Reject Oxford Chem for Imperial?

So this whole post is a little presumptuous that I get the Imperial offer lol but anyways.
I just got an offer to study Chemistry at Magdalen and I’ve honestly been more stressed since getting the offer because I don’t know whether I’ll reject it. I’ve kind of slated Oxford in this post but it’s literally only because I’ve seen bad things online about Oxford but there’s nothing about Imperial so I’m just hoping to clear up my misconceptions here. Main things that scare me are:
- Is an Oxford degree worth it?
I’ve heard from so many people that employers think people from oxford are too theoretical and not good in industry. The course at imperial has a year in industry. Are the connections you make at Oxford really that good or is that just for back in the day? I’m worried a degree from Oxford might be weaker than Imperial.
- The course itself
The course at imperial is Medicinal Chem, which I like. I also really like the modules but I can’t say anything about the Oxford course really because they don’t have a lot online. I know the course is really demanding at Oxford - I saw someone say it was the second most content heavy after Med?? But tbh I am a workaholic I don’t have any issue with studying it’s just if the degree isn’t worth it then why bother? I know the course is maths heavy, I do like maths a lot but I don’t take further so that worries me a little.
- The culture at the unis
I really love the college system and tutorials at Oxford. But I’m worried coming from a working class and diverse background I won’t fit in. My main fear probably over all the others is that I really want to develop as a person outside of school and I’m not sure Oxford can provide that. I have this stereotype in my head that everyone at Oxford is really boring. I’m not big on clubbing but I would like to have a social life and I don’t know whether that’s possible at Oxford.
- The city
No service in Oxford is annoying, and I’ve heard some people think it’s boring? I do really like London as a city but could visit from Oxford. I don’t know whether I’d feel lonely on London because it’s such a huge city and such a huge proportion of students are international and cliquey
Help would be really appreciated!!

So this whole post is a little presumptuous that I get the Imperial offer lol but anyways.
I just got an offer to study Chemistry at Magdalen and I’ve honestly been more stressed since getting the offer because I don’t know whether I’ll reject it. I’ve kind of slated Oxford in this post but it’s literally only because I’ve seen bad things online about Oxford but there’s nothing about Imperial so I’m just hoping to clear up my misconceptions here. Main things that scare me are:
- Is an Oxford degree worth it?
I’ve heard from so many people that employers think people from oxford are too theoretical and not good in industry. The course at imperial has a year in industry. Are the connections you make at Oxford really that good or is that just for back in the day? I’m worried a degree from Oxford might be weaker than Imperial.
- The course itself
The course at imperial is Medicinal Chem, which I like. I also really like the modules but I can’t say anything about the Oxford course really because they don’t have a lot online. I know the course is really demanding at Oxford - I saw someone say it was the second most content heavy after Med?? But tbh I am a workaholic I don’t have any issue with studying it’s just if the degree isn’t worth it then why bother? I know the course is maths heavy, I do like maths a lot but I don’t take further so that worries me a little.
- The culture at the unis
I really love the college system and tutorials at Oxford. But I’m worried coming from a working class and diverse background I won’t fit in. My main fear probably over all the others is that I really want to develop as a person outside of school and I’m not sure Oxford can provide that. I have this stereotype in my head that everyone at Oxford is really boring. I’m not big on clubbing but I would like to have a social life and I don’t know whether that’s possible at Oxford.
- The city
No service in Oxford is annoying, and I’ve heard some people think it’s boring? I do really like London as a city but could visit from Oxford. I don’t know whether I’d feel lonely on London because it’s such a huge city and such a huge proportion of students are international and cliquey
Help would be really appreciated!!

