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Choosing an Oxford College

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Original post by McKieLucy
I got this list given to me today by an applicant this year;
Regent's Park
Wadham
Christ Church
Magdalen
Balliol
Trinity


Those Colleges are mostly completely different in everything from size to accommodation provision to style of the buildings/college itself. I would be curious to here on what basis they picked them out vs the others....
Thanks for the input everyone! I'll probably pick Keble.
Original post by fred77777
Someone recommended Keble to me. Would you say Harris Manchester is better? How spread out is Oxford anyway? I don't mind walking 10 minutes or so. And is the river close to any of these two colleges?

Thanks a lot for your input!


Lady Margaret Hall is one of the largest colleges in Oxford with lots of visiting students. I think their new buildings for graduates are opening later this year, but you'd need to check. Beautiful gardens, forward-thinking, relaxed vibe. Good bar. Good Library. Bit of a walk into town, but 15 mins tops, if walking slowly. And you can walk across pretty UNIVERSITY Parks to get to science blocks and English fac. College gardens go down to the river, plus college punts available. But if you're a rower, you'd have to cross town ....
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by personage
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the largest colleges in Oxford with lots of visiting students. I think their new buildings for graduates are opening later this year, but you'd need to check. Beautiful gardens, forward-thinking, relaxed vibe. Good bar. Good Library. Bit of a walk into town, but 15 mins tops, if walking slowly. And you can walk across pretty UNIVERSITY Parks to get to science blocks and English fac. College gardens go down to the river, plus college punts available. But if you're a rower, you'd have to cross town ....


15 minutes if you're walking at a reasonable speed would just about get you to the nearest shops in town, if you wanted to go to the actual shopping centre it would be closer to 25-30.
Original post by Lucilou101
15 minutes if you're walking at a reasonable speed would just about get you to the nearest shops in town, if you wanted to go to the actual shopping centre it would be closer to 25-30.


Good exercise! and no tourists:wink:
Original post by Lucilou101
15 minutes if you're walking at a reasonable speed would just about get you to the nearest shops in town, if you wanted to go to the actual shopping centre it would be closer to 25-30.


You must walk very slowly! Its 1.5km to Carfax tower via St Giles.
Original post by nexttime
You must walk very slowly! Its 1.5km to Carfax tower via St Giles.


Or you walk very quickly :wink:

1 mile is around 18 minutes walk for me, I do however have short legs and normally a reasonably large backpack. Google estimates at 21 minutes so I guess it's variable!
Reply 4427
Avatar for LFR
LFR
Original post by McKieLucy
I got this list given to me today by an applicant this year;
Regent's Park
Wadham
Christ Church
Magdalen
Balliol
Trinity


This is a bizarre list ranging from some
of the smallest to largest colleges..


Posted from TSR Mobile
Hey there - I'm an AS student looking to do Biology at Oxford. Anyone know anything about the colleges that offer biology? I've done my own research and am really liking the look of Hertford, Jesus and Merton. Though currently leaning towards Jesus college. I've not been to any of them though, so anyone got any opinions on them? Are they nice colleges? Any colleges specifically well-known for biology?
Original post by Daedalys
Hey there - I'm an AS student looking to do Biology at Oxford. Anyone know anything about the colleges that offer biology? I've done my own research and am really liking the look of Hertford, Jesus and Merton. Though currently leaning towards Jesus college. I've not been to any of them though, so anyone got any opinions on them? Are they nice colleges? Any colleges specifically well-known for biology?


What do you like about those colleges. What are you looking for.

Colleges are not 'known' for particular subjects really, though cohort size can vary and might be worth looking into.
have you thought of LMH?
Near science blocks? Going to have nice new buildings and quad next year?
equal numbers of men and women....friendly, good food...own punts
Reply 4431
Avatar for Josb
Josb
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Original post by nexttime

Colleges are not 'known' for particular subjects really, though cohort size can vary and might be worth looking into.


For postgraduate studies, some college have strengths in specific fields; for example, St Antony's for area studies, Kellogg for linguistics, Balliol for political history, etc. Why wouldn't it be the same for undergrads?
Original post by nexttime
What do you like about those colleges. What are you looking for.

Colleges are not 'known' for particular subjects really, though cohort size can vary and might be worth looking into.



Our Biologists like to write about their subject. Some examples:

https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/953-reflections-on-a-field-trip-to-borneo

https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1286-a-summer-on-bird-island

https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1265-melolontha-melolontha-mosquitoes-and-mist-nets

https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1045-bitten-by-the-bug-bug

https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1019-wildlife-encounters-in-nova-scotia

Field trips feature strongly in the undergraduate course. One tip might be to see if you can discover whether colleges offer support for these activities.
Original post by Josb
For postgraduate studies, some college have strengths in specific fields; for example, St Antony's for area studies, Kellogg for linguistics, Balliol for political history, etc. Why wouldn't it be the same for undergrads?


Postgrad is far more dependent on your supervisor and their interests and expertise. Undergrad is much less so :yes:
Original post by Josb
For postgraduate studies, some college have strengths in specific fields; for example, St Antony's for area studies, Kellogg for linguistics, Balliol for political history, etc. Why wouldn't it be the same for undergrads?


As above - they're much broader fields.

Additionally, colleges do share tutors when needed. I suspect this is true of postgraduate studies too and would ask what measure of 'strength' you are using above over just rumour. Certainly, for lab-based PhDs college really isn't important at all as you will have close ties to your lab no matter where you are.

