Choosing an Oxford College

oh_1993

I have just applied for maths at wadham college, and someone has just told me that it has a reputation as being a 'party college'. This concerns me slightly as I am not a very outgoing person and I am a nerd and want to meet other nerds.

I picked Wadham because they seemed to be very sympathetic to my circumstances and said they would likely waive the A*A*A offer to an unconditional if I were to be of a good enough standard to receive an offer. I also picked it because I liked the place when I briefly went to look around on the open day. It is the one with the huge tree behind the main quad isn't it?

Now I am starting to realise only hours after making my choice that maybe I have gone for the wrong college. Basically are there any people at Wadham who do not take every opportunity to go to bops? Otherwise I will be worried for my social life as I am not sure if I will want to join the party scene but I will give it a go anyway, there is no harm in trying I suppose. (Except for maybe the queer bops, not sure I'd fit in there)

Thanks

EDIT: Also roughly what proportion of gay people are there? Not really much of a concern but I thought I'd ask since it seems to have a reputation for having lots of gays.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3021

nexttime

22

Original post by oh_1993

I have just applied for maths at wadham college, and someone has just told me that it has a reputation as being a 'party college'. This concerns me slightly as I am not a very outgoing person and I am a nerd and want to meet other nerds.

As with all stereotypes, there is an element of truth to college stereotypes but they are vastly exaggerated. Plenty of people will not know about the reputation, plenty will not care anyway, and plenty will have been pooled. There will be plenty of 'nerds' too, i promise - its Oxford after all (although i disagree that nerd and part-going are mutually exclusive!)

Reply 3022

warndog

3

'm planning on applying to PPE at Brasenose.
My friend has put me off slightly by saying it is the college for "hooray henry's" as apparently it has one of the highest public school percentages. Also, David Cameron studied PPE there. Also, its jumped to 2nd in Norrington, suggesting its become more academically strict/focused
When I went there it seemed fairly chilled out and fun so I'm not sure what to think.
Any people from Brasenose care to tell me what it's REALLY like? Would be much appreciated!

Reply 3023

Jazzeh

Struggling to choose between Lincoln, Univ and Worcester to study law. I keep changing my mind as I change how important each variable is to me. Lincoln seems the best choice for education, Worcester for all round experience and Univ for fun, basically. They're all so brilliant that the qualities are only slightly better than the other colleges! A good thing as you can't decide on the wrong college, but bloody annoying too!

What is the accommodation like at all three? It'll probably come down to something like that, or any other discernible differences anyone can quote.

Reply 3024

nexttime

22

Original post by Jazzeh

Struggling to choose between Lincoln, Univ and Worcester to study law. I keep changing my mind as I change how important each variable is to me. Lincoln seems the best choice for education, Worcester for all round experience and Univ for fun, basically. They're all so brilliant that the qualities are only slightly better than the other colleges! A good thing as you can't decide on the wrong college, but bloody annoying too!

What is the accommodation like at all three? It'll probably come down to something like that, or any other discernible differences anyone can quote.

What are you basing Lincoln being best for education on?

Reply 3025

Jazzeh

Original post by nexttime

What are you basing Lincoln being best for education on?

No idea, just from combination of reading alternative prospectus, respective websites etc. Obviously it's a minor difference to other colleges, but I think I'd probably work better there than I would at Univ, and arguably Worcester too. When I visited Univ on the open day I really liked it but didn't really feel like my kind of working environment for some reason. Univ has got such a great financial side it, though.

Reply 3026

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Original post by Jazzeh

Struggling to choose between Lincoln, Univ and Worcester to study law. I keep changing my mind as I change how important each variable is to me. Lincoln seems the best choice for education, Worcester for all round experience and Univ for fun, basically. They're all so brilliant that the qualities are only slightly better than the other colleges! A good thing as you can't decide on the wrong college, but bloody annoying too!

What is the accommodation like at all three? It'll probably come down to something like that, or any other discernible differences anyone can quote.

WOOSTA, WOOSTA, WOOSTA! :rave:

I'll let you deal with this, my dear, since you're a lawyer! :yep:

Reply 3027

cooldudeman

18

i wouldn't mind going to any college besides st anne's and st catherine's because they are too modern for my liking. if i do choose a college, would that put me in a disadvantage in any way? like i'm less likely to get an interview/offer?

Reply 3028

Mr Inquisitive

16

Original post by cooldudeman

i wouldn't mind going to any college besides st anne's and st catherine's because they are too modern for my liking. if i do choose a college, would that put me in a disadvantage in any way? like i'm less likely to get an interview/offer?

