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Maths at Oxford or Cambridge - How Did You Decide!?!?

Hi

I want to study Maths at Oxford or Cambridge but am yet to deviate between the two. You may have seen a couple of my threads in the Oxford and Cambridge forums trying to decide on my shortlist of colleges at each university. Unfortunately, I remain as confused as ever as to which university to apply to! Each has it's own pro's and con's, and everytime I manage to convince myself through logical reason to apply to one, I conjure up some sort of counter argument about why I should be applying to the other. Firstly, my shortlist of colleges in order of preference for each (not as yet definitive):

Oxford
St. John's
Wadham
Christ Church
St. Catz
Worcestor

Cambridge
King's
Churchill
St. John's
Queen's
Trinity

I am planning to go back to each university and visit every shortlisted college and will then come to my definite first choice college for each. Now for my personal list of thought processes for each university (which may differ in opinion to other's):

Oxford

•

Generally perceived to be 'less hard' to get into, and I definitely feel I have a greater chance of getting an offer

•

Oxford seems a nicer city to live in

•

Oxford is closer to home

•

I feel more attracted to some of my shortlisted colleges

•

An Oxford degree in Maths would be more than adequate for a good job in my desired line of work (Actuarial work) i.e. a Cambridge degree will not give an advantage, so why take the risk of not getting in?

•

All colleges give a test at interview, which I'd prefer

•

STEP papers are not part of the conditional offer

•

The Mathematical Institute building leaves much to be desired

•

Not all colleges provide accomodation for the duration of the course

Cambridge

•

Generally perceived as 'better' for Maths

•

Will provide the grandeur of having studied Maths at Cambridge

•

Will rid me of the underlying questions: 'Would I have got into Cambridge?' and 'What if I'd gone to Cambridge?'

•

Not all colleges give a test at interview, which is my preference so my choice of colleges is limited

•

The Mathematcial Institute building looks like something by NASA (which is good :wink: )

•

Cambridge colleges tend to have greater annual intakes of Mathematicians

•

Cambridge colleges tend to provide accomodation for the duration of the course

As you can see, I'm in quite a conundrum. Current students, or students with offers to study Maths at Oxbridge, how did you decide where to apply to!? Any feedback you can offer will be of paramount importance in terms of trying to decide where to apply, so many thanks in advance. I've incorporated a poll to make clear your recommendations, based on my opinions.

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Reply 120

SouthernFreerider

Go Team Maths!

Reply 121

rachxl

if you can't get a gold in the SMC, is cambridge maths out of the question would you say?

Reply 122

Square

rachxl

if you can't get a gold in the SMC, is cambridge maths out of the question would you say?

no.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=38

Frequenting this forum is a good idea if you are serious for oxbridge maths.

Reply 123

yusufu

RageC

how many hours does the average cambridge mathematician do a week?

Quite a few.

Reply 124

qwertyuiopg

Original post

by JoMo1

I'll be applying next year. I was leaning towards Oxford rather heavily and then some comments on this thread made me question it, however, basically it comes down to the fact that I can't see much difference in the courses. Cambridge has a better reputation and is probably a bit better, but it isn't by much. Oxford is still absolutely bloody amazing for maths. I even like the city of Oxford better than cambridge, and the university just has a better feel to it for me. And really, i know I'm not one of the very best mathematicians in the county (YET!) and there's not a chance in hell I'd beat off the competition from anyone who even got a sniff of the IMO team so basically Trinity is out of my league. In the end the small difference isn't worth not getting in, so I'm perfectly happy to admit that I am not currently one of probably the top 100 (most likely considerably more) maths applicants in the county, but I do think I'm good enough for oxbridge, I just want to make sure of a place, and the competition is harder at cambridge. Plus I've fallen in love with Magdalen.

Hi - I'm in the exact same position as you now - and I was wondering if you can tell me how the application turned out for you and if you can give me a few tips??

Thanks (:

Reply 125

BJack

Original post

by qwertyuiopg

Hi - I'm in the exact same position as you now - and I was wondering if you can tell me how the application turned out for you and if you can give me a few tips??

Thanks (:

That's a really old post you've quoted. For what it's worth, JoMo1 went to Oxford and has since graduated. As he hasn't been on the forums for almost a year, I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a swift reply!

Reply 126

qwertyuiopg

oh - fair enough! Thanks for letting me know

Reply 127

Piddle123

Original post

by qwertyuiopg

(Original post by JoMo1) I'll be applying next year. I was leaning towards Oxford rather heavily and then some comments on this thread made me question it, however, basically it comes down to the fact that I can't see much difference in the courses. Cambridge has a better reputation and is probably a bit better, but it isn't by much. Oxford is still absolutely bloody amazing for maths. I even like the city of Oxford better than cambridge, and the university just has a better feel to it for me. And really, i know I'm not one of the very best mathematicians in the county (YET!) and there's not a chance in hell I'd beat off the competition from anyone who even got a sniff of the IMO team so basically Trinity is out of my league. In the end the small difference isn't worth not getting in, so I'm perfectly happy to admit that I am not currently one of probably the top 100 (most likely considerably more) maths applicants in the county, but I do think I'm good enough for oxbridge, I just want to make sure of a place, and the competition is harder at cambridge. Plus I've fallen in love with Magdalen.

Hi - I'm in the exact same position as you now - and I was wondering if you can tell me how the application turned out for you and if you can give me a few tips?? Thanks :smile:

Hi - I'm in the exact same position as you now - and I was wondering if you can tell me how the application turned out for you and if you can give me a few tips?? Thanks :smile:

Reply 128

username3480226

Original post

by Piddle123

Hi - I'm in the exact same position as you now - and I was wondering if you can tell me how the application turned out for you and if you can give me a few tips?? Thanks :smile:

I know this thread is old AF but I can give some tips form my experience with friends

1 - Oxford is being kinda weird. I believe they have very heavy state school bias recently (I was rejected with 10A*'S, nobody at my school got an Oxford offer (while 12 got Cambridge) and my top100 under 18 maths friend was rejected)). I don't think it's just anecdotal evidence that it's getting harder to be accepted by Oxford, but I may be wrong/
2 - Examination/Testing is very different. Oxford have the MAT. It's weird, C1/C2 on steroids, but is designed to encourage thinking and be accessible to state school children who have covered the bare minimum at school. Their interviews are longer and slightly more intense than Cambridge. I believe Cambridge give more offers, but they require STEP in the offer, and it's super hard to get a good grade in STEP so many with an offer get rejected.