Studying at Oxford is incredible – from the campus, to the resources, to the students attending. What’s more challenging than the coursework however is continuously advocating for yourself and putting yourself out there amidst hundreds of other students doing the same. It’s crucial to develop a strong support network for yourself to cope with the constant pressure of the environment. That being said, it was an exceptional experience, one I will treasure for a life time.

The university of Oxford has Standard facilities which has in return given knowledge to the students academically, with a good security system plus a wonderful evironment with trees around the institution.

The University of Oxford is the best university overall and offers the best facilities, a conducive learning environment, and top-notch lecturers. Oxford University is the fantastic. I must state that i advise students to attend the University of Oxford.

I hope you find my experience interesting.

I went to Oxford, however if I could go back in time I would have probably chosen Cambridge or LBS.

There’s a reason this photo of Oxford’s Bullingdon club, featuring David Cameron and Boris Johnson, because so notorious. ‘Oxbridge’ may be shorthand for ‘establishment’ in the country at large, but between the two the establishment spirit is much stronger in Oxford. A lot of this is down to the famous PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) degree offered at Oxford, which is one of the most prestigious degrees in the country. Many of the leading politicians studied this, so it in turn attracts people with political ambitions at a young age (a boy at my school, when he failed to get into his preferred Oxford College to do PPE, genuinely wailed ‘I’ll never be Prime Minster now’).

In contrast, I’ve always considered Cambridge to have a greater reputation for the sciences, where Oxford had a greater reputation for humanities (especially PPE and Classics). There have been 95 Nobel laureates from Cambridge, of which 2 Peace and 3 Literature. Oxford, on the other hand, has had 65, of which 5 Peace and 5 Literature. That’s 90 vs 55 of the biggest scientific prizes out there.

Cambridge is now one of the fastest booming towns out there, as science and engineering firms choose to base themselves there near the University: Why Cambridge is at the heart of Britain’s economic recovery . If you are a scientist or engineer, you’ll find better jobs in Cambridge. Then there’s the landscape. In reality, the two are so similar that we’re in the territory of narcissism of small differences. I recommend you make your decision based on something arbitrary, like which end you consider the best end to punt from (Oxford from the front, Cambridge from the back). I attended Oxford. In spite of what alumni and students of either institution will loudly proclaim, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are similar. They are good universities, if you’re the right type of student: you enjoy the subject you’re studying, and you’re talented enough to learn fast enough to handle the syllabus. Let me explain why student satisfaction may not be high:

(1) Change in relative competence Many people enter Oxford or Cambridge from “normal” schools, where they were most likely the top students. I notice that the students who went to “elite” (academically-selective) schools tended to cope a bit better, since they were used to not being the best students in their classes, and used to a more punishing curriculum. For example, I experienced a rise in my relative competence, compared to my previous institution: I was in a selected group of about 50 scholarship-awarded students all placed into two classes, in a top-2 high school, in a country where only the academic top 30% are even allowed into high schools, and where the average PISA score is the highest in the world. Oxford represented a decrease in academic pressure relative to my A Level class in Singapore.

(2) Academic overreaching through extreme hard work Some minority of students at those institutions worked extremely (think 80 hour weeks) hard in order to make it in, in spite of a lower innate talent. Most of them don’t enjoy that level of hard work, and many of them were pressured by their parents to work that hard. These people have a pretty tough time because their parents are no longer there to pressure them, yet they find it really hard to keep up without working much harder than their peers. I wish that parents would not stretch their children so hard. It’s not healthy, and it is ultimately pointless. When they start their own careers, they are going to be free to choose their own pace. The fact that they attended a good university only helps them get that interview: afterwards, their lower level of competence is still going to determine their career path.

(3) Social life automatically gravitates towards the posh British private-schooled crowd Unfortunately, Oxford and Cambridge are disproportionately populated by students from British private schools, especially the elite ones like Eton, Harrow, Cheltenham Ladies’, etc.. Some students will not “fit in” with the group, e.g. international students of different cultures / appearance, state-schooled or working-class students. It does not help that many “posh” students have an unconscious assumption of their own cultural dominance in the university.

