Perhaps a silly question but how does Oxford open work if it's all about colleges? What do they show you?

[RedRosesParmaViolets]

I can't get my head around the college system and I don't understand it.
How does the open day work please

Each college is autonomous and self-governing, but each is also a member of the University. From a student's perspective, the college is their 'home' - it's where they live, eat, socialise (of course they'll make friends at other colleges too) and where their studies are arranged from. Many of their tutorials, especially in the early part of the degree, will be within their college. Each college has its own particular character and students usually become fiercely loyal to their own college.

The overall curriculum and assessment is set by the University and students will follow the same academic programme regardless of which college they are at (but the organisation of their course will be overseen by their director of studies in college). Lectures (and practicals for science students) are organised centrally, as are some classes. Exams are run by the University.

It doesn't really matter which college you end up at, because students nearly always decide very quickly that their college is the best and every other college is rubbish in comparison (including students who didn't originally apply to that college). On the other hand, since you get allowed to express a preference, you may as well (but if you really can't decide, you can make an open application and the computer assigns you to a college). There are certain practical things to consider - e.g would you rather be in a college with lots of beautiful old buildings or one with more modern accommodation? How much does self-catering provision matter? Would you like to be really central or to be a little further out and have more green space? Does it matter to you to have 3/4 years on the main college site, or would you be happy being in an annexe (probably with better catering facilities). Do you care if the library is open 24 hours a day? But lots of people pick a college for a totally random reason and there's nothing wrong with that. Noone will be asked at interview why they picked the college they did.

About a quarter of Oxford students end up getting an offer from a college they didn't apply to, so it's important not to get too hung up on the first choice college.

For open days, each college will be open to prospective students and their families, and so will all the academic departments. So you can visit a few colleges, and also go to the department(s) you're interested in. Oxford is a small city - you can easily wander round a good number of them on an open day.

Really helpful and clear. Thank you. Sounds interesting doesn't it Op

They also have some stalls in the very centre with info about bursaries etc .

Thank you foxglovetree

The faculties are really good to visit and have lectures and discussions. We went to a really interesting one for DD's subject where a lecturer and a current student both spoke - so it wasn't just about the subject content but also the best way to approach the exam and interview.

My daughter chose New College as she knew she’d need additional financial support & they’re one of the wealthiest colleges. Plenty of bursaries, and very welcoming to a student from a low income family.

I'd echo - reallocation of colleges seems to become more of a thing each year, STEM subjects in particular seem to spread out applicants across the colleges so only a handful are even interviewed at the college they applied for now. So I wouldn't get hung up on choosing a college. Personally I'd do an open application and leave it to fate. And 'nearly always decide their college is best', I'd stress the nearly bit, I - for example - hated my college, even though it was old, prestigious, rich, beautiful etc. Luckily it doesn't matter that much, your friends (or mine anyway) come from across the university - you meet them through your course, extracurriculars and just via other friends and so your college doesn't really tie you to much at all except some sleeping and eating arrangements.

That's a really helpful explanation from @foxglovetree.

Some anecdata - I applied to my college, years ago, because it was central and old but didn't have keep off the grass signs. (You still had to keep off the grass, as I later found out, they just didn't have a sign!) Was very happy with it and did most of my socialising within college.
DD has just received an offer from a college she did not apply to. Her subject interviews everyone at two colleges - she received her offer from the second one.

To add to the open day comments - we went last summer. DD spent a couple of hours in the morning at subject talks at the faculty. These were for students only (I had a nice mooch around the city). In the afternoon, we visited six or seven colleges (not the one she has ended up with an offer from!). The colleges all run tours, or you can just look around; they also often run their own subject events where you can meet the college's teaching staff for your subject and talk to them.

The following is based on our experience of open days for youngest DD, who just started at Oxford last term; so fairly recent, but given the rate of change in Oxbridge admissions procedures it may all be different now!

On open days all the colleges run their own series of events - tours, talks (eg on admission, writing personal statements etc), meet the tutor sessions, lunch, sample interviews, sample admission tests, tea and cakes... Generally a programme of events will be on their individual college websites (be nice if it was all centralised, but no), so you can pick out what’s of interest and plan the day. We found we could look at about four colleges more closely - if you’re just wanting a quick look round you could probably fit in more - because there’s often queue for things, eg to speak to the subject tutors, so it takes longer than you think.

Depending on the course, there will also be events/talks at the central faculty, but this is generally of more interest to stem students than humanities. Eg, my older DD does a stem subject and has lectures/labs most of the week in the central faculty, plus tutorials in her college; youngest DD does history and just has three tutorials a fortnight in her college. (She’s been to a couple of lectures but unlike for science they are optional and for the most part not relevant to the modules she’s doing.)

Youngest DD ended up applying for a different college than any of the ones we saw on open day, and that college doesn’t do offer-holder days, so the first time she saw it was when we showed up on moving-in day, but luckily she likes it!

Can I ask is there any opportunity for prospective students in younger years ie the public to visit universities? If your school doesn’t organise anything like that. Ours would point pupils happily to the nearest regional university but doesn’t seem to make any links further afield.

The open day is overwhelming because of the number of different colleges. You can't possibly go to them all. My DC ended up going to a college they hadn't visited (they were reallocated to it) but really enjoyed their time there anyway.

Make a shortlist of colleges that the applicant likes the look of. For my DS, we helped narrow this down by focusing on the specialist research interests of the tutors in his subject. Where their interests coincided with his, he felt he'd have a better chance of connecting with them at interview.

Then we looked around that shortlist of about six or seven colleges - it was really informative. One of the big well-known colleges we'd both thought would be his first choice went to the bottom of the list. The atmosphere was terrible. We walked into one of the tiny colleges where he was warmly greeted, got to have a chat with the tutor he really admired, and that became his first choice. Luckily he got in.

Depends what you mean by younger years, open days are for sixth formers and there' s nothing to stop anyone attending. Going before lower sixth is probably possible but you'd have to take a day off school and it's really not necessary.

Yes there is. Especially if they are from state schools with no history of applicants to Oxbridge.

For Oxford, you could look at https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/increasing-access as a start point. You could also look into individual colleges outreach programmes.

Do you have a subject or college in mind? I know a couple of people at oxford (not at Cambridge) who could pass on the right details. PM me with some basic info and I'll see if I can help.

Also @BarkPench you can just turn up at some unis and say you are prospective applicants. It's quite telling who is friendly and who isn't. But best to ask in advance for a tour or to find out when the open days are. We did this two years in advance, so DC weren't too overwhelmed with choices and didn't have to look around too many places in their final year.

Amazing thank you so much everyone.