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Can anyone tell me about Oxford Uni?

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18:31 / 10.11.05

After everything that has happened to me here, I just cant stomach coming back for another year.

I met a guy who went to Oxford, and he said that the experience he had there helped him grow in ways he never expected.

Any, way, tell me about the places you have gone to school?

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

19:54 / 10.11.05

Oxford ROCKS!

I spent a month there this summer. It is one of the greatest cities I have ever visited. It's like...damn. Fantastic city, friendly people, and the university just makes me drool.

I can't speak for the classes, but I hear they're good.

There are multiple folks on Barbelith, though, who are Oxford graduates and could probably tell you more.

20:08 / 10.11.05

Well, I'm an Oxford reject but I can say that it is one of the most interesting cities in the world and has some reasonable comic shops, good pubs, fair climate and is about 20 miles north of one the most beautiful areas in the world (Vale of the White Horse, if you must know).
However, be careful about international programmes. They promise a lot but are often worth jack shit. I would guess Oxford University colleges can probably be relied to keep their word due to worries about reputation, but be careful about the other colleges, art schools and ex-polytechnics.
International students are worth a shitload to UK institutions cash-wise and they very often don't provide what they say they will [story about golf architecture courses withheld for legal reasons].

20:16 / 10.11.05

AND they let you drink and have whoever you like over to your house, even if they're coming over to your house to have sex!!

Oxford is gorgeous. I've never gone to school there but I visited. Maybe study abroad is your ticket out. Surely snow college has a study abroad center?

20:21 / 10.11.05

Really? They let you have sex?!

I just checked, and Snow does not have such a program, but they do outsource through the University of Utah.

20:23 / 10.11.05

Oxford sux. Oxbridge is what y'want.

20:24 / 10.11.05

Sorry, even though I am a college graduate I look back on the whole thing through the haze of bad 80s 'college' movies..

20:32 / 10.11.05

Snow buys their sex in from the University of Utah?

I went to Edinburgh University. The sex was very good. Excessive drinking was mandatory. The University has a good rep academically but is not as pretty as Oxford (although the town is, and much bigger). I'd probably still plump for Oxbridge Academy though because the weather's better and it's so close to London.

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

20:49 / 10.11.05

I'm studying at Oxford as we speak, and know a fair number of people visiting for a year from the States, all of whom are having a fantastic time. As a city, I can't recommend it enough: not only is it astonishingly lovely, but also the university is a genuinely liberal and friendly place: not only does my college (I don't know about the precise details of others) have a specific section in its handbook on the dangers of making heterosexist assumptions, for example, but there's also a fairly comprehensive procedure for appealing against administrative decisions if such a thing is necessary. There are also a lot of opportunities to get involved with vaguely journalistic activities (there are two main city-wide student newspapers, and more on college or special-interest level).
I'm of course astonishingly biased, but I would certainly recommend Oxford as (apart from anything else) an excellent antidote to being stuck in a heterosexist, theocratic educational establishment. (insert cheery wink here)

20:52 / 10.11.05

Yep. If you can get into Oxbridge, do so. Do the bare miniumum to pass (as every great leader in British history has) and drink, screw, smoke and do drugs (as every leader in politics except Ghandi or Malcolm X has) and then? Then, you'll be a man, my son.

no, not a wingman. A MAN.

20:57 / 10.11.05

I never went to Oxford uni, and so perhaps, arguably, 'don't really know what I'm talking about' but according to a friend of mine who did, and so presumably does, and is a respected board member of Barbelith, (and I'm quoting directly here

'If you **** **** ***, you can get into any college you want.'

*

22:12 / 10.11.05

Friend of mine is a law prof at Oxford. If you're in a class of hers, don't anger her.

22:17 / 10.11.05

except Gandhi and Malcolm X

Ummmm.... Malcolm X sowed many a wild oat, not at Oxford (he was almost entirely self-educated, but I believe he did engage in a debate there, before he died), and most definitely smoke, drank, smoke weed, and screwed before going to prison, becoming a disciple of The Honorable Elijah Mohammed, and then well... Read the book.

But, on to the point in question: definitely study abroad. Study somewhere wonderful. There are many programs that are based in English, if language is a problem, (although it's not for all those good Mormons who did their 2 years of witnessing in other countries, ahem). I studied abroad in Madrid for just a US "semester"; it was painful because I was young and naive and I did some stupid things that I wasn't ready for, but they didn't kill me and it was also probably one of the most important things I ever did.

IMHO If you're a U.S. student who can afford, even marginally, higher education, you should be required to study abroad. We desperately need US citizens who are more aware of the world beyond our borders in a real sense. A year abroad will change you. Go for it.

22:26 / 10.11.05

Yeah, echo that. I went to Florence to study as a wide-eyed teen and it assuredly did change my life hugely. It shook me up in ways I could never have predicted and I grew up twice as fast over there.

If there is a Heaven when I die, I'll be a 19 year old student in Florence again. Well, maybe not, I was very naive. And I caught an STD. It was fun though, otherwise. Oxford reminds me very much of Florence.

08:06 / 11.11.05

I, too, caught an STD in Florence.

She was a rum lass, that one.

09:10 / 11.11.05

I definitely learnt a lot at Oxford. It was there that I first realised what class and its implications were about, more or less squashing the simplistic notions I had.

09:14 / 11.11.05

and I was treated for an STD in Oxford.....many many years ago, an experience branded in my mind by the huddle of medical students brought in to examine my genitalia....

