Oxford Graduate Application 2012/13

Did you decide where you were going next year?

Did you decide where you were going next year?

well, if I get the distinction I'm going to Cambridge because they offered me a full scholarship (and it was my first choice, since I visited the place for my interview I fell in love with it). If I don't get the distinction then I'm either going to RHUL or taking a gap year and applying to the US.
I'm definitely not staying at Oxford though.

I am really happy that your funding worries are resolved! Congratulations!!!
Can I ask you why you're so keen on leaving Oxford, if you don't mind?
Good luck on your finals, I am sure you will get that distinction!

Well, I simply cannot afford the PhD without funding. And many other reasons but as they are my personal opinion about the place I would not want to share them and negatively affect people's expectations

Well, I simply cannot afford the PhD without funding. And many other reasons but as they are my personal opinion about the place I would not want to share them and negatively affect people's expectations

well, if I get the distinction I'm going to Cambridge because they offered me a full scholarship (and it was my first choice, since I visited the place for my interview I fell in love with it). If I don't get the distinction then I'm either going to RHUL or taking a gap year and applying to the US.
I'm definitely not staying at Oxford though.

She will go to Cambridge (given that she gets a distinction, which is very possible)

Someone's picky! Aren't you doing a humanity subject? Oxford is invariably better for such, so I have no idea why. Plus, it's a much nicer place. I have had several good friends in Cambridge; visiting the place has always felt like going to the middle of bloody nowhere.

Someone's picky! Aren't you doing a humanity subject? Oxford is invariably better for such, so I have no idea why. Plus, it's a much nicer place. I have had several good friends in Cambridge; visiting the place has always felt like going to the middle of bloody nowhere.

The sciences/humanities dichotomy is, I'm pretty convinced, a complete myth. Both universities are very good at both, though each may have particular strengths in different subjects. Moreover, 'the humanities' (or indeed, the sciences) are not a hegemonic unity, and a student will not only have a very different experience from faculty to faculty, they will also have a very different experience within a single faculty depending upon their research interests. For example, I'm interested in intellectual history; for somewhat bizarre reasons, the really strong intellectual historians for my period are mostly in the English faculty at Oxford. At Cambridge the opposite is true - the English faculty is, I have heard, quite old-fashioned in its interests, whilst the History faculty has some very hard-hitting intellectual historians. At research level it's so individual that you can never say that one university is 'invariably' better than another -- if the person who specialises in your subject is there, then you'll probably want to go there, regardless of the perception that one is better at the humanities than the other.

This is also linked to the funding issue that Corinna mentioned. In an ideal world, funding would go to the objectively best candidates, but I think that especially in humanities it can certainly help if your proposed research closely reflects the research interests of someone in the department you're applying to. I was never even remotely considered for funding at Oxford, whilst Cambridge gave me funding after being on the reserve list, and a couple of other universities considered me for funding. Though of course there may have been a different pool at Oxford, I'm sure that a contributing factor was the lack of synthesis between what I wanted to work on and the overall interests of the faculty here, whereas my selected supervisor at Cambridge wrote a book on a very similar topic.

Finally, the quality of the two towns as places to live is very subjective! I love Oxford very much but it has some downsides that Cambridge doesn't seem to have. For example, Cambridge feels a lot safer. Having lived out this year in Oxford I've come to really dread the muttering (or yelling) drunks on the bridge and in Cowley in the evening, whereas Cambridge at night just feels like a deserted village to me. Also Cambridge is in East Anglia, the dryest place in the UK, whilst Oxford has a micro-climate permanently set to 'soggy'.

Not to put off anyone who is coming to Oxford, as it is lovely! -- but I think the Oxford vs Cambridge decision is one that comes down to personal preference rather than any objective fact of one being better than the other, either academically or as a place to live.

I agree with pretty much everything you say. But I can't rep you again yet.

Aww, thanks.

If it sounded remotely like a rant then I fear I'm just letting off Finals steam.

Not to put off anyone who is coming to Oxford, as it is lovely! -- but I think the Oxford vs Cambridge decision is one that comes down to personal preference rather than any objective fact of one being better than the other, either academically or as a place to live.

The sciences/humanities dichotomy is, I'm pretty convinced, a complete myth. Both universities are very good at both, though each may have particular strengths in different subjects. Moreover, 'the humanities' (or indeed, the sciences) are not a hegemonic unity, and a student will not only have a very different experience from faculty to faculty, they will also have a very different experience within a single faculty depending upon their research interests. For example, I'm interested in intellectual history; for somewhat bizarre reasons, the really strong intellectual historians for my period are mostly in the English faculty at Oxford. At Cambridge the opposite is true - the English faculty is, I have heard, quite old-fashioned in its interests, whilst the History faculty has some very hard-hitting intellectual historians. At research level it's so individual that you can never say that one university is 'invariably' better than another -- if the person who specialises in your subject is there, then you'll probably want to go there, regardless of the perception that one is better at the humanities than the other.

This is also linked to the funding issue that Corinna mentioned. In an ideal world, funding would go to the objectively best candidates, but I think that especially in humanities it can certainly help if your proposed research closely reflects the research interests of someone in the department you're applying to. I was never even remotely considered for funding at Oxford, whilst Cambridge gave me funding after being on the reserve list, and a couple of other universities considered me for funding. Though of course there may have been a different pool at Oxford, I'm sure that a contributing factor was the lack of synthesis between what I wanted to work on and the overall interests of the faculty here, whereas my selected supervisor at Cambridge wrote a book on a very similar topic.

Finally, the quality of the two towns as places to live is very subjective! I love Oxford very much but it has some downsides that Cambridge doesn't seem to have. For example, Cambridge feels a lot safer. Having lived out this year in Oxford I've come to really dread the muttering (or yelling) drunks on the bridge and in Cowley in the evening, whereas Cambridge at night just feels like a deserted village to me. Also Cambridge is in East Anglia, the dryest place in the UK, whilst Oxford has a micro-climate permanently set to 'soggy'.

Not to put off anyone who is coming to Oxford, as it is lovely! -- but I think the Oxford vs Cambridge decision is one that comes down to personal preference rather than any objective fact of one being better than the other, either academically or as a place to live.

Is it true that it rains less at Cambridge? I swear, I almost went crazy this year with the weather. I will be much happier if it rains less! I hate the rain.

Well, I hail from Suffolk originally, which is next door to Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk is *very* dry. Also, when it rains, it actually rains, rather than doing that disgusting thin drizzle thing that Oxford does which seeps into every piece of clothing whether you carry an umbrella or not. And I seem to recall reading an article once about quality of life in East Anglia (of which Cambridgeshire is a part) and it said that it was one of the best places to live in the country; lowest charted rainfall, rural, lower house prices than many other pretty rural areas (*cough* Oxfordshire -- my parents are renting a 3-bedroom house for £100 less than my fiancé and I pay on a 1-bedroom flat!), good schools, etc. Myabe I'm just feeling nostalgic for the place I grew up, though.

To keep this vaguely on thread: all ye who are coming up to Oxford next year, invest in warm woolly clothes and a rainjacket. It's cold and wet. The prospectus pictures are a misleading vision of Oxford as it is for about 20 days a year.*

*Probably a slight exaggeration.

The sciences/humanities dichotomy is, I'm pretty convinced, a complete myth.

Is it true that it rains less at Cambridge? I swear, I almost went crazy this year with the weather. I will be much happier if it rains less! I hate the rain.