How to choose an Oxbridge college

[PrincessOfPreschool]

DD and DS2 are twins in Y12. One wants to apply to Cambridge and the other to Oxford. DH and I went to uni but have no experience at all (or know anyone who does) of the college system and no idea at all of how to choose a college. I saw someone on here talking about how the college even affects offers. Is the course the same wherever you go? Are certain colleges stronger in certain subjects?

DD is booked for the Cambridge open day but we wouldn't even know what we're looking for, to be honest. Both are in state schools. Can anyone help me?

Give us some more info OP. What subjects will they apply for? Are they “bright enough to get to Oxbridge” or “absolute and complete geniuses”? Did they go to private or state school? Like big or small environments? What are their political leanings?

I can only speak for Oxford but the colleges have quite different vibes - from the “posh” ones, “sporty” ones to the “lefty activist” type ones. Wherever they go they’ll meet nice people though and largely those are just the traditional reputations.

There’s a few things to consider:

• central (smaller, generally older buildings) versus the north oxford colleges (more Victorian, often more land though not always). A couple are more modern eg St Catz. Also consider proximity to the department running the course.
• Focus areas of the tutors can be a factor - eg if a particular topic they’re interested in within their subject.
• availability of accommodation in college for all three years versus living out in second year.
• Some are harder to get into than others due to volume of people applying, eg Magdalen I think has the most applicants and lowest acceptance rate versus LMH which is at the other end of the spectrum.

The course is the same wherever you go. They’d have lectures / science practicals in the department building and then “tutorials” which are small group sessions at their own college with the tutor and also sometimes at other colleges or the department too.

Have a look at the prospectus and also the alternative prospectus for each college!

They tend to shuffle people around anyway, to be fair, so fixing on one college is not always the best approach. DH went in as an "open" candidate to Oxford and after a stream of interviews, was ultimately assigned a college by them, and attended.

Certainly at Cambridge, lectures and practicals are communal so it doesn’t matter which college you choose, you do the same as every other student. There will also be small group tutorials which are organised by your college but don’t necessarily take place in your college.

Each college will have its own library but there are also communal subject specific libraries which every student can use and of course the University Library.

The real differences will be on the extra curricular side and pastoral side, the quality and cost of the accommodation and how centrally located the college is

Check to see if the college actually accepts students on to the course your DC wants to study. Not all colleges take students for all courses.
Look at how many they take for each course each year. Some will take more if they have a fellow with a particular interest in a subject. Though that may mean they have more applicants for tht course.
Location - colleges like Magdalen are great if your DC will be at the University sports fields every morning.
Some colleges are much richer than others so offer more support eg vacation study grants. If your DC is a singer some colleges offer better opportunities than others.
Housing - some colleges offer accommodation for first and last year. Others for every year.
Vibe - some colleges have a reputation for being posh or cool or very diverse - but that is often exaggerated. But Christ Church (big old) for example has a very different feel to St Catherine’s. (modern)
Colleges which are over subscribed with first class candidates will pool them if they cannot offer a place but I think you have a better chance of being accepted at your first choice of college.
The experience at the big old colleges will be very different to that at the Permanent Private Halls.

If you don't want to, you don't have to over think it. Just go for a walk around the colleges and see which one you like the look and location of. As people have said, there's a reasonable chance you'll end up at a different one anyway.

If you want to look more, I'd look at:

The accommodation over three years - do they have three years in town, or is the second year accommodation in the arse end of nowhere (to an oxford undergrad, this is anywhere more than half a mile from the centre), or do they have to privately rent for a year?

How rich is the college? The really rich colleges often have everything more subsidised, eg cheaper accommodation and meals and lots of funds you can apply to for sports or field trip costs.

Depending on the subject, much of the teaching is done at university level anyway.

I found this page useful for Cambridge University -

https://www.whichcambridgecollege.com

We wandered round the city (Cambridge) to see where the colleges were, and get a feel for the place including the colleges that would let us have a brief glance (not on open day). Then DS made a shortlist based on cooking facilities (import to him), number of students allocated for his subject, how many years’ accommodation available in hall and general vibe.

Then we went to the open day and visited his shortlist of three plus a few others just to sense-check and fill the day and he applied to his favourite. He got in there, but had friends who ended up pooled - no one who is ultimately unhappy with the outcome.

There can be a lot of overthinking, myth-making and unproductive strategising around Oxbridge college choices.

First and foremost, encourage your twins to read the university websites with great care. There is a lot of factual information, from 'the source'.

Secondly, these universities run outreach schemes to support students at state schools potentially unfamiliar with the application process; encourage your twins to find out more.

