Worcester vs. Balliol 2018

Hello everyone,

I have narrowed down the list of colleges to which I want to apply, and the final choice is between Worcester and Balliol. My subject has stronger tutors at Billiol, but... (don't laugh) I would really want to go to a college with its own lake. I know it is irrational, but that's what I feel like.

I've read the pros and cons page on TSR, but the comparison given there is not really exhaustive.

I also read somewhere that Worcester is the one of most applied to colleges, so I wonder whether I will have more chances to get into uni if I apply straight to Balliol, rather than be rejected or redirected to the college that I do not want to go to.

I would really appreciate if you could share your opinion and/or experience.

Thanks!

The college system means that you're not more or less likely to receive an offer from Oxford university depending on what college you apply to. Yes there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but they change and fluctuate every year, and the difference is usually small.

Although different specialists are attached to different colleges, your academic experience should be very similar no matter what college you apply to. So it might sound ridiculous, but the lake is probably your best motivation for picking a college.

Things you might also want to consider is location (do you want to be very very central, or would you prefer to escape some of the tourists?), and how big the college is (do you want to be surrounded by a lot of people, or a smaller community?).

Oh, thanks for your reply!)

Okay, I take your point about receiving an offer regardless of the sort of college you applied to. But how about choosing a less popular college with fewer applications instead of a more popular one, so that you have higher chances to go directly there, rather than apply to a more comptetitve one, and be redirected to Harris Manchester (no offence to mature students :P)

Yes, I suppose I would really want to have a college with either a lake or access to river. Keble is an option, but I don't like red buildings

Don't you have lectures on your subject in its depatment building with all students from different colleges? And the tutorials at your own college? I am still confused by the system

You can't cheat the application system when it comes to colleges. You can cite statistics all you want but they alternate and fluctuate every year so which college you apply to should not (as a rule of admissions) affect your chances of an offer from the University.

That is typically how it works yes. So your college choice should really affect your academic studies much.

My main factor when choosing was the location.

I am not talking about the offer from university, I am compraing the chances of being accepted to a college different to the chosen one.

If I want to apply to college X, which is very comptetive and is the one I would like to go to the most, but I also like Y, which is less comptetive but not as snazzy as X, would I not have higher chances of getting straight to Y and still being satisfied, rather than applying to X and being redirected to W, a college that I certainly did not want to apply to?

An offer from a college is an offer of a place at Oxford university. My answer has not changed. There is no way to be more or less likely of entry based on your college selection.

Being offered a place is one thing. Being offere a place from the college you want is another. I realise that if my application is good, I will be accepted to university regardless of the college I applied to. But that does not mean that it will be the college for which I expressed my preference - i.e. if I apply to Brasenose, to which many outstanding applicants apply, I have a higher chance to be offered a place at, say, Jesus, because at Brasenose they had way too many outstanding applicants. But if I apply to St.Hugh's, I might have higher chances of getting straight to St.Hughs, rather than being offered a place at another college, because it did not have as many applicants as Brasenose.

Being offered a place is one thing. Being offere a place from the college you want is another. I realise that if my application is good, I will be accepted to university regardless of the college I applied to. But that does not mean that it will be the college for which I expressed my preference - i.e. if I apply to Brasenose, to which many outstanding applicants apply, I have a higher chance to be offered a place at, say, Jesus, because at Brasenose they had way too many outstanding applicants. But if I apply to St.Hugh's, I might have higher chances of getting straight to St.Hughs, rather than being offered a place at another college, because it did not have as many applicants as Brasenose.