The Student Room Group

Oxford College Choice: Is it all up to one college?

1) If you were to apply to Balliol college, for example, and they rejected you, would you be deferred to other colleges or would your application to Oxford be rejected flat out?
2) Furthermore, if you submit an open application, are you first assigned a random college after which that college, and that college only, decides whether you will be accepted to Oxford or can can you application be selected from a pool of open applications by any college (i.e. not left up to the discretion of one college)?
There is an internal pooling system so the general gist of it is: say Balliol (either via you applying there or via an open application. Though given how popular Balliol is, doubt you'd end up there via open application) didn't personally want to take you BUT they thought you were good enough to be interviewed/good enough to be offered a place, you would be put in the internal pool.

If they did not think you were good enough then yeah, that would probs be an outright rejection :yes:

@BrasenoseAdm and @LMH OXFORD can probs explain it better :colondollar:
I keep posting this - it describes the process in some detail...Rusbridger's blog
Original post by ntapanlis
1) If you were to apply to Balliol college, for example, and they rejected you, would you be deferred to other colleges or would your application to Oxford be rejected flat out?
2) Furthermore, if you submit an open application, are you first assigned a random college after which that college, and that college only, decides whether you will be accepted to Oxford or can can you application be selected from a pool of open applications by any college (i.e. not left up to the discretion of one college)?


We'll answer 2) first. If you submit an Open Application, you'll be assigned to a college and treated as if you made a direct application to that college. There's no pool and the colleges don't have any part in the assignment process - its all done by a computer in the Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Now we'll try and answer 1). It ultimately depends how strong the application is relative to other candidates in a particular year.

All the candidates' scores are entered on a database (pre and post interview). College B will have a college quota for each subject and the Department's Admissions Coordinator will work with selectors across the University to set thresholds for offers. College B will be able to make offers to its applicants with the best scores. The Coordinator will know what the position is across all the colleges and he or she will also want to meet the global quota for the subject. So the final stages of the process will see some candidates moved between colleges (say from college B to college C) and this can involve another interview. The Coordinator may also ask colleges to make 'open offers' where the final destination is not usually decided until A-level confirmation. So if college B makes an open offer and college D subsequently loses a student (eg because of a withdrawal), the open offer may move from B to D.

There are some refinements and variants (depending on how big a subject is and the degree of central coordination that exists) but this is the basic framework.
Reply 4
So if like me you applied to college A but got reallocated to college B due to numbers are you at a disadvantage from the start at college B vs. their direct applicants. I sort of got that impression yesterday...
Reply 5
Original post by 66mhnldn
So if like me you applied to college A but got reallocated to college B due to numbers are you at a disadvantage from the start at college B vs. their direct applicants. I sort of got that impression yesterday...


If you are an admissions tutor at a college why would you favour one applicant who randomly chose your college over one applicant who randomly didn't?
Reply 6
Original post by Pars12
If you are an admissions tutor at a college why would you favour one applicant who randomly chose your college over one applicant who randomly didn't?


I suppose one answer is to improve the college choice statistics but is it worth lowering the academic standards of your college?
Feels like an example of generalised anxiety looking for some issue to attach itself to.
Reply 8
Original post by OxFossil
Feels like an example of generalised anxiety looking for some issue to attach itself to.


But on the other hand if you are in a competition it would be kinda nice to know what the rules are.
Original post by Pars12
But on the other hand if you are in a competition it would be kinda nice to know what the rules are.


Absolutely. However, this is a question that has been asked and answered many times before. And this time it is described as arising not from a concrete statement, fact or statistic, but because, "I sort of got that impression". Anxiety is normal, and it sometimes helps to name it.
Reply 10
Original post by BrasenoseAdm
We'll answer 2) first. If you submit an Open Application, you'll be assigned to a college and treated as if you made a direct application to that college. There's no pool and the colleges don't have any part in the assignment process - its all done by a computer in the Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Now we'll try and answer 1). It ultimately depends how strong the application is relative to other candidates in a particular year.

