Girton College

I'd agree with that - there are plenty of people whose choice of college is simply a matter of personal preference. But my original point was essentially that there are slightly more stringent entry requirements for some colleges than for others. So the best students may be able to choose the college they want based entirely on whether they like it or not, but the worst students won't have the same freedom. I think that governs the assumptions about colleges - there may be very good students at Girton or New Hall, but the worst students in Cambridge will inevitable end up at such colleges. I think that may be why people like BB feel the need to advertise their achievements - people will expect less success from the members of New Hall and the like.

I realise this may all sound very pompous, but I think it accurately reflects the reality of the situation.

Ah well I am unaware of colleges have different entry requirements.

I am now a grad student at Oxford and neither here nor at Cambridge have I EVER come across 'lower calibre' students. They just don't get in. I have come across students who aren't motivated to work once they get in, but they are still just as capable if they wanted to be.

I've got to disagree with you there. I've certainly came across students who don't have the same level of ability as the very best students.

Personally I would admit that there are student here who have far more natural ability than me, and I have to work harder to keep up - and I'm predicted a First.

In every uni there are few genii, same at Oxbridge, But among the vast majority it's much of a muchness. Nearly everyone has got a minimum of 3 A's at A-level. Maybe that doesn't seem weird to you, but coming from a school where CCC was unusual, I noticed straight away that it's expected that everyone is really, really bright. One of my best friends got AAB and decided to stay at home and study at Teesside. People on her course had from AAA to EE and had thus very variying abilities, similar to school. I did a masters at York and found there was a big variation on the course of only 20 people.

In every uni there are few genii, same at Oxbridge, But among the vast majority it's much of a muchness. Nearly everyone has got a minimum of 3 A's at A-level. Maybe that doesn't seem weird to you, but coming from a school where CCC was unusual, I noticed straight away that it's expected that everyone is really, really bright. One of my best friends got AAB and decided to stay at home and study at Teesside. People on her course had from AAA to EE and had thus very variying abilities, similar to school. I did a masters at York and found there was a big variation on the course of only 20 people.

Well, coming from a school where AAA+ was quite common, I can tell you that the differences between certain students and other, who both got the same grades, are huge. Saying everyone gets AAA dosen't mean everyone has nearing the same level of intellect.

1) They set harder conditional offers (someone on uk-learning mentioned needing an AEA Chemistry distinction to make his offer for Medicine!)

2) Their atmosphere is pretty... unique

3) People who know about the college's geeky tag and consider themselves particularly intelligent are also going to be drawn by this reputation. Maybe they feel they "deserve" this recognition. (Then again, maybe this reputation was news to them when they turned up in Freshers' week )

OK, so Christs' might come out with firsts every year - this is probably because

1) They set harder conditional offers (someone on uk-learning mentioned needing an AEA Chemistry distinction to make his offer for Medicine!)

2) Their atmosphere is pretty... unique

3) People who know about the college's geeky tag and consider themselves particularly intelligent are also going to be drawn by this reputation. Maybe they feel they "deserve" this recognition. (Then again, maybe this reputation was news to them when they turned up in Freshers' week )

In other colleges there does tend to be more variation from year to year. There were some surprises this year in my subject area.

A lot of good points. I would never judge someone by their college anyway, and I think most people wouldn't.

Hi Helenia! You're right - if people ever find out we only have two lectures a week, there will be hell to pay

Unless of course, they start living up to the stereotype. Not referring to you (cos I don't know you) or anyone else too specific but if certain John's people happened to have been at the least rather rude to me, I might have sort of blamed it a little bit on their college ("Pah, what can you expect?" sort of thing ) though I didn't make that judgement initially

... but if certain John's people happened to have been at the least rather rude to me, I might have sort of blamed it a little bit on their college ("Pah, what can you expect?" sort of thing )