I cannot comment on the chemistry courses.
In general, Oxford graduates are readily employable. I wouldn't fixate too much on journalistic analyses of graduate salaries.
There is a lot of social life at Oxford. The notions that Oxford students have no fun and/or are all boring nerdy introverts are inaccurate. I don't know anything about student life at Imperial is like.
Oxford is far from a boring place. There are wide-ranging opportunities for recreational and cultural activities. London is of course endlessly fascinating, but is easily accessible from Oxford. London is a great place to live and work, although a bit expensive on a student budget.
I don't know what you mean by "no service" at Oxford. If you mean transport, Oxford has connections to London and elsewhere, and internal buses.
Most Oxford students are middle class, but you won't be the only working class person in your cohort. The state school/private school proportions are roughly 70/30. In any event, you shouldn't let social class limit what you do in life. I was working class when I was born but changed social class through life experiences. I never felt that my social background was an issue while at Oxford. Unlike at some universities, Oxford students are not socially divided by accommodation costs. Colleges involve communal living, and this reduces social barriers.
As for ethnic and cultural diversity, the Oxford student population is more diverse than the UK population of 18 to 25 years olds in general.
Perhaps attend the offer holders' days at the Oxford college which has made you an offer and at Imperial, and see which place feels best for you.

I also have applied to both Oxford and imperial. I would not know which to pick if I got an offer for both but my method is to not even think about it unless I actually get an offer for imperial because if I don’t I will not have to even think about it. That is a problem for several months from now.

The latter point is perhaps worth expanding on. At Oxford, you might share a room, a flat, a staircase or at least a table in Hall with someone who is studying anything from Akkadian script to Astrophysics. I found it enriching to hang out with people doing lots of different subjects.
Coming from a large state school and a large sixth form college, I enjoyed the collegiate life at Oxford, and the sense of belonging to a large organisation (the university) and a relatively small one (my college). I liked the one to one tutorials, the chance to wander from library to library, the general beauty of the environment, and the various small group interactions, academic and social.
I recall being struck by how grey and anonymous was the law school I went to in London after leaving Oxford (to obtain a Diploma in Law), and the apparent lack of variety of student life there. Go to a lecture, mooch about in the canteen, go to a class, go to the pub. Oxford had offered more variety of academic and social life, not least because it had the physical resources to do so.
Some people prefer being part of a larger group, whether defined by a university, a subject cohort, or whatever, and some people don't like the relative intimacy of life in a college.
I suspect that Oxford and Imperial are apples and oranges, but that doesn't make one obviously better than the other.

In many ways you're choosing between very different options.
I'm not sure that it is fair to label Oxford chemistry very theoretical as the entire fourth year (Part II) is project based in the lab. But Oxford would be quite theoretical relative to the Imperial option with a year in industry.
Oxford chemistry is rather notorious for having few options during the first three years. It prides itself (rightly or wrongly) on keeping physical, inorganic and organic going for the whole three years. So what's on offer is likely to be very different from a Medicinal Chemistry degree (not that I know the Imperial course). If you really wish to study such and have a year in industry then choose Imperial. Oxford would perhaps keep more doors open for longer, with its generalist approach.
From your post there isn't going to be a choice that gives you everything you want. I wouldn't worry though about fitting in in Oxford - the stereotypes are a nonsense or outdated. It isn't that big a city - if you come from a small town it seems quite sizeable. If you're from a big city it's quieter but terms are short and there are plenty of Londoners, Mancunians and Brummies that seem happy here. Different people have different tastes, and also at Imperial everyone (or almost everyone) is a scientist or engineer.

So this whole post is a little presumptuous that I get the Imperial offer lol but anyways.
I just got an offer to study Chemistry at Magdalen and I’ve honestly been more stressed since getting the offer because I don’t know whether I’ll reject it. I’ve kind of slated Oxford in this post but it’s literally only because I’ve seen bad things online about Oxford but there’s nothing about Imperial so I’m just hoping to clear up my misconceptions here. Main things that scare me are:
- Is an Oxford degree worth it?
I’ve heard from so many people that employers think people from oxford are too theoretical and not good in industry. The course at imperial has a year in industry. Are the connections you make at Oxford really that good or is that just for back in the day? I’m worried a degree from Oxford might be weaker than Imperial.
- The course itself
The course at imperial is Medicinal Chem, which I like. I also really like the modules but I can’t say anything about the Oxford course really because they don’t have a lot online. I know the course is really demanding at Oxford - I saw someone say it was the second most content heavy after Med?? But tbh I am a workaholic I don’t have any issue with studying it’s just if the degree isn’t worth it then why bother? I know the course is maths heavy, I do like maths a lot but I don’t take further so that worries me a little.
- The culture at the unis
I really love the college system and tutorials at Oxford. But I’m worried coming from a working class and diverse background I won’t fit in. My main fear probably over all the others is that I really want to develop as a person outside of school and I’m not sure Oxford can provide that. I have this stereotype in my head that everyone at Oxford is really boring. I’m not big on clubbing but I would like to have a social life and I don’t know whether that’s possible at Oxford.
- The city
No service in Oxford is annoying, and I’ve heard some people think it’s boring? I do really like London as a city but could visit from Oxford. I don’t know whether I’d feel lonely on London because it’s such a huge city and such a huge proportion of students are international and cliquey
Help would be really appreciated!!

