Studying Media at Oxbridge:somebody plz advise

hey guys,
i am 25 YO living in australia.it was always my dream to study at oxbridge.when i grewup i developed my interest in Media and communication,journalism and Politics.
now it was time for this dream to come true but bad luck.
there is no course available at oxbridge.there is something available at oxford about politics but no media and communication.
some body plz advise me what should i do.
i definetly wana study at oxbridge.
cheers

Reply 1

HCD

16

PPE at Oxford and SPS at Cambridge are the closest you can get. However, it sounds like your "dream" is flawed - if your interests lie in those areas, then Oxford and Cambridge are certainly not the best places for you. Oxford and Cambridge simple don't do any courses that would suit you, unless SPS looks good to you. Either way, make sure you look at other Universities as well. I hear Cardiff (assuming you want to study in the UK) is good for Media, but I don't really know about these things. There are people who will, but I doubt this is the right forum to look for info on British courses that suit you - there are many other places on TSR where you could find advice. You say you "definitely" want to study at Oxbridge, but even if you find a course you like, you're not "definitely" going to get an offer - what would you do then?

Reply 2

Kater Murr

20

You definitely wanna study at Oxford? Sure? Made your decision?

OK. Dial 555-OXB and press 1. Give them your credit card details, and you'll soon have your place. Phone soon, they're selling out fast!

Reply 3

generalebriety

16

Yeah, I have nothing particularly revolutionary to say but I agree with HCD. You don't want to study at Oxford or Cambridge if they don't offer the course you want to study. You just think you want to study there for the prestige; why study something you don't like for three years? Nothing you can do about it. Apply elsewhere, unless you see something else that Oxford / Cambridge offers.

(Incidentally, I really hate it when people say "I've always wanted to study at Oxbridge". It just shows you've given absolutely no thought to your university choices whatsoever. Do you even know any other universities in the UK? If so, what makes "Oxbridge" (two different universities that just happen to be the oldest and have a fair bit in common) more special than, say, Durham?)

Reply 4

hermaphrodite

15

generalebriety

Incidentally, I really hate it when people say "I've always wanted to study at Oxbridge".

When I hear people say that, it comes across as almost shallow to me, personally.

Reply 5

parkerpen

Within the SPS tripos there are media options in each year, either papers or parts of papers that cover the media. They also have 2 or 3 incredibly well known media theorists in the department. However in any year the most you would be able to do is about half your papers on the media

If you are interested in that kind of course then apply. But if this doesn't suit you (and other related courses at Oxford don't) then don't apply. There isn't much point studying quite intensively for a degree that you don't want.

Reply 6

Profesh

20

Beach boy

hey guys,
i am 25 YO living in australia.it was always my dream to study at oxbridge.when i grewup i developed my interest in Media and communication,journalism and Politics.
now it was time for this dream to come true but bad luck.
there is no course available at oxbridge.there is something available at oxford about politics but no media and communication.
some body plz advise me what should i do.
i definetly wana study at oxbridge.
cheers

No, you don't. You really, really don't. And I'm pretty certain that 'Oxbridge' themselves would agree.

Reply 7

Holsy

10

This is a joke I'm sure. At least, I hope so.

Reply 8

*Ariel*

if you really want to do media and communications study that! don't go to oxbridge or whatever just because it has a good reputation, lots of other universities have aswell! just find the university with the best reputation for media and communications, otherwise you'll end up doing a course your not passionate about, and if your not that interested in the subject then your likely to be rejected anyway.

Reply 9

Profesh

20

*Ariel*

if you really want to do media and communications study that! don't go to oxbridge or whatever just because it has a good reputation, lots of other universities have aswell! just find the university with the best reputation for media and communications, otherwise you'll end up doing a course your not passionate about, and if your not that interested in the subject then your likely to be rejected anyway.

Indeed; who among us hasn't played 'let's pretend'? But there comes a time when one must put away childish things; and, with any luck, the O.P. won't have to learn this the hard way.

Reply 10

Schott

11

SPS at Cambridge I suppose has politics and sociology in it, and sociology has a lot to do with the media.

