Why would someone wanting to attend one of the most competitive universities, on one of the most competitive courses at ANY university (although you're thinking of changing to Classics now) not fully prepare?
I'm not trying to put you off if you could get in Oxford, and if you'd enjoy it.
But don't we tend to prepare for what we are passionate enough about to want to spend 3 years studying it, that we
think we have a chance at?
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Edit:
I now see that the topic is from 2016 and was recently bumped. They ended up going to Durham and not being
entirely happy that they didn't go to a London university.
City-wise, Oxford and Durham definitely wouldn't be in my top tier (Durham's kind of predictably dourly cliquey compared to some other places, Oxford's got one of the blandest shopping areas of any UK city and isn't as close to as pretty as many might think) but Newcastle is close to Durham.