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:52 / 11.11.05

It could be worse - when I think of Oxford I tend to examine in my mind the gaggle of medical students brought in to brand my genitalia.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

10:10 / 11.11.05

when I think of Oxford I tend to examine in my mind the gaggle of medical students brought in to brand my genitalia.

What did they recommend? An olde worlde classical design with a cock rampant, or some kind of modern high energy thing with aggressive chrome typefaces and a name like Dickatomic?

And Oxford - nice place, can be claustrophobia-inducing, much like Cambridge. In both cases, the idea that you will be bathed in brilliance is optimistic. You will however be taught by amazing people; whether they are good teachers is another question.

10:12 / 11.11.05

Haus, did that experience help you to grow in ways you never expected?

Whisky Priestess

11:42 / 11.11.05

He means sexually.

(Note for the aspiring Oxonian: Innuendo is much admired at both Oxford and Cambridge. Much High Table chitchat is composed of nothing else, as it serves the tutors as a substitute for the hot sex they know all the students are having, but which is denied them.)

So I hear.

11:48 / 11.11.05

Don't ask me how I know this, but:

Haus's testicle brands:

11:52 / 11.11.05

He means sexually.

Actually Whisky, Sax is otm. I was thinking marketing.

16:50 / 11.11.05

Sax, you might be right but they look different on paper.

20:34 / 11.11.05

Are there programs to help fund students while abroad?

00:42 / 12.11.05

Ben Fox;

I think it's pretty clear from this thread who 'did' and who 'didn't' get into Oxford Uni.

Sax, for example, is, like, y'know *coff* how many A levels, mate?

A couple of E's and a tenner would have got you into the Hacienda, back then.

But, tellingly, not into Oxford.

Not even to one of the 'easier' colleges, like Maudlin

Sometimes I think that when the red mist rises, as it sometimes does, late at night, if I find myself watching ''Sex And The City' (I suppose everyone knows how afraid and angry that show can make one feel,) that life doesn't mean anything.

Basically, Mr E, if you don't have a degree from Oxford (in the liberal arts, you can just about get away with the other stuff at the other place - to be specific ambridge, only baastards go there,) I'm not sure if you've got a chance.

07:56 / 12.11.05

Yes, what seems to be being missed on this thread is that Oxford is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and, as such, ain't too easy to get into.

08:18 / 12.11.05

But we do have lots of other universities in the UK, many of whom are very good and a lot cheaper to go to that Oxford (and easier to get into).

Have you considered a London university? Btw what subject are you studying, if you tell us we should be able to point you towards a uni with a good rep for it.

08:44 / 12.11.05

I think it's pretty clear from this thread who 'did' and who 'didn't' get into Oxford Uni...

But, tellingly, not into Oxford.

Not even to one of the 'easier' colleges, like Maudlin

Surely that should be Magdalene college... unless we are talking out loud...

09:21 / 12.11.05

*cof* Magdalen without the e. Named after the famous prostitut, perhaps.

Stick study abroad scholarships into google and lots of the buggers come up. Have known a few people who came over here from the US on Fulbright scholarships, not necessarily either rich people nor freakily bright. The other well known route is a Rhodes scholarship but I think they're more competititve yet.

Sometimes you might only get a semester out of it. Of course, if you go to a University like Stirling, they only have two semesters a year.

My University paid for me to go to Italy, though not lavishly. I had to find more money to live on and still was pretty broke throughout. But still had fun. My brother in law got a scholarship more recently to take him to some Ivy League institution (Harvard, I think) and was better supplied with funds for it. That was an exchange, with some compatriot of yours being spirited over to Glasgow U for the duration.

And Oxford is great and all but there is a hierarchy in the UK in tertiary education and it's at the top of it, with Cambridge. Doesn't mean that it's the best place for every academic specialty. 'Fraid I have no idea where the best journalism programmes are run. There are lots of other excellent places to go to for the social life too. You'll find quite a few free guides to survey online.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:32 / 12.11.05

A couple of E's and a tenner would have got you into the Hacienda, back then.

But, tellingly, not into Oxford.

Au contraire. Back in the good old days, 2 Es at A-level would have been enough to get you into Oxford. A cynic might suggest that this meant that selection could be decided at the University level rather than by any independent process where the examiners would not know how wealthy the applicant was.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

12:26 / 12.11.05

There was a Forbes Mellon scholarship or two knocking around when I were a lad, too. I think it's a good idea to look at London and Sussex, actually - if you're feeling claustrophobic over there, Oxford and Cambridge are both pretty insular and might kill you. Although both are within striking distance of London, and Cambrdige is actually rather nice (tee hee).

14:31 / 13.11.05

I'm relieved to hear you plan on getting out. Good for you. As some people have mentioned, the trick is getting in to the high-falutin schools. I don't need to tell a journalism major (if I remember that right?) that closer to home you have the Columbia School of Journalism. Manhattan isn't as nice-looking as Oxford, though. Anyway, my point was going to be: remember to apply to a couple of safe bets, as well. The important thing is to get out, however you do it.

22:59 / 13.11.05

In looking around, I am a bit nervous. If I stay in the state I can go to school for free, at pretty much any college, except the U of U, those bastards (the only school that has not offered me a scholarship). But each day I am here is insperation for me to leave.

The college journalism network instate is rather small, so I know all the right people, but if I leave the state my application to a new program is just one in the stack...

06:29 / 14.11.05

For what it's worth, I don't gots me no education whatsoever beyond A-Levels, and now I'm a media celebrity with more coke, birds and motor cars than I realistically know what to do with.

Seriously.

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