I envy Oxford students so much!

As someone who applied to Cambridge for History and was pooled and then rejected, I had about a month when I was disappointed. I then took up my place at a Russell group, worked hard and came top of my year in finals and won national academic prizes for my dissertation. I was then offered a PhD and funding at both Yale and Princeton, which I turned down. I now have a job offer which three friends of mine who went to Oxbridge applied for and did not get.

I have no illusions that the students who did well at interview aged 17 and got offers are somehow superior to me. A number of them will have gone on to get low 2.1s or 2.2s, and some will not even have made their AAA grade offer. Based on my achievements, I honestly think if I'd gone to Cambridge I would have got a First.

It might not seem that way when you're an A-level student, but UCAS is not everything. You're 17, and university is the start of your academic development, not the end!

Take home pointL move on, work hard and enjoy your studies and you will do well regardless - really no need to hold a chip on your shoulder, and the same goes for the minority of Oxbridge students for whom impressing an admissions tutor in their late pubescence is a constant reaffirmation of their value in this world.