Oxbridge vs top 10 workload

[Mozzarellasticks55]

Sorry I realise this has no doubt been discussed on here before but I am
seeking viewpoints from those of you who have had a DC at Oxbridge and another at a competitive top 5-10 uni ie you can make a first hand comparison. How different an experience was it in terms of workload and work / life balance, esp for essay subjects.

For background I have one DC at Oxbridge currently. Younger is starting to consider options and has high aspirations. Obviously not my decision but I would like them to be a bit less swamped with work and have a little more time for a better work/life balance. Or is there not that much difference?

thanks

Durham chemistry is a LOT of work- particularly 2nd year.

You also need to factor in how much less time you need for daily life stuff at Oxbridge. Living in college with all meals catered and a library right there makes it much easier to work for hours a day without feeling the same level of hardship. It’s easy to feel you can buckle down for 8 weeks when everything else is taken care of.

DC was at LSE. They had two 10 week teaching terms and the final term was for exams. DC chose all modules that were coursework only apart from a MFL outside module. So in the entire 3 years only had 2 exams per year in that 10 week final term.

They had a job throughout university. In the final year only had 6 hours of contact time over 2 days, so commuted from home. They would spend a good 8 hours in the library on the days they were in London.

I honestly think Durham maths is more arduous than Exeter, Cardiff or Bath - places some of adD’s contemporaries went. Can’t speak for Oxbridge but o bet that’s tougher again.

Just came across this again and would like to ask as well whether those with comparative experience feel that oxbridge has made any difference from an employment perspective in this very difficult job market? I'm guessing maybe top 10 non oxbridge students might have more time to actually build their CVs?

@Freebus Do you actually believe that though? Look at the marking for modules taken. My DD did 2 MFLs and never had one essay a term - Bristol. This was teens talking - not researched facts by looking at the course requirements.

To me, having been to Oxbridge and having a sibling who went to a highly ranked other university, I wouldn't focus on work-load (yes, Oxbridge is more) but on teaching style. The tiny Oxbridge supervision/tutorial (most of mine were 2 students to the professor) offers a way of learning that is unmatched. I was stretched in every single supervision, asked what I meant by this line, how we could move beyond this analysis, truly challenged in a way I found joyous. It was a true intellectual engagement which I found unlike any other. It was intellectually exciting. I loved every minute.
If your child would love that intellectual fire, well, the work load doesn't matter. I wouldn't rather have been less challenged, less inspired in order to have more time having fun. To me, the reading, writing, and the discussions WERE the fun. And the terms are SHORT.

there appears to be much less of an advantage to an oxbridge degree than there once was,

It may be true about job offers, but people who have had that massive, difficult workload and had to hold their own in tutorials, build a strength, endurance and confidence to be able to do anything later.

I agree - Durham students seem to do a lot more work than those at other unis.

I teach at Oxford. In my humanities subject, the job market is worse than it’s ever been, by some way. Only one of this year’s finalists is leaving to take up a traditionally structured career-type job (civil service). Many of the other failed to get through multiple AI-based rounds of tests.

In STEM subjects, it’s very different. A colleague in maths told me that all of his third /fourth years were either staying on in academia or had job offers (in many cases extremely well paid). Don’t know if this is true at other universities but suspect not to the same degree.

Humanities courses at non-Oxbridge universities couldn’t really produce a more dismal job outcome than my own course does, at the moment. But this wasn’t true in a better market. The reason not to do them is that the courses are, in my subject, mostly pisspoor, with incredibly limited attention from academics and fractured and incoherent mastery of the subject across almost randomly selected modules.

@namezchangez But, there are still jobs. Your students might not have all the attributes needed for the jobs they allied for. Maybe they didn’t think outside the box sufficiently. Plus employers don’t care about mastery of a history module! They are not employing dc because they are brilliant at Tudor warfare! It’s how dc think that matters and the other skills that enable dc to be ready for work. Oxbridge students do expect to access the best jobs and maybe their search for jobs should wind down a notch or two. At this rate the only people being taught humanities will be teachers.

