Rowing atOxbridge

College rowing ranges from complete beginner to experienced rower. You'd be best served to ask about the specific college(s) that you're interested in.

Apparently at Oxford Oriel is pretty strong and Magdalene is a bit weaker atm. Any information on either of those for the sake of comparison?

Apparently at Oxford Oriel is pretty strong and Magdalene is a bit weaker atm. Any information on either of those for the sake of comparison?

I wouldn't judge based on current performance as a lot of it would be based on how good the current cohort is and this can change year on year as people matriculate and graduate.

This is my very rough recollection of the typical 2k erg times for the men’s VIIIs from my time rowing for one of the larger college boat clubs at Oxford (though not as insanely competitive as, for instance, Oriel, which as you said is probably the strongest college boat club right now, at least of the undergraduate colleges):
M1: 7:00 or below
M2: 7:00-7:30
M3: 7:30-8:00
M4/M5: 8:00 or above
As mentioned though there can be significant fluctuation in the size and quality of the pool of those wanting to row for any college in any given year, so these are only extremely rough ranges.

Did you row at school? I recall those who rowed at school or local clubs had better prep with decent 2k times. Some went straight to Uni trials rather than college.

I didn’t, no. I also recall those who had rowed at school being overrepresented in the top boats, though the one guy I remember from my college who ended up rowing for the uni hadn’t actually rowed before coming to Oxford.