UCL or Durham for English BA?

Ah thanks, tbh I'm not sure how much GCSEs matter for university so I'd say just try and make your predicted's as high as you can and have a solid personal statement. I applied for Cambridge (Oxford seemed harder to get into and a bit less friendly) and was interviewed but rejected but I'd definitely say give it a shot if only for interview practice! My thinking was that an oxbridge application and early entry would keep me organised for Y13 and make sure I had a pretty solid application for the other uni's as well

Wow its crazy to hear you got rejected even though ur stats r really good! (they obviously thought you were too good lolol), but ig oxbridge isn't everything! GL at wherever u end up, UCL and Durham are amazing unis u should be proud of those offers. I am planning to apply to Oxford this year, and yeah doing the early application sounds like it gets it all out of the way so u can focus on exams which is good. Are the interviews awful then? 😶 I am very scared lolol. (Also thanks for the response!)

Aw no worries, yh fingers crossed the exams turn out ok! For me, my interview was actually pretty chill, a few people in my year with interviews for different colleges did have not great experiences (professors interviewing them being quite blunt or a bit stuck up) but my interviewers were actually very friendly and it was turned out to be a really interesting discussion. One of my problems with interviews is I always end up rambling a bit so I would say to make sure that you prep talking concisely and academically about your subject and personal statement beforehand but you probably will be told that sort of things later on. I think one thing that successful applicants always said was to try and enjoy it because they aren't trying to trick you, even if the discussion might get quite speculative and creative. Anyways its quite early in the process so I'd say definitely don't worry about those things too much now and whatever happens you'll probably benefit from the experience of the process 🙂 Hope everything goes ok!!

Thank you! I've been to some subject exploration days at Oxford and yeah some of the professors are a bit blunt and a bit awkward lolol - i really think it depends on the college and stuff, there are so many factors. I am a rambler as well lolol so I totally get that, thank you reply and advice its very helpful!!

Wow its crazy to hear you got rejected even though ur stats r really good! (they obviously thought you were too good lolol), but ig oxbridge isn't everything! GL at wherever u end up, UCL and Durham are amazing unis u should be proud of those offers. I am planning to apply to Oxford this year, and yeah doing the early application sounds like it gets it all out of the way so u can focus on exams which is good. Are the interviews awful then? 😶 I am very scared lolol. (Also thanks for the response!)

hi, I also got 10 9s and 3 A*s. I applied to oxbridge and was rejected unfortunately!

I did Oxford interviews and actually really found them quite chill. honestly was not sure where I went wrong as I was really happy with my interviews, I think it is just a very competitive process. btw I chose durham over UCL because I love the durham to magic circle law pipeline haha (but tbh UCL is just as great for that!) also because I thought that if im going to do law in the city after uni I would prefer to be somewhere that isn't in the city for my uni days. I am fortunate to have spoken to a partner of magic circle law after my oxbridge rejection (I was very upset!) and they say that nowadays, as long as you are Russel group uni with a first (even including non Russel group tbh) you are on a level playing field with oxbridge graduates. it all depends on your work experience, not really the uni you come from! so apply to oxbridge but if you get rejected do not think that it will stop your prospects

Hi everyone, I am choosing my firm option for an English undergrad degree and am looking for advice about whether UCL or Durham is the better pick? I know that this is very subjective depending on the person but I know relatively little about each university/course so was wondering if anyone had any advice/personal experience with either the course or uni. For me, UCL is closer to home and Durham's further away, the offer for Durham is slightly higher, and I have heard that UCL is better respected for employers (though of course this is also subjective). Mainly, I don't want to discount Durham because its potentially harder to get the grades and harder in terms of settling into university life because I'd be further from home, but I also am wondering if UCL is just the better choice. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated!! Thanks