Thirdly, you don't have to choose a college but, if you do, don't overinvest in the choice; applicants may be offered a place at another college.

Finally, I went to a college with a very distinct perceived profile (true then and now) but was myself someone with a very different profile. Nevertheless, I had a very good uni experience. A lot of it is about personal mindset and making the most of the opportunity, however the dice lands.

My honest advice (having been in your shoes) is not to overthink it. There isn’t really a way to get this decision badly ‘wrong’, because both unis do their best to make sure that strong applicants can find a way in if their first choice college is oversubscribed (Oxford definitely does this — I don’t know the Cambridge system so well but I assume it’s a similar picture.) At Oxford, yes, Magdalen and Christchurch are extremely pretty and grand so get a lot of applicants, and New College has a particular reputation for PPE, so those would be extra-competitive choices. But in the main, just pick one. Anyone who gets in will tell you their college is the best, which tbh just means that most of them enjoy it wherever they end up. Academic departments are university-wide, social options are much of a muchness (and often university-wide), and the pastoral support on offer (which is adequate but not amazing) is the same everywhere. One of mine chose his college purely because he liked the way it looked from the street, and honestly four years later after a very happy time I couldn’t think of a better way an unfamiliar kid could have approached it!

The one thing worth paying attention to, as others have said, is whether the college offers accommodation for all the years your kids would be there. Private rentals in Oxford are absolutely swingeing. Everything else will come out in the wash.

What they all said. I chose mine on the grounds of accommodation, money (I knew I was going to need to hit the hardship fund heavily) and beauty.

At Oxford the offer is the same for a particular course whichever college you apply to so that makes it simpler than Cambridge! I know nothing about Cambridge as DS didn't apply there.

There's a good reallocation system at Oxford so if you apply to a very over-subscribed college it doesn't reduce your chances of a place at Oxford, it just means you're more likely to get reallocated to another college.

So basically don't overthink it, and find one you like on open day based on whatever is important to you - or just gut feeling. 🙂

Don't just look at the provision of College accommodation but also the cost. Also the cost of meals if there isn't good kitchen provision. The costs vary quite a lot in Oxford. It's correlated with the wealth of the College (more wealth = cheaper) but not perfectly.

Costs and subsidies matter. Location matters to some extent. Number of students/tutors in your course may matter. But don't overthink the "vibe" as this is often based either on stereotypes or (at the other end of the scale) one individual's specific experience. Colleges are more similar than they are different and most people end up happy with their choice. Plus you may get reallocated anyway.

And yes, Oxford is very rigorous about having the same selection procedure and same offers regardless of College. Cambridge is more relaxed about this.

Another Oxford parent echoing the above advice. DD made a shortlist based on course, accommodation provision and cost, and general vibe from college websites and student prospectuses. She picked a favourite, we looked round that and a few others at an open day and she duly applied. Ended up being pooled to another where she's very happy, although accom costs are higher. She does say a different college would in hindsight be her first choice, but it's competitive and I think she'd have ended up pooled anyway. She does find the trad reputations hold true to some extent, but says most people are nice regardless, just naturally drift towards people with whom they have similar lifestyles for general socialising. Clubs and societies tend to straddle social boundaries (even the rowing!)

Visit as many as you can, and for any parents of pre Y12s, if there's a summer school or other outreach scheme they can apply to, DD also found these very helpful, coming from a state background with little Oxbridge connection. But don't get hung up on one college. They all offer a fantastic experience.

Also, for Oxford at least, while some Colleges are hard to get into, that doesn't mean that applying to them will mean you are less likely to get into the University at all. They work very hard these days to even things out. It used to be worth strategising by applying to Colleges that were a bit less competitive, but it really isn't now. But you are more likely to be reallocated if you apply to a very competitive College.

Echo what everyone says - Oxford in particular you may very well end up somewhere completely different to the one you pick, so don't get invested. It really doesn't matter. I have a dc at a very "unfashionable" college - they did an open application. They socialise with ppl from all over the university and are having the time of their lives. I chose a college in Cambridge that looked great on paper and didn't like it at all, owing to some of its rules, though I did make good friends there. I would have much preferred another one which - again - wasn't as "fashionable" on paper, but had loads of people and a vibe that I turned out to prefer. But it wasn't a dealbreaker.

I was at Oxford and have just been through this with DC and Cambridge. I'd suggest as follows-

• first rule out any colleges that don't offer the subject
• then read up on each college, look at what the tutors there in that subject specialise in (if they have particular interests within the subject) and think about practicalities- accommodation, costs, whether they'd like to be central or further out, larger or smaller etc
• Make a shortlist of 5-6 to visit
• Don't get too invested as they may end up somewhere else anyway.

