Oxbridge degrees - worth it?

[Pombearsandnaiceham]

What do you think? Would be interested to hear your thoughts :)

Oxbride will open so, so many doors that a RG uni can't. (I went RG - it was great).....But I see a massive difference in my peers and colleagues that went to Oxbridge compared to RG. Oxbridge on the CV means many more opportunities. Even if ability wise people are pretty much the same.

Far more Hooray Henrys at Bristol/Durham/Exeter IME. I'm from a very non-trad background, went to Oxford 30 years ago when it was even less diverse than it is now, had a lovely time.

he wants to piss off the hooray Henrys

Honestly? That sounds like a really silly criterion for choosing university options. Is he usually so short-sighted? I imagine they'll spot it in the selection process, if he is...

100% worth it (whatever "it" is?) for DH, who studied law at Cambridge.

Some Oxford colleges (Univ, LMH off the top of my head) are actually making a meaningful effort now to attract a more diverse intake. And 60 percent-ish are from state schools, which still isn't good enough IMO but makes it unlikely that most people would struggle to fit in.

Piss off the Hooray Henrys just checked - super gorgeous Magdalenn* is the link college for Barnsley 😀

I can't answer for Cambridge but yes, most of the Oxford colleges have been doing this for years, separately and together. The demographics on some of the courses have changed dramatically- PPE and Classics, for a start - since I was there.

Mansfield does a lot of outreach work and is a very non traditional Oxford college. I'm sure they have reached about 90% state school now.
For me, not worth it whatever it is. I think I would possibly have been happier elsewhere.

Cambridge didn't suit me or a number of students like me (Comprehensive school kids from working class/lower middle class backgrounds) I found the small group supervision excruciating, especially if paired up with some know-all hyper confident ex public school kids

I adored my time at Oxford, the environment and teaching were amazing and the whole place exudes self confidence which stays with you on graduation and beyond.
I have had a lot of doors open to me just because I went to Oxford, I've been able to career change easily too. I hope my dc will want to and be able to get into Oxbridge

Your DD´s boyfriend is in for a disappointment then, Lonicera. Because there aren´t as many Hooray Henrys are people like to think and most people, of all educational backgrounds, are just regular smart kids who want to work towards their degree and enjoy student life.

Her boyfriend does because he is the product of a working class Barnsley family, and he wants to piss off the hooray Henrys

what a chip to carry around, how bizzare.

It's been worth it a hundredfold for me. It's opened a lot of doors.

It was a bloody difficult three years emotionally, academically, and financially, but life isn't all ha-ha hee-hee.

I agree that he had a massive chip on his shoulder, partly because we live in a larger house in a nicer area than him.

BUT, we are much older than his parents and got on the housing ladder in 1979. We drive second hand cars (his dad has just bought a brand new merc), they go on more foreign holidays than we do, his parents earn more than we do, and they will have better pensions than us.

But, hey, he still has this big chip. He is a nice lad, but immature. I'm not sure of his chances of applying to Oxbridge as he achieved 1 A* and mainly As and Bs at GCSE.

Her boyfriend does because he is the product of a working class Barnsley family, and he wants to piss off the hooray Henrys

How bizarre!

My DH is a working class boy from Barnsley. He got into Cambridge and just concentrated on studying hard in a subject he loved, having fun and expanding his world view. It's hardly a new thing, the working class at Oxbridge 🙄 There's people of every type there and the vast majority don't give a stuff about your background.

Our eldest wants to do medicine and will apply, but frankly it's so competitive that medicine anywhere is often lumped in to "Oxbridge" in terms of difficulty. She'll pick which course she thinks she would prefer, and then which college is the best fit and give it her best shot.

I'd say overall it's the course that matters really, even above college choice. English for example is utterly different at Oxford to Cambridge. If the course is one that appeals, you'll get a lot out of it.

Worth it in the long run? I think experiencing that sort of teaching and tutoring is an amazing experience in itself. It probably opens a few doors too, if you're not a wanker about it.

I work in STEM academia (RG) and Oxbridge undergrad degrees don't hold any particular weight when selecting candidates for PhDs etc.

If you want to continue in research, actually being at Oxbridge/London is a massive advantage for funding etc.

It is the wrong reason, I agree.

Perhaps he knows he won't get in and then he'll be happy nursing his chip among the Sloanes at one of the "Oxbridge reject" universities ... win-win

Anyway I see OP hasn't been back to clarify what she's asking...

Having attended coming from a deprived background, my experience chimes entirely with BoysofMelody.

The main thing I gained was that some people now think I have a sort of "rubber stamp" of intelligence as a result. I'm more accepted in some circles and I do get a sense of being taken more seriously in working environments (if the topic comes up). Not that I think that's right, but it's certainly given me a leg up in lots of ways.

Nowt changes. I was under the mistaken impression I was breaking new ground as a working class northerner at Oxford 15 years ago. I was not. I may have been the first from my estate specifically, and certainly there were very few of us there from council estates, but those of us who were there, were not the first. Nor anywhere close to it.

I can only speak from my direct experience of Oxbridge.

I went to a small but wealthy college, Jesus. It was the kind of college where when an old Etonian came up in the year below me and kept the identity of his school very quiet indeed because it just didn't fit with the mix of state comps, grammars, and minor private schools. I chose it primarily because it guaranteed accommodation for undergraduates throughout their degree and didn't quite appreciate the tremendous practical benefits of my choice until later. As long as Oxford's tuition fees remain the same as so many other universities it's my personal opinion that Oxford represents absolutely phenomenal value for money compared to other RG universities.

There was a generous book fund which refunded 50% of the cost of any books that we needed for our courses, up to a given limit per year.

There was an incredibly well-equipped college library, open 24 hours a day, which would happily buy in texts for library stock if we needed them (I was once sent to Blackwells clutching some petty cash to buy an urgently needed book).

After living in college for the first year (which is pretty standard) we all moved into proper three and four bedroom College-owned flats for subsequent years. We paid below market rate for lovely flats in really good locations and none of us had to deal with dodgy, unscrupulous private landlords.

There was a discreetly administered and genuinely helpful hardship fund. I only found out many years later that a friend of mine had needed to access it and he is full of praise for the college's belief that no talented student should be unable to complete their studies for financial reasons.

Then the teaching - one-to-one tutorials with two different experts every week, plus a non-compulsory (in my subject) programme of lectures from world experts in their fields.

It's a very intense place and a very particular style of teaching. There are many many incredibly talented people who find that Oxford is not for them and that they are not for Oxford. But for the right people it is an extraordinary privilege, and for those on lower incomes there is so much financial help in place.

If you have a disability, are from a BAME background, come from a working class background or go through any illness Oxbridge is not the place for you. The academics there live in a weird bubble detached from the real world and have no empathy when it comes to real life problems. The rape culture there is also very bad and the colleges would rather brush stuff under the carpet then help seek justice.

Also the funding and support previous posters have mentioned is not available at every college. Some colleges have lost a lot of money in the financial crisis so cannot offer it. Only the very rich old colleges are willing to give any help.

Dh went to Cambridge. He got a double first in natural.science and also did hid PhD there. He was from a boarding school background so "fitted in" supposedly, but was actually quite shy/ nerdy and found the over-confident public school types a bit too much. I don't think it's particularly opened any doors for him but then he hadn't tried to make it, iyswim. He works for a small charity rather than going down the corporate route.

I had a place at Oxford but turned it down in favour of a non-Oxbridge uni as the course was better (imo). My mother was horrified! I never regretted it.

A friend's son turned down an offer from Oxford to study engineerig last year in favour of Bristol Uni as he felt that Bristol had a more interesting course.