This discussion is now closed.
Check out other Related discussions
- Can't Find Oxford Undergraduate Scholarships
- Oxford early modern history MSt advice
- How am I able to acquire scholarship if I apply in oxford
- Accepting multiple master's offers?
- Oriel College
- Best PMs we never had
- When are most answers about Oxford funding given?
- What are Oxford colleges
- Joint honours history and english at oxford
- BA Law or LLB?
- oxford physics
- Firming Oxford or UCL for chemistry?
- How much do people actually revise for collections
- Should I change my topics of interest in Oxbridge Personal Statements
- Advice for Oxford BCL
- history source question
- Oxford Uni help... Choral scholarship
- Cambridge or Oxford?
- A Level English Lit - is it worth it?
- history source question
Two Rhodes scholars from the US think Oxford is rubbish.
Are all americans this arrogant ? This is especially amusing since American Rhodes scholars are so academically lousy.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517274
"If you’re entertaining pipe dreams of researching something you’re passionate about at Oxford, don’t expect the resources to help you do so. The ancient walls of the Bodleian Library house a less than inspiring collection. Last year, some departmental libraries had to cancel their LexisNexis subscriptions due to budget shortfalls. And if you have visions of debates with famous Nobel Prize winners, expect instead to be taught in a lecture hall by an apathetic post-doc.
There are no breaks for Rhodes scholars; in Oxford, you’ll be a dime per dozen. If you’re a Harvard Rhodes, expect the H-bomb to blow up in your face. Your undergrad alma mater can stigmatize you in your department and Rhodes House alike."
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517274
"If you’re entertaining pipe dreams of researching something you’re passionate about at Oxford, don’t expect the resources to help you do so. The ancient walls of the Bodleian Library house a less than inspiring collection. Last year, some departmental libraries had to cancel their LexisNexis subscriptions due to budget shortfalls. And if you have visions of debates with famous Nobel Prize winners, expect instead to be taught in a lecture hall by an apathetic post-doc.
There are no breaks for Rhodes scholars; in Oxford, you’ll be a dime per dozen. If you’re a Harvard Rhodes, expect the H-bomb to blow up in your face. Your undergrad alma mater can stigmatize you in your department and Rhodes House alike."
Scroll to see replies
I think you're jumping to a bit of a conclusion there. Although I don't like the tone of the article, and I don't think they're right in many respects the candidness behind it is based on getting people to wake up and think about what they're doing. Oxford is an expensive place to live and for some unfortunate subjects it really is a case of being taught by DPhil students. I think the bit about the Bod is harsh and unfounded but the point that Oxford isn't just an airy fairy dream is actually quite a good one
Also I seriously doubt that you can make a generalisation like all Rhodes scholars being "academically lousy".
Also I seriously doubt that you can make a generalisation like all Rhodes scholars being "academically lousy".
Bekaboo
Also I seriously doubt that you can make a generalisation like all Rhodes scholars being "academically lousy".
Just the American ones.
I know a few and they generally just do the doss courses like the MSt.
They seem happy to get Thirds or even just not turn up for exams.
I agree partly with bekaboo, although the tone of the article is particully arrogant alot of the article is true to some extent. some of the teaching can be a little out-dated and personally seeing as im going to one of the best universities in the world i would have expected the best teaching that it could offer. The comnment about the bodleian made me laugh though, every book ever published in britain isnt, apparently, good enough for rhodes scholars.
lol
lol
fundamentally
Just the American ones.
I know a few and they generally just do the doss courses like the MSt.
They seem happy to get Thirds or even just not turn up for exams.
I know a few and they generally just do the doss courses like the MSt.
They seem happy to get Thirds or even just not turn up for exams.
The Rhodes only funds for 2 years of study I believe, so I don't think they can do anything other than two MSts or an MPhil.
Also I can't speak to whether or not they perform well at Oxford, but they are most certainly intelligent. You need nearly perfect grades, plus amazing extra curriculars, 4-5 references, and must go through rounds of interviews to get chosen. If they slack off it's probably because they don't plan on being academics (very few Rhodes do) and want to have fun in Oxford for a few years before applying to Yale Law School.
I hate this article though. I actually hate the Rhodes Scholarship, as it funds Americans with entitlement complexes to party in the UK on blood money gotten from Africans who were basically enslaved in Cecil Rhodes' diamond mines. I actually asked an alumni of my uni who was a Rhodes when I was visiting Oxford how he felt about having dirty money paying for his livelihood, and he said "at least I got it instead of someone less deserving." Hmm..OK, please take your ego elsewhere, thank you.
These authors are pathetic. Cry me a river that people don't think you're important because you went to Harvard and won a scholarship. Big deal.