A bit niche but my daughter shortlisted a few Oxford colleges on the basis of the reputation of their chapel choirs!

We then visited her top three on the open day and she chose her favourite and applied for a choral scholarship there. After auditioning, she was told she was good enough and encouraged to apply for a place at the college, which she did.

That college was very oversubscribed and she didn’t get in, but she was interviewed at a couple of other colleges and offered a place at one of them, where she was vey happy. Even better, she still got to sing in the chapel choir of the original college!

Is money an issue? If so check out the rents carefully. DC1’s Oxford College rent is only just over half what her friend at another college is paying. And look at kitchen provision. Again, at her college all students have access to a kitchen on their staircase, which might sound like an obvious thing to be included but you would be surprised how many people have no access at all, or a kettle/toaster/microwave only. Makes it much easier to self cater which again is a money saver. Most of the Oxford colleges offer accommodation for all 3-4 years but there are a few that don’t, and as noted already on the thread Oxford private rents are eye watering. I wouldn't stress much about the location of the accommodations away from the main college sites, the university is quite sprawling so you can have lectures or tutorials all over the place and won't necessarily know from one term to the next where you might be.

And to echo everyone else, don’t get too fixated on whichever one gets named on the UCAS form. There are loads of points at which you might get reallocated – pre interview, offer stage, and even on results day as they make open offers.

DS is doing quite a niche subject and didn't want to be the only one or one of two in his college so he looked at which colleges had relatively larger cohorts for his subject, where the college was in relation to where the subject department was, and the reputation the college had for his subject. I encouraged him to also think about whether he wanted old or newish, city centre or out a bit, small or large. He actually now has an offer from a college which wasn't the one he applied to so it didn't make any difference anyway!

When I chose my college back in the day I basically went with one my teacher mentioned which I had never heard of, but I did know I wanted old/historic and not too far from city centre. I also knew that particular college had a rep for posh and male, and felt they probably wanted some state school girls to balance that out...

Lots of good advice on here already.
Just to add some anecdotal experience: DD is currently finishing first year at Oxford. She put a fair bit of thought into choosing a college (she wanted central, accommodation for all 3 years, reasonable-sized cohort for her course, decent kitchens (not a given!), pretty, friendly, LGBTQ-friendly/socially liberal/not too posh). She has ended up at a college that ticks most of those boxes but has a reputation for being full of rugby players/rowers/drunken posh boys. She's loving it, and has lots of lovely friends in college. (It's worth remembering that the undergraduate cohort has a 25-30% turnover every year, so it's really all about the people who are there at the same time as you.)
I chose my college 30 years ago because it didn't have signs up saying you couldn't walk on the grass and had a happy time there. (Turned out you still couldn't walk on the grass, they just didn't have signs though!)
As others have said, plenty of people get reallocated at Oxford, so don't get too invested in a particular college.
Don't know much about how it works in Cambridge, but DS is just starting to research there so we are finding out more. We found Cambridge had published a guide to colleges, grouping them by area, which may be useful. This is a link to one group, but you can link through to the others through it.
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges-guide-grange-road?utm_source=SRM_team&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UKSRM_Information_Newsletters_May26

One of my DC went to Oxford, the other Cambridge. They learnt a great deal from the universities websites and the individual colleges websites. We wandered around Oxford and Cambridge to get the gist of the locations of colleges and departments. DC attended open days and shortlisted colleges. They found the application process straightforward and easy to follow. The Cambridge process feels slightly more protracted and offers are not standard across all colleges.

DS is definitely bright enough but only recently decided on chemistry so hasn't got a whole lot behind him. He went to a dodgy state, highest grades in school. Moved on to a better sixth form, still state school though. DD is bright, not sure if she's bright enough but she wants to try so I'm supporting that. She was in same school as DS and stayed there. She managed to get onto a course at Lucy Cavendish, focusing on English, which she really enjoyed. She's still not sure of her course. It would be essay based as she's doing Eng, History and Psych. She likes English most but doing best in Psych. The open day is partly to get a better idea of more unusual courses which she may like. I don't think either of them give much of a stuff about politics(even though I do!) but I would say they are both more left leaning. DD is conservative with a small c.

You will get so much from the open day. We went round with DS and very quickly worked out what he liked and didn't like. Some colleges (Cambridge) were big and some small. They have different levels of accommodation offer, different catering facilities and different sport facilities. In the end he narrowed it down to 3 I think based on combos of things that were important to him and then picked the one he liked best from that.
If your DC really dont care then make an open application both Ox and Cambs offer that