Oxford - St Hilda's College

[blanketsnuggler]

Looking through the stats for Oxford Colleges.
Why don't people like St Hilda's?
I know it's not one of the Quad type colleges, but it beautiful in it's own way. Right on the river. Next door to Cowley Road.

Used to be all girls and lots of people don’t know now isn’t.

gorgeous location

Bit out of the way (especially for science students). Was the last all womens college so less of a positive reputation amongst the parents of current applicants. Doesn't have as many endowments and scholarships as some others.

It's lovely though and now it isn't single sex (hasn't been for about 15 years?) should be an attractive proposition.

I took DS to look around it as it was really good for his subject. Beautiful river gardens, lots of light, comfortable modern living space. He was totally dismissive. I think it just has the feel of a school rather than a college and he wanted something different.

But I think it's gorgeous.

My DD applied for St Hilda's this year (didn't get an offer though). She really liked the feel and location, but did wonder whether she would miss out by not being at one of the more traditional colleges.

Quite far out, and poor relative to the other colleges (which makes a difference for financial support for students, standard of halls, etc).

It is just over the river (literally about 4 mins walk further than Magdalen) but that means that a lot of people don’t reach it on the open days, when you are trying to dash round as many colleges as possible in a short amount of time. Colleges such as LMH and St Hugh’s have the same issue.

However, once you are there, it is beautiful. So tranquil, and with some fantastic new buildings, so now able to offer accommodation for all years. If you are looking for a typical ‘quad-type’ Oxford College, then it is probably not what you want. But my ds didn’t want that (possibly because they go to a 1980s built comprehensive, he was put off by too many old buildings!) He absolutely loved St Hilda’s, put it as his first choice, and was delighted to get an offer from them. At the offer holder day, they said they had seen a marked increase in applications this year, presumably as a result of the new buildings.

In terms of distance, it depends on your subject. For some humanities it is very convenient for exam schools, where they have lectures (about 8 mins walk), so closer than many of the colleges. But if you do maths or science, it would be more of a trek and would probably feel far out.

DS is there and loves it. He manages the walk/cycle to engineering fine! I asked him if he would change college if he hd the opportunity, and he said absolutely not! He loves going out down the Cowley Road too.
His accommodation rooms have been quite generous I think. This year he has a small room, because he was low on the ballot, but his friends rooms are brilliant and large.

@blanketsnuggler what “stats” are you looking at? Number of applications?
I think St Hilda’s receives fewer direct applications simply because it is not well known, not because it isn’t well-liked.

my DC is there (applied to a different college but accepted by StH) and is very happy — both with academics and with student life/sports. It is a well run college — excellent Principal! I have met many students (friends of DC) at St Hilda’s and they all seem to enjoy it and seem to be doing very well. (I think St Hilda’s students achieved the highest grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics prelims last year.)
It is true the college is not as well-endowed as many others — and it certainly is not “ancient” — but students don’t seem to mind not having free bedlinens and book allowances and other perks offered by the wealthy colleges. It feels like a very normal, relaxed environment completely integrated with an extraordinary university.

@Startinganew07 yes, the application figures.
DS is very happy there too. He also applied to another college but he interviewed with St Hilda's too. He preferred the Hilda's tutors, so was more than happy to accept his offer there.

It's a shame it's not on more applicants radars.

The thing is, the reason people apply to a given college is often pretty random and you can't assume that it is a fully informed decision. If applicants have been to open days, they'll have picked a bunch of colleges to visit - tending to focus on the ones that are close to each other, or the ones that are the most famous. Most people won't make it over Magdalen Bridge as it's just a bit too far and the wrong end of town from the station. By the end of the day, it's all a bit of a blur but perhaps a particular college will stick in their minds as being pretty, or they particularly clicked with the student rep who showed them round. Lots of people don't even go to open days and are picking off the basis of website pictures. And so it's not surprising that the highest number of applications go to the big ancient rich colleges, which also have the fun facts about them that can give someone a reason to remember them (Magdalen has deer! Harry Potter was filmed in Christ Church!) And finally, richer colleges have more money to spend on outreach and that also boosts application numbers. Historically I think colleges earlier in the alphabet used to get more applications because before the internet, people got a brochure, and and didn't read all the way to the end!

So the reasons some colleges get more applications than others don't really tell you anything deep - they definitely don't mean the less oversubscribed college is 'worse'.

