Choosing an Oxford College

I'm not sure whether the rise in tuition fees (the big price hike) will actually affect you. It's all a bit uncertain as to how it'll work at the moment.

Overall, the cost of an Oxford education will be almost identical whatever college you go for - accommodation and food is all broadly similar cost-wise.

However, Lincoln does actually have a lot of outreach work going on in Lincolnshire and I think (not sure) if you're from certain areas in Lincolnshire you're eligible for a specific bursary at Lincoln (because it was the Bishop of Lincoln who founded the college). I could look into this for you if you want? So believe it or not it might be relevant!

The fact that someone from your school went to Lincoln shouldn't make a difference, though. It's hard to tell but I don't think it works like that any more.

Lincoln does have a significant number of English students - with Law and PPE it's one of our biggest subject intakes.

One of the main attractions of Lincoln is that it provides accommodation for all three years - this was a big plus for me because I didn't want to have to worry about private rentals and your accommodation will be guaranteed.

But I'd definitely say come and have a look at the colleges and judge for yourself!

Yes, there is a difference, but it's a laughably small difference, so calling it 'quite far out' is a bit ridiculous, really... Somehow Oxford seems to make people lose any sense of proportion as far as distances are concerned. If they had ended up at any other university in the country, the same people who call Hilda's 'remote' would have been glad to live within a 20-minute walk of their faculty. And if they go home over the holidays, they'll probably need much longer than that to get to the city centre. It's just a bit crazy.

Accommodation for all 3 years is definitely a big plus, and I suppose the more English students there are, the more chance I'd have of getting into the college.

Lots of people are saying that, when the cap on fees is lifted, Oxbridge will charge far more than other universities, but I'm hoping that's not true because at the moment they're pretty much the cheapest places to go to, because of their bursary schemes, and I doubt they'd want to discourage more state school students!?

Slightly faulty logic there, I'm afraid. Colleges don't have to fill all of their places for a particular subject. They can easily even out the numbers again on results day by taking someone with an open offer or by letting in someone who missed his grades.
But, just to keep this confusing: if you do want to go for the one with the slightly higher intake of English students, that would probably be Hilda's.

If you're in the right income bracket to qualify for an Oxford bursary, you may well be OK, but they will have to charge more eventually (though not necessarily next year), because government funding for the teaching of quite a large number of subjects is being withdrawn, and the tutorial system is very expensive, so they'll have to ensure they don't end up with less money than before.

Hm, it all sounds very confusing! I'm just hoping that the fees won't change too drastically for current AS students.

Apparently St Hilda's has a really good library and a brand new music centre, which means I'd be able to continue practising clarinet and piano. Does Lincoln have facilities in which non-music students can practise?

Also, this is something that's been confusing me for a while: do you know if Oxford will change its requirements to A*AA for 2011 applicants? I assumed that was already in place, but apparently not. I'm not hugely worried about it, but it would mean a bit less pressure.

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Lots of people are saying that, when the cap on fees is lifted, Oxbridge will charge far more than other universities, but I'm hoping that's not true because at the moment they're pretty much the cheapest places to go to, because of their bursary schemes, and I doubt they'd want to discourage more state school students!?

I *think* Hildas has an intake of about 15 English students a year? I think thats what one of the english students told me. Huge.

Apparently St Hilda's has a really good library and a brand new music centre, which means I'd be able to continue practising clarinet and piano. Does Lincoln have facilities in which non-music students can practise?

Also, this is something that's been confusing me for a while: do you know if Oxford will change its requirements to A*AA for 2011 applicants? I assumed that was already in place, but apparently not. I'm not hugely worried about it, but it would mean a bit less pressure.

You could still be lucky and narrowly avoid the higher fees, but at this stage it's impossible to tell when they'll be implemented, so you'd probably better work with the assumption that they will apply from 2012 onwards.

Well, the JdP was opened in 1995, so 'brand new' is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration... It's nice, though. And if you're interested in that kind of thing, you can even do recitals there. As far as I know, that's pretty much unique in Oxford.

It hasn't been decided yet. They'll wait until the end of this application cycle and then review their policy not to make offers including A* grades.

I don't think the academic staff would want to discourage state school students, but frankly I dont get the impression that the chancellor etc (the business people who actually pull the strings) don't care in the slightest as long as they're getting paid. The chancellor has already said, I believe, that he wants to put fees up to atleast £10000 yearly. And I think the all the Russel group universities have been pushing for unlimited fees. Sad, sad state of affairs. Hopefully the situation will be clarified soon. To be honest, I think *every* top university is going to be charging as much as they can get away with. Pray for a cap!
Id imagine/hope Oxford bursaries would stay pretty competative though.

I *think* Hildas has an intake of about 15 English students a year? I think thats what one of the english students told me. Huge.
But as has been said, it shouldnt make a difference to how likley you are to get in.

The music facilities at Hildas are really good! We do infact have something brand new going on. As we speak, the Stevenson room is being converted into an electro-acoustic recording studio.

Which leaves us with 5 practise rooms, 4 with pianos. Which is still 4 more practise rooms than Im aware of any other college having.

Really? The website still says 13 (including joint schools). Even then it would be one of the highest intakes for the subject, though. There'll only be two or three other colleges matching that number.

The music facilities do sound good. Does St Hilda's have a good orchestra? And does Lincoln have more than just a choir? I'm not really into singing, but I enjoy playing with other people.

I stand corrected!



Ill be honest - I've never been to Hildas orchestra. But last I heard, it doesnt have any brass. And it only reherses, afaik, a few times a term. I dont know how good orchestras at other colleges are. To be honest, I doubt any single college has enough people to make a decent orchestra. I think all the good ones are university or city wide. (There are plenty I think which are good but not auditioning or intense.) I guess thats Hildas biggest music disadvantage though- if you play something heavy like a cello, its a pain to take it for a 15min walk into the the town centre for orchestra rehersals.

Theres a fair bit of nice small-group stuff that goes on here though, and the college head of music is really nice and supportive. Students (mostly) do recitals or various stuff every Wednesday. I have what I like to think is a really good jazz/soul/rock group going XD

I play the clarinet, so it wouldn't be too bad to transport into the centre. Can anyone do an informal recital at St Hilda's, or is it just for music students?

I know that I shouldn't let statistics put me off, but I can't help it! Any advice?

x

Anything you'd want to add?

But what if - providing I even got into the university - I was pooled to St Catz? There's nothing wrong with it, but I really love old buildings and I'd always be wondering what would've happened if I'd applied to somewhere like Lincoln. And surely the pooling system is fallible? There must be a few students who slip through the net.

I know that I shouldn't let statistics put me off, but I can't help it! Any advice?

Thanks!