I actually asked an alumni of my uni who was a Rhodes when I was visiting Oxford how he felt about having dirty money paying for his livelihood
shady lane
These authors are pathetic. Cry me a river that people don't think you're important because you went to Harvard and won a scholarship. Big deal.
Well they aren't pathetic, but they really should think carefully before writing that article, because their experiences may not paint the whole picture perfectly - it is Oxford afterall.
It's worthwhile reading through the follow-ups to the original article: there's a quite fascinating spread of opinion, a lot of it well-argued and thoughtful.
Anyway, that's what I've just spent an hour or so doing, learning quite a lot about the Rhodes Scholars, Harvard (and Oxford) in the process...
DtS
Anyway, that's what I've just spent an hour or so doing, learning quite a lot about the Rhodes Scholars, Harvard (and Oxford) in the process...
DtS
Charmless idiots the lot of them. One of the authors rejoices in the name Swati Mylavarapu, if he thinks Oxfords antiquated, he should try marrying his sister back wherever the hell he originated. That's just my (probably racist) opinion, though. At least the British education system is slightly less governed by your parents wealth (or your ability throw a stupidly shaped ball) , what with the Ivy League mafia, it might as well be a banana republic.
I wish the Soviets had won the Cold War. If that article is from the creme de la creme of the American educational establishment, then it goes some way further to explaining why Dubya (a Yale gruduate) can consistantly outwit the entire pigheaded nation. Whatever the size of their checkbook, Harvard can't buy what Oxford has and their complaining about the time the shops shut just shows how vacuous and materialistic the entire cross-section of US society has become. They're probably just bitter because most the the planet, including a good proportion of the British public, tend not to think of the US as one hundreth as important as they do.
I wish the Soviets had won the Cold War. If that article is from the creme de la creme of the American educational establishment, then it goes some way further to explaining why Dubya (a Yale gruduate) can consistantly outwit the entire pigheaded nation. Whatever the size of their checkbook, Harvard can't buy what Oxford has and their complaining about the time the shops shut just shows how vacuous and materialistic the entire cross-section of US society has become. They're probably just bitter because most the the planet, including a good proportion of the British public, tend not to think of the US as one hundreth as important as they do.
I just can't get enough of the fact that they complain that Oxford is 2 hours away from London. Damn you Oxford! Next time you found a university you'd best make damn sure it's within a short distance of the capital so that American guests to it, who were too lazy to look at a map beforehand, won't be minorly inconvenienced!
thomasjtl
I'm sorry, what exactly possessed you to ask something so entirely obnoxious? Of course some of the things Rhodes did were appauling, but surely the Rhodes scholarship is one of the positive things he did, and has benefitted many africans as well as "americans with entitlement complexes". Really, would you rather his money just stayed in his family's pockets?
If you're going to take the money and then brag about it for your entire senior year (which this guy did) and try to get chicks by telling them how awesome you are because you're a Rhodes Scholar, then frankly you should be able to deal with a serious and critical question about the source of your largess. I knew him and he was honestly a jerk, he deserved the question. Besides, it occured in this context: I was having a study group for a class, and he strolled in and thought it made sense to loudly laugh, play ring tones from his mobile, and write profane jokes on the board while we were trying to divide up work for a group project. This is a Rhodes Scholar, whom according to him and the authors of this article should be bowed down to in veneration.
I went to study African history at Oxford when I was a visiting student there, and the veneration of Cecil Rhodes actually made me sick. It's disgusting that such a terrible man, a fervent racist and excessively greedy and self-absorbed, gets not only the African Studies library at Oxford named after him, but also a prestigious scholarship that funds mostly wealthy Americans from top universities to faff around in the UK for two years, then throw it at the top of their resumes when they begin their political careers in Washington. As an African (although anyone with a sense of humanity should as well), I demand to know what these people are doing with the stolen wealth of the Continent. And what I've found is mostly disappointing.
Related discussions
- Can't Find Oxford Undergraduate Scholarships
- Oxford early modern history MSt advice
- How am I able to acquire scholarship if I apply in oxford
- Accepting multiple master's offers?
- Oriel College
- Best PMs we never had
- When are most answers about Oxford funding given?
- What are Oxford colleges
- Joint honours history and english at oxford
- BA Law or LLB?
- oxford physics
- Firming Oxford or UCL for chemistry?
- How much do people actually revise for collections
- Should I change my topics of interest in Oxbridge Personal Statements
- Advice for Oxford BCL
- history source question
- Oxford Uni help... Choral scholarship
- Cambridge or Oxford?
- A Level English Lit - is it worth it?
- history source question
Latest
Trending
Last reply 13 hours ago
Oxbridge applicants for modern languages - 2025 entry (applying in 2024)Last reply 1 month ago
Year 12 Oxbridge hopefuls apply for Lucy Cavendish AAP.Last reply 1 month ago
How do youys feel about the TSA this year compared to the past papers?
