<p>I think it looks awesome, and if I end up going to Williams I'd definitely apply. Studying philosophy at Oxford for a year? Yes please =p</p>
<p>Obviously I want to go to Williams for Williams, but it's such an amazing opportunity.</p>
<p>omg yes!!! I love Williams just for being the wonderful liberal arts school that it is but the Oxford Exchange is an INCREDIBLE opportunity! Williams actually owns housing in Oxford - of course other schools allow you to study abroad at Oxford but somehow the Williams program is more established. If I got into Williams I would DEFINITELY try to go on the Williams-Oxford Exchange.</p>
<p>Williams-Exeter is a good program, but it's not for everyone. It's extremely selective (only 25 kids/year), and from what i've heard from friends, you'd need about a 3.7 to go to oxford ...3.7. That's 2 A's and 2 A-'s, three-year average. Near impossible.</p>
<p>It also depends on your interests. Econ majors are actually discouraged from going to oxford, because of the disparity between american and european economic systems.
Also, econ majors need fall of junior year to interview for summer internships.</p>
<p>Added, there are a plethora of opportunities here on campus.</p>
<p>I plan on majoring in history or politics so I imagine there wouldn't be too much of a disparity between the US and UK systems, but who knows... I'm sure there's tons of stuff to do on campus but it would be fun to experience a new type of education for a year and go back to Europe.</p>
<p>My son did Oxford-Exeter and loved it. Just an (encouraging) note: his GPA was below 3.6 when accepted. Nevertheless, I believe the program is still rather competitive, but they look beyond the GPA in evaluating applicants.</p>
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<p>ok, good to know!</p>
<p>I'm currently in the process of applying for the Oxford program, and from the people I've talked to, it's also important that you show you're going to take advantage of being abroad (aka, you're not going to stay in the williams house the whole time, only socializing with williams students) and get involved in extracurricular activities there. Also, they take into account whether the departments you're looking to take classes in are ones that play to Oxford's strengths (like English, History, Polysci etc)</p>
<p>Would philosophy fall under the category of strengths?</p>
<p>And good luck, rhapsodynshadow. You wouldn't happen to be a Rhapsody fan, would you?</p>
<p>The selectivity of the Williams-Oxford program varies drastically from one year to the next.. In the past few years, there has been at least one where fewer than 25 Williams students applied to the Williams-Oxford program. The result is that students from other colleges were allowed to attend Williams' program. During another recent year, I heard rumors (rumours in Oxfordian) that more than 100 Williams students applied. </p>
<p>Also, not everyone accepted to the Oxford program attends. Some students prefer to be JAs; others go to LSE, Cambridge, or other study abroad programs. I have one friend who was accepted to the Williams-Oxford, and decided at the last minute that she simply, "didn't feel like spending a year in England." She happily remained at Williams for her junior year.</p>
<p>Finally, I'm somewhat skeptical about the 3.7 threshold (though Oxford's appeal might have escalated since my graduation). Only about 15 percent of each graduating class has a 3.7 GPA or higher (3.7 is roughly the cutoff for magna cum laude, which requires a student to be in the top 15 percent of their graduating class). This means about 75-80 Williams students in each class maintain GPAs above a 3.7. Many of these students are science majors, who rarely even consider going to Oxford for their junior year. Of the non-science students, I'd imagine that many don't have any real desire to attend Oxford or have alternate study abroad plans.. Again, this whole spiel is just speculation on my end.. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>i would definitely take advantage of the opportunity! Oxford has incredible history and politics programs.</p>
<p>MikeyD223:
You need to remember that selection for the Oxford program takes place during the sophmore year. At that point, I suspect that the number of students having at 3.7 GPA is considerably higher than the number that will have that GPA at graduation. Also, I think that your estimate of the number of students with a 3.7 or above at graduation may be low for recent years.</p>
<p>Well.. I graduated fairly recently, so I'm assuming that not too much has changed in the past several years..</p>
<p>At most colleges, students tend to achieve higher GPAs as upper classmen, and I doubt Williams runs contrary to this trend.</p>