Wherever you get an undergraduate chemistry degree in the UK, it’ll have RSC accreditation meaning it does provide you with all the necessary skills for employment. It’s up to you to really sell yourself and show you have those skills when applying for a job, which I am confident you’ll have no real issues with doing.
I’d look at the Oxford chemistry lecture timetable as it can be found with a quick google search. Whilst the names of the topics aren’t always self-explanatory, they will give some indication as to whether the content is of interest. Please note that Oxford doesn’t have a modular course structure for chemistry so as to better explore how the various topics are interconnected. In my opinion, this actually makes the course better on balance than anywhere else in the UK.
The stereotypes are outdated as has been said above plenty of times. Next to nobody asks where you came from, how much your parents make etc. The one occasion I recall having such a discussion was when someone from a state school commented that I sound privately educated (which I’m not lol) and was just genuinely curious where I was educated rather than trying to be malicious in any way.
You can avoid clubbing like the plague if you want to - I definitely do and maintain a reasonable social life outside of study. It does take good time management to find the time to get both study done and decompress, but you get used to doing so within the first year or two, generally.
As for the maths in the course, you have maths tutorials and lectures for a reason. Anything in further maths you’ll need you’ll be taught on the course. There are some excellent books on the mathematics material you can use, including a primer by D.S Sivia and S.G Rawlings titled “Foundations of Science Mathematics” that you can find in your college library or in the radcam. I don’t think not doing FM is likely to make your chances of doing well at Oxford any worse than anywhere else in all honesty as you’ll do the same maths wherever you go given how important it is to understanding much of the chemistry you’ll study.

I'll be frank, this conversation feels more like an echo chamber. As a current imperial chemistry student. I would never pick Oxford over imperial, unless if I have a group of tutors that I genuinely get along very well with at Ox. They make or break your experience, and from my personal experience with the interview, two tutors treated me quite ableist and I was traumatized from the experience from Ox. I felt stigmatized and judged from my experiences in my interview. I know personally, that I would thrive in a tutorial environment, however I genuinely would have been kicked out of Oxford long by now for my severe chronic mental and physical health issues. Imperial has been very generous and I'm still on the course despite barely doing any of first term.
Imperial has a great team of teaching fellows, and professors and I can tell you, every one of the fellows are genuinely passionate about teaching and excellent at their jobs. I'm genuinely blessed with the opportunity to be surrounded by leading academics and able to meet and talk to them. The connection opportunities, research competitions etc.you would basically find no where else. There are internships you can do with research groups at every year of undergrad (although funding is hard to get) called UROPs, which are not possible at Oxford. You have IROPs also (summer internships in research groups abroad). The hackspace where you can do any research project you want and have a supervisor helping and guiding you in the process, even offering money to you for free to experiment and craft things! That's something you'll never get anywhere else. The workload for first year is basically a gap year, and they give you flexibility and time to develop and explore. That being said, second and third are very tough, but at Oxford you'll be overwhelmed from the get go. My friend at Oxford has so much more work than me that I'm quite glad that I ended up at imperial. The disability officer for chem genuinely cares for people, and I think she is a brilliant tutor herself (med chemist!) I get 25% extra time + rest breaks and a lot of accommodations which would probably be unheard of at Oxford. We have horizons and i-explore where you can study a language, art or humanities etc. on the side. The community I'd say genuinely has been great, by not having the college system you're able to very easily branch out to other societies or departments, even within the chem course to find people. There is no upper class stereotype and division here (except the business school which no one really goes into their bubble), and you'll be able to find great people everywhere. That being said, there'll always be pricks wherever you go, but you have the luxury to pick and choose from the crowd instead of being stuck in a college. Being at the heart and centre of London, you'll have many opportunities to branch out to KCL, UCL, LSE for events and societies etc.
Sure, you may have less tutorial time, which is one thing I genuinely find sad for me, which is 3 hours a week, and 3 hours of workshops a week, alternating, and to be frank you can't get much done, and we get not very much support on the course, a lot of us basically self teach everything, however if you end up at a college with unsupportive, if not incredibly judgemental and not very nice tutors at Oxford, I'd argue that's much worse. The freedom and flexibility, also opportunities here are unrivalled. I love my tutorial tutors, they're genuinely kind, caring and amazing academics, and really good teachers, and I would be crying leaving them.
I hope that gives you another opinion to help with your decision. People often view Oxford with some rose tinted glasses and forget that it is not for everyone, and can definitely be a bad environment for people, especially those who have troubles with stress and anxiety. It is definitely not the place for chronically ill and severely disabled people imo. Unless you know you can be a top performing academic under high intensity and stress, I don't recommend Oxford.

