OXFORD - Corpus, Exeter, Lincoln or St Peters? All advice gratefully received.

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HELP!!!! DS is really struggling to chose a college. Has anyone had DCs in Corpus Christi, Exeter, Lincoln or St Peters and can offer words of wisdom? Has to choose by tomorrow as school want UCAS application form in.

Interested in catering, formals, environment, accommodation (well anything!!)

I had a dc who went to St Peter’s but left a couple of years ago. Nice small friendly college. Slightly outside the main tourist route so doesn’t have that traffic. Went to a formal once and it was good (not sure what I would compare with ) can take own wine. All first years in 2 big buildings in college. Drawback is currently no second year accommodation so private rent then.
That being said it wasn’t dc first college choice but like nearly all students they end up thinking their college is the best !

@TheHomeEdit thank you for that insight. Did DC find it a friendly, non cliquey place?

I can tell you about St Peters too.

Very friendly, great bar. Second year accommodation currently being built, but this year's 2nd years are living out.

My dc loves it.

@Midnightkitty I read that it's a 'poor' college - I know that's only in context of the very rich colleges but does that manifest itself in any way?

No idea. I mean, it doesn't have deer parks, or meadows, but I guess it depends what you want from the experience. It has good food, and a great bar.

Students get very attached to their colleges, and always think that their college is the best, so it doesn't really matter where they end up tbh.

They are all lovely colleges and I am sure that he will be happy in any of them. Many subjects now have college blind first stages for their admissions processes and then redistribut applicants around colleges. If he is applying for one of those subjects then he may well end up somewhere completely different (although there is still a higher chance of his choice of college than any other) so it's not worth getting too attached at this stage. The main benefit of a richer college tends to be lower rents and higher support funds.

The issue with being at a relatively poor college is that they don’t subsidise the meals etc as much so it’s proportionally more expensive to live in.
Assume he’s been through the details of each re live in/out accommodation availability through all the years, numbers of places for his course, meals offered eg formal dinner frequency, sports they excel in, state vs private ratio etc. All these give a nudge to the general feel of a college.

Not at all cliquey - had a good mix of friends. It’s poor because it's a young college but dc had at least one friend getting college bursary. Maybe they target money to those who need it most? You can bring a mini fridge for your room so dc often ate breakfast and lunch from supermarket supplies which saved money.

But as the other replies have said wherever your son goes he will love and it will be the best college ever.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/do-I-pay-to-live-in-my-college

This link shows the differences

Thank you all. Yes we've done all the research. My son currently seems to have decided it spins on formals!! But in the light of this morning, we'll try to have a balanced debate about pros and cons.

@ElfZwolf thanks for that table - it's really helpful.

Which subject OP?

One of my DSs was at Corpus. Still firm friends with lots of others who went there; nothing but positive things to say about the college; very good accommodation compared to lots of other colleges; big for Medicine if your DS is applying for Medicine. Never heard any complaints about formals and the graduation food was very good....

https://www.ccc.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate-study/subjects/medicine

That's what I mean about big - lots of teaching fellows. Not that you have to be esp smart to get in!

Thank you @goodbyestranger . No they are applying for History. Not sure how many Historians there are.

A very healthy number OP.

It’s a very beautiful college - exquisite front quad. Might be wrong but is Exeter still doing major building works? I think DD4 mentioned this (her own college is in that general area). Major building works can be a huge pain.

Exeter’s building works (library renovation) finished in the summer. Exeter usually has the most beautiful view in Oxford IMHO.

DS was at Lincoln and loved it. It is very friendly, central and has a great library. Not cliquey at all. DS had a wide range of friends.

There is enough accommodation for living in every year which is great because it is much cheaper than living out (as DD did last year). The new second year accommodation, the Mitre, is brand new.

Not sure how rich or poor it is, but there are grants for lots of things.

Ah thanks anoxfordtutor. A different DD was at Magdalen during its library building works and it made things a bit of a mess for quite a while. It's best to go into a college straight after completion if possible :) The Exeter library must be fab now.

My son was at Corpus and read History. Long time ago now, though - he's nearly 30! So things may have changed. For what it's worth, though, he absolutely loved it, was very happy there and still has good friends from that time. As @goodbyestranger says, the accommodation was excellent. He had college accommodation for all three years. In his final year he took a special subject taught by a Professor in another college and that worked out well. He went to other colleges for various other modules throughout the course, IIRC.

Also worth mentioning that at the application stage he was torn between Lincoln and Corpus and decided to go for Lincoln, more or less on the toss of a coin. He got an interview at Lincoln (two, from memory) but while up there for the interviews they sent him over to Corpus (not at his suggestion! just a coincidence, I think) for an additional interview. I dimly remember this kind of thing is quite common.

Good luck! Nervewracking time.

Thank you all. Decision made: Corpus. He loved Exeter but they take 1 in 5 and Corpus 1 in 4 so he decided to have a go there. Came down ultimately to flipping a coin. Let's see what happens next!

Good luck to him! He will probably be reallocated to Exeter now!

Great result :)

I was at Corpus. I chose it because it wasn't too big (it was the smallest college at the time) and because it guaranteed all years accommodation.

You've made a good choice.
It was fairly generous with money-at the time we had the cheapest rooms in Oxford I think, and we got a good book grant from the college too. Lots of history and classics students (I was neither, but was good friends with both), but a good mix overall. They weren't very formal, only one formal hall a week (Fridays) and occasional Sunday ones, but the rest of the time (except Saturday night when we all used to go to Burger King or Carfax Chippy) we had café style, which I preferred as a general thing, as it took up less time, and also was cheaper.
I had a lovely room in my third year, all oak panelled and beautiful with window seats and where there would have been a big open fireplace at one time.

Exeter I remember being quite nice, Lincoln I knew nothing about. St Peters, I think only did one year accommodation, but I know nothing else about it other than when I was there in the alternative prospectus someone wrote "the only good thing about St Peters is that it's the closest college to Sainsbury's"... St Peter's objected heavily, and so did Pembroke-who pointed out that they were closer to Sainsbury's. 😂