Oxford vs Cambridge

<p>What are the difference btwn them? Which is netter at which subjects and is the the difference in the environment there? Which is tougher?</p>

<p>Honestly they are much more similar to each other then anywhere else. In the UK the most important thing is the subject you are applying for. Decide on that, then come back with further questions.</p>

<p>^ That’s what my counselor says as well. My counselor also added that Cambridge tends to be a bit more traditional and Oxford a bit more modern but I don’t know how true this is…</p>

<p>It’s quite the contrary: Oxford is “more” traditional, whereas Cambridge was always the place of three thinkers. Of course, compared to any other institutions, both places are really traditional, but this would hardly effect your experience.</p>

<p>Academically Cambridge tends to be superior (yeah, I’m at Oxford, but I would have to stay at Cam). According to the current rankings:</p>

<p>ARWU World: Cambridge 5, Oxford 10
QS World: Cambridge 1, Oxford 6
Times World: Cambridge 6, Oxford 6.</p>

<p>Be as it may, both are top 10 universities, even if Cambridge have the edge in sciences (it’s an old theory that “Oxford for humanities, Cambridge for sciences”, but it was a result of a misunderstood Times article back in the time of the foundation of UCL - I’m not talking about this, but recent tendencies). Surely, Oxford educated far more British prime ministers than Cam, but nowadays the number of Nobel prize winners matter.) In my area, Oxford may be slightly better, but the difference is quite small, frankly.</p>

<p>It’s a mistake to apply such arbitrary labels as “traditional” and “modern” to Oxford or Cambridge. Both have colleges which are very traditional, and both have very modern and open colleges - one university is not less forward and open minded than the other.</p>

<p>Which one has better engineering or medicine?</p>

<p>Are you allowed to apply to only one program at each school through UCAS?</p>

<p>I don’t know which one is better for engineering or medicine; I suspect there’s no material difference. You shouldn’t be asking which one is better, but which one is better for you - there will be differences in course structure, environment, colleges etc. These are the things you should base your decision on.</p>

<p>Yes, you can apply to as many different programmes as you want, five at a single university if you wanted - but this is inadvisable, especially if the subjects are as different as medicine and engineering. Your personal statement should reflect your passion for whatever subject you’re applying for. It will be near impossible to configure it in such a way that says I love medicine and engineering.</p>

<p>When two majors were picked for Cambridge and Oxford, it is warning that more than one can not be picked. </p>

<p>In US, you do undergrad and then go to medicine. So people do whatever they want including engineering. So those are the two choices to select in each school, engineering or medicine without deciding right now whether to do medicine in UK or just do an undergrad and apply for medicine in US.</p>

<p>Cambridges’s engineering program and department are hugely superior to Oxford’s. Idk about medicine, as it’s a more popular subject I imagine there will be less difference between the Universities.</p>

<p>Texaspg, we’re not discussing the US; you asked if it’s possible to apply to more than one programme at the same university, I answered in the affirmative but warned you against it unless the programmes are very, very similar. Was there anything else you didn’t understand?</p>

<p>Dionysus - Why the attitude dude? Being in London makes you think you are Moses?</p>

<p>I am in US and yes we have a lot more choices. If Oxford and Cambridge don’t like people applying to both engineering and Medicine, I don’t give a rodent’s behind. An admission there is not paramount at this point. But they do visit good old USA and give lectures and want to collect premium tuition by recruiting students. The do have a presentation a couple of weeks somewhere around these parts.</p>

<p>texaspg - you can only apply to 5 Universities through UCAS, and you have to decide between Oxford and Cambridge you cannot apply to both. OP i would advise looking at their respective websites which will give alot of information about each course, I would view Cambridge as the more science-y university, however this is mainly die to the fact the largest course it offers is Natural Sciences, where as Oxford offers single choice in Chemistry, Biology and Physics :)</p>

<p>I don’t have an attitude - but it is irksome when someone asks a question which they could have answered themselves with a bit of research, only to disregard the answer. What does my being in London have to do with anything?</p>

<p>By all means apply to both, and get rejected from both. You’ll only have yourself to blame.</p>

<p>Thank you GGUK. </p>

<p>We have listed two courses at Oxford and two at Cambridge and get the following errors.</p>

<p>You cannot apply for more than one course at Oxford.
You cannot currently apply for more than one course at Cambridge. This is only possible if the courses are A100 and A101 and you have a suitable degree or will have been awarded a suitable degree by 30 September 2012.
You have chosen a course at the University of Oxford and a course at the University of Cambridge.This is only possible if you already have a suitable degree or will have been awarded a suitable degree by 30 September 2012.</p>

<p>I never knew that. My friend applied to read law at Cambridge and Oxford last year, but maybe the rules are different for graduate/second degree students. This is why you should do your own research instead of asking people on the internet, even people in London make mistakes.</p>

<p>“we’re not discussing the US” & "Was there anything else you didn’t understand? " Please don’t talk down. No one is that dumb around here not to understand what you are saying. I thought I was trying to provide some background to the thought process but you don’t seem to care.</p>

<p>You are talking to a parent in US who is assessing the chances of getting a kid into a medical school in UK as being remote and requiring a different choice to go with medicine if one can’t get in and still wants to attend a school in UK for undergrad and get back to US for medicine. Btw, I talked to a rep from edinborough in March who said they have 20 international seats and a total of 1 was awarded to north america to a kid in Canada for this year. So I can see how competitive getting into medicine can be at either cambridge or oxford for an international student.</p>

<p>Cambridge is ranked higher, but both are prestigious.</p>

<p>I’m sorry if you thought I was ‘talking down to you’, I wasn’t. If I was a little sharp it was because you’re asking a really rather foolish question and doing so in an annoyingly disjointed way. I don’t enjoy having to decipher posts and work out what it is they’re actually asking or saying.</p>

<p>Yes your child can apply both to medicine and other courses in the UK (except, apparently at Oxbridge). It would however be inadvisable to do so unless the back-up choice is very similar, biomedical sciences or something like it. You should also ignore every post which has told you Cambridge is better than Oxford in the sciences.</p>

<p>Also, your child can only list 4 medicine courses and 1 non-medicine course on UCAS. I would suggest, if your child does put down a non-medicine course, that it should be similar to the medicine course e.g. biomedical sciences. </p>

<p>I would also suggest applying to Cambridge instead of Oxford, not because it’s better in any way, but because they make more offers for medicine for overseas applicants. </p>

<p>Cambridge: [4.1</a> Medicine and Veterinary Medicine: Cambridge Admissions Office: Undergraduate Admissions Handbook 2010-11](<a href=“http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/section4/4_1.html]4.1”>http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/section4/4_1.html)

</p>

<p>Oxford: [Admissions</a> statistics — Study Medicine](<a href=“http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics]Admissions”>Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics — University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Division)
[International</a> applicants — Study Medicine](<a href=“http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/applying/international]International”>Medicine: International Applicants — University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Division)

</p>

<p>And if your child is offered an interview for medicine, he/she will have to fly to Cambridge/Oxford for it.</p>

<p>The best you can do is to look at the world (and UK) rankings to have at least some ideas about the ranking of each department and course.</p>

<p>At a graduate level, you can apply to both Oxford and Cambrdige and, although it’s highly unusual, you can apply to numerous courses in each, there are indeed no restrictions. At an undergrad level, however, it’s all different…</p>

<p>Cambridge is ranked higher basically everywhere, but their prestige is about the same.</p>