Perhaps one of the best places that does Journalism, Communication and Media all in one course is Cardiff University but I'm sure there are others too =D.

Reply 11

parkerpen

tony_ron

SPS at Cambridge I suppose has politics and sociology in it, and sociology has a lot to do with the media.

Perhaps one of the best places that does Journalism, Communication and Media all in one course is Cardiff University but I'm sure there are others too =D.

There isn't any media in the politics stream and in the sociology stream there isn't a huge amount (one paper on media, and subsections of other papers on media, ie intro to media in year one, globalisation of media in the globalisation paper). Media and communication is something a lot of sociologists make a career out of but you can't specialise in it heavily at Cambridge

Reply 12

Schott

11

Well just judging from A level, am sure you are much better informed aboot the Cambridge content :wink:

Reply 13

angelmxxx

14

you can't do both! - you either want to study media, or you want to go to one of the 2 most famous unis in the world (which one, by the way? the way you say "oxbridge" sounds like you're more in love with the dream than an actual, physical place where you'll spend three/four years of your life with young students, working extremely hard!). oxford and cambridge offer academic degrees to students with the highest qualifications (I don't know about australian qualifications, but you need AAA+ at british a-level realistically). Do you know how the english application system (UCAS) works?

From your post, it sounds like you'd be better off studying media at a specialist college/uni (why in england, by the way? it rains. lots!), or even just taking a one-year course before getting a media job and working your way up. I hear media's quite hard to teach - experience will get you far! if you want to be some kind of political journalist, it's a lot easier to stay in australia, where you know the political and legal systems!

What are you doing now, by the way? If you're 25, I assume you have some kind of career - have you been to uni already? Sorry to sound negative, it's great to have a dream but I just think that you need to do some more research before you move half way across the world! Even if you did get onto an SPS course, I don't think potential employers would like it much - they'd prefer you to do a specialist, media/journalism course which incorporated a lot of work experience, or even just to get a job/internship. By the time you graduated, you'd be at least 29 (deadline has passed for oxbridge applications this year, and you're probably too late to apply to most unis) - wouldn't it be better to spend some of your most pivotal years getting real experience?

EDIT: here are the general admissions criteria for entry to Oxford University: (http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/quals.shtml)

I'm not quite sure, but I guess this means you need to have been in the top 1.5% of students in your year group?

Reply 14

*pitseleh*

20

^ They're not "the two most famous unis in the world".

Two of the most famous, yes. But Ivy League universities are right up there as well, don't forget.

I agree with what you said about being in love with 'the dream', though - sounds like the OP rates the prestige of a specific university over the degree itself (if the original post wasn't a joke, that is).

Reply 15

angelmxxx

14

*ellen marine*

^ They're not "the two most famous unis in the world".

Two of the most famous, yes. But Ivy League universities are right up there as well, don't forget.

I agree with what you said about being in love with 'the dream', though - sounds like the OP rates the prestige of a specific university over the degree itself (if the original post wasn't a joke, that is).

oops! i think i tried to write "two most famous british unis" and "two of the most famous unis in the world" at the same time!

EDIT: not that "famousness" and "being at the top of league tables" are equivalent in any way, but this surprised me! - http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2006/

Reply 16

Speedbird2008

3

Beach boy

hey guys,
i am 25 YO living in australia.it was always my dream to study at oxbridge.when i grewup i developed my interest in Media and communication,journalism and Politics.
now it was time for this dream to come true but bad luck.
there is no course available at oxbridge.there is something available at oxford about politics but no media and communication.
some body plz advise me what should i do.
i definetly wana study at oxbridge.
cheers

Then invent a course at Oxbridge!! Honestly, you can do that! Just ring them up, and say that you want to start a course there because you REALLY want to go there... No, honest!

:rolleyes:

It is almost as if nobody else REALLY wants to go there! It is also looks like you have NO IDEA about the university system over here... do some research before posting such a stupid thread.

Anyway, in response to your post.... you cannot do Media Studies, etc, at Oxbridge, except for a few modules in the SPS tripos.