Oxford Colleges

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by theodorahats

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

No, generally your College choice won’t affect your chances, and a cohort size by itself especially won’t as usually those colleges get less applicants, or it’s balanced by open applications being allocated to larger colleges.

Reply 2

Ghostlady

21

Original post by theodorahats

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

College choice and acceptance rates do not mean too much. Daughter went through all the data, chose merton as it accepted around 7 physics students and then got deffered to Jesus college for interviews and second interview was at St hughs. She had not even looked at those colleges.

Reply 3

Stiffy Byng

19

IIRC, approximately 25% of successful candidates end up at colleges other than the college initially selected.

Ther are no bad colleges. It appears that most people who go to Oxford like or love the college which they go to. In any event, it is easy to make friends at other colleges, and it is usual for some tutorials to be taken at other colleges. At college A, a Fellow who is expert in topic X teaches that topic to undergraduates from college B. Meanwhile, undergraduates from college A are taught topic Y by a Fellow of college B.

Go and visit some colleges. Choose one you like the look and feel of. If there is a particular Fellow of that college with whom you would love to study, that's cool, but remember that he or she might leave, retire, take a long sabbatical or parental leave, or whatever. If you get an offer from that college, that's great. If you get an offer from another college, that's also great.

Good luck!

SB (applied to Wadham, went to Wadham, loved it, and also had a fun time being taught at and partying at other colleges).

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 4

Anonymous #2

Original post by theodorahats

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

Oxford say you have the same chance of success no matter which college you apply to.
Your application process will be different, depending on which subject you are applying for.
For example, religious studies pooled (reallocated) students before interview this year, so for some their first choice college did not even interview them.
For other subjects, such as chemistry or maths, your first college and a randomly allocated second college will both interview you, after this all candidates are ranked - those who sit within the top 100 (if the capacity of the course is 100) but have not been selected by a college will then be reinterviewed by colleges with weaker candidates or just made an offer by a college they weren't interviewed.
If you really don't know which college to apply to, just make an open application (that's what I ended up doing!)

Reply 5

AnonOxE

8

I’ve looked at some of the post decision stats that are available online, and you can clearly see there’s a lot of applicants moved around.

Apply for the one you like the feel of. Get to an open day, if possible. Or, if not, have a look at individual college websites and YouTube videos. You’ll get an idea. Bottom line is they’re all the best colllege.

You may wish to consider accommodation (3 years or not) there are some slight overall cost differences and some colleges have different grants and bursaries. For example, some have a generous book fund and will cover all your textbook costs.

Reply 6

thegeek888

18

Original post by theodorahats

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

Please take a look at the Oxford University Alternative Prospectus:

https://apply.oxfordsu.org/

Reply 7

aievo

6

Original post by theodorahats

Hello, I am a Year 12 student looking to apply for Oxford.
I have been through the variety of colleges, and besides certain buildings nothing really stands out to me.
For example, Lincoln College has a great building, though is a College with less admissions less likely to accept you than one with a larger accepted cohort?

Hiya, there isn't any point in thinking about which college is likely to accept you, if you're good enough for Oxford, you will be pooled, even if the college you applied to doesn't have space for you.
It's most important to think about the differences between the colleges themselves, and not just the buildings. Do you want a smaller college with a little community, or a bigger one with lots of grounds and gardens? Some colleges have more ensuite rooms than others, some have access to kitchens and some don't, some don't guarantee accom for three years, some are super sporty and some are more academic than others.
If you are able to, attend an open day and see if any of them jump out to you, I ended up applying to the last one I went past and popped into, even though it wasn't even on my list at the beginning of the day, because it just clicked for me.
Either way, everyone who gets in, whether to their first choice or not, ends up loving their college, so don't let it stress you out too much :smile:

Plus, by Lincoln's great building, do you mean the library?? Lincoln is a tiny college so I can't think of anyone applying to it for its grandiose buildings lol

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