Oxford could choose to have a maths college, a biology college, etc. They deliberately choose not to. For the sake of social cohesion I guess? Not sure why, but that's the way it is.
Original post by nexttime
What do you like about those colleges. What are you looking for.

Colleges are not 'known' for particular subjects really, though cohort size can vary and might be worth looking into.


I like them mostly because of their location and because they're the ones I've visited; I've only been to Oxford twice, but those were the ones I got a brief glance at and liked the look of.
I was just wondering if anyone goes to them, or is a biologist at Oxford so I could ask questions about the college life and the course more specifically than what I can find in the prospectuses and such.


Original post by BrasenoseAdm
Our Biologists like to write about their subject. Some examples:

Field trips feature strongly in the undergraduate course. One tip might be to see if you can discover whether colleges offer support for these activities.

Thank you so much for posting those links! I'm reading through them now!
With colleges and their tutors - are you allowed to see other colege tutors if they're specialists in what you like to study even if you're accepted into a different college? And who does the interview? Is it all of the college (biology) tutors or just one of them?
Original post by Daedalys
I like them mostly because of their location and because they're the ones I've visited; I've only been to Oxford twice, but those were the ones I got a brief glance at and liked the look of.
I was just wondering if anyone goes to them, or is a biologist at Oxford so I could ask questions about the college life and the course more specifically than what I can find in the prospectuses and such.

Thank you so much for posting those links! I'm reading through them now!
With colleges and their tutors - are you allowed to see other college tutors if they're specialists in what you like to study even if you're accepted into a different college? And who does the interview? Is it all of the college (biology) tutors or just one of them?


I like the reports too. Another student plans to study Ethiopian wolves this summer for the 3rd year project so I'm hoping to add to the list.

One thing to bear in mind about Biology is that the subject is organised jointly by two Departments: Zoology and Plant Sciences. Brasenose has a quota of 4 students so at any one time we have 12 Biologists across the 3 years. A quota of 4 supports a Biology Fellow (Professor Owen Lewis - http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/view/lewis_ot.htm - who works on ecology and conversation) and a College Lecturer. Although based in Zoology, Owen's specialisms enable him to cover plant science. Our Lecturer, Ada Grabowska-Zhang, is an expert on avian biology (http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/members/ada-grabowska/) so her specialism complements Owen's very well. You will probably find a similar arrangement in most of the colleges - but those with a quota of 6 may have two Fellows instead of a Fellow and a Lecturer.

There are a lot of options as the degree progresses beyond year 1 - students select choices from six main themes and this usually leads to Tutors arranging tuition at other colleges to match students with specialists. After year 2 exams (which take place in early May) it is quite hard to keep track of all of the seminars and classes students attend for the rest of summer term. Project supervisors are also located in other colleges and other elements of the degree are provided by the Department (eg lectures and I think statistical methods classes).

There should always be two interviewers present for all Oxford subjects. Biology students have one interview at Brasenose (which Owen and Ada run) and another at a different college. Again, for all subjects, there is at least two interviews - except for Skype interviews where there may be a single, longer interview divided into sections.

I'll leave it for actual Biology students who may be out there reading this to add to or to correct these notes.
Original post by BrasenoseAdm
I like the reports too. Another student plans to study Ethiopian wolves this summer for the 3rd year project so I'm hoping to add to the list.

I adore Ethiopian wolves! Please add that to the list when it happens, I'd love to read that research!
When you specialise after 1st year, are you still allowed to attend lectures in other areas of biology you may not be specialising in? Or is it time-tabled so that you can only attend your lectures?
What is a Fellow? I've never understood how they're different from a lecturer; do they do lectures too?
Thank you so much for all the detail!
Original post by Daedalys
I adore Ethiopian wolves! Please add that to the list when it happens, I'd love to read that research!
When you specialise after 1st year, are you still allowed to attend lectures in other areas of biology you may not be specialising in? Or is it time-tabled so that you can only attend your lectures?
What is a Fellow? I've never understood how they're different from a lecturer; do they do lectures too?
Thank you so much for all the detail!


'What is a Fellow?' - that's a very sensible question. Guess what - there is no simple answer! This is because there are various category of Fellow.

The type of Fellow you are most likely to come into contact with is of the type Brasenose has for Biology. This is a joint appointment - someone who has a permanent job at a College AND at a Department. The primary duties are the same in each job: to teach and to conduct research. Teaching takes various forms but it will include Department lecturers and College tutorials. In addition, our Biology Fellow also acts as a governor or trustee at Brasenose. He has responsibility for academic leadership for Biology and also exercises oversight over our charitable activities with other Fellows (we are an educational charity). This is the Fellowship aspect of his appointment.

The College Lecturer in Biology occupies some common ground. Our lecturer has a Departmental job that involve teaching and research as well as a separate College job. Unlike the Fellow, the Lecturer does not act as a trustee or a governor - so there is less administration to do.

I hope this explanation makes sense. The average student probably doesn't notice any difference between Fellow and Lecturer btw since from their perspective they seem to do the same things.

On attending lectures &c in other areas of Biology, I think a lot of this goes on - as my earlier post indicated, it can be hard to monitor what students are up to and we are trying to improve this (not because we want to restrict opportunity but to make sure the total amount of study students take on is manageable).
(edited 8 years ago)
I am hoping to study History and Politics, but I have absolutely no idea about colleges, so I was wondering which colleges would be best to look at during the open day in July?

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