Top 10 things I learnt at the University of Oxford Open Day
At the start of the summer, I was staying with my brother in London, and his niece had booked to attend the University of Oxford Open Day. “Would I like to go along with them?” they asked.
In my 30+ years working in universities, I’ve visited Oxford numerous times, and I’ve shared a stage with University of Oxford admissions tutors even more often. But I’ve never been to an Open Day there, and I’ve never been right inside any of the individual colleges. I couldn’t resist the opportunity!
I’ve also been involved in delivering more than 100 open days and visit days across eight different universities, and so the chance to be on the other side for a change was too good to miss!
So what did I learn from my visit? Well, quite a lot, but I’ll break it down to just ten areas where I was either surprised, delighted or slightly disappointed…
1. The beauty you see in the pictures. It’s real!
Some of the Oxford Colleges really are as stunning as you’d expect. Our first college visit was Magdalene College, and first impressions were incredible. I know that choosing Oxford is about far more than just the buildings, but at Magdelene, the grounds and the buildings are just magical. A few college visits later and we had plenty of confirmation that Oxford really is a spectacular place. The expression ‘ivory towers’ just doesn’t capture it. Even comparisons to the world of Harry Potter fall short. Privilege is everywhere, and the students who are able to get into the majority of these esteemed colleges will have an amazing place to live and study.
2. But the picture is not quite the same everywhere
I’ll be honest, a number of the colleges had accommodation, libraries and other social facilities that really were not up to scratch for a world class university. I’ll spare the colleges from a name and shame list, but there were residences that I would have been embarrassed to take visitors to in any of the universities that I have worked at. Some of the college libraries too were in dire need of refurbishment, rebuilding, or even replacement. I have to say, this surprised me.
3. Oxford can be a very cheap place to study
Who knew? Accommodation is way cheaper than you might expect, and significantly cheaper than most universities that I am familiar with. Typical accommodation at the colleges we visited would work out at between £4,500 and £5,000 for the three terms (though you may have to move your things out during holidays). That is about as cheap as you’ll find almost anywhere.
Food in college is also insanely cheap! Breakfast and main dinner dishes in college refectories can cost from £2.50 and full formal dining is as little as £8 for three courses.
4. Internships are there to give you real-world skills
There are fantastic internship programmes available, in much larger numbers than I would have expected. The careers service told me of some 1,200 micro-internships offered annually. These can be used as a gateway to around 500 paid summer internships. Ok, so these are not the sorts of internship numbers you’ll find at many universities, but for students who fear that studying at such an academic institution could lead to a problem developing real-world skills, the addition of paid internships sounds like the perfect answer.
5. Interviews are really designed to replicate tutorials
The selection interviews they hold are essentially aimed at replicating a tutorial, so they can see whether you have the potential to excel in their tutorial system. They are therefore not about finding out what you know. Instead they are all about testing how you respond to things you don’t know. So don’t be surprised if they take you right outside of your comfort zone!
All interviews will be held on-line for 2024 entry.
6. NEW - the Astrophoria Foundation program
They have a new fully in-house foundation program available; the Astrophoria Foundation programme. It’s a one-year, fully funded course for UK students with significant potential, but severe disadvantage or disrupted education. A pass at the right level means guaranteed progression to your chosen course (most, but not all courses are available).
This year they had around 500 applications for 50 places. If you get an offer though, it will be a full three A-level grades below a standard year 1 offer.
The deadline for applying is the standard January UCAS deadline (not the early October Oxbridge deadline).
See: https://foundationyear.ox.ac.uk/
7. UNIQ Summer Schools
They also run UNIQ, in intensive 2.5 day residential for around 1,350 year 12 school students (again, UK state school only). It’s preceded by on-line workshops in March and there is follow-up admissions support too. And it’s also free!
This is an amazing opportunity to get to know the university, and get the best possible support if you are considering applying.
See: https://www.uniq.ox.ac.uk
8. Oxplore: Home of Big Questions
I was also introduced to Oxplore, a terrific website for all 11-18 year olds, which enables you to engage with life’s big questions. It’s ideal preparation for the sort of discussions you could have at Oxford during the interview process. Give it a go!
9. The most popular course at Oxford is…
Computer Science is their most popular course as measured by applicants per place. It had a crazy 18 applications per place last year. Economics and Management wasn’t far behind!
10. Choosing a college
The day left me with really mixed feelings about how to go about choosing a college. On one hand, you really do want to choose a college that has decent rooms for you to live in, and nice study spaces. On the other hand, the level of privilege available at every single college suggests that you will have an amazing experience whichever you choose.
We were told very clearly by the central admissions team that from an admissions perspective there are no advantages of applying to any specific college, or to the open pool, and that around one third of students enter a college they did not choose.
So if you think Oxford is for you, then I’d really just suggest this: head to an Open day. Try to find a college that looks like it's the best fit for you, but don’t be too worried if you manage to get a place at a different college. They are all incredible in their own way, and Oxford really is quite a place!
What next?
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like: Top 10 things I learnt at the University of Cambridge Open Day.
Find out about the next Oxford Open Day at: www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/open-days-and-visits
