukerules1234

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Ah okay; what I mean is, Jesus college offers the most places for geography undergraduates, has a bustling geography society, and its geographers always do very well in exams. Subsequently if I go to this college, I will have a lot of fellow geographers to talk to etc etc, whereas I'm worried this won't happen at Worcester, as I think 10 out of 100 undergraduates are geographers (compared to 20 out of 90 at Jesus)

Reply 6

lukerules1234

Original post by periodicity

Yeah, see my other comment about what I mean by 'better'!

you honestly advise that, that I should pick vibe/surroundings etc. over subject? I'm honestly preferring Worcester more, but the only deterrents are 1. It's too big ( do you get easily isolated?) and 2. It doesn't take geography as seriously as some other colleges therefore I won't do well in it (though 1. I don't think this is true, as the head of geography is at worcester! and 2. I don't think (and you said) it won't make too much of a difference)

I think the only thing I'm worrying about is that since Worcester only offers places to about 10 geog students, I will feel isolated compared to the remaining 90 or students at worcester and I will feel isolated compared to everyone else doing geography who go to more 'geography-orientated' colleges. Is this the case or no?

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

lukerules1234

Original post by AppleB

Jesus is the saviour. Pick Jesus.

Amen may you be guided to heaven.

Jesus college looked brilliant, just the fact that it is very spread out and the accommodation didn't look great are the main factors (no kitchens :frown:

) to me looking elsewhere. If the accommodation was half better, I would defo apply Jesus

Reply 8

periodicity

Original post by lukerules1234

10 out of 100 is a huge number already (there is no such subject dominance at my college) - about 7% of my year are doing my subject and that is plenty. If you felt that wasn't enough you could always join the geography society.

Honestly I think big colleges are better, it means there is a greater likelihood of finding close friends/people with very close interests to your own. I don't really think any college is 'big' though - I go to a fairly large one and I know everyone in my year.

Does Jesus perform well /every/ year? At my college in my subject at least, each year group varies drastically with some 'good' years and some 'bad' years. Do people only do well at Jesus because the people who applied there heard the same reputation you have heard? If you want to do well, have an aptitude for the subject and work hard you'll do well at any college.

I'm not a geographer but I'm surprised that colleges have a 'geography' reputation. Have you spoken to any geographers on this forum? If not, worth finding one to dispel myths!

Reply 9

nexttime

Original post by lukerules1234

Ah okay; what I mean is, Jesus college offers the most places for geography undergraduates, has a bustling geography society, and its geographers always do very well in exams.

I'm still not clear how you know this. Is it just that a professor said it at an open day or...?

Subsequently if I go to this college, I will have a lot of fellow geographers to talk to etc etc, whereas I'm worried this won't happen at Worcester, as I think 10 out of 100 undergraduates are geographers (compared to 20 out of 90 at Jesus)

Ten geographers is a huge number! I don't think any subject had that many at my old college.

But if you'd prefer 20 that is of course an entirely legit consideration.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 10

RichE

Original post by lukerules1234

I think the only thing I'm worrying about is that since Worcester only offers places to about 10 geog students, I will feel isolated compared to the remaining 90 or students at worcester and I will feel isolated compared to everyone else doing geography who go to more 'geography-orientated' colleges. Is this the case or no?

I don't know where you're getting these numbers but they don't seem to align at all with Oxford's own statistics. Worcester take 4 geographers a year, and looking at

https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate/additional-info/college-success-rates?wssl=1

it looks like Jesus take 6-7 geographers a year currently

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 11

RichE

Original post by nexttime

I'm still not clear how you know this. Is it just that a professor said it at an open day or...?

Yes, looking at the stats it seems that Hertford, Keble, St Catz and Mansfield have all taken more geographers in the last few years.

Reply 12

Doones

And there's always a roughly 1 in 4 chance an offer will come from a different college anyway.

Apply to a college you like. In the knowledge *any* college will be good...

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Reply 13

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by lukerules1234

I think others have addressed the issue about the geography numbers, so I will tell you a bit about Worcester and its size!

It's true that Worcester is one of the bigger colleges, both in terms of physical size and the undergraduate student body. As a former Woostarite, I can tell you that for me (as an introvert), I found the size perfectly manageable. The number of students meant that if I wanted to, I could easily know and talk to everyone in my year if I wanted to - there were not so many students that that would be unthinkable or impossible! There were some students in my year who were very chatty and friendly with everyone and knew everyone's name, etc. On the other hand, since the student body was fairly sizeable, it meant if you *did* want to be a bit more invisible, you could be!

As for doing well in your degree, you will do as well as you want to and as well as your natural intelligence permits you too. How you do is less dependent on the teaching than you think at Oxford! And as others have mentioned, how well a particular year group does in any given year, does not guarantee that the former or subsequent years will do as well! :nah: