Choosing an Oxford College

xkittycatx

I second how nice Exeter is, I applied there for English too, but sadly was rejected. Exeter is great in terms of location, and the buildings are beautiful , also have you seen the fellows garden? it's lovely and there's views over the centre of Oxford from the rockery at the end of it. Btw how did you find the interviews there?
The foods quite nice too.

Oh I didn't like the food! Breakfast was nice, but at Dinner my rice wasn't cooked properly-how on earth can you not cook rice properly? It takes 10 minutes!! lol :smile:

My interviews were fine, in my second interview I think they tried to argue with my point of view more because in the first one I was just being asked questions about Mrs Dalloway and the poem we were given. Apart from that I thought they had went well, but I never expected to get in

Reply 781

Nimbus

12

Correct me if I am wrong but I've heard St.Hilda to be one of the "not-so-good" performing colleges, is it true? o_O?

Anyways, are Merton, St.John's, christ Church the best for sciences/medicine? And Jesus, Magdalon, Exeter best for English/law?

I think all of these colleges look really pretty though, and I've been flicking through the 2008 prospectus numerous times now purely because I want to stare at these colleges' photos. :biggrin:

(okay, ignore this comment=p).

Reply 782

hobnob

14

yg110uk

Correct me if I am wrong but I've heard St.Hilda to be one of the "not-so-good" performing colleges, is it true? o_O?

That's a stereotype that keeps being reiterated for some reason. Hilda's isn't at the top of the Norrington Table, if that's what you mean (and incidentally, there are colleges that consistently end up lower but are not stereotyped as "not so good" for some reason), but that doesn't mean it's a bad college or that if you went there you'd perform any worse than if you went to St John's.

Reply 783

Nimbus

12

hobnob

That's a stereotype that keeps being reiterated for some reason. Hilda's isn't at the top of the Norrington Table, if that's what you mean (and incidentally, there are colleges that consistently end up lower but are not stereotyped as "not so good" for some reason), but that doesn't mean it's a bad college or that if you went there you'd perform any worse than if you went to St John's.

It's just that I keep hearing sixth formers in my school commenting on how "if one wants to go to Oxford, don't apply to St. Hilda's", but I see now and I'm glad to know about this! :biggrin:

Reply 784

Cirsium

19

yg110uk

Anyways, are Merton, St.John's, christ Church the best for sciences/medicine? And Jesus, Magdalon, Exeter best for English/law?

Where on Earth did that come from? Jesus pretty much top the (figurative) tables for Geography (joint with I think it's Hertford) and for Chemistry but I've never heard of our English students or Lawyers being particularly outstanding!

Reply 785

Nimbus

12

Bekaboo

Where on Earth did that come from? Jesus pretty much top the (figurative) tables for Geography (joint with I think it's Hertford) and for Chemistry but I've never heard of our English students or Lawyers being particularly outstanding!

From sixth formers in my school discussing about oxford colleges in the library. :p:

, and most of the people who applied to Oxford for english went to these colleges so I assumed they are telling the truth.XD But ah I see now.XD

Reply 786

matthew_mi

Bekaboo

Where on Earth did that come from? Jesus pretty much top the (figurative) tables for Geography (joint with I think it's Hertford) and for Chemistry but I've never heard of our English students or Lawyers being particularly outstanding!

Are there separate Norrington Table-ish tables for each subject? If so, how could I have an access to the one for Engineering...=)) (Just for fun :eek:

)

Reply 787

hobnob

14

yg110uk

From sixth formers in my school discussing about oxford colleges in the library. :p:

, and most of the people who applied to Oxford for english went to these colleges so I assumed they are telling the truth.XD But ah I see now.XD

Tell those sixth formers they're being silly, then. One of the colleges that consistently gets very good results for English happens to be - St Hilda's. :wink:

Reply 788

hobnob

14

matthew_mi

Are there separate Norrington Table-ish tables for each subject? If so, how could I have an access to the one for Engineering...=)) (Just for fun :eek:

)

Think about it: on average, there are only about 7 or 8 Engineering students per year at each college. How could you possibly get meaningful statistics from that?

