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Durham is the grave of the Oxbridge rejects

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Platocrates

It's not really fair is it? Considering that some Oxbridgians are there because of who they/their parents/their school/their background are/is.

Explain this a little, please. I'd say that these criteria apply to all Oxbridgians:

a) Yes - i.e. all get in because they are clever and studious types.
b) If you mean supportive, middle-class, bookish parents who encouraged their kids to work hard at school, yes; if you mean, because their parents are Lord and Lady Ponsonby-Smythe, then please leave now.
c) Yes, and I suppose this is largely dependent on who their parents are.
d) Ditto.

But how is at all different to Durham? Easily the most inane post ever.

Reply 21

WorkHouse

Unpossible

At least Durham is a grave with a proper funeral, and appropriate pomp and circumstance. LSE is just a shallow, unmarked hole in the ground for wartime casualties buried without ceremony. Yeah.

LMFAO!

Reply 22

Alan Smithee

MatthewH

because their parents are Lord and Lady Ponsonby-Smythe.

Precisely what I meant. Sharp aren't you?

Reply 23

MatthewH

Ok. Care to provide any evidence to sustain that one? As far as I can tell they've not been remotely like that since about 1950, primarily because the majority of the tutors are not the children of the Ponsomby-Smythes, and feel no allegiance to such people.

In fact, I could argue that Durham and Bristol are more likely to accept Aristos by virtue of their birth because they want to look posh and pretend that they are Oxbridge. But I won't. Because it would be a stupid and illogical assertion to make.

Reply 24

Isaiah Berlin

Durham and Edinburgh are far more rah than Oxford. All my friend at these universitis, not to mention their facebook photos, confirm this.

The reason for this is that being at Oxbridge is determined by intelligence, which is little to do with how rah you are. Durham, on the other hand, is different. There are enough universities of a similar academic level to it to allow students to pick among them based on characterisitcs like how rah the student profile is. Many students get offers from academically similar universities like Edniburgh, Durham, Nottingham and Imperial; the more rah ones will gravitate towards the former pair, the less rah ones towards the latter. That's why friends of mine seem to go entire days without meeting anyone from a state school, and keep thinking they're getting deja vus because all the girls wear the same bloody outfits.

Reply 25

Alan Smithee

Point taken from both of you.

I know what you mean.

Reply 26

sablacklock88

Isaiah Berlin

being at Oxbridge is determined by intelligence

Well, isn't that an enlightened statement!? Ha!

As opposed to what, i should ask? You mean to tell us that all the other 'plebeian' universities admit on some other factor?!

The reason that Durham might be viewed as a refuge for Oxbridge rejects is that, for those who do not make it into the institution that is Oxbridge, Durham offers an alternative-a place with a remarkable reputation, excellent teaching standards but with less pressure. Indeed, for some subjects and in many people's opinions (and no, not just the aforementioned rejects!), Durham even ranks above Oxbridge. It is the opinion of those less blind individuals that makes Durham the Sunday Times University of the Year 2005(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8403-1795844,00.html).

Indeed, it is an incredibly blind and frankly pathetic view that ostracises Durham from the intellectual circle on the basis that some of its students are there because they did not achieve a place with Oxbridge. Durham is a quality institution, with many of Oxbridge's best qualities, without the traditionally ostentatious viewpoint. I myself am a proud recipient of a Durham offer to study Law this summer, and the offer is certainly one that is no easier than I would have achieved from Oxbridge. I did not apply to Oxbridge, despite clearly having the grades, capability and ambition to do well. My first choice has always been Durham.

If Durham is still a 'grave' for Oxbridge rejects, then so is Imperial, UCL, LSE, Warwick, York, Bristol....the list is endless. By that logic, lets throw in the rest and make do.

To be perfectly honest, most logical, sensible open-minded individuals would not seek to perpetuate this opinion. The people who happily circulate it are those who take up places in Oxbridge (and I certainly do not mean everyone at Oxbridge, just a minority), who feel that the traditional excellence of their chosen university means that the rest of us are buggered no matter where we go. For those who care, I take it as a compliment that these particular students choose Durham as the target for their poison... It proves that they appreciate the status it rightly holds in the educational world.

:fight:

Reply 27

Unpossible

sablacklock88

If Durham is still a 'grave' for Oxbridge rejects, then so is Imperial, UCL, LSE, Warwick, York, Bristol....the list is endless. By that logic, lets throw in the rest and make do.

Well, surely that was obvious?

NB: You might be taking this thread a little bit too seriously, old sport.

Reply 28

Isaiah Berlin

sablacklock88

Well, isn't that an enlightened statement!? Ha!

...bizzare rant...

:fight:

You're going to have to read statements a lot more carefully if you're going to do well in your Law degree. Even at Durham.

nb comment from my friend at Durham: "I feel stunted here. At school I always felt stretched, but here the level is so much lower I feel I'm getting more stupid".

Admittedly she went to a very good school, arguably the most intellectually stretching in the country. Point is people just don't say things like that about Oxford.

Reply 29

Alan Smithee

Your friend is obviously achieving 95%+ in all of her work then.

Kudos to her!

Reply 30

kellywood_5

Just out of interest, what about people like me who get an offer from Oxbridge but are rejected by Durham? Doesn't that, in my case, make Cambridge the grave of the Durham reject? :p:

Reply 31

Isaiah Berlin

Platocrates

Your friend is obviously achieving 95%+ in all of her work then.

Kudos to her!

Your logic's about as watertight as the Titanic.

Reply 32

Alan Smithee

Isaiah Berlin

Your logic's about as watertight as the Titanic.

Ah well, it's still tighter than your mum.

Reply 33

Kentish Man

Isaiah Berlin

You're going to have to read statements a lot more carefully if you're going to do well in your Law degree. Even at Durham

NB No Durhamite is criticising Oxbridge in this thread. There is no need for you to go all superior on us.

Also Durham certainly does select on intelligence. For 2006 the English, Law and History departments rejected anyone who did not meet the cut off point of 7+ A*s at GCSE and 4+ As at AS Level straight away without any other considerations.

No-one is saying that Durham is comparable to Oxbridge but a fair few people each year get offers for Oxbridge and rejected from Durham.

Reply 34

Unpossible

Christ. The next time I say "I'd rather be a leper than a Tab", I really have to prepare for the inevitable Cambridge student clutching league tables and a WHO report, and claiming most vehemently that leprosy is at least marginally worse than Cambridge University.