Oxford open day next week :how are we supposed to fit it all in? How do we know which colleges to look at

[Opendaymaddnes]

Hello I'm trying to get my head around the open day and distances. The subject talk is quite early but it looks like we could spend all day at the subject talk area meeting tutors but we need to look at accommodation options also and colleges.

I've googled the best colleges for her subject and I hope to visit three? Does this sound like a plan? Is this what uther people do?

What a confusing system.
I've just looked at a college near the pyscology department st Antony and a review says food awful mould, students became unwell cold etc

No, it's not like that.

You can make an open application, have your application forwarded to a college and be offered an interview.

You can make a preferred college application and be offered an interview.

In both cases, you can be 'pooled' and interviewed at a second or even third college.

Some people will then get an offer. And that's it.

It depends on the subject. That would be large for some and not others. You need to look on the website.

St Anthony's is graduate students only.

Have a look at the prospectus - that will help.

You can look up food reviews by college - if this is the main criteria.
But overall - none of the colleges are ‘bad’.
At least for DD - she wants to go to Oxford because for her/her field it’ll give her the best education. And - even if she were re-allocated to another college, she’d be OK. Most end up loving their colleges anyway.

In the end of the day - so few of the applicants get offers - you don’t yet need to worry about getting a ‘bad college’. If your child is successful at applications - but really unhappy with the offered college, they can always pick another one of their Unis

Wow totally agree. Every college in Oxford is great. The entitlement here is off the scale

Yes. OP, you don’t need to worry about your child being pooled into St Anthony’s.

When I was 18, I went to Oxford, Cambridge and Portsmouth with friends. Got the train to Manchester and my cousin met me. My parents drove me to Exeter.

What I would say is they all had different things to say and different viewpoints. So I think it is worth mixing it up for uni visits if you can.

What would be a ‘not great’ college in your view, OP? I think you’re putting the cart so far before the horse here it’s hilarious. Your child doesn’t yet have a place. Your child doesn’t have an interview. Your child needs to focus on whether Oxford is the right university for them, and then on putting themselves in the best position for an offer. Colleges are not what either of you should be focusing on to this extent now.

I’ve just looked at the alternative prospectus (which was paper-only in my day!) It seems a lot politer than it was — I remember it saying of St Peter’s that the college’s only selling point was being near Sainsbury’s, and that anyone contemplating Blackfriars would have to be ok with it being full of monks.

Reallocation is organised at subject level not according to colleges, so the rules will depend on which subject you apply to (but within that subject, all colleges who accept students for that subject will be operating by the same rules). Colleges who are oversubscribed will have candidates reallocated away from them into less oversubscribed colleges, so for any given subject, some colleges will be exporting candidates and others receiving them, so that the overall ratios even up. The way it works will be subject dependent - some subjects reallocate more heavily before interviews than others, while others do less pre-interview reallocation and use second round interviews to even things up.

Admitting tutors really don't care why people picked their college or whether they did or not. It won't be asked about at interview, and they know that college choice can be pretty random. They just want to admit the best candidates insofar as they can judge on the evidence available.

If he makes an open application, the computer will assign him to a college which is less oversubscribed (whereas if he selects a first choice college, this may happen anyway through reallocation). If college choice is causing anxiety, making an open application isn't a bad idea - on the whole though, I'd say given candidates have the right to express a preference you may as well make the most of it, as long as you don't get so wedded to that college that the idea of getting an offer from elsewhere will cause upset.

One good thing about Oxford colleges is that they're all quite close to the centre.

In none of them will you be more than a quick bike ride from the libraries, labs, activities etc.

If I was doing an Open Day I'd aim at visiting a few pretties (some of them are very close together so you can probably fit in more than you think - if you're visiting Oriel you might as well try Merton and Corpus as well) and at least one of LMH/Somerville/St Hugh's/St Hilda's/St Annes.

St Catz has a bit more of a "cool" vibe than the others so that might be worth a look.

Remember that most people will find friends whichever college they go to - and even if it doesn't quite "fit" they can find other friends through societies etc.

For those people who are do find Oxford an unhappy experience it's probably because they just don't enjoy the general atmosphere/pressure of the place - it's very unlikely to be down to picking the "wrong" college.

