Being rejected by Oxbridge

I attend a type of school that is not supporting independent learning. High workload keeps us busy and there's not much time for us to spend on activities like reading literature, sports and so forth... and this affects our thinking, actually narrows our horizon. University would be the right place for us to evolve as humans, do a little thinking about ourself and our personality, to be engaged in things. This is only possible if you're not guided to much... if you never had the chance to have some lazy time and to make your own decision what kind of person are you going to be when you're older? Nobody cares how much knowledge you have acquired when your personality tells you're a jerk.
So, if our uni's don't give us the chance to gain maturity, we could either try to catch up later or ... well, bad luck.
And as far as I know the lazy educational system of middle europe has worked pretty well.

We pay the university to teach us the subject not to give us independance and allow us to take a lazy degree approach. If British unis are like the ones that you are describing then I would rather get myself a job, rent a home for myself and be independant than to waste my money and pay a uni to teach me how to be independant. Do you think a uni should be wasting their time thinking about how they should make their school more independant or should they be focusing their time on how to improve their teaching methods.

And what is wrong with having a few rules. Freedom without limits or rules is no freedom at all and if unis in Germany and Austria have high drop out rates doesn't that say it all ????

There are more yet which are a science with a foreign language

i'm just happy it's done now

i'm ready for my cambridge rejection after my interview

amen to that but now thats its over i kind of feel like someone thats just left prison after 20 years inside and doesn;t know what to do with their lives. It seems like i've been preparing for uni stuff since the 1st of september - reading a paper everyday and analysing it for the lnat, then reading books for my personal statement and then researching topics of interests for my interview (queens ask for it in the saq) and then learning the course inside out. Now that all of thats over i've got all my frees and morning cars journeys with nothing to do - feels like i;'ve started a new life lol.

Perhaps you could continue studying the subject? If you're really passionate about law, why would you need the hurdle of getting into Cambridge to motivate you?

I noticed the general etiquette amongst those who did not get in from my school was to tell teachers and the general community that they *had* been offered a place and had decided not to accept. In some cases I think that the worst part of rejection is the social humiliation factor rather than the fact that they won't be going to their university of choice - which explains a lot in itself.

One problem with doing this is that many admissions tutors send a copy of the acceptance/rejection letter to schools automatically. Sometimes even with feedback. I can understand somebody might want to cover up the fact that didn't get in (I personally wouldn't have done, though you do get some pretty obsessed applicants, and some schools filled with students who would look down on you for not getting in), but surely this fact alone is enough to deter anybody from trying to cover it up? It would be so embarassing to claim you turned down an offer, only for your teacher to receive a copy of the rejection letter.

I noticed the general etiquette amongst those who did not get in from my school was to tell teachers and the general community that they *had* been offered a place and had decided not to accept.

This does not seem to be a very bright response - it can only serve to increase the humiliation. Many schools receive feedback from the admissions tutors on each candidate and the school (and the world in general) knows that you can count on the fingers of one foot the number of candidates that decline a place at Oxbridge.

I understand, but at some stage, these people are going to have to find a more sensible mechanism for coping with rejection than denial.

Most people would still sound pretty stupid if they said they turned down an Oxbridge offer, unless they have a really convincing reason for doing so.

Not really. You could decide that the course wasn't as good as the one you've been offered by another uni. You could realise that you don't want the workload. You could be intimidated by a harsh offer (get x in module y, get AEA, get a letter of approval from Gordon Brown - all whilst doing the hokey cokey.) You could be have visited elsewhere in the meantime and decided you prefer the other one. The idea that Oxbridge are, absolutely and unequivocally, the best at everything, is simply nonsense.