Oxford and Cambridge - Career Prospects

What are the job prospects if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, compared to somewhere like Leeds or Machester doing the same subject?
What percentage of people from Oxford or Cambridge end up unemployed or working in call centres and supermarkets compared to those from the decent-but-average universities?
If prospects are better at Oxbridge, are they better just in the long term, for salary and promotion prospects, or just in the short term, i.e. to get a job in the first place after which it makes no difference, or both?
In short, is there any point going to Oxbridge rather than Leeds employment wise?

Reply 1

J.S.

7

Phaze

What are the job prospects if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, compared to somewhere like Leeds or Machester doing the same subject?
What percentage of people from Oxford or Cambridge end up unemployed or working in call centres and supermarkets compared to those from the decent-but-average universities?
If prospects are better at Oxbridge, are they better just in the long term, for salary and promotion prospects, or just in the short term, i.e. to get a job in the first place after which it makes no difference, or both?
In short, is there any point going to Oxbridge rather than Leeds employment wise?

It's really complicated this, although the short answer is: yes, all things being equal prospects are certainly better at Oxbridge, particularly over Leeds (just for e.g.). However, the answer would depend on what you mean by ‘good job prospects’. I have no idea as to what you refer to, so I'll take what most people mean by this, i.e. a career in the private sector, in one of the business functions.

I think it would be helpful to divide into two the criteria by which you're likely to be judged: academic and non academic. To satisfy the former, you require a 2:1 from a well-respected institution; Oxbridge is of course on the top of such a hierarchy. Some of this may depend also on what you go onto study, Law, Econ/Management (Oxf.), Economics, PPE are probably the most sought after, alongside a few others. Certain other courses at Oxbridge give you less of an advantage, although still a very reasonable advantage of course. Aside from the academic element, any prospect employer is going to be concerned with what you've done whilst being away from study-a diverse range of extra curricula's will help your cause here. So, this is essentially what you put down on paper, i.e. on your job application form, and if your particular case is relatively impressive to them, then you will be given an interview. On the surface, at least, this is where any advantage given to you via university prestige ends.

At this point, you are on your own. Although, again, there could be a less obvious Oxbridge advantage at work here too, Oxbridge people are more likely to possess the confidence required to effectively participate in many of the selection activities they're likely to face, i.e. speaking in front of a large audience, problem solving, and various others. This may seem a little controversial, but I’m of the opinion that due to the extra attention they get during the 1/2/3 to 1 tutorials, Oxbridge students are more likely to have developed these required attributes-ceteris paribas.

As for long-term prospects, well to a large(st) extent they depend on your job market experience. If you are able to get into a prestigious and highly sought after graduate training programme, then this will be of huge benefit to you as you progress through the corporate ladder. I suppose the influence of Oxbridge here would be de-facto, as it’s clearly the case that one thing leads to another.

Overall, in sum, a well regarded university/degree leads to a large number of interviews; this in turn increases the likelihood of a job offer at a competitive firm; from this point career progression is somewhat easier, for obvious reasons.

Reply 2

scanner

Phaze

What are the job prospects if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, compared to somewhere like Leeds or Machester doing the same subject?
What percentage of people from Oxford or Cambridge end up unemployed or working in call centres and supermarkets compared to those from the decent-but-average universities?
If prospects are better at Oxbridge, are they better just in the long term, for salary and promotion prospects, or just in the short term, i.e. to get a job in the first place after which it makes no difference, or both?
In short, is there any point going to Oxbridge rather than Leeds employment wise?

The percentage of people from Oxford or Cambridge who are unemployed or working in call centres is so small as to make it insignificant.

Rightly or wrongly, Oxbridge degrees are more valuable than ones from middle ranked universities like Leeds and Manchester. This applies across most if not all subjects. I have seen friends graduate from Oxford and the ease with which they have found the jobs they want compared with most of my (often equally able)non Oxbridge former school friends. In short if you are capable of getting into Oxbridge then you need an extraordinarily strong reason to want to go to Leeds instead.

Reply 3

hildabeast

7

J.S.

I'll take what most people mean by this, i.e. a career in the private sector, in one of the business functions.

I'm not convinced that most people actually DO want that. The single biggest employer of Oxbridge graduates is the senior civil service (especially the intelligence services), although the most popular immediate destination for graduates now is further study.

Reply 4

Phaze

OP

J.S.

I think it would be helpful to divide into two the criteria by which you're likely to be judged: academic and non academic. To satisfy the former, you require a 2:1 from a well-respected institution; Oxbridge is of course on the top of such a hierarchy.

Thanks for the replies, I just wondered about this bit - say you didn't get a 2.1 at Cambridge or Oxford, would a 2.1 from Leeds or Manchester be better without a doubt? Or would

Also, about the subjects which aren't as worthwhile even at Oxbridge, what do you consider those to be? I can imagine we're talking Music, Fine Art etc., but wondered what you thought.

Reply 5

Minta

5

Phaze

Also, about the subjects which aren't as worthwhile even at Oxbridge, what do you consider those to be? I can imagine we're talking Music, Fine Art etc., but wondered what you thought.

I'm not at Cambridge yet, so can't venture as acurate an opinion as those who are studying there at the moment, but the 'less worthwhile' subjects probably would be considered Music, Fine Art, Oriental Studies, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, SPS. Personally, I don't believe this is a true assessment, and from the point of view of employment prospects, I think having a less standard Oxbridge degree could actually be an advantage. Think of it like this: hundreds of people have applied for a job, and the employer is sifting through the cvs to decide who to invite for interview. Lots of the applicants have done Englih, History, Law, Languages etc, and are therefore not distinctive, then the employer comes across someone who has done Oriental Studies at Cambridge. They might think 'this person is weird and we don't want to employ someone like that' OR they might think 'hmmm...this person sounds like an individual, we're curious about them and will invite them in for an interview to see what they're like.' The unique nature of the degree has caught the empoyer's attention and caused the applicant to stand out from the crowd, and the employer also has the 'quality assurance' of the fact that the degree is from Cambridge, and therefore the applicant must be of a certain calibre.

Obviously the above considers the degree subject in isolation of the other factors which are important in getting an interview eg skills gained from extra curricular activities, other professional qualifications.

Reply 6

Hoofbeat

14

hildabeast

I'm not convinced that most people actually DO want that. The single biggest employer of Oxbridge graduates is the senior civil service (especially the intelligence services), although the most popular immediate destination for graduates now is further study.

The intelligence service huh?! Yay! At the moment I'm really interested in working in M15 (yeah I know it's not all james bond!) although that'll probably change when I'm older and i want to earn a high income!

Reply 7

J.S.

7

hildabeast

I'm not convinced that most people actually DO want that. The single biggest employer of Oxbridge graduates is the senior civil service (especially the intelligence services), although the most popular immediate destination for graduates now is further study.

It doesn't matter if the civil service is the biggest employer. All this shows is that the civil service employs a greater number of people than any one particular company, i.e. the largest single provider. What it does not mean is that the senior civil service employs more than the entire private sector-which of course it does not. As for further study, you'd have to look at what they do after completion, perhaps a large proportion enter the private sector-although of course a significant proportion of academics are from Oxbridge.

Oxford and Cambridge - Career Prospects

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