I'll be frank, this conversation feels more like an echo chamber. As a current imperial chemistry student. I would never pick Oxford over imperial, unless if I have a group of tutors that I genuinely get along very well with at Ox. They make or break your experience, and from my personal experience with the interview, two tutors treated me quite ableist and I was traumatized from the experience from Ox. I felt stigmatized and judged from my experiences in my interview. I know personally, that I would thrive in a tutorial environment, however I genuinely would have been kicked out of Oxford long by now for my severe chronic mental and physical health issues. Imperial has been very generous and I'm still on the course despite barely doing any of first term.
Imperial has a great team of teaching fellows, and professors and I can tell you, every one of the fellows are genuinely passionate about teaching and excellent at their jobs. I'm genuinely blessed with the opportunity to be surrounded by leading academics and able to meet and talk to them. The connection opportunities, research competitions etc.you would basically find no where else. There are internships you can do with research groups at every year of undergrad (although funding is hard to get) called UROPs, which are not possible at Oxford. You have IROPs also (summer internships in research groups abroad). The hackspace where you can do any research project you want and have a supervisor helping and guiding you in the process, even offering money to you for free to experiment and craft things! That's something you'll never get anywhere else. The workload for first year is basically a gap year, and they give you flexibility and time to develop and explore. That being said, second and third are very tough, but at Oxford you'll be overwhelmed from the get go. My friend at Oxford has so much more work than me that I'm quite glad that I ended up at imperial. The disability officer for chem genuinely cares for people, and I think she is a brilliant tutor herself (med chemist!) I get 25% extra time + rest breaks and a lot of accommodations which would probably be unheard of at Oxford. We have horizons and i-explore where you can study a language, art or humanities etc. on the side. The community I'd say genuinely has been great, by not having the college system you're able to very easily branch out to other societies or departments, even within the chem course to find people. There is no upper class stereotype and division here (except the business school which no one really goes into their bubble), and you'll be able to find great people everywhere. That being said, there'll always be pricks wherever you go, but you have the luxury to pick and choose from the crowd instead of being stuck in a college. Being at the heart and centre of London, you'll have many opportunities to branch out to KCL, UCL, LSE for events and societies etc.
Sure, you may have less tutorial time, which is one thing I genuinely find sad for me, which is 3 hours a week, and 3 hours of workshops a week, alternating, and to be frank you can't get much done, and we get not very much support on the course, a lot of us basically self teach everything, however if you end up at a college with unsupportive, if not incredibly judgemental and not very nice tutors at Oxford, I'd argue that's much worse. The freedom and flexibility, also opportunities here are unrivalled. I love my tutorial tutors, they're genuinely kind, caring and amazing academics, and really good teachers, and I would be crying leaving them.
I hope that gives you another opinion to help with your decision. People often view Oxford with some rose tinted glasses and forget that it is not for everyone, and can definitely be a bad environment for people, especially those who have troubles with stress and anxiety. It is definitely not the place for chronically ill and severely disabled people imo. Unless you know you can be a top performing academic under high intensity and stress, I don't recommend Oxford.

