Do you think negatively of people who went to Oxford University?

[manua]

I went to Oxford as a first generation English speaker and first generation university. I grew up in a poor area and had a working class upbringing, single parent who was a teacher. I worked very very hard at school (autistic) and had a miserable time. Somehow got into Oxford aged 18 and struggled all the way through and scraped a 2.1.

Graduated and got a high paying job at a company that pretty much took 70% of their intake from Oxbridge. Recently moved on to a new job, and have received a lot of disparaging remarks about my privilege and how Oxford must be so nice because it lands you a high paying job without any effort. Even from privately educated Londoners who went to the likes of LSE/UCL/Durham/Edinburgh, they almost expect me to be extra special and able just because I fluked an entrance interview.

Just wondered what people think of normal people like me who went to Oxford?

It depends.

If they’re toffs, went to Eton etc, read English or PPE or equivalent - I immediately pigeonhole them (in a not-kind way) until they demonstrate something interesting and novel. Not fashionable, perhaps, but you asked.

If they read maths, I’m interested, whoever they are.

Everyone else, I take on a case-by-case basis. In your situation, I think your current colleagues are the problem, not you. It’s either chip on the shoulder/Oxford reject stuff, or new girl stuff, or just plain stupidity. I wouldn’t pay it any heed.

I’m a bit surprised that where you went to university is a topic of conversation at this stage. It needn’t be.

I judge employers who almost exclusively recruit from Oxbridge. I don’t judge ‘regular’people who went there. It’s just a university, we don’t need to buy into the idea that it’s the only way to succeed

I would have thought that having a parent as a teacher made you middle-class. Anyway.
No, my partner went to Oxford after a similar upbringing. He's very very able, I can see why he did, and I don't see it as unfair privilege. Anyway, I'd say getting a significant inheritance to enable you to get on the housing ladder, and/or having parents living near London to enable you do get work experience/internships is more a marker of privilege these days.

I’d not judge at all! I’d be impressed. Some people have chips in their shoulders unfortunately. It sounds like your colleagues are in that camp.

Personally, yes - I judge people for not going to Cambridge...

I don't think anything either way except for the saying which seems to be true a lot 'How do you know someone went to Oxford (or Cambridge) just wait a minute and they will tell you'

I don’t judge anyone on their achievements as 18-year-olds except 18-year-olds.

This thread is a creative way to tell us you went to Oxford 😅😂😂

I think Oxford Uni is amazing and I would have loved to go there so mostly I'm just jealous. I'm more impressed with more recent graduates rather than older ones who "may" have only gone there because of their private schools and privileges. I wouldn't think negatively of anyone solely because they went to Oxford

You new workplace sounds awful. It's obnoxious for people to be so interested in where people went to Uni.

It sounds like the people who you have encountered are bitter and jealous. The only academic privilege you seem to have had is to have a teacher as a parent.

I would probably pigeon hole anyone who makes snide remarks about your university education as a twat.

I'd say you need a new job, your colleagues sound unpleasant and insecure.
I don't think having a parent who's a teacher makes you working class though. And as for Oxbridge, I'd roll my eyes at the Boris Johnson type of graduate, but would have respect for someone who's come from a state comprehensive.

As PP has said there is poss a bit of jealousy and it certainly does look like an amazing place to have studied and you clearly have to be able to keep up to get your degree: these are all worthy things.
That said my experience of oxbridge grads in the workplace is that they never shut up about having been.

For me a higher expectation would come from knowing how difficult it is to get into Oxford. There will be an element of backhanded remarks coming from inverted snobbery, but take no notice, this is a them problem, not a you problem.

I think you’re absolutely insane for going there. I considered going for my masters but after seeing the workload absolutely not. No concept of work life balance at all. I’m not sure what I’d get out of it compared to other unis other than a severe mental illness. That and I’m quite lazy.

I have no idea why that gif posted but lolz

One of my sisters in law went to Oxford, the other is a professor at Oxford.
Both are cunts who would do well to remember where they're from.

I have a vaguely negative view of oxbridge graduates, mainly due to the tory party, though I have met a few in RL who are not terribly pleasant. My humble brag on this humble braggy thread is that DD turned down an offer from Oxford in favour of a uni in a different country (and is now having the time of her life there).

Only DH 😂

How do they know you went to Oxford?

Tbh, I'm a little bit embarrassed that I went and avoid telling anyone unless I'm asked the direct question because it feels weirder to lie.

I did a subject where the acceptance % in my year was 45% (hugely better odds than most other subjects, chemistry was about 10% or something in my year) and struggled all the way through, not so much with the content but the unrelenting pace. I don't particularly feel like I am "Oxford material" and the snobbery I experienced there to myself and the college I went to didn't help. I would hate to be thought of as alike to some of my peers.

Going to Oxford did make the first few years of my career feel easy as I suddenly had so much time! And tbh that's the biggest difference I notice now in graduates from Oxbridge: they expect a full pelt working style so tend to work quicker than other graduates. I have a theory that that is why law firms like them: they burn through stuff fast and have forgotten what a relaxed social life looks like! Capability-wise, no different though

I feel a bit sorry for my friends and colleagues who did because it's like they're locked in time there. They mention it on a daily basis. I'm sure it was lovely and they're proud but that was 20-30 years ago!

As someone who went to Oxford, yes I do think badly of people who go there. I went there expecting a very different environment than I found. I was young and naive and believed that hard work would be rewarded in life. It turns out the class system is very much alive and well.

I've never known where my work colleagues went to uni so difficult to judge on that basis.

I've known several friends/acquaintances who went to Oxbridge, and apart from that one factor they are all very different. Few seem incredibly intelligent which surprises me, but no, I don't judge them for a choice they made at 18.

I may judge people on their attitudes or behaviour when I meet them but that doesn't seem to have a baring on where they went to uni.

My brother went to Oxford, has 1st in PPE (not sure why a pp objected to PPE as a subject).

We come from a pretty bog standard background, not rich but not poor. My dad was a self employed builder and was a home owner.

Both my brothers went to an independent school but it was under the Assisted Places Scheme so my parents didn't have to pay. (The LA had stopped the scheme by the time i was due to start secondary school so i went to comprehensive school. I admit to some underlying reverse snobbery and was delighted as I wanted to go to the comprehensive school!)

But how do they know? Nobody ever asks me where I went to university and I don't ask them. Colleagues have sometimes asked me what I studied, in a general chit chat way, but not where for some reason. I'm mid 30s and it's a long time since anyone asked me anything about university.

I get that it would be on your cv but that's not getting shared around the break room, is it?

I don't know where anyone went to university apart from my uni friends and close family. As you get older it's like knowing what A levels someone did - you just don't care. If you're all recent graduates I get it but I think this problem will subside.

I've only known two people who've been to Oxford and the answer to your question is 'no'. One was my boss, he was clearly bright and quick thinking, so deserved his place and he always treated me well. The other is a friend of DDs who is a lovely girl - she does come from a better background than us financially but she is always respectful and polite when she stays, often saying she likes something new in our house.