Pick one college for going the organised things (tour, student life, application procedure etc) They're all basically the same. Then stick your nose into every college you walk past! It's a fun way to be a tourist and get to know the city. Accommodation is a place to sleep. Some colleges have nicer rooms than others, but there are only 4 really important accommodation questions: do they have accommodation for all 3/4 years, is it all on site, are there 3 meals a day in hall, and do all students have access to a kitchen. You can find most of these on the college website so don't worry too much. You don't normally get much choice of accommodation and it's nowhere near as big a deal as at other universities.

Walking back into town from Hugh's, you can go past some or all of Anne's, Somerville, John's, Wadham, Trinity, Keble and Hilda's of you pick your route. That covers pretty much all the styles!

If you find it hard to narrow it down, an option is to look at a few 'types' of colleges and see what your DC feels most drawn to:

• big grand college with big grounds (e.g. Christ Church, Magdalen, Worcester)
• smaller central old college (e.g. Oriel, Merton, Corpus, Lincoln - the city centre is full of these and you can get round a few)
• more recent college, less central and often more space (e.g. St Hilda's, St Hugh's, LMH - these aren't 'modern' but were founded in the 19th century and so on what was then the edge of the city)
• St Catz is quite different as a 20th century foundation and more modern vibe

Talk to the student helpers and ask them what they like about their college. They will all say they like their own college, but it might be interesting to hear why, and what answers chime most with what your own DC feels.

There are plenty of pragmatic reasons to prefer one college over another around accommodation, kitchen access, location relative to department, etc. There's also nothing wrong with choosing a college based on vibes and gut feel. People apply for all sorts of reasons, like 'they have a tortoise at that one' or 'I really liked the stained glass in that one', or 'the student helper on the open day was really funny and seemed like the kind of person I'd like to hang out with'.

Whilst it's OK to have a preference, don't get too hung up on which college. I agree you should prioritise ones that have most places for the subject. Don't pick all the colleges that are most competitive. I would also look at both the 'pretty' central colleges and at least one less central. I was at St Anne's and loved it. It's closer in than you think and gets zero tourists so is a lovely calm oasis - unlike Jesus where my nephew once emerged from the shower dressed only in a small towel (across the staircase from his room) to find a bunch of tourists staring at him!
St Anne's also has pretty decent, modern accommodation with cooking facilities, a coffee shop and a resolutely unstuffy atmosphere.

I went to the open day with a shortlist of colleges I wanted to visit, based mostly on kitchen facilities and accommodation all years of the degree. Except I couldn't be arsed to finish the shortlist so I'd only looked at the websites of colleges the first third of the alphabet or so!
Anyway, I went into my college purely because it was a hot day and they were offering free ice cream, then I liked the gardens, my basic criteria were more or less fulfilled, and the student helper taking me and my friend round (we went with school) was very friendly and it felt more personal than other colleges. I was convinced it was the college for me, while my friend with an identical experience ended up applying to Cambridge instead. So, I would recommend having a list of basic requirements, then just wandering round a few streets of colleges and going off vibes.
One thing I didn't know then, that I'd always recommend now, is that if you're struggling for money or even just not rich, apply to a rich college. Accommodation and hall food are often cheaper thanks to donations from alumni and general college wealth, and there's more likely to be more generous book grants, travel grants etc. I got a whole research trip funded by some random wealthy donor, which I wouldn't have had at other colleges.

Definitely don’t bank on going to your favourite. A candidate may well end up with another.

And, as other pps have said, this is the very start of the journey! The odds at this point are ludicrously bad (unless applying for MFL…). Look at the statistics and then accept that a place at any college is a tremendous win.

Every year on TheStudentRoom there are entitled twits saying they are furious they got a place at St Catz or Churchill (Cambridge). Their idiocy is off the scale.

As a parent, I would really big up other university choices. Over the years I have seen some awful car crashes - one poster on here saying her dd was devastated and embarrassed when she didn’t get in as the whole school was rooting for her and the grandparents had been so excited etc etc. DO NOT do this to your child. Tell no one…..