Reply 789

Cirsium

19

matthew_mi

Are there separate Norrington Table-ish tables for each subject? If so, how could I have an access to the one for Engineering...=)) (Just for fun :eek:

)

I even put "figurative" so that people would know I didn't mean a table and you still ask :rolleyes:

No, there isn't a table for each subject because, as hobnob says, any stats from it would be useless other than for colleges where the same tutor has been there for a long time and the results go consistently one way. At Jesus for Geog and Chem these are both true, so I can say with some degree of certainty that the tutors are pretty damn good. Similarly Pembroke regularly do very well in the Biology stakes although as of 2006 we've stolen one of their tutors away, and Kate and I (as the first students to have him for our last 2 years - you can't really make much of a difference by only having someone in the last 6 months of their degree IMO) full intend to show that now Jesus will be doing the same :biggrin:

Reply 790

sciencefan

Bekaboo, how about biology at ChCh? Anything that stands out (positive or not)?

Reply 791

Hoofbeat

14

Bekaboo

Where on Earth did that come from? Jesus pretty much top the (figurative) tables for Geography (joint with I think it's Hertford) and for Chemistry but I've never heard of our English students or Lawyers being particularly outstanding!

Maybe they're getting confused with the English students and Lawyers at Lincoln....I believe we've had consistently good results at mods/finals in Law and English for the last few years?

Reply 792

QuantumParity

sciencefan

Bekaboo, how about biology at ChCh? Anything that stands out (positive or not)?

It will be the same at all colleges except for:

1) Quality of tutors. You can look some of your future tutors up and judge them for their research prowess. This might not be the best indicator for teaching ability.

2) Library provision. You can find this online.

Reply 793

chocolatebear

one thing i'd say is that the quality of tutors doesn't necessarily correlate with their teaching prowess as some people believe. our biochem tutor is one of the leading biochemists in oxford (she has her own big research group) but she's not a brilliant tutor necessarily. i'd guess every tutor in oxford has more than enough knowledge to get you through your course, it's more a question of their teaching styles which you can't really research.
then again it does help sometimes when you've got a world leader in a field (eg jeremy taylor who does our OB tutes) who clearly knows lots and is excited about the subject

Reply 794

oeij

hi guys. im thinking of applying to oxford E&M later this year. I've been reading through all the college admissions criteria and most specify and A level equivalent of math.

I took the IB and only took math at Standard level. Is that equivalent to an AS level math? and should I still try applying?

Are there any colleges that are a little less insistent on the math? (i know some wouldn't even consider you without the A lvl math)

Reply 795

Derek_the_Sheep

8

The economics side of it is pretty mathematical. Also there are vast numbers of applicants per place (more than 10 per place this year I think). There'll be plenty of people with higher maths qualifications than you applying, so I wouldn't be very optimistic. Sorry, but there it is.

DtS

Reply 796

albolton

Hi, I'm looking to study Theology at Oxofrd. I am quite a quiet person and so was wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction towards colleges? Every one I've looked at has conflicting info!

I would like a quiet and small place with no 'toffs' or real, ardent 'lefties'!

Thanks a lot- any help would be greatly appreciated!

Reply 797

Huw Davies

11

albolton

Hi, I'm looking to study Theology at Oxofrd. I am quite a quiet person and so was wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction towards colleges? Every one I've looked at has conflicting info!

I would like a quiet and small place with no 'toffs' or real, ardent 'lefties'!

Thanks a lot- any help would be greatly appreciated!

The presence of "toffs" and "ardent lefties" depends on which individuals are selected in a particular year - to be honest, the presence of a few isn't likely to affect you, and I don't think any college is genuinely dominated by either kind of person. So it's not something to worry about.

Quiet and small places - Trinity, Mansfield, Lincoln, Corpus Christi are the smaller undergraduate colleges. If small is really your thing, as a theologian you could consider a PPH.

Reply 798

albolton

Thanks for your advice- much appreciated

Reply 799

Dan1607

Hi, could someone tell me which college's are best for Philosophy at cambridge? I don't care about anything else, only maybe if some college's are more 'racists' than others.
Also i have some social problems, so i want to live on my own, in addition i have learning disabilties, which college's are more supportive for this?

Choosing an Oxford College

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