<p>I agree the GPA's tend to go up as students progress through the upperclass years. They've figured out what they need to do to succeed, and they are taking more classes in their major - which presumably is something they do well in.</p>
<p>My impression is that a 3.7 is an excellent GPA at Williams.</p>
<p>Evidently my children's experience at Williams is atypical. I can believe that. I guess that I just didn't realize what a fine line there is between average and excellent at Williams. I do know that a 3.5 GPA won't merit cum laude status (top 35% of class).</p>
<p>Again, these vary from year to the next.. During my year, a 3.5 would have gotten you cum laude</p>
<p>MikeyD223--A few years ago (4 now I think) Williams beefed up the Exeter Programme pretty significantly (the building got a renovation and Williams students became "visiting students" instead of "associate students" and got full access to everything at Oxford). Since that change I doubt there has been a year that fewer than 50 Williams students applied; in fact, interest in the Programme has been so strong from Williams since that change that Williams now no longer even considers applications from other colleges.</p>
<p>Now, for those interested in applying, the good news: I know students who've gone to Oxford with sub-3.5 GPAs. Sure, most people in the Programme, to my knowledge, had 3.6s or above, but never everyone (in the past 2-3 years) as far as I can tell. The moral of the story is that a high GPA will help you get into the Programme, but a lower one (3.4 or so are still obviously impressive GPAs at Williams) won't kill your chances. Incidentally, I know of at least one applicant with a 3.8 who was waitlisted (but eventually got in off the waitlist). Williams cares about the complete package.</p>
<p>As my username suggests, I graduated last year. I wasn't interested in the Oxford Programme (I went to LSE junior year), but I talked to a few people that did it. One said about 27 or 28 people applied, and this was three years ago. So, the change may have been more recent (or maybe my class just wasn't all that enthusiastic about the program).
Also about GPAs, I don't know what the exact GPA cutoffs were for my class, but I understood that 3.3 was about average and 3.5 would have gotten you cum laude.
In terms of choosing whether or not to go there, you'll get mixed reviews based on who you ask. Invariably, people say it involves a ton of work, so you have to be interested in whatever you're studying or it'll really suck, especially since the classes you take there will count towards your GPA, unlike other study abroad options. Another thing to consider is the city of Oxford -it obviously has more going on than Williamstown, but it's still not a particularly happening place. I went out to Oxford for a day and found some cool things to do there, but I don't think I would have been able to spend an entire year. Finally, while you would have access to all the facilities at Oxford, you'd still be living with other Williams students. You'd be able to meet others in class and in various extracurriculars, but it wouldn't be quite the same. In studying abroad, one of my objectives was to meet people from England and other countries, not just hang out with other Americans or people I already knew, and I intentionally chose a dorm where the majority of students were domestic (despite the fact that 60% of LSE students are foreign). I have kept in touch with and gone back to visit some of the students living in my dorm, and I don't think it would have been the same experience if I was just living with other Williams students. I also made friends on the crew team at LSE, but the people I was hanging out with for the bulk of time were the people I lived with.
So it depends what your objectives are. If academics are the most important reason, then Oxford is a great choice. If you want the whole package out of your study abroad experience, though, then I'd go for a school in London (or any major city, for that matter).</p>
<p>Williams07--</p>
<p>I am also an 07 and I heard directly from the Dean at Williams that our class at Oxford was very competitive. I've heard from people in the administration that over the past several years that the numbers applied have ranged from the 50s-90s. Most commonly, WEPO is cited by the administration as being marginally less competitive than JA, which would indicate that it averages somewhere in the 60s-70s of applicants for the 26 spots. </p>
<p>On the subject of Oxford being hopping, no, it's no London. That said, there are more bars/pubs than you'll be able to visit in the year and several decent clubs (I think 5-6 in total, 2-3 which, in a given year, are pretty solid).</p>
<p>I got in! I'm really looking forward to spending next year at Oxford.</p>
<p>My understanding is that this past year was substantially less competitive (something like 35-40 applicants) than it usually has been.</p>