Careers and opportunities from Oxbridge

Oxford/Cambridge ‘open doors’ to a number of careers and provide countless opportunities that you’d be unable to get anywhere else.

That’s the general idea surrounding the prestige of Oxbridge, and a big factor I think lots of people consider before applying.

I was wondering if any Oxford/Cambridge graduates, or students, could provide their opinions on this. Is this true? Could you give any examples where you think the name of your university, or the facilities at the university, have provided you with a significant opportunity?

I’m sure there are many prospective applicants who are wondering the same. Any advice from current or past students would be extremely helpful.

Thanks for any answers :smile:

Reply 1

nexttime

22

I'll leave the job question up to someone who has ever had to search for a job in their life (medicine ftw).

What I will say, is that the benefits of going to Oxbridge are more than just prestige. Perhaps that is blasphemy to say on TSR, but being through the intense, tutorial based education does actually teach you useful skills, that are applicable whether your employer considers you to have 'prestige' or not.

For example, the tutorial style tends to make people interview well, and Oxbridge grads tend to do better in postgraduate exams e.g. doctor's exams.

Certainly, Oxbridge grads tend to earn more than grads from other unis, sometimes a lit more. And that's despite a relatively high proportion going into (low paid) academia, and one of the most popular career destinations being teaching.

Reply 2

mmikolajmm

OP

11

Original post by nexttime

I'll leave the job question up to someone who has ever had to search for a job in their life (medicine ftw).

What I will say, is that the benefits of going to Oxbridge are more than just prestige. Perhaps that is blasphemy to say on TSR, but being through the intense, tutorial based education does actually teach you useful skills, that are applicable whether your employer considers you to have 'prestige' or not.

For example, the tutorial style tends to make people interview well, and Oxbridge grads tend to do better in postgraduate exams e.g. doctor's exams.

Certainly, Oxbridge grads tend to earn more than grads from other unis, sometimes a lit more. And that's despite a relatively high proportion going into (low paid) academia, and one of the most popular career destinations being teaching.

Hi, thanks for the response!
Do you have any links to figures about graduate salaries from oxbridge compared to other universities?

Reply 3

nexttime

22

Original post by mmikolajmm

Hi, thanks for the response!
Do you have any links to figures about graduate salaries from oxbridge compared to other universities?

There is a short answer, for which you can find many news articles providing answer. And there's the longer answer, which is that it depends on lots of factors.

For example, London unis will have an inflated average wage, as their students are more likely to work in London (or the South more broadly), where wages (and cost of life) is inflated vs the rest of the country.

Next, you should probably consider subject mix at a uni, as subject clearly makes a big impact on earnings. A uni that doesn't offer say English or Art will again be artificially inflated, if looking at whole-uni figures.

And finally, you also have to watch out for sources that make adjustments e.g. for entry grades, such as this BBC calculator. Not an invalid thing to do, but just be aware of what you are actually looking at.

But do some googling there are loads of attempts to answer this complex question.

Careers and opportunities from Oxbridge

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