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Cambridge or Oxford?

Hello everyone! I don't really know which of these two would be better for me - could anyone give me some advice?

I'm planning to do Physics or Natural Sciences, and my A Levels are math, further maths, chemistry and physics with an EPQ. My GCSE results are good (all 9s) which makes me sway towards Oxford but traditionally it has been more humanities than sciences.

I like Oxford for the surroundings and the general vibes but the Cambridge NatSci course is broader and allows people to choose from a broader range of subjects, but I still quite like the Oxford Physics course.

Reply 1

UtterlyUseless69

Original post by Anonymous

Hello everyone! I don't really know which of these two would be better for me - could anyone give me some advice?
I'm planning to do Physics or Natural Sciences, and my A Levels are math, further maths, chemistry and physics with an EPQ. My GCSE results are good (all 9s) which makes me sway towards Oxford but traditionally it has been more humanities than sciences.
I like Oxford for the surroundings and the general vibes but the Cambridge NatSci course is broader and allows people to choose from a broader range of subjects, but I still quite like the Oxford Physics course.

Honestly, the whole “Oxford is better for the humanities and social sciences and Cambridge is better for the sciences” thing is utter rubbish - both universities have insisted there is little difference between them in either regard.

With Cambridge NatSci, look at the courses offered in the first year and consider whether they would genuinely interest you just as much as physics.

With Oxford, look at things like options and the course structure to see if it’s really what you’ve interpreted it to be.

Whatever the case, look at colleges for either university and see if they appeal - this may be done some time in September as both universities should have open days then. Furthermore, look into societies and extracurriculars at either university and see if they are of interest.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

AL0703

ahhh okay, thank you!

Reply 3

Wired_1800

Original post by Anonymous

Hello everyone! I don't really know which of these two would be better for me - could anyone give me some advice?
I'm planning to do Physics or Natural Sciences, and my A Levels are math, further maths, chemistry and physics with an EPQ. My GCSE results are good (all 9s) which makes me sway towards Oxford but traditionally it has been more humanities than sciences.
I like Oxford for the surroundings and the general vibes but the Cambridge NatSci course is broader and allows people to choose from a broader range of subjects, but I still quite like the Oxford Physics course.

Cambridge.

Reply 4

lemonadetea

Aside from the academic stuff, one of the factors for me in choosing a university was working out which city I could see myself living in. I had offers from 5 top universities (including Durham and London unis) and liked all the courses but chose Exeter, because I liked the course AND I could see myself living there. This may sound like a slightly silly thing to take into account, but you’ll be there for at least 3 years, and you want your space to feel like a home/somewhere you can enjoy living, rather than somewhere you just live to facilitate going to uni. I’m also convinced that this helped me to better at university because it made me feel more comfortable overall and therefore in a better headspace when it came to getting on with study.

Reply 5

Stiffy Byng

Original post by Wired_1800

Cambridge.

Why? Surely the answer is "either, pick whichever you like best". The two universities are similarly hard to get into, offer similar types of teaching and student experiences, and are more or less equivalent in terms of academic quality.

Reply 6

Sorcerer's Storm

There is no difference between them when it comes to academic rigour. A physics degree from Oxford is going to be world class, and as someone else said, the ''Oxford is good at humanities, Cambridge is good at STEM'' is nonsense. They are both utterly excellent in every subject they offer. Your primary criterion should be the course structure. If these are equal in your regard then the next thing you should use as a deciding factor are the cities and surroundings themselves. I personally prefer Oxford as it's bigger, there's more to do and has quite a lot of countryside within walking distance.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 7

Wired_1800

Original post by Stiffy Byng

I would suggest Cambridge, as the Natural Sciences course is broad and expansive enough to provide sufficient academic preparation whilst also going into the relevant level of depth in the later years.

I agree that both unis provide similar academic teaching and student experience.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 8

Stiffy Byng

Original post by Wired_1800

I would suggest Cambridge, as the Natural Science’s course is broad and expansive enough to provide sufficient academic preparation whilst also going into the relevant level of depth in the later years.
I agree that both unis provide similar academic teaching and student experience.

OK, but watch out for rogue apostrophes.

Reply 9

Wired_1800

Original post by Stiffy Byng

OK, but watch out for rogue apostrophes.

Haha, thanks. That’s an incredible spot.

Reply 10

Anonymous #2

I would also look into the entrance exams because they are both very different to see which one you would perform better at because that’s the main way they determine who they accept. for context i got into oxford physics for this year and i had the same predicament as you last summer. i ended up choosing oxford because A- i perform better at harder problem solving questions over a longer period of time (which is basically what the PAT is) whereas the NSAA was loads of quick questions that u had to speed run (altho i think they’re scrapping NSAA now? would def check what the new entrance exam is) and B - i did some extra reading in chemistry and realised it really didn’t interest me nearly as much as physics so i wanted to do straight physics (in natsci u would have a compulsory module in chem/matsci/earth sciences etc but i wanted to just focus on physics..) hope this helps and remember it really doesn’t matter that much if u get into either u will be very happy!!

Reply 11

Anonymous #3

I'm not sure how true this is, but I have heard from my PhysNatSci friend at Cambridge (Clare) that they make first year Physics teaching at Cambridge intentionally overwhelming (and quite poor according to him) in order to discourage oversubscription in the second year.
However, the PhysNatSci course handbook does explicitly say "there is no limit on the number of students taking IB Physics A and Physics B (the second year physics courses)", so maybe what he says is complete bs.