My DC went through the applications cycle this year. I do think it's not worth getting too invested in college choice (other than to make sure where you select actually does the course combination you need, particularly for any MFL joint honours applications). Her sixth form college said that they would not encourage two applicants going for the same course at the same college, as they worried that they would inevitably be compared to one another, and someone will always fare worse in that scenario. They asked the students to be flexible if asked to consider applying elsewehere.

Also, Oxford reallocates some students as late as results day. Some offers are "open offers" underwritten by a particular college. These applicants are guaranteed a place somewhere at the university if they get their grades, but the underwriting college will release them to another college if that other college has people not take up places for whatever reason. My DC is in this position and so even now isn't quite sure which college she'll end up at if she gets her grades.

Some colleges have nicer rooms than others, but there are only 4 really important accommodation questions: do they have accommodation for all 3/4 years, is it all on site, are there 3 meals a day in hall, and do all students have access to a kitchen.

And how much does it cost?
And do you have to move out in the vacations? (this may vary over the years of the degree)

Unless there is a college that has a particular draw, then the advice above about one old, one new, one centre, one outlier is basically what we followed. If you've seen one example of all of the above - making sure they offer your child's chosen subject - and attended eg admission talk, meet the tutors, rooms tours plus visited the faculty then from there you can do further research online as to which colleges accommodate for all years and so forth. The colleges can be very welcoming outside of official open days if you need to do a return visit, though obviously depending on when you do that there might be a certain vibe and energy missing compared to a big open day.

We went along having done very minimal research. Nobody in our family has been to Oxbridge and the school sends less than a handful each year and has only really started doing that recently. I asked my daughter if she wanted to go as I thought that from her grade/supra curriculars/personality profile she could be a good fit and that she would be silly not to at least consider it. That said, we went along with no expectations and mostly were just planning on having a fun time together in a cool city we hadn't been to before whilst looking at how things can be done at the top end.

My daughter fell in love with everything about the place. I thought she would be strategic about her college choice on her application but she went with her heart and put down one of the grand ones where she said that it just 'felt right'.

@StrangewaysHereWeCome This is the position my daughter was in having been made an open offer from her chosen college. She did her offer holders day there too. As events turned out, they confirmed her place on results day and that is where she has just completed her first year.

I made a comment to her when I picked her up just recently about whether she's happy with her university choice and she replied 'absolutely and I definitely picked the right college'. Though, I reckon she'd be saying that whichever college she ended up at as the loyalty is strong.

Mostly, just try to enjoy it, it can be a lot of fun albeit hot and with a lot of walking involved!

@irregularegular the I don't like the college was because I saw a review for st Antony which said there was repairs left for week, mouldy damp cold bedrooms and health issues with many students as a result bad food and some students had to leave the it rooms half way through.

That's what I meant about not liking the college.

Yes but also bear in mind that things can change rapidly: buildings being condemned, building projects etc.

(Buildings being put out of commission is something which has happened at a few places recently and completely turns the accommodation offer upside down).

@Tarantella6 thanks I agree the more view points the better.

But this isn't a thread aksing about whether I should accompany my dd it's about how to choose which colleges to look at in a short space of time.

Unfortunately some utterly deranged poster has decided to latch onto the thread which has for the most part be extremely wonderful and helpful, and try and turn it into their own bitter twisted projection about an entirely different subject than what I have asked.

Mumsnet is supposed to be a helpful supportive site except for aibu.

Unfortunately the ethos is not supported and this pointless intrusion that doesn't help me has been allowed to continue.

I have been on mn for about 15 years and usually I try and ignore trolls and bitter posters like this but mine and dd perosnal circumstances have triggered me with this uncalled for nastiness.

I think I've found the review you mean. It's a random person posting on Googlemap reviews, with no guarantee that this is a) actually a recent student and b) that there is any genuine basis to their complaint. I wouldn't take any of that too seriously and I wouldn't use Googlemap reviews as a reliable way of getting a sense of what students do and don't like about their colleges (I doubt very much that most Oxford students post reviews of their colleges on Google). In any case, as a few PP have said, St Antony's is a graduate only college.

Yes, having a generous hardship fund, book grants etc in part dictated my college choice. I knew I would need every leg-up possible, even with working every available minute out of term time, and I did.

Bear in mind, too, that there are also a lot of central scholarships, bursaries etc, often weirdly specific ones that require you to be the daughter of a Methodist minister or something.