Choosing Course, University and College

The decisions of which course, university and college to which you apply will all make a significant impact on your life, should your application be successful. You will be studying your course for at least 3 or 4 years and, unlike school, where you may dislike a couple of subjects, but at least enjoy others, you will be studying (predominantly) one subject. The university to which you apply will determine your location for the next few years. The college to which you apply will determine where you live and a lot of the friends that you will make. It is essential, therefore, that you are happy with these decisions, and they are worth considerable thought. However, it is also worth considering how these decisions may affect your chances of a successful application. Some courses are far more competitive than others, occasionally a certain course will be less competitive at one university as opposed to the other, and some colleges have far lower offer rates than others. Unless you are completely certain about these decisions, being tactical about your application may greatly increase the chances of success. · Natural Sciences · Philosophy (as a single honours course) · Veterinary Medicine

Oxford courses that are not offered at Cambridge include: · Archaeology and Anthropology · Czech with Slovak

· Human Sciences · Oriental Studies · PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) · PPL (Philosophy, Psychology and Linguistics) · Separate Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, as single honours) · Sanskrit · Single Languages

Course

Given that this is what you will be studying and spending the majority of your time pursuing while at Oxford and Cambridge, this is the most important decision of the three. It is worth considering, indeed, what you are best at, but also what you enjoy most and are most passionate about; a half-hearted application that lacks real enthusiasm will not be successful.

Some courses are only available at one university and not the other.

Cambridge courses that are not offered at Oxford include: · Architecture · Asian and Middle Eastern Studies · Economics (as a single honours course) · Education · Human, Social and Political Science · Land Economy · Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic · Management Studies (as a single honours course)

University

If the course in which you are interested is offered at both universities, you should research the course outlines of each on the respective course websites. The two courses will often cover differing topics and modules, or offer more or less flexibility.

You might also consider the differences in competitiveness of each course, or consider slightly different courses that will offer largely the same course with some different modules, but are significantly less competitive. For instance, Economics and Management at Oxford sees a success rate of only 6% (3-year average 2018-20), but Land Economy at Cambridge sees a success rate of 20%. You can find much of this information in the Appendix.

Another important aspect to consider is the location itself. Which city do you prefer? Cambridge is slightly smaller than Oxford with less of a city-feel, but a more rural and quieter atmosphere.

As mentioned previously, thinking tactically and flexibly can be an advantage, but ultimately you must be happy about the idea of living and studying in the university and city to which you apply.

College

Once you have decided on a course at a specific university, you should begin thinking about which college you will apply to. Firstly, check which colleges offer your course, as not all colleges offer every course.

There are a number of reasons why you might choose a certain college, and with such a large quantity of colleges in both universities, this can often be a difficult decision. Some things you might consider are the location of the college, its facilities, its accommodation, its aesthetic, and how many students study your course at the college. Frankly, all of the colleges are academically excellent, beautiful, and welcoming, so there is no wrong decision.

Again, however, your chances of success can be significantly influenced by the college to which you apply. You might consider the academic standing of the college, which can be seen in Norrington and Tompkins tables in the Appendix. The higher the college is in the table, the higher the academic standing of its students within the university and, likely, the higher the quality of applicants (competition). Additionally, the ratio of offers given, compared to the number of applicants, is worth consulting which is also available in the Appendix. If you have no preference, you might consider an Open application – this is not advised when applying to Cambridge.

Many pupils who apply to Oxford, in particular, will end up being offered a place at a different college to the one to which they applied, due to the pooling system. This is due to the Oxford application being a more centralised application, while Cambridge’s system is handled more directly by each college. Pooling is still possible, nonetheless, when applying to Cambridge.

If you are applying to Cambridge, you can check the offer rate for your specific course at each college at the following link:

Cambridge Course / College Offer Rates

Application Strategy

In the Summer Term, each Oxbridge hopeful will meet with the Head of Oxbridge about these decisions. The Head of Oxbridge will use a bank of past admissions statistics to elucidate statistical points of note, and suggest certain strategic options for application; he will be able to answer any questions that the pupil or parents might have at this point.