You'd not be disadvantaged in any way whatsoever.

Reply 3029

fimblesocks

10

Short answer: No. If you are a good enough applicant then if you are rejected from your first choice somewhere else will take you.

Reply 3030

Doglamlico

16

Original post by cooldudeman

i wouldn't mind going to any college besides st anne's and st catherine's because they are too modern for my liking. if i do choose a college, would that put me in a disadvantage in any way? like i'm less likely to get an interview/offer?

Won't disadvantage you in terms of getting a place, but it could advantage you later in going to a college you like more. You might as well pick one which looks nice / has good facilities which you would make use of, as if you make an open application all that will happen is that you'll be randomly allocated :smile:

(well, to a less busy college)

Reply 3031

cooldudeman

18

Original post by Mr Inquisitive

You'd not be disadvantaged in any way whatsoever.

oh thats good to hear. i've got a small problem.
my teacher was entering me for the oxford MAT exam and she asked which college did i put on my ucas (becasue the MAT register paper asked for the college), and i said open application, but now i find out there's no disadvantage, i'm definitely going to put a college. i think my teacher has sent off the form so would there be any issues because of this?

Reply 3032

Mr Inquisitive

16

Original post by cooldudeman

oh thats good to hear. i've got a small problem.
my teacher was entering me for the oxford MAT exam and she asked which college did i put on my ucas (becasue the MAT register paper asked for the college), and i said open application, but now i find out there's no disadvantage, i'm definitely going to put a college. i think my teacher has sent off the form so would there be any issues because of this?

Your UCAS form choice would take precedence, so it wouldn't be an issue.

Reply 3033

cooldudeman

18

Original post by Mr Inquisitive

Your UCAS form choice would take precedence, so it wouldn't be an issue.

thanks

Reply 3034

shoshin

10

Original post by cooldudeman

i've got a small problem.
my teacher was entering me for the oxford MAT exam and she asked which college did i put on my ucas (becasue the MAT register paper asked for the college), and i said open application, but now i find out there's no disadvantage, i'm definitely going to put a college. i think my teacher has sent off the form so would there be any issues because of this?

The identical scenario was brought up a couple of days ago on TSR and the reply (which is good news for you) came from 'gavinlowe', who is an Oxford admissions tutor:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1934350&page=147&p=39777446#post39777446

Good luck :smile:

Reply 3035

cooldudeman

18

Original post by shoshin

The identical scenario was brought up a couple of days ago on TSR and the reply (which is good news for you) came from 'gavinlowe', who is an Oxford admissions tutor:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1934350&page=147&p=39777446#post39777446

Good luck :smile:

thank god

Reply 3036

tuesday91

1

Original post by warndog

'm planning on applying to PPE at Brasenose.
My friend has put me off slightly by saying it is the college for "hooray henry's" as apparently it has one of the highest public school percentages. Also, David Cameron studied PPE there. Also, its jumped to 2nd in Norrington, suggesting its become more academically strict/focused
When I went there it seemed fairly chilled out and fun so I'm not sure what to think.
Any people from Brasenose care to tell me what it's REALLY like? Would be much appreciated!

Current Brasenose student here :smile:

What you realise when you come to Oxford is that all of this stereotype stuff is a bit rubbish really - pretty much all colleges will have all sorts of people. Certainly none of my friends are the hooray henry type, and pretty much whichever college you go to some people will be rich and many people won't be. Also the Norrington isn't much of a guideline anyway as what people don't realise is it is scarcely a judge of how academic the college is or anything, last year's finalists were just particularly good for us! Norrington changes so much that it's only a measure of students, which change year to year, not the college. Obviously it varies from subject to subject but I highly doubt we're more 'academic' than other colleges. I've heard of loads of people doing my course from other colleges who seem to have way more tutes than I do.

As for Brasenose - I would advertise it as fantastic! We are a great size so the whole year can know each other. You get accommodation all years of your course in one of two places (college or the Frewin annexe which unlike a lot of annexes is still completely central) which means that there is a lot of inter-year mixing as well because we are around each other all the time. There are some fun traditions like going through a passageway between us and Lincoln which is only opened once a year and demanding free beer from them, and then watching them throw pennies at schoolkids.

I definitely find my experience about as chilled out and fun as it is possible to be in Oxford (the sad truth whichever college you go to there will be a whole lot of work, there's no escaping that, it's Oxford!)