A marketing tip: Knocking copy isn't a good technique. None of the Oxford people here have criticised Imperial. Indeed, how could they? They haven't studied there. Why not dwell on the good things about Imperial rather than running down Oxford, where you haven't studied (and which, I infer, turned you down)?
The OP potentially has two good options available. If Imperial makes him or her an offer, the OP will have the luxury of choosing between two well-regarded universities with quite different characteristics

I'll be frank, this conversation feels more like an echo chamber. As a current imperial chemistry student. I would never pick Oxford over imperial, unless if I have a group of tutors that I genuinely get along very well with at Ox. They make or break your experience, and from my personal experience with the interview, two tutors treated me quite ableist and I was traumatized from the experience from Ox. I felt stigmatized and judged from my experiences in my interview. I know personally, that I would thrive in a tutorial environment, however I genuinely would have been kicked out of Oxford long by now for my severe chronic mental and physical health issues. Imperial has been very generous and I'm still on the course despite barely doing any of first term.
Imperial has a great team of teaching fellows, and professors and I can tell you, every one of the fellows are genuinely passionate about teaching and excellent at their jobs. I'm genuinely blessed with the opportunity to be surrounded by leading academics and able to meet and talk to them. The connection opportunities, research competitions etc.you would basically find no where else. There are internships you can do with research groups at every year of undergrad (although funding is hard to get) called UROPs, which are not possible at Oxford. You have IROPs also (summer internships in research groups abroad). The hackspace where you can do any research project you want and have a supervisor helping and guiding you in the process, even offering money to you for free to experiment and craft things! That's something you'll never get anywhere else. The workload for first year is basically a gap year, and they give you flexibility and time to develop and explore. That being said, second and third are very tough, but at Oxford you'll be overwhelmed from the get go. My friend at Oxford has so much more work than me that I'm quite glad that I ended up at imperial. The disability officer for chem genuinely cares for people, and I think she is a brilliant tutor herself (med chemist!) I get 25% extra time + rest breaks and a lot of accommodations which would probably be unheard of at Oxford. We have horizons and i-explore where you can study a language, art or humanities etc. on the side. The community I'd say genuinely has been great, by not having the college system you're able to very easily branch out to other societies or departments, even within the chem course to find people. There is no upper class stereotype and division here (except the business school which no one really goes into their bubble), and you'll be able to find great people everywhere. That being said, there'll always be pricks wherever you go, but you have the luxury to pick and choose from the crowd instead of being stuck in a college. Being at the heart and centre of London, you'll have many opportunities to branch out to KCL, UCL, LSE for events and societies etc.
Sure, you may have less tutorial time, which is one thing I genuinely find sad for me, which is 3 hours a week, and 3 hours of workshops a week, alternating, and to be frank you can't get much done, and we get not very much support on the course, a lot of us basically self teach everything, however if you end up at a college with unsupportive, if not incredibly judgemental and not very nice tutors at Oxford, I'd argue that's much worse. The freedom and flexibility, also opportunities here are unrivalled. I love my tutorial tutors, they're genuinely kind, caring and amazing academics, and really good teachers, and I would be crying leaving them.
I hope that gives you another opinion to help with your decision. People often view Oxford with some rose tinted glasses and forget that it is not for everyone, and can definitely be a bad environment for people, especially those who have troubles with stress and anxiety. It is definitely not the place for chronically ill and severely disabled people imo. Unless you know you can be a top performing academic under high intensity and stress, I don't recommend Oxford.

I am being realistic about the pros and cons of Oxford and Imperial, and I am not here with the intention to slam Oxford at all, in fact in many ways I wish I had the benefits of being at Oxford as well, however it is not for me. I'm simply offering another voice as an imperial student about what is beneficial about imperial that a lot of applicants would probably not know about. I hope that my insight is useful. What I've wrote has clearly offended you and you are biased towards Oxford whether you admit it or not. I wish no longer to converse with you, so please respect that. Goodbye.