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Oxbridge on your list = Durham rejection?

Many people I know who applied to both Oxbridge and Durham were rejected by Durham very quickly after they sent everything off last year, seemingly having been given little or no consideration. Many of these also went on to get offers from Oxbridge, implying that they are top quality applicants and begging the question - why did Durham reject them? Has anyone else seen this happen?

I know every university has to reject good candidates etc..but the trend does seem a little too consistent.

Reply 1

dobbs

17

k_lash

Many people I know who applied to both Oxbridge and Durham were rejected by Durham very quickly after they sent everything off last year, seemingly having been given little or no consideration. Many of these also went on to get offers from Oxbridge, implying that they are top quality applicants and begging the question - why did Durham reject them? Has anyone else seen this happen?

I know every university has to reject good candidates etc..but the trend does seem a little too consistent.

"Many people I know" - that's a select sample, unless you know several hundreds of people in this situation.

Others have brought this up, and it's rubbish - the universities can't even see where else you applied to, the only way they could figure it out is if you're an idiot and in your personal statement you wrote "I really want to go to Oxford because..." :rolleyes:

Also, even though many may regard Oxbridge as better universities (yes, academically they are)....just because if you get accepted there doesn't mean you'll be accepted anywhere! If you think that then you're very arrogant! Durham puts *a lot* of emphasis on extra-curricular things such as gap year projects, community/volunteer projects, part-time work, etc etc. and so people who go "I have 4 A's at A-level. But I've had no actual life experience" would not fare well at getting into Durham! :rolleyes:

Anywho, it's probably just a coincidence....don't be too paranoid :p:

Reply 2

shilling

7

k_lash

Many people I know who applied to both Oxbridge and Durham were rejected by Durham very quickly after they sent everything off last year, seemingly having been given little or no consideration. Many of these also went on to get offers from Oxbridge, implying that they are top quality applicants and begging the question - why did Durham reject them? Has anyone else seen this happen?

I know every university has to reject good candidates etc..but the trend does seem a little too consistent.

No, of course Durham doesn't reject all Oxbridge applicants, that would be silly....they just don't accept all of them either, if they don't happen to be what Durham is looking for. I'm sure the admissions people put a lot of thought into the offers they make.

("Begging the question" does not mean that something gives rise to a question, but rather that it takes for granted the truth of the thing being questioned.)

Reply 3

cobra

14

The chemistry department stated that if they thought you had applied to oxbridge then they would give you a higher offer, for 2 reasons.

1 You're probably cleverer
2 Often people see a higher off as a sign of somewhere being hard to get into therefore good

and you can tell oxbridge applications approximatly as they all come really early with glowing referances, personal statments and predicted AAAA

Reply 4

k_lash

OP

Heh, well that answers my question. Thanks for the responses. I didn't mean my post to be an attack of any sort, apologies if it seemed that way.

Reply 5

xx_ambellina_xx

14

No, I had offers for both. And I got the standard offer for history, lower, in fact than my friend (she got an AAA offer) who wasn't applying for Oxbridge.

Reply 6

Whizz Kid

cobra

The chemistry department stated that if they thought you had applied to oxbridge then they would give you a higher offer, for 2 reasons.

1 You're probably cleverer
2 Often people see a higher off as a sign of somewhere being hard to get into therefore good

There is no restriction on who can apply to Oxbridge. An absolute simpleton could apply with the worst grades possible, therefore according to you Durham would give a higher offer? :rolleyes:

Absolute b0llocks I'm afraid. And you know it.

Reply 7

Itchynscratchy

10

Whizz Kid

There is no restriction on who can apply to Oxbridge. An absolute simpleton could apply with the worst grades possible, therefore according to you Durham would give a higher offer? :rolleyes:

Absolute b0llocks I'm afraid. And you know it.

But since the uni are guessing anyway about whether or not you have applied to oxbridge they would simply guess that a guy with poor grade is not going to apply there. So there would be no higher offer

Reply 8

cobra

14

Whizz Kid

There is no restriction on who can apply to Oxbridge. An absolute simpleton could apply with the worst grades possible, therefore according to you Durham would give a higher offer? :rolleyes:

Absolute b0llocks I'm afraid. And you know it.

No there is no restriction, but if you have the worst grades possible durham will reject you too and if you read my post then you would see I put in a part about being predicted AAA, of course they can't be right always but they can guess and anyway if they had the worst possible grades they'd get rejected

Reply 9

Sebby

I applied to Oxford, went to interviews for both and decided 100% that durham was where I wanted to be. Was so relieved in many ways when Oxford turned me down (after two sets of interviews!).

