Oxford or Cambridge [for Maths]

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Having compared the universitys I agree with sugarplumc. Cambridge looks better and has a lot better rep. It tend to be the common attitude that Cambridge is better and since the entrance levels are higher only the best get in meaning, they do better on average . Its not to say the oxford isnt good, just that it isnt elite like cambridge. I think bjack is being a bit too touchy.

Reply 21

BJack

Hensona

Cambridge looks better and has a lot better rep.

Looks better? :confused:

It tend to be the common attitude that Cambridge is better and since the entrance levels are higher only the best get in

The entry standards are only marginally higher for Cambridge than Oxford. (Cambridge has 4.7 A grades average to Oxford's 4.6 — both are clearly outstanding)

only the best get in meaning, they do better on average .

Again, define "do better".

Its not to say the oxford isnt good, just that it isnt elite like cambridge. I think bjack is being a bit too touchy.

Double LOL.

Reply 22

around

Hensona

This is possibly the only valid criterion for choosing between the two that you've mentioned.

although of course i may be slightly...biased

Reply 23

RichE

Hensona

What are you basing this on? - especially given the recent RAE :confused:

Reply 24

henryt

Hensona

Mm - I have to disagree with you here. The entry levels being higher doesn't mean very much at all when you look at the systems in place. Oxford sets a test before interview, instead of STEP, that seeks (and does so successfully, as far as I know) to determine the strength of the candidates applying. Combined with this information, of course, you have the interviews and paper applications to sift applicants down, and because Oxford can afford to not invite the very weak candidates to interview, it means Colleges have more time to spend on the candidates that do pass the initial stage. This all said, many candidates at Oxford will have exceeded the Cambridge requirements in STEP, and this was probably without the effort that some applicants going for Cambridge would've put in!
I think, to be honest, students tend to look at reputation too much when it comes to choosing a university. It might be a useful, but vague, indicator of the standing of a university as a whole, but it can rarely be said to be accurate, especially from subject to subject. Most of the time, it's hard to compare university courses because they are so different, but in this case, there's very little to compare at all, as everything is so similar! Often 'reputations' are built on one or two people (like Newton!), and don't represent the current standing of a university. And if you want to compare RAE scores, well that's fine too. I don't think it's really sensible to say that one is significantly better than the other, and that's exactly what the evidence points to, too.

Reply 25

french emma

hey, being french what i'm looking at is not only the fact that the school is elite in math or whatever. I can obviously find that in a class prepa and then polytechnic, les mines, ENS or any other french grande école (although i'm not really able to judge if oxbridge's reputation is internationaly better than ENS or not)
What i would like to know is if activities other than math (such as drama) are possible and/or encouraged during all your studies and are interactions with people studying other courses very important? This is in my sense what is lacking to the french system. Are those details so different between oxford and cambridge?

Reply 26

RichE

french emma

What i would like to know is if activities other than math (such as drama) are possible and/or encouraged during all your studies and are interactions with people studying other courses very important? This is in my sense what is lacking to the french system. Are those details so different between oxford and cambridge?

Both universities (and their colleges) have plenty of societies representing all walks of life from music to drama, sport to debating. They are much the same in this regard. But at both universities these are things a student does independently of their studies.

And due to the collegiate nature of both systems it's impossible not to meet/make friends with those doing other subjects.

Tutors are happy for students to be involved in other activities (I wouldn't say they'd encourage them) as long as they don't intefere academically.

Reply 27

DFranklin

RichE

Tutors are happy for students to be involved in other activities (I wouldn't say they'd encourage them) as long as they don't intefere academically.

Turns out my DoS was a keen rower and tried to get us all to be boaties.

I didn't bite: cold water and getting up early??? :eek:

Reply 28

yusufu

DFranklin

Turns out my DoS was a keen rower and tried to get us all to be boaties.

I didn't bite: cold water and getting up early??? :eek:

It's not as bad as you might think so long as you don't spend all your time on the water. Rowed in my 1st year. Waking up early 3 times a week and getting some vigorous exercise before finishing in time to get to the 10am lecture was pretty useful. Made it much easier to pay attention in the 10am Probability lectures!

Reply 29

french emma

Well just for the record or the statistics of the forum or whatever if your interested i finally decided to apply to oxford taking in account what you said and other informations i was given from outside. Once again thank you for your help.

Reply 30

thepieofpie

My maths interview (Downing) was like the one in the video but without the questions about my school and STEP, etc. They also gave me about an hour to do some questions under exam conditions before hand.

Reply 31

SouthernFreerider

cambridge maths is in a whole other league to oxford maths.

Reply 32

RichE

SouthernFreerider

cambridge maths is in a whole other league to oxford maths.

Reply 33

Hashshashin

RichE

Seconded - and I'm going to be in lectures with this fool in a few weeks. :sigh:

Reply 34

herraotic

If you're like myself and not very good at anything else apart from maths and that being reflected in your GCSE grades, perhaps you should apply to Cambridge.

For me, it only came down to the fact that I could distinguish myself more easily through application criteria such as STEP.

Reply 35

daniLL

french emma

i think it was you who asked earlier about books? there was a girl at my interviews for physics- french- and found she knew all the relevant content but couldn't always translate the english topic names into french i.e. she didn't think she knew how to integrate

personally- have a look at at the edexcel/AEA maths course- the syllabus should be on the website for both- i'm not sure if there are any books for preparing for the oxford test

Reply 36

french emma

Thank you very much. So I suppose the AEA math syllabus is pretty much the Alevel much syllabus.
It's not so much to prepare for the oxford test rather than to be sure I've done all of the program if I'm in and I don't just drop by with entire subjects I haven't studied. Since we have more subjects in France we have less time for each one of them.