Why do YOU want to go to Oxbridge?

The percentage of people accepted is an absolutely atrocious way of measuring competitiveness/quality of intake.

Well, I deleted that post because I thought your data was wrong? What fields was that data based on? Imperial Physics alone? Or was it just Imperial Physical Sciences?

quality of intake yes, competitiveness i really dont think so!if they had a really bad year theyd still be accepting the same no. for the course, thus itd be just as competitive despite crap applicants.

i agree very much with that. law at lse for a male=21:1, oxford 3.6:1, cambridge 4.1:1. definitely LSE is harder to get. thats just law but it holds true across all subjects. it must be understood that PLENTY (the data suggests THE MAJORITY) of the higher achieving applicants DO NOT apply for oxbridge. its definitely the case in my college though i think public schools have a very different demographic and thats where alot of TSR are coming from.

i do agree it seems alot harder to get as the interviews are much more challenging but i dont think the competitions is that much better.i think imperial will have alot more desperate hopefuls(maybe 20%) but that still leaves 818 in our example, larger than oxfords. but we know grades =/= intelligence so we say a further 20%are just hard working airheads (i know theres a few of them at ox for sure...) we have 654. so, compared to the 698 oxford lot thats pretty close to as competitive as oxford (without removing those who didnt cut the mustard for ox either though thats probs 5%).though i had great questions at imperial too they were more of a extra i thought.

also get this!!!for ox phys in 2006 381 offers were made...average entry according to the site for phys and phys philo was....196!thats pretty suprising!im not that rare at all that means half declined their offers...iv checked...made no mistakes....the ox site says 196 is the average intake over 3 years...so anyone know if the phys department grew....alot...lol. you really may wanna take a look at that yourselves coz im pretty shocked. it makes sense to me but the attitude on here sorta gets you used to "oxbridge is god!".

because it's the best and i'm stupidly competitive.

does that answer u hcd i already considered such

Dude, get your facts right.
Cambridge admits over 3,500 students *every year*...and that's just undergrad. There are over 10,000 students overall in this University, and then all those from Anglia Ruskin University too.

None taken.

I personally want to go to Oxford for a myriad of reasons. Of course, the prestige is one of them. The fact that I'd be in regular contact with internationally renowned academics is, of course, also attiring. These are people who've achieved exactly what I want to achieve, so they're not only awe-inspiring, but inspirational in their very presence.
The fact that the collegiate system makes you feel like you belong personally to a collegiate family, yet still part of the whole is desirable. You're not swallowed up by a crowd, but there's still that variety. You also get attached the your college, which I hope I'll experience.
The fact that it's rated as the second best institution in the World and consistently rated the top university in Europe shows the global regard for it; crucial for me, as I aim to work internationally.
Of course, it'll open doors, and you're also bound to meet people who'll go on to be very successful - contacts are things of which you can never have too many. Your job prospects are generally highly elevated with an Oxbridge degree.
The fact that people of a similar mindset will be there was probably the biggest factor in my decision to go there, I would say. Not just because I'm competitive, and want to be the best among the best, but because I've always had to put up with comments at my school about me being a swot, a fag, a geek, a loser, just because I like to read, to talk, to debate and to write. Of course, I enjoyed the popularity of being Chairman of the Sixth Form, and writing the school panto and stuff, but I just want to be with people who think along the same lines and share the same interests, have the same abilities. Not the same people from council estates and such who think the perfect Friday night is spent listening to chav music in Town (no offense).

You spelt prestige wrong

What do you mean when you say 'literally' hundreds of students? Oxford and Cambridge each boast around 3,000 students, and Oxford also has Oxford Brookes, Cambridge has the Ruskin College....

I personally want to go to Oxford for a myriad of reasons. Of course, the prestige is one of them. The fact that I'd be in regular contact with internationally renowned academics is, of course, also attiring. These are people who've achieved exactly what I want to achieve, so they're not only awe-inspiring, but inspirational in their very presence.
The fact that the collegiate system makes you feel like you belong personally to a collegiate family, yet still part of the whole is desirable. You're not swallowed up by a crowd, but there's still that variety. You also get attached the your college, which I hope I'll experience.
The fact that it's rated as the second best institution in the World and consistently rated the top university in Europe shows the global regard for it; crucial for me, as I aim to work internationally.
Of course, it'll open doors, and you're also bound to meet people who'll go on to be very successful - contacts are things of which you can never have too many. Your job prospects are generally highly elevated with an Oxbridge degree.
The fact that people of a similar mindset will be there was probably the biggest factor in my decision to go there, I would say. Not just because I'm competitive, and want to be the best among the best, but because I've always had to put up with comments at my school about me being a swot, a fag, a geek, a loser, just because I like to read, to talk, to debate and to write. Of course, I enjoyed the popularity of being Chairman of the Sixth Form, and writing the school panto and stuff, but I just want to be with people who think along the same lines and share the same interests, have the same abilities. Not the same people from council estates and such who think the perfect Friday night is spent listening to chav music in Town (no offense).

They're the negs I got for my post saying why I wanted to go to Oxford.

:P well SOME people obviously took offense to my post, how on earth I don't know. I GOT 5 NEG REPS for it. What's wrong with this post:

Apparently I'm neither sufficiently insecure nor sufficiently the opposite of apathetic to take exception to such epithets. Though I'd be interested to hear your definition of 'chav music', nonetheless.

When I'm old enough, (current year11) I want to apply simply because I think the city and most of the colleges are beautiful, and the bodleian(sp.?) library. My brother went there so I've been there often to visit him, and I guess I've fallen in love.
Also, an oxbridge degree looks more attractive to employers than one from the lesser unis. Plus London's too expensive.

After trying Oxford for a term I would say that, unless:

a) you're a very gifted person who needs to be stretched in the oxbridge environment (includes nerds)
b) oxbridge is where you desperately want to go for family / prestige reasons (includes hooray henrys)
c) dedicated finance wannabes who want a golden cv (mostly careerists)
d) or even if you're just up for the challenge (all mentalists)

then seriously think about going somewhere else. You can have more time for fun, less work, a more realistic bunch of people, and achieve the same.

That is said with both retrospect and respect to everyone there and applying. I am not categorising people. But I'd say everyone at oxbridge fits into one of those.

I meant every year just didn't type it. Either way, I was only correcting him in thinking there were 'hundreds' of students.

If you're going to go to the effort of getting statistics partly right, you might as well go the whole way and get them completely right. It would save us all a lot of bother, and alsoo give you a bit of credit. If your laziness spreads misinformation, I'll be after you to put an end to it.