My advice to those students is to socialize less in College and more in clubs. First, postgraduates are much more diverse and international, but College social activities tend to be undergraduate-focused. Second, shared interests override other “softer” commonalities such as class or race.

Finally: If you have the chance to study the subject of your choice in Oxford or Cambridge, I recommend doing it. They are very good universities. Enjoyable experience, great environment (very safe, not too urban, not too rural), huge range of diverse people to interact with, strong academic support, and on top of it all, also good in terms of getting interviews at the start of your career. I have zero regrets in attending “Oxbridge”, except that I wish I took Maths (Cambridge)

Margarida :))))))

Yes. I hated it. Although academically it wasn’t hard for me to do well, I was constantly depressed because I couldn’t feel I fit in the local partying culture and never understood the “Oxford is so darn great and magical” mentality. Looking back it opened doors for me as well as closed some others. As a foreign student it was expensive, that it forced me to think I must take a high-paying job soon just to earn the money’s worth, rather than pursuing my passions. The only people who I know were totally happy about going to Oxford are those who are conventially successful, finding high-paying and high-status jobs quite quickly in their chosen paths. If you try to do anything else, people try very hard to make you feel like a failure.

Oxford advantages: Oxford offers the course you want to study and Cambridge doesn’t Cambridge advantages: Cambridge offers the course you want to study and Oxford doesn’t The tie break is your personal choice about which city you prefer. It’s a chance to be exposed to and taught by some of the world’s finest minds, to experience life in a student community with centuries of history behind it, and to make connections with people who will rise to prominence in fields from politics to poetry to particle physics.

If, however, you mean “is it worth besieging and conquering Cambridge?” then the answer is no; there’s more plunder in Oxford. Especially the boat sheds – make sure you sack and burn those completely, if possible before the 7th of April this year…

The university can be one of the most competitive societies you will ever be a part of: with so many undergraduates that are used to being the top dog in their schools there are not enough leadership positions to go round. Even Tiddlywinks and Poo -sticks societies can have political battles for incoming social secretary. Red in tooth and (bear) claw…

This environment can be really intense, especially in the first couple of terms when every fresher is also trying to navigate their new social status. Are you the jock or the goth? If someone else is also a jock, but is an international sportswoman, should you focus on another aspect of your identity, like clubber-queen? Which tribe is socially top at Oxford? This may be a different order to school – very few Oxford men can dance for example, but how well they row may add status points.

Im sure these experiences are common to all freshers, whichever university they attend, but sometimes it can seem like everyone you meet is already fully formed as a playwright, entrepeneur, international standard musician.

The thing to do is focus absolutely on what you are, what you are passionate about, and revel in the achievements of your college mates rather than try to compete. As soon as you do that, you are a proper member of college and will love your college Musician/weirdo, college playwright/ tart, college dim-jock / physics genius etc just as much as any member of your family!

I agree with other commenters who note that thinking about the worst aspects of Oxford is not the best way to console yourself if you don’t get in – a better approach would be what a lot of people I know who didn’t get in did, and pick another university and just go for it and enjoy it for what it is. Oxford’s not the only place out there, and for some people it’s not even the best out there. Some people get to Oxford, hate it and leave to go somewhere else.

I’m perhaps a particularly bad person to give advice on what to do if you don’t get in and decide to go somewhere else, because I didn’t get in first time and rather than accept that and go somewhere else, I tried again the following year. Which is an option you can always consider – I know a lot of people who did the same, though admittedly that mostly tended to be for arts degrees rather than sciences.

