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?

DS and I visited various Oxford colleges last year and didn't have to pay for any of them, including Magdalen and Christ Church. We were a bit nervous about asking but the porters were very friendly.

DS (Y12 atm) has chosen a college on the basis of how much money it has. Seems reasonable to me.

I asked everyone I knew who went to Oxford what college they went to and why, and the universal response was 'it doesn't really make that much of a difference.'

My son (Year 13) did exactly the same and applied to St John's for medicine. He was pooled after the interviews and got an offer from Christ Church.

Great advice here.

At Oxford (don’t know about Cambridge) each college has links to a local authority or region, which might be a good place to start https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/access-oxford/regional-outreach

Apologies if this has already been shared but DD found the student union guides helpful. Here's the Oxford one https://www.oxfordsu.org/advice/college-information-tool/
We found a good one for Cambridge too but I can't find the link.
I think a lot of it is about gut feeling. Also think about facilities, accommodation, libraries, proximity to relevant faculty etc.
Try to visit as many as possible to get a feel.

As has been pointed out, O and C have quite different ways of reallocating applicants and a C applicant will usually only be interviewed by the college they apply to (if you get fished out of the pool by another college you don't normally know about it til offer day). Aside from the more obvious things like size of cohort, aesthetics, accommodation, location etc. I do think that with C in particular it is worth looking at the admission data by college for the chosen course. When my DC applied, it was obvious that some colleges tended to choose mainly from direct applicants and some always used the pool (not just the less popular ones) and so rejected an even higher proportion of direct applicants than indicated by top line acceptance figures. DC chose a college that they liked obviously, but also one that a) tended not to use the pool much b) regularly put applicants in the pool that were then picked up by other colleges.

Just to counter Chameleon's experience, I know 3 young people who applied to Cambridge this year. All three were interviewed only by one college, pooled and told in January that they had an offer from another college with whom they had had no contact previously.
Where they end up is anyone's guess.
So maybe don't overthink it.

Sorry I don't think counter was quite the right verb there!

DS applied to his college on the basis of pretty buildings, decent grounds and friendly porters. He got an interview, received an offer and had a great time there. He visited a lot of other colleges over three years and still rated his college as the best one for him.
DD didn’t have a clue about Oxford colleges when she applied. She picked a modern college because they had several places (8) for her subject and was interviewed there and at one other modern college. She received an open offer from a third, ancient college. She says she just would not have had the confidence to apply directly to that college but loved it from the start and had a fantastic four years there.

DS was at Cambridge where arguably college choice is more important as there is less reallocation before interviews.

Thanks. Went to the Cambridge open day with DD. The college she liked best (best bedrooms, a/c library and age felt at home), everyone we spoke to had not actually chosen the college, but was v happy there! I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing in terms of applications (do they tend to just take students from the pool?). We looked at 3 other colleges and whilst she liked them, she didn't feel comfortable. DS (Oxford) doesn't really care. He mostly just cares about being close to Chemistry and having decent food!

My recent Cambridge graduate ds feels strongly that choosing a less well known college will give your dc an advantage, particularly for the more competitive courses.

On what basis, Vargas?

Purely anecdotal, based on his friends who applied directly to his less popular college and claim they wouldn't have been offered places at others because of some weakness in their application/interview compared to their peers at those colleges.

Cambs student here- the college really doesn't matter too much unless you have a specific need (e.g. a larger scholarship, a more accessible room, big rowing team etc.) All Cambridge students on lower incomes recieve a bursary anyway so if you aren't at as rich a college that isn't so much an issue!

The only things I'd really consider is whether you want to be in the city centre or outside it, whether you want old or new, and how big a college you want.

I chose mine because it was in the city centre and old!

Every college is fab, so no point spending too much time deciding- they may get pooled anyway!
The last thing to consider is that some colleges are more popular than others so you are perhaps more likely to get pooled (these being St Johns, Trinity, Pembroke)

Agree with picking a less popular college giving you a better chance at least of getting as far as the interview stage.
Speaking from experience of my DS’s friends who applied for the same course but at different colleges. Some of those who applied to more popular colleges didn’t even get interviews whilst a couple of others who had similar predicted grades/gcses did get interviews at less popular colleges. You can’t be pooled if you don’t at least get to the interview stage.

That might be the case at Cambridge but not Oxford, where you can be reallocated to a different college pre-interview.

@extrabeans
yes it is Cambridge I’m talking about. Just the opinions of DS’ group of friends based on their experiences this year. Seems like some colleges just had so many applicants they couldn’t interview the proportion of applicants they might expect to normally. And they didn’t seem to have a facility for re-allocating them to be interviewed at other colleges that had fewer applicants - in the way you say that Oxford do.

My younger DC is keen to apply to Cambridge next year so we’ll be bearing this in mind when choosing a college

Cambridge might also allocate you another college if you’re studying a less popular subject.

I had an interview at 2 colleges - one I was allocated and one I applied to.

admittedly this was more years ago than I care to remember!

Dd had interviews for Oxford at the very popular college she applied for, then for a second college and then was offered a place at an entirely different one again!

DD just finished at Cambridge. She chose college as she won an essay writing competition from it and was invited to an award ceremony there. We hadn’t heard of it before then but in a tour of the college she loved the red brick buildings, gardens, that it was not central but also only a few minutes walk into the centre, all three years accommodation on site, close to the English faculty and an all women’s college. It was so easy to drop her off too as parking was possible and close to J12 of motorway and so didn’t have to navigate town centre or park and ride, quite important when you are vacating your room three times a year. Downside was the JCR wasn’t very active but she found lots of other things to do. She applied to that college and was allocated it.

Same experience as @PettsWoodParadise, dd was all set to apply for one college but then did well in an essay competition run by a different Cambridge college. The college invited all the winners to pick up their certificates and have a tour and meet the academics who had run the competition, and it was made very clear that that they get a lot of their undergraduates for this subject from essay competition winners. She applied to that college, and got an offer.

I’m someone with no knowledge of Oxford whose dd got an offer this year. We just narrowed the colleges down to the ones that offered her subject (helped a lot as it’s only 5!) looked online about pros and cons, location, facilities, whether they offer accommodation for the whole 3 yrs etc, then we visited the front runners on the open day and she went with her gut and the one she had the best feeling about. Allegedly it doesn’t affect your chances of an offer as they’ll make sure they get the best people for the course and you might be offered by another college.

Also I think some schools/sixth forms will discourage pupils from applying to the same college but not sure on that