In the case of St Hilda's, it's also true that it went mixed sex much later than the others, and so parents/teachers may not realise it's co-ed now. And of course some people just want to apply somewhere with the ancient quad vibe - which no worse a reason than any other.

As you say, there are lots of great things about St Hilda's. It's on the river, beautiful grounds, Jacqueline du Pres building is an excellent music/theatre venue, close to Cowley Road, close to University sports facilities and swimming pool.

In practice students always end up thinking their college is the best, even if it's not the one they applied to

Re the most popular colleges being the old, famous ones – I was actually quite surprised to see that the most popular colleges by application numbers are Worcester, Keble, Magdalen, St John’s and Brasenose, in that order. Worcester and Brasenose are old colleges but not really that well known (?), and Keble is Victorian and a little way out.

At the other end of the table, least popular is Corpus Christi – another lovely central Tudor college, but with only a quarter of the number of applicants of Worcester – followed by Mansfield, St Hilda’s, Oriel and St Peter’s.

I wonder how many candidates actually look at these figures or are guided by them. My DDs certainly didn’t!

Sorry - didn’t mean to derail the thread. St Hilda’s is lovely. Probably held back by combination of not being that famous, being a little way out, and still carrying the shadow of having been a women’s college, even though it switched nearly 20 years ago!

Probably not very important but my ds is at another Oxford college but says the bar at St Hilda's is lovely!

Keble was v popular amongst scientists in my day as its the closest to the science site. By a few meters but still . . . And corpus christi is tiny isn't it, so lower likelihood of getting a place therefore fewer applications. I think Oriel is pretty small too?

"In practice students always end up thinking their college is the best, even if it's not the one they applied to" - yes absolutely this!

agree with all the points above. One additional factor to highlight: St Hilda’s is a short walk from the first Oxford “Tube” stop as it approaches from London — therefore very convenient for anyone who wishes to travel to London for interviews or for other reasons.

@beeswain The bar comment may be very important actually!!!😂

I have a good friend whose son attends St Hilda’s and he thinks it’s a good location and is very happy.

A lot of people don't know it exists due to its location - the only one with an OX4 postcode over the Magdelen bridge. Even some people at Oxford don't know it exists. It does not have many famous alumni- that may change if Rachel Reeves becomes Chancellor.

So my guess for the reasons those colleges have been getting loads of applications is:

• Worcester: closest college to the train station. So the first/last one you pop into on the way to/from the open day (blurs less into one big mashup of quads). Also has memorable gardens and a lake.
• Keble: closest to science area. So again, the one lots of people will pop into if they are visiting a science department (plus get out of bed at the last minute for your lectures).
• Magdalen: deer, river walk, punting, famous gardens, Oscar Wilde etc.
• St John's: famous for being 'the richest' (whether or not this is still the case) and also being top of the Norrington Table (again, this isn't always case, but how many people actually check?)
• Brasenose: has The View through to the Rad Cam from the front of the college. Perhaps the most iconic view in Oxford. And perhaps the most 'central' college if you take the centre of the city to be the medieval centre.

None of these are silly reasons to choose one college over another but they also aren't particularly deep or meaningful reasons and they definitely don't equate to having a better experience at any of those colleges. In practice, going somewhere which has 'the best bar' may make more of a difference to a student's daily life!

I think it's quite a good location actually because it's near Cowley Road for going out, the sports facilities and buses to London etc it's not far from the bod or Christchurch meadow.

@GuacamoleinmyDMs I think Rachel Reeves studied at New College (according to her Wikipedia page)

My bad. Wiki entry has been updated.

Worcester, Brasenose and Magdalen are all stunningly beautiful though - classic Oxford colleges with perfect quads. Worcester has the lake and state of the art new lecture hall; Magdalen has the deer park and famous walk, Brasenose is Hollywood Oxford, facing onto Rad Cam. I can easily see why they get most applicants.

Baffled that Corpus is unpopular. I took DS there on Open Day thinking he'd adore it but he hated it. (Even though it has a tortoise!) I think it's beautiful.

I went to corpus and honestly the small size is an issue for a lot of people: I found it quite weirdly insular and regretted the choice. Would have had a wider choice of friends in a bigger college!

Am now off to check how small Corpus is, with fascination....

DD3 rejected Corpus because of its name, of all things 🙄

Evidently lacks a gothic sensibility :-)