In terms of some less positive aspects of Oxford that you might want to consider and that may affect your decisions should you not get in:

As other people have said, the term-time workload is insane. One of my tutors once put it in these terms: “There are three elements to university life – Academic, Social, and Extra-Curricular. Pick two of them and forget the third. Make sure one of the ones you pick is Academic, because I don’t like it when I see the names of people I taught on the Douglas list.” (A Douglas is rhyming slang for Third Class honours – Douglas Hurd)

It’s very easy to completely lose track of life outside Oxford. This is partly due to the heavy workload, but is not helped by the fact that during term, Oxonians don’t use the Gregorian calendar like normal people. Oxford works on what day it is of what week of term. The Thursday before Full Term starts, the day by which most colleges require you to be in residence, is Thursday of Noughth, then Full Term starts on Sunday of First and you don’t think about real dates until you’re trying to book your train ticket home or telling your parents when to pick you up.
Collections (start of term exams) are just evil.

I, being originally from outer London, found Oxford incredibly white. On the other hand, people I met who grew up in the countryside found Oxford incredibly multi-racial, so it’s probably not quite as extremely white as it felt to me.

Although Oxford has short terms, the relatively long Christmas and Easter holidays (6 weeks each) mean that the university actually ends for the summer later than most other British universities. This can make it difficult to get some internships, and outdoorsy types who want to go and work at American summer camps are quite limited as to which ones they can go to, and even with the ones that start late enough they generally have to fly out on Saturday of Eighth of Trinity (the last day of the academic year) which can mess with some of the end of term socialising.
While you’re a student, it’s incredibly difficult to answer people’s questions about where you go to university without people assuming you’re arrogant about it, even if you’re being as self-deprecating as you possibly can. As I went to Christ Church, this was doubled (ChChers are not known for our modesty).
Parts of Oxford are hideously ugly. *cough* St Catz *cough*

The main thing is that the terms are very shor, at just eight weeks but you have to cram the same amount of work in as at other universities with longer terms. It is constant pressure. therefore, to meet deadlines and keep up to date. I had very little time for a social life and you really couldn’t take time off at weekends, for example. I reckon I took about one day in ten off from studying to do washing, shopping etc.

The other thing is that everyone seems to be more intelligent than you are. It is not a place to go if you think that perhaps you aren’t up to it, which many people do at first.

It is an expensive city for student accommodation and it is in very short supply so living out in a not very nice flat can cost £600-£700 a month and you have to take rooms for 10 months, usually.

Finally, the weather can be dismal, as Oxford sits in a depression and the limestone buildings seem to soak up water like a sponge. It rains a lot and, because of the short terms, you don’t really get to see it in high summer as you finish in mid to late June and don’t go back until early October

The best part about Surrey is that it has everything a student requires. From health-related services to employability. The facilities were good. I also found my course truly enjoyable.

I enjoyed being at Oxford as I had a scholarship and could afford it. It was a great opportunity to visit Great Britain, meet international students and see how is it to live and study somewhere else. I would especially like to highlight rich libraries and endless opportunities for doing sports, learning languages and enjoying student life and beautiful nature.

Oxford is a great university. All the facilities you need, embedded in a city – so you are still living in a town rather than an isolated campus, and many more amazing qualities. But the best part of it is its brilliant students. I met amazing people at Oxford that became lifetime friends, and inspired me with their knowledge. I also for the first time felt that I fit in, and as they say: ‘found my groove’.

Oxford teaches you hard work, perfection (and the concept of 100%), and how to be extremely disciplined – self-discipline. But what you also end up with is accepting you are not the best, and learning an old-fashioned curriculum.

I feel like I left Oxford not feeling that I can be the best I can be. And that made me slow down in achieving and climbing.

However, overall it was a great experience, and I loved every part of the year of the masters degree.

I learned about Oxford from a symposium at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. I never looked back. My supervisor was an excellent resource (we still communicate often). My post-graduate cohort made me feel welcome and supported. I gained invaluable experience, and my Kellogg College peers remain cherished friends. Plus, Port Meadows is one of the most idyllic and scenic places I’d ever seen. Going to Oxford was a leap of faith. I’m glad I made it.