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Choosing an Oxford College

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Reply 1720
Avatar for Abi_g
Abi_g
Heyyy everyone :smile:
I have a place at Jesus college for October, just wondered if anyone else will be at Jesus? Get in touch! :smile:
x
Original post by StudentOfTheMonth
(100%) 1: Keble College (1870)
(98%) 2: Worcester College (1714)
(97%) 3: Balliol College (1263)
(97%) 4: University College (1249)
(95%) 5: Jesus College (1571)
(94%) 6: Hertford College (1282

Which one sounds the best?


As Festina Lente has said, it's different for everyone. The best way to find out is to visit yourself.
Original post by StudentOfTheMonth
(100%) 1: Keble College (1870)
(98%) 2: Worcester College (1714)
(97%) 3: Balliol College (1263)
(97%) 4: University College (1249)
(95%) 5: Jesus College (1571)
(94%) 6: Hertford College (1282

Which one sounds the best?


There are so many factors to decide from. Why don't you decide what is important to you and look up what facilities those (and other) colleges have.
Reply 1723
Avatar for Bezzler
Bezzler
1
Original post by nexttime
There are so many factors to decide from. Why don't you decide what is important to you and look up what facilities those (and other) colleges have.


Do you think if we collectively decide to boycott these questions they might think to look at one of the many many hundreds of pages where one of us has said exactly this?
I am from Argentina, and I really want to study at an UK university, im applying for Oxford. I have done a lot of research, and i will send emails to the colleges as soon as i decide on the course i want to study (i dont know if economics or engineering! i love both). id like some advice on choosing the best college, what im more worried about is that its a friendly community, and that international students can make friends as easily as everyone else, because im a friendly person and considering that i would leave all my friends and family behind, if i dont find any there i think i would feel really sad.
IS THERE ANY COLLEGE PARTICULARLY KNOWN FOR BEING FRIENDLY WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?
It's April, sooner or later we'd be writing our personal statements and submitting our UCAS over the Oxford which could possibly decide the outcome of our life.

I'm now a bit lingered with three college choices, and yes that's the best I could ever go because the colleges are all so perfect and beautiful!

As a student, I wouldn't say that I'm amazing, but I do excel at my school in particular subjects like Economics, History, the Philosophy of History and the philosophy of comparative literature. (No I'm not doing the A levels). If you're all wondering, I hope to dip my toes into the application for PPE. I've been reading on quite a bit, reading books by Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Hobbes, Marx and etc and for Economics I've been reading books by Krugman, Keynes and etc. Of course for politics apart from having a few introductory books I'm still pretty :confused: with it.

So my final three are Hertford, Balliol or Brasenose. Either one would be fine, I've read that there are only colleges you LIKE, no good or bad colleges and it doesn't really affect your chances of gaining an offer if you are genuinely good enough. Therefore I can stress that Hertford seems and sounds to be the MOST appealing college for myself. I've visited all three of them, and I think they're all alright, of course it's still too far fetched as I've not attended a lecture from any of them and I am not able to attend any open days as I'm an international student. :mad:

So does anyone have any advice for me? It'd be much appreciated.

PS: Could anyone also tell me the international quotas for each of these colleges if they might know?

Thanks guys!
That is indeed good news, so I should just go for Hertford? Because it is indeed my 1st choice.
Wow you're going to study chinese? Nice to meet you, I'm chinese myself studying at Australia! Judging from your profile picture I'm taking a wide guess that you're also Australian?
Original post by cloudstr1f3r
That is indeed good news, so I should just go for Hertford? Because it is indeed my 1st choice.


I'd apply to the college you prefer and not the one where you think you'll have the best chance of getting in - there's no way to preduct the popularity of a college in a given year, so you might as well choose your favourite! :smile:
Original post by Tortious
I'd apply to the college you prefer and not the one where you think you'll have the best chance of getting in - there's no way to preduct the popularity of a college in a given year, so you might as well choose your favourite! :smile:


Thank you, that's a confidence boost. It's also going to make me set my mind straight for one thing and work towards it. :biggrin:
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by cloudstr1f3r
That is indeed good news, so I should just go for Hertford? Because it is indeed my 1st choice.


Go for Hertford. Baliol (and I *think* Brasenose) are more oversubscribed, so if you like Hertford the best then definitely go for that.
Original post by BookWormShanti
Go for Hertford. Baliol (and I *think* Brasenose) are more oversubscribed, so if you like Hertford the best then definitely go for that.


Tortious is correct though; you can come a cropper if you go for the least oversubscribed, because that's what everyone else might be thinking too.. which can make it oversubscribed for the year that you apply.
(edited 12 years ago)
Yeah Shoshin you have a great point.

Although the food at Herford has a reputation of awfulness, it is still a nice place to be at. Since Tortious is correct I might else just take his advice for it. I don't see any difference between the three of them, except Balliol being kind of *Asian orientated*.
Original post by cloudstr1f3r
Yeah Shoshin you have a great point.

Although the food at Herford has a reputation of awfulness, it is still a nice place to be at. Since Tortious is correct I might else just take his advice for it. I don't see any difference between the three of them, except Balliol being kind of *Asian orientated*.


Yes, like Tortious says, just go for the one that feels right. Some prefer small/large, ancient/newer, central/quiet - that kind of thing. Hertford would be a good choice as it's well within staggering distance of the Turf Tavern :smile:
Reply 1734
Avatar for EdmundB
EdmundB
No blue people, thanks. Oxford's had trouble with the Smurfs before, so there's a blanket ban, except at Smurfette College which is a safe distance away in Cowley. :tongue:
Original post by EdmundB
No blue people, thanks. Oxford's had trouble with the Smurfs before, so there's a blanket ban, except at Smurfette College which is a safe distance away in Cowley. :tongue:


hmm yeah i mean they bang on about how 'your appearance doesn't matter' etc, 'color of skin doesn't matter' and all that, but i bet if you painted yourself blue for the interviews you would be somewhat less likely to get an offer.
Is this definitely true? I do know that the success rate of internationals is substantially lower than home students (11% vs 26%), although this may be due to poorer quality of applicants in theory (although i didn't think so).
Well I must agree that some Asians do not have the ability to rationalise themselves being compared under home students in England... So that might be a reason. I'm not being racist, but I do come from Asia, and that's mostly the case for the students at my school. They are good with the syllabus, but they do not read anything beyond the syllabus and that's a fatal flaw.
Original post by nexttime
Is this definitely true? I do know that the success rate of internationals is substantially lower than home students (11% vs 26%), although this may be due to poorer quality of applicants in theory (although i didn't think so).


Could one reason be because many international students are interviewed over Skype? It must be harder to impress over Skype, particularly if you only get one interview, though I have heard of applicants occasionally getting two.
You have to bear in mind that skype interviews are 'No guarantees' by the colleges. Meaning that they might not even consider a skype interview.

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