Sorry, but I do. Maybe I wasn't clever enough to get in. Or maybe I just didn't work hard enough. However I would love to have gone to Oxford rather than to some mediocre institution. Yes, I know by mediocre I'm referring to a university that 80-90% of people aren't able to go to, but so what? It isn't the best. Oxford is for the elite and I wasn't there.
It's hard-wired into British culture - particularly amongst the middle classes - that only Oxbridge matters - other Universities are nothing special. That's not really an intellectual point (the British aren't that keen on brains) it's more about the beauty, history and cultivation that Oxford is supposed to possess. It's also about our perfectionism, we are quite hard on ourselves. Anything less than the best(?) is a bit pointless.
I reckon I would have been happy at Oxford, although the workload and some intimidatingly bright peers might have tested me to the limit. I'm easily infuriated by the very cerebral. Still at the time I wanted to go to some big city and have a crazy party for three years. A bit embarrassing now I think about it and a waste of three years. But you live and learn I guess.
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I envy Oxford students so much! watch
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Mick Travis
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- 27-03-2011 18:15
Last edited by Mick Travis; 27-03-2011 at 18:17. -
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- 27-03-2011 18:24
Theres something on your shoulder. I think its a chip?
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*pitseleh*
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- 27-03-2011 18:24
Hard-wired into the what, now? Speak for yourself - I know heaps of middle-class people who didn't give a **** about Oxford or Cambridge, who were very happy going to other universities (top-notch or otherwise) and lots of whom have been very successful as a result.
As for "intimidatingly bright peers"... the only people I've met in my three years here who were "intimidatingly" bright have been some (not all) of my tutors. Most of the students are intellectually sharp, sure, but not "intimidatingly" so. And most tend to find the whole "oh my God you must be so clever to go to Oxford" thing a little bit weird, in my experience.
You should be happy that you got to go to what sounds like it was a very good university, judging by your "80-90%" statistic, and forget about Oxford. -
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- 27-03-2011 18:25
Do a master's there then?
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- 27-03-2011 18:26
Oxbridge can be overrated at times, they don't always produce the best students. There are other universities which have certain faculties that are much better.
Last edited by AnJuM218; 31-03-2011 at 13:03. -
reptileface
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- 27-03-2011 18:26
Oh bloody hell, get a grip!
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SteveCrain
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- 27-03-2011 18:26
I hadn't heard of Cambridge till last year and only knew Oxford from Brideshead Revisited
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- 27-03-2011 18:29
(Original post by Mick Travis)
Sorry, but I do. Maybe I wasn't clever enough to get in. Or maybe I just didn't work hard enough. However I would love to have gone to Oxford rather than to some mediocre institution. Yes, I know by mediocre I'm referring to a university that 80-90% of people aren't able to go to, but so what? It isn't the best. Oxford is for the elite and I wasn't there.
It's hard-wired into British culture - particularly amongst the middle classes - that only Oxbridge matters - other Universities are nothing special. That's not really an intellectual point (the British aren't that keen on brains) it's more about the beauty, history and cultivation that Oxford is supposed to possess. It's also about our perfectionism, we are quite hard on ourselves. Anything less than the best(?) is a bit pointless.
I reckon I would have been happy at Oxford, although the workload and some intimidatingly bright peers might have tested me to the limit. I'm easily infuriated by the very cerebral. Still at the time I wanted to go to some big city and have a crazy party for three years. A bit embarrassing now I think about it and a waste of three years. But you live and learn I guess.
(Of course the social life is important, but what ****er applies only so he or she can just party all through 3 years without doing any work?)
Postgraduate I guess, OP? -
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- 27-03-2011 18:29
Imsoacademic is on the way to this thread right now....
EDIT : How correct i was, just posted before me -
ilickbatteries
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- 27-03-2011 18:31
(Original post by Mick Travis)
Sorry, but I do. Maybe I wasn't clever enough to get in. Or maybe I just didn't work hard enough. However I would love to have gone to Oxford rather than to some mediocre institution. Yes, I know by mediocre I'm referring to a university that 80-90% of people aren't able to go to, but so what? It isn't the best. Oxford is for the elite and I wasn't there.
It's hard-wired into British culture - particularly amongst the middle classes - that only Oxbridge matters - other Universities are nothing special. That's not really an intellectual point (the British aren't that keen on brains) it's more about the beauty, history and cultivation that Oxford is supposed to possess. It's also about our perfectionism, we are quite hard on ourselves. Anything less than the best(?) is a bit pointless.
I reckon I would have been happy at Oxford, although the workload and some intimidatingly bright peers might have tested me to the limit. I'm easily infuriated by the very cerebral. Still at the time I wanted to go to some big city and have a crazy party for three years. A bit embarrassing now I think about it and a waste of three years. But you live and learn I guess. -
Victor-PP
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- 27-03-2011 18:31
OP, you're gonna get along so well with imsoacademic.
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- 27-03-2011 18:32
(Original post by - Major -)
Imsoacademic is on the way to this thread right now....
EDIT : How correct i was, just posted before me -
01010000 01001010
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- 27-03-2011 18:33
I always thought Cambridge was 'better' than Oxford...
Last edited by 01010000 01001010; 27-03-2011 at 18:55. -
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- 27-03-2011 18:33
are you at your university already, because if not, you could just reapply, so even if you get rejected, you have some 'closure' (christ that word makes me feel horrible.) But I agree with the above posters, the idea that oxbridge is hardwired into the middle-classes certainly isn't my experience.
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- 27-03-2011 18:34
(Original post by SteveCrain)
I hadn't heard of Cambridge till last year and only knew Oxford from Brideshead RevisitedReally?
I hadn't heard of UCL until about a year ago and I didn't know that ICL was really good until about a year ago. But it's kind of hard to read a paper/turn on the news on results day/etc without hearing that Oxford and Cambridge are 'good'. Out of interest, how did you manage not to have heard of Cambridge? -
Abbadon27
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- 27-03-2011 18:35
People who go to Oxbridge are by no means special.
EDIT: I think I made some people angryLast edited by Abbadon27; 28-03-2011 at 15:30. -
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- 27-03-2011 18:35
(Original post by Victor-PP)
OP, you're gonna get along so well with imsoacademic. -
street.lovin'
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- 27-03-2011 18:35
Aww OP, don't worry. Im so academic will love you.
You are probably her soulmate anyway. -
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- 27-03-2011 18:35
(Original post by SteveCrain)
I hadn't heard of Cambridge till last year and only knew Oxford from Brideshead Revisited -
NellGwynne
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- 27-03-2011 18:36
They have Dawkins. I suppose it' reason enough to feel a tad jealous.
Purely because of Philosophy lectures and so on.
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