Has anyone ever rejected Oxbridge?

I was just wondering if anyone, for any reason, has ever rejected, is going to reject, or wishes they had rejected a place at Oxbridge?

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Reply 1

dothestrand

One of my friends did, to go to Yale.

Reply 2

defenestrate.

haha someone I know rejected them for UCL.

Reply 3

username398619

Original post by dothestrand

One of my friends did, to go to Yale.

Fail

Reply 4

Tackla

Yes, few months ago a girl rejected Cambridge because she felt it wasn't diverse enough. Also, a girl from my sixth form rejected Cambridge last year for Medicine, she instead went to Imperial.

Reply 5

camaieu

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088710/Elly-Nowell-sends-Oxford-OWN-rejection-letter-criticising-grand-interview-setting.html

:facepalm:

Reply 6

py0alb

Yes, people do. More often though, people simply decide not to apply to Oxbridge because another UK university offers a course that suits their requirements better. Hundreds of people do this every year, despite easily having the grades to get in.

Reply 7

NightBear

It wasn't necessary; they rejected me instead. :colonhash:

Reply 8

POWCATTY

a friend of mine dropped out after 4 weeks at cambridge. it was his only offer for medicine so he took it, but couldnt stand the place. i have to say that i agree with him too, really not an environment i enjoy :frown:

but yeah, loads of people would reject these unis because the courses are fairly unique - so not always what people are looking for. people also sometimes just apply to see if they can get in, so then might reject if they get an offer.

Reply 9

jus2sik

Original post by Catherine.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088710/Elly-Nowell-sends-Oxford-OWN-rejection-letter-criticising-grand-interview-setting.html

:facepalm:

About that story, she applied and then withdrew her application, meaning she was never given an offer, I think her interview went badly and she withdrew her application before being rejected, shes just an attention seeker.

Reply 10

_becca

Original post by Fazackerberry

I was just wondering if anyone, for any reason, has ever rejected, is going to reject, or wishes they had rejected a place at Oxbridge?

I know someone who rejected Oxford for Warwick (she'd been allocated to St Catz which played a big part in the decision process!)

Reply 11

zxh800

Yes, a friend chose Imperial over Cambridge for Engineering because he wanted to live at home.

Reply 12

summer_blazed

I turned Oxford down for Imperial, the course at Imperial was different and I preferred London as a place. One of my best friends turned down Cambridge for LSE for law last year. Also know a boy who turned down Cambridge for UBC in Canada. It's not uncommon, but given that Oxford and Cambridge are the best overall universities, the vast majorty of those with offers will take them. But as somebody said above many people with grades and intelligence suitable for Oxbridge don't apply, and go elsewhere.

Reply 13

0404343m

Original post by searchingshadow

Fail

Yup, I can confirm that the city is indeed nowhere near as pleasant to be (for the most part) as Oxford or Cambridge. University has tons of money to throw at you, campus is great and East Rock is a nice place to be, but on the whole I'd not hesitate to say I'd much rather live in Oxford than New Haven. I can just imagine the look on that person's face when they see Dwight, two streets from campus, after dark.

Remember though: American financial aid packages might mean Yale is much more cost effective (or much less) depending on your background than Oxford.

On that point, I know of a few people rejecting Oxford/Cambridge for two reasons that haven't been mentioned thus far:

Scottish qualifications: 9k plus the need to sit 2 or three advanced highers and get As when you already have an offer at St Andrews/Glasgow/Edinburgh (or wherever would be best for your course) and a large saving has meant I've heard of more people rejecting them this year than usual. It could mean fifty thousand pounds now- quite different (but still an issue) between that and £15k between that and before the fees increase.

American scholarships. Even less well known places like Ohio State, Pittsburgh, UNC have been able to put up very nice packages to some friends of mine who took those offers up. Academically though, they might just feel somewhere else is better for them. It just statistically happens far less often than most other universities.

Reply 14

nexttime

Of course - about 10% of offers given out do not result in the student being at Oxford. Lots of those will be due to people turning the offer down.

Reply 15

Joshc93

I rejected Oxford this year simply because I wasn't going to make my offer.

Reply 16

kka25

Original post by POWCATTY

Would you mind if I asked what's the environment that you don't like there?

Must be a bit difficult for the guy to tell his parents though :s-smilie:

Reply 17

Platostolemysocks

Original post by Fazackerberry

I was just wondering if anyone, for any reason, has ever rejected, is going to reject, or wishes they had rejected a place at Oxbridge?

Yes, quite a few have. Although, of course its rarer for them to be turned down than other universities. It often makes a daily mail story when they're turned down though!

I know a guy from my school turned Oxford down for Harvard (totally understandable, especially as he was american in the first place).

I also know a girl who was accepted into Oxford, went on an open day and hated it, so decided to go to Manchester instead. Apparently her college was really snobby.

Also slightly different but I know a guy in the year above who all the teachers wanted to go to Oxbridge (he had all A*s at GCSE and A levels, plus amazing extra curriculars) but he refused to apply and went to Lancaster instead.