All the candidates' scores are entered on a database (pre and post interview). College B will have a college quota for each subject and the Department's Admissions Coordinator will work with selectors across the University to set thresholds for offers. College B will be able to make offers to its applicants with the best scores. The Coordinator will know what the position is across all the colleges and he or she will also want to meet the global quota for the subject. So the final stages of the process will see some candidates moved between colleges (say from college B to college C) and this can involve another interview. The Coordinator may also ask colleges to make 'open offers' where the final destination is not usually decided until A-level confirmation. So if college B makes an open offer and college D subsequently loses a student (eg because of a withdrawal), the open offer may move from B to D.

There are some refinements and variants (depending on how big a subject is and the degree of central coordination that exists) but this is the basic framework.

Could this hapen to those who have had only one interview via Skype?
Reply 11
Original post by OxFossil
Absolutely. However, this is a question that has been asked and answered many times before. And this time it is described as arising not from a concrete statement, fact or statistic, but because, "I sort of got that impression". Anxiety is normal, and it sometimes helps to name it.


OK, but the same question is being asked by different people each time. Also, try finding something that was said on TSR last week let alone over the last ten years. It's a by-product of TSR rather than a fault of the users.

Probably the lesson is that this question is not being answered effectively on the Oxford website/brochure. The Rusbridger article was a glimpse into a secret world. A world where the rules seem to be under review.
Original post by Pars12
OK, but the same question is being asked by different people each time. Also, try finding something that was said on TSR last week let alone over the last ten years. It's a by-product of TSR rather than a fault of the users.

Probably the lesson is that this question is not being answered effectively on the Oxford website/brochure. The Rusbridger article was a glimpse into a secret world. A world where the rules seem to be under review.


Fair enough.
Reply 13
Ok "I sort of got that impression" = the two students that have shown me around have both said that it is not supposed to but when they look back on their experience/their friends it seems to them that it does.
Original post by 66mhnldn
So if like me you applied to college A but got reallocated to college B due to numbers are you at a disadvantage from the start at college B vs. their direct applicants. I sort of got that impression yesterday...


No you are not. Is that not implied by Brasenose Admin's answer? Oh well, whether it is implied or not, the answer is still no.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Pars12

Probably the lesson is that this question is not being answered effectively on the Oxford website/brochure. The Rusbridger article was a glimpse into a secret world. A world where the rules seem to be under review.


Remember the university is, and has been for many years now, gaining power over admissions at the expense of the colleges but some subjects have embraced this with more enthusiasm that others. It is hard to explain different procedures between subjects when the real answer is it is a disagreement between subjects as to the respective weight that should be held by different participants in the process.

The open application is an anachronism now. It was brought in in the mid 1980s to lessen the impact of applying to the "wrong" college by the abolition of "trumping"; using entrance awards to balance up admissions numbers and talent. As more sophisticated techniques have been developed to remove inequalities from college choice, there really is no need now for open applications.
Reply 16
Original post by nulli tertius
Remember the university is, and has been for many years now, gaining power over admissions at the expense of the colleges but some subjects have embraced this with more enthusiasm that others. It is hard to explain different procedures between subjects when the real answer is it is a disagreement between subjects as to the respective weight that should be held by different participants in the process.

The open application is an anachronism now. It was brought in in the mid 1980s to lessen the impact of applying to the "wrong" college by the abolition of "trumping"; using entrance awards to balance up admissions numbers and talent. As more sophisticated techniques have been developed to remove inequalities from college choice, there really is no need now for open applications.


Yes, I was slightly off topic here on the "sub-topic" that applicants keep asking the same questions.

But on open applications I think there is an option on the Durham form to express "no preference" on college choice. I'm not sure how you would manage without it for applicants who really don't mind which college they go to.

I had 5 choices of college on my form but I can't see why current applicants do not get at least a second or third choice - even if the colleges act in little groups. It might not work in every case but at least they have had the courtesy to ask.
Dear Brasenose Admin, How does reallocation work for English and or history work - is it college-based, or department based?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by BrasenoseAdm
X


A lot of the Chemistry applicants at my college were wondering why some were sent home and some were asked for second interviews at other colleges. There were 15 applicants at Teddy Hall, 9 of which got 2nd interviews (including me), and 6 of which got sent home without any other interviews.
Does the college you applied to originally and had your two initial interviews at have any say in whether you get a third interview, or is it literally the choice of the department or the other college you were interviewed at?

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