Growing up, watching a lot of University Challenge, and
believing what the media had told me, I had been given the impression that
going to one of the Oxbridge universities should be a goal in life. When I
began looking at universities in the autumn of AS (first year of college) I was
instantly disappointed that simple due to getting 2 too few A* grades at GCSE (needed 5),
I had no chance of applying to Oxford to study Biology. Later, looking through
the course content, my dismay soon went as the areas covered are not, in my
opinion, the best bits! During this year, I applied for a Sutton Trust Summer
School, although I did not get in, I was offered a place on the Experience
Cambridge programme, which ran as two days, a month apart where we were to
research a question in our groups, communicating through their online portal.
Visiting Cambridge really gave me an insight into what I
wanted out of a university. Yes, the buildings are beautiful, however when we
moved between buildings, I did not like the masses of tourists - being stared at
as though we were attractions, and having grumpy professors try and barge pass
thinking that we too (as we were a group of 3 girls clinging together in the
busy street) were also tourists. I am aware that many other city based
universities, are not nearly as full of tourists, however from this, I chose to
only apply to campus based universities. Having grown up visiting Southampton
University almost every year, I am definitely biased towards campus based!
At Cambridge, I was looking at studying Natural Sciences,
which there is a very broad course. At my college, you have to decide in the
summer (even before results) which college you want to apply to, and for what
course - I didn’t enjoy this added pressure at all. Another thing to consider
with universities that my Cambridge experience flagged up to me, was the
possibility of cooking for yourself. All of the accommodation at Cambridge is
catered, it really reminded me of a posh boarding school, which I think is why
it becomes such a cliché. As someone who went to a big secondary school (300
per year) and a massive college (2000 per year) the idea of going into a
college where there are only 200 people in total I found quite daunting,
especially seeing as much of the socialising is done within these colleges. When
I was there I visited Kings College (image below) and Corpus Christi, both of them beautiful
architecture and gardening. I must add though, that we all agreed that it was
as though you could feel the pressure already on you, before we had even looked
at applying.
From this event, I am still friends with several of the
people I met here, however none of them are going to be heading there in the
Autumn. Seeing friends who did choose to apply for Oxbridge, has in truth
made me thankful that I did not go through that process. All of the extra
forms, extra paperwork, separate application and so on, as well as an earlier
UCAS entry date. This is without even factoring in the nightmare of entrance
exams.
If you think you can take the stress, let alone get the grades,
go for it! At the end of the day they are brilliant universities and I know of
several people who have loved both. A really important thing though is to not
apply just because it’s Oxbridge, and if you’re lucky enough to get an offer,
don’t feel obliged to go just because it Oxbridge.
At the end of the day, you need to choose somewhere you’ll
be happy!
All the best,
Bea x
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