Oxford vs Cambridge Mature Student

Heya, I am an international looking to apply to Oxbridge Law for 2025 entry. I would be considered as 'Mature' in my application, so I want to ask if there's any data/consensus on choosing Oxford vs Cambridge in my position? Plus the choice of colleges; would you advise me to apply to the mature colleges, or just give my shot at the normal colleges?

For now, ignore the stats.

The Oxford and Cambridge law courses apparently differ rather drastically and you should pick the university based on which course is structured in a way that would most suit you. You should be able to find all the information you need on the respective university websites.

As for picking a college, you should be able to find college suggesters for each university that pick a college based on your preferences (e.g ensuite bathrooms, accommodation for the whole degree etc). I would say the mature colleges are only worth picking if what they have to offer matches your needs.

That’s a solid answer, thank you! I’ll decide on Oxford vs Cambridge after researching a little more.

But on the question of colleges, I am rather torn. It’s just that most of my peers that made it to Oxbridge have done so via the mature college route (coming from a somewhat high performing international school where we are ~2 years older than the usual UK timeline when it comes to Uni starting time, due to military service, gap yeas, jumping in from other countries, etc). I would love to try for and hopefully attend those bigger, more ‘known’ colleges, but I can’t seem to find too many international kids in those, let alone ‘mature’ internationals.

Singaporean?

Just try for whichever college you like - if you fancy a bigger, more "known" college like Christ Church or Magdalen, apply there. The vast majority of my Singaporean male friends attended non-mature colleges, although I will say that a not insignificant number were at Harris Manchester. If you want the hard numbers, try reaching out to the relevant student organization for your country (OUMSSA and CUMSA if you're Singaporean).

As to Oxford or Cambridge for Law, take a look at how the courses are structured and pick whichever you prefer. Personally, although I did the Oxford BA and BCL, if I had to choose again, I would probably pick Cambridge because (1) more options and (2) Final Honour School was incredibly tough physically and mentally (I did 9 papers total - 6 back-to-back papers Monday to Saturday, Sunday off, 1 paper on Monday, 1 paper on Thursday and then 1 paper on Friday. I think the schedule is more spread out now though). Having to memorise 2+ years of content also sucked. I'd much rather do exams every year, as is the case under the Tripos system.

Omg?! 6 papers back to back and exams on Saturday too?! ☹️

With only Sunday off. WOW 😧

Are you a barrister or solicitor now?

The brutal truth is you are very likely to be shafted to a mature college regardless where you apply. Normal colleges at Cambridge are half open at telling you that they would discriminate you based on age despite it’s unlawful. Oxford is more secretive about it - they will tell you that Harris Manchester takes the lead in admissions of mature or senior status law applications. I applied to senior status (affiliated) law at both (two consecutive years) because I never wanted to go to mature colleges. Unfortunately I got shafted by both of them - pre-interview at Oxford and post-interview at Cambridge. Have a friend who was shafted to wolfsen for affiliated law a few years back and absolutely hated every minute of it. He practically tried to spend all his time at normal colleges and intentionally chose not to live onsite. And I think it affected very badly. he is not working in law anymore.
Personally, having gone through this process twice and admitted, I would be lying if I say mature colleges are as Oxbridge as normal ones. The vibe and everything are completely different. If you want an Oxbridge degree but don’t want the Oxbridge experience - I’d highly recommend mature colleges. I actually know someone who really enjoyed his time at one of the mature colleges at Cambridge. But if you want an authentic Oxbridge experience I gather it’s not worth it - at least for me it is not.
You also need to be minded that mature colleges can be really detached - I had heard from multiple people that they got taught wrong topics by their supervisors / tutors and they were completely unprepared for the exams - this is more relevant for Cambridge than Oxford I think. Because law directors of studies at Cambridge trade supervisors for supervisions. If you are at a college that doesn’t have the big names or good supervisors you are all but ruined because they won’t be able to get you good ones.
Appreciate this is not what you might want to hear and would think it is totally unfair - but life is unfair.

Check your privilege! The notion that being offered a place by a college at Oxford and Cambridge amounts to being "shafted" is absurd. I invite you to read a newspaper, and reflect on your First World problem.

This is true though. There are a fair number of students especially at Graduate level, who have not ‘enjoyed’ their experience at Cambridge. It has nothing to do with privilege, it’s like telling someone at Somerville, Catz or St Anne’s to “check their privilege” because they felt their experience was different to those at Balliol or ChristChurch.

There are many students who didn't enjoy their experiences at many universities, and many others who had a good time.
Do you think that being admitted to a college aimed at mature students is being "shafted"?
Also, what's wrong with Somerville, Catz, or Anne's? Would you say that a student who is admitted to one of those colleges instead of, say, Balliol, is being "shafted"?

To someone people, yes, they could feel “shafted” if they have a different experience. For example, there are applicants who want a “standard” Cambridge experience and then apply to over-subscribed colleges which forces them to be re-allocated to Graduate-only colleges. As a result, their experience was radically different to their expectations.

Isn't an experience what a person makes of it, in many contexts? An undergraduate could sit in a beautiful room in, say, Magdalen and be miserable, for any number of reasons. Another undergraduate could be at, say, St Anne's having a great time. Each of these students has the same opportunity to obtain a high level university education, and much else besides. Each can study in the Bodleian, go punting, row in a race, flounce about in fancy clobber, make speeches at the Union, put on a play, and so on. Each can end up with a degree from the same university. If Happy Stan wants a candlelit dinner in a medieval Hall, Stan can get Mopey Magdalen to send an invite. Have gown, will travel.
I remain of the view that being accepted by college X when you had hoped to be at college Y is about as first world a first world problem as you can get. If I had, say, a second-hand Porsche (I don't), I wouldn't feel shafted because my next door neighbour has a new Ferrari with fancy cupholders.

Check your privilege! The notion that being offered a place by a college at Oxford and Cambridge amounts to being "shafted" is absurd. I invite you to read a newspaper, and reflect on your First World problem.

Yes, of course. However, there are individuals who might not enjoy the experience if their hearts were set on another experience.
For example, if you have a close relative who had their heart set on Oxford but missed out and went to Leeds but was not enjoying it as their hearts were set on a specific experience at Oxford, it would be unfair to discard their feelings.
I don't think the other member’s point was about about a specific college but the difference in experience between different college types. As an undergrad, you probably would not understand what they mean as the UG experience is largely similar across most colleges. However, at the PG level, the differences can be stark between being at say Merton, John’s or Oriel to say Kellogg or St Antony’s.
Anyway, my view is that the other member’s feelings are valid. I often encourage applicants to carefully select their college preferences if they want a specific experience.

I think the original post by @defindera was about applying to do a BA Law/Jurisprudence as a mature student, rather than applying as a postgraduate for a BCL or LLM. And my point is that as someone who went through the process, mature students are going to be judged on the basis of their age when it comes to pooling. As age is something unrelated to merit, it is unfair and unjust (probably unlawful) for the college to which they applied to pool mature applicants into a mature college.
The post by @Stiffy Byng just deflected and digressed as she saw fit. She is too obsessed with privilege to think reasonably imo.
As to the feeling about being pooled to mature colleges because you are old not because you are not good enough? Yeh it is simply awful.

Yes, you are right. Although specifically about PG experience, I was talking about the impact of not gaining the full experience as expected. I have never understood the concept of age discrimination for some colleges. I understand a PG-only college but not a college with an arbitrary cut off age.