Reply 10

SammyD

7

I don't know how they do it but I know they can tell if you are applying for Oxbridge. I think it's something to do with the style of your personal statement (along with high predicted grades obviously) but I read last year that Bristol and Durham were starting to refuse applicants they could tell were also going for Oxbridge as they were fed up of having a reputation for accepting Oxbridge rejects.

Reply 11

Symphonyinblue

it would be pointless for durham to reject oxbridge candidates, because they would lose masses of their best intake. if you are interested in studying at oxbridge with the collegiate system and everything that goes with it then durham would also appea to you, so they'l be lots of people applying to both.

there could always be an option of makign durham like oxbridge in as much as you can only apply to one. but it would involve lots of clever marketing. they might lose some of their best people, but I reckon it would just get a name for being a northern cambridge. it would be less scary than applying to oxbridge. i think they should do 100% interviews too.

i do marketing for a living. maybe they should employ me to do it! although i think that sachi and sachi would be a bit better at it

Reply 12

Symphonyinblue

how many people do have interviews at durham?

Reply 13

Champagne Breakfast

16

SammyD

I don't know how they do it but I know they can tell if you are applying for Oxbridge. I think it's something to do with the style of your personal statement (along with high predicted grades obviously) but I read last year that Bristol and Durham were starting to refuse applicants they could tell were also going for Oxbridge as they were fed up of having a reputation for accepting Oxbridge rejects.

I think they somehow find out when you went for an interview (I read this somewhere, can't remember where, and I can't remember how they do this) - and so if you went for an Oxbridge interview they'll know

Reply 14

khil

15

Unis don't see your options so they can't know but can probably guess sometimes. But no it doesn't automatically mean a Durham rejection. My ex got offers from all 6 of his unis, 3 of which were: Cambridge, Bristol and Durham. And Bristol and Durham are known as Oxbridge rejects uni lol - I don't think it's right to think of it that way cus Durham is a great uni and the students there are great in their own right. But anyway, that's what people sometimes automatically assume when they hear Durham - Oxbridge reject.

But anyway, yeh my ex got an offer from Cambridge and Durham. Needless to say he accepted Cambridge - hehe Durham messed his application up anyway - rejected him for a course he never applied for :biggrin:

lol!

Anyway, apply to both if you want. They'll accept you if you're good enough. And sometimes unis are just weird - 5 unis would reject you and then Cam or Ox would accept you - it happens - it's the other 5's loss really.

Reply 15

Becca28

1

i applied to oxford for october 2005 entry, didnt stop durham offering me a place tho, dont worry about it, there is no way they know for sure who applied to oxbridge they can only guess judging by your grades and whether you apply before the oxbridge deadline

Reply 16

Becca28

1

The Ace is Back

I think they somehow find out when you went for an interview (I read this somewhere, can't remember where, and I can't remember how they do this) - and so if you went for an Oxbridge interview they'll know

i got my durham offer before the oxford interviews tho...

Reply 17

SammyD

7

Oxbridge applicants usually have had much more help with their statements and have more time spent on their references, which is how they are usually told apart. The grades and deadline definitely play a part as well.

Obviously they don't reject all Oxbridge applicants, but they bear it in mind when making offers. Oxbridge students are the most likely to have Durham as insurance or reject the offer completely, if they made offers to all of them they might end up with no students.

Reply 18

BabyK

Dont other unis see the first one of your other choices, alphabetically? That's what I was told anyway- my tertiary advisor said I should apply to somewhere starting with an A or B so they wouldn't see Cambridge!?! (I was applying to Bristol anyway though.)
I always thought that was a bit odd and didn't really see the point so if someone knows then pls enlighten me on this... :confused:

Reply 19

cobra

14

BabyK

Dont other unis see the first one of your other choices, alphabetically? That's what I was told anyway- my tertiary advisor said I should apply to somewhere starting with an A or B so they wouldn't see Cambridge!?! (I was applying to Bristol anyway though.)
I always thought that was a bit odd and didn't really see the point so if someone knows then pls enlighten me on this... :confused:

As far as I know thats not true, the universitys only see when you select your firm and insurance choices then the firm sees the insurance and vice versa

Oxbridge on your list = Durham rejection?

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