^Steve [Hyde] used a telling example from Push's recent hiring; the agency no longer looks at 28-year-olds with six or seven years of marketing experience. Instead, they recently hired a graduate from Exeter University with a degree in philosophy.
Ten years ago, Push would have targeted maths, business, or economics graduates. Not anymore^
https://www.pushgroup.co.uk/blog/why-uk-businesses-must-hire-ai-native-graduates-not-digital-natives

I heard Steve Hyde talking about this on the Today Programme Radio 4 on 7th May but unfortunately it is not available on iPlayer.

from linked in:
Great talking about young people, jobs and AI this morning on BBC Radio 4's Today programme with Justin Webb and Steve Hyde. Our surprisingly optimistic conversation was inspired by a report from The Institute of Student Employers finding that most (87%) UK employers expect AI to reshape rather than replace entry-level jobs over the next three years. I made the point that while economists debate what AI is doing to jobs, there are concrete things that employers and young job seekers can be doing now.

Employers need to think about capturing the gains from AI to both improve and generate new! products and services for clients and customers by solving problems, not just incrementally improving operational efficiencies.

Young people have the opportunity to jump a level by learning to use AI tools responsibly: think take a fast elevator to the next level of their career.

Loved hearing Steve's story about his hiring the recent University of Exeter philosophy graduate who used AI responsibly and well in the job search. It showed how AI can support creativity and entrepreneurial thinking.
www.linkedin.com/posts/gina-neff_responsibleai-futureofwork-bloomscrolling-activity-7458102838582423552-c4Oi

DD is only end of second year but in her subject (Economics and Management) at her college those that wanted finance / investment banking internships got them - they were about 4,000 to 1 for offers. Others are doing their first choice for the summer. I think all but one of them had work experience since 16. How much Oxbridge contributed who knows but they all got what they wanted and don't have too intense a workload. They are all play hard / work hard types. I don't know how that compares to other universities / other colleges but can't imagine LSE would have a significantly different workload or job outcomes for Economics. Quite a lot will vary by individual though.

@OneZanyCat You have missed out one important detail. Your DDs subject is full of driven dc who know exactly what they want and how to go about it. The issue with the history grads posted about is that they appear to have a passion for history but not much else. They haven’t quite possibly had jobs and been proactive. They are at the same university but they aren’t the same people.

DC1 did a STEM subject at Imperial. The workload was huge. DC2 is doing a STEM subject at another very good uni, but not too 10 and the workload is MUCH less.

DC1 applied for 4 jobs and got 1. Started straight after uni. Their masters project was relevant to their employer.

You cannot really compare other unis with Imperial either. That’s full of driven students too. It’s also the case that dc there will drive themselves and do
more work becayse they live, eat and breathe their subjects. Others are more laid back and don’t always get the lab time either. It doesn’t make them unemployable but they have time to develop other interests.

Both DC were Oxbridge but DS is doing a Master’s degree (part time, top 10 uni, sponsored by his employer) and says it is a LOT less work than his Cambridge undergrad degree.

My youngest on a grad scheme where last year Oxbridge students had more than double the success rate of RG students (and more than 4 times non-RG). The Oxbridge students in my DDs learning group have similar CVs to my DD in terms of internships and summer student-type jobs so thinking that not everyone is completely snowed under with academic work. I don’t have an Oxbridge DC to compare to but my DD probably has greater breadth/quantity of experiences on her CV (she worked term time and summer last year at school and throughout uni in various jobs, did a placement year plus 4-year Scottish degree so broader anyway).

@FrancisBlundy Who makes that info public? How do employees actually know the stats? I know some research is done into certain fields of employment but it’s not standard practice for companies to release this info.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner Government (DD is on a Civil Service Grad Scheme). Link to last years info if you are interested https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-fast-stream-recruitment-data-2025/civil-service-fast-stream-recruitment-data-2025-html.