Do Oxbridge grads get a negative reputation in the workplace?

[hungarianharlot]

I was having a conversation at work the other day which somewhat surprised me. A few colleagues and I were talking about universities and where their kids were going to apply. DS is going to apply for history at Oxford.

I’m new to the workplace but the company sometimes has graduates from Oxford or Cambridge.

Colleagues said that those who went to Oxbridge were much less likely to want to get stuck in with the “boring” jobs and more likely to feel “entitled” to the more interesting work or for other people to assist them. Another said she finds them more likely to ask lots of questions rather than just getting things done. Is this fair?

Honestly, it wasn’t a particularly positive sentiment.

I had a workmate who was a Cambridge graduate and she was great - good at her job, not at all self important and an all round lovely person. She didn't "advertise" where she went to university because she felt that people might judge her negatively.

She had been to a bog standard comprehensive school, but was very bright.

Late 40s Oxford grad here, who manages recent grads among others

Ignore these people: it’s envy talking

I find a lot of today’s generation of early 20s recent grads very entitled, more so those from well-off families, and often international students (who tend to come from those well off families/have had domestic staff). I haven’t found this so much from Oxbridge grads.

I think the being entitled comes from a privileged background and not being expected to ‘pitch in’not going to Oxford/Cambridge (or other prestigious universities incl UCL).

For me: going to Oxford opened many doors I my early career and I have had a better career than some of my peers in my first job (but I also have more drive). If your son has the ability and desire to, I would encourage him to go - especially if he wants to do a degree which doesn’t like to a specific career (History) - having done it at Oxford vs a red brick is more of an achievement

If going to Oxbridge becomes your whole personality it does get very tedious. Some are entitled and some aren’t. Work experience and work ethic is what a good boss should look for.

I imagine it would be a help rather than a hindrance. They are probably just jealous.

They sound either jealous or like they are parroting comments made by others based on zero evidence. I actually work with Oxford students while they are students and they are from all different backgrounds; they are elite because of their intelligence, exam taking abilities, and interview performance (those are the three keys to being admitted to Oxford) but they are otherwise very normal kids. They will be taught to ask questions for the sake of clarity and they will work hard. The students I work with give me great hope for the future with their humanity and curiosity.

No, those graduates would be entitled no matter where they went. It's about wealth and privilege and not about where they went to university.

Jealousy. Your DS is aiming for something above what their DC are capable of.

New graduates were usually COWI at where I used to work and to be honest I couldn’t have told who was Oxbridge and who wasn’t (although the Oxbridge ones were more likely to tell you). Found them all super hard working and not entitled (maybe our recruitment process binned the entitled ones).

No, I don’t think that’s true at all.

in workplaces where the vast majority are non Oxbridge people including many non degree holders (which is the most typical workplace), having an Oxbridge degree makes one stand out, it can become a label with associated connotations (super mart, seriously academic, career ambitious, craving intellectual challenges, going places etc and etc). That’s why most Oxbridge grads find themselves in jobs with other Oxbridge / top uni grads, while non Oxbridge grads can just go anywhere and avoid the label completely.

I think there will be some stereotyping of Oxbridge graduates, but only from the type of people who would stereotype all sorts of people.

@FrancisBlundy That’s always been such a trait of Oxbridge grads. Me and DH have just nudged past 70, yet when socialising with new people on holiday, if they went to Oxbridge they always tell you within the first 5 minutes of the conversation! They weave it into any topic and it’s utterly tiresome. They do think they are special and need to let everyone know.

Having said that, one of our very best friends went to Oxford and a few months ago asked if he could stay with us because he had a reunion at his college. We live fairly close to Oxford. The day before he was due to arrive he phoned with a huge apology. He wasn’t coming. The event had already happened - he’d got the wrong week! Intelligence? Over-rated in my view!

The notion that three years at a prestigious university can determine character is absurd.

That’s always been such a trait of Oxbridge grads. Me and DH have just nudged past 70, yet when socialising with new people on holiday, if they went to Oxbridge they always tell you within the first 5 minutes of the conversation! They weave it into any topic and it’s utterly tiresome. They do think they are special and need to let everyone know.

The people who tell you, tell you. You have no idea whether that's a high proportion of the people who went there, as by definition you're not aware of the ones that don't mention it.

@GudrunB Maybe not but I’ve no idea where anyone else went because they don’t say! That’s the point. On every holiday we’ve been on in smaller groups the Oxbridge folks pipe up. I think they are looking for other Oxbridge grads and the rest of us aren’t good enough.

My DH employed many grads down the years in engineering disciplines and Oxbridge grads had no edge over Sheffield or Bristol grads at all. There’s always a variety of skills that employers want and no one uni had a monopoly on that.

Oxbridge graduates who went to public school are frequently entitled, overestimate their own ability and are unwilling to knuckle down, but these people are pretty easy to screen out during interviews. Those who went to state school, not so much.

I work for a big corporate media firm and we now do blind CV recruitment but we do have a couple of interns who were Oxbridge, they don't really stand out as anything special and actually the most impressive of our new interns was from a very bog standard non RG Uni, That said DDs friends who got places at Oxford this year are super impressive kids and state school educated, I think they will both go on to great things because they've both got something about them that makes them both stand out (beyond the A*s they got).

Totally proves the judgement and jealousy around Oxbridge.

If they went to Oxbridge then they will have pretty high ability. What exactly are they overestimating? And it’s pretty unlikely many Oxbridge grads didn’t have to knuckle down and work at some point. Alternatively if they breezed through top A levels and their Oxbridge degree then fair play, they really are super bright and probably fair to be a bit entitled.

I went to Cambridge and now work in the public sector in the North West. My manager and one other colleague probably know I went there, because they saw my job application. I don't think I've ever mentioned it otherwise. If people ask me where I went to uni, I usually just say 'down south'. I'm almost slightly embarrassed especially when talking to working class folk in inner city areas, like where I used to live. I would be mortified if people thought I was entitled and didn't muck in with the less glam jobs.

But then maybe I'm helped by having parents who always encouraged volunteering, caring about those less fortunate, etc. While a student at Cambridge, I did voluntary work in the hols with homeless people and asylum seekers. It definitely kept me grounded. Not all Oxbridge grads are the same (although I admit the generalisation exists for a reason!)

There used to be a joke: 'How do you know someone went to Oxford or Cambridge?' 'Because they tell you.'

When I pointed out to someone making that joke that people who went to Birmingham or Sheffield or Leeds also tell you but you don't assume they are bragging, they realised that they were prejudiced against Oxbridge. It's impossible to state you went there without some people reacting as if you are pulling rank or showing off.

I too went to Cambridge. I don’t mention it - it’s irrelevant.

I think one of the main benefits of top grads is they are organized and hard working. Given the success Oxbridge grads (generally have) seems unlikely to be true

Same. I really don’t think anyone cares.

Stop trying to drum up negative comments about Oxbridge. You or your child didn’t get in? You’ll get over it. Find a hobby.

I had one colleague who would constantly say things like "no, at Oxford we were taught X", as though the industry couldn't have changed in the 20 years since he graduated. But he was a bit of a strange man. If he hadn't gone to Oxford, I'm sure he'd have found another way to feel superior.

I don't think going to Oxbridge will make someone a difficult colleague, if they weren't already.