Oxford or Cambridge? The study experience compared
According to age-old convention, you can’t apply to Oxford and Cambridge at the same time (as an undergrad, at least). A choice has to be made, and it can be daunting. What’s the best way of picking?
Having been lucky enough to study at both (Oxford for undergrad, Cambridge for my Master’s), I’ve got something to say about the differences. A warning from the start: it doesn’t really matter which you choose. You can’t go wrong. Your choice of college will probably have much more impact on your experience than your choice of university.
That said, there are important differences and it’s as well to make an informed decision. I’ve picked out the aspects that I think actually make a difference to your experience.
Chances of “getting in”
I mention this to get it out of the way—there’s no meaningful comparison at all to be made about your relative chances of “getting in” to one or the other. It depends entirely on your subject, college, admissions tutor, your mood on the day, their mood on the day, and a whole host of other factors that rank higher than whether you pick Oxford or Cambridge. You might prefer to sit a test pre-interview (more common at Oxford) or at interview (more common at Cambridge), but this depends on your subject. There are lots of more interesting ways of making the choice: don’t do it on this ground!
Subject-specific differences
This can make a significant difference. Studying the same subject at one university can be an entirely different experience from studying it at the other. Take my subject: at Oxford, Classics is a four-year course with a 10:2 ratio of teaching to exam terms, compared with Cambridge’s three year course and a ratio of 6.5:2.5. I sat 11 exams in my final two weeks at Oxford; in Cambridge it would have been more like four. These are considerable differences—read the website carefully and you’ll get a sense of what you prefer! Open days help too, but might tell you more about how well a few carefully-selected academics can sell their subject than it does about the course you’re going to be studying.
Working habits
Whichever you choose, you’ll be doing a lot of challenging work. That goes with the territory (though you will get used to it!). But there are a couple of important differences in how that work is spread over the year.
In Oxford, most subjects don’t have exams every year. For humanities subjects, it’s common not to have any exams in your second of three years. Sciences are different, but plenty of subjects have big sets of exams at odd times: second-year medics, for example, take their big set of exams at the start, rather than at the end, of term 3. There’s a lot to be said for the exam-free summer term—that’s where the best memories are made—but there’s a flipside. In Oxford, it’s standard to have “Collections” at the start of each term: mock exams set by college tutors on the previous term’s work. How seriously they’re taken varies greatly by college, subject, tutor and student, but they do have the capacity to swallow up the last couple of weeks of vacation. That said, they’re incredible exam practice and make going into exams for the real deal far less intimidating.
In Cambridge, it’s slightly different. Pretty much everyone sits exams around the same time in the summer term (called “Trinity” in Oxford and “Easter” in Cambridge). For most subjects, only the ones in your final year count towards your degree. This can be a blessing and a curse: some people like the sense of camaraderie that comes as everyone goes through the same experience together, others hate the sense of collective stress! One perk: there’s a glorious week of parties (see “May Week” below) to celebrate when they finish. A second perk: as a rule, Cambridge doesn’t have Collections, so your vacation will be much sweeter.
Towns
This really does come down to individual taste—the best thing is to visit both (though I didn’t…) and see which you prefer. On a hot June day (both towns get those occasionally…), both towns heave with tourists; sunlight sparkles on spires and warms the cold stone; the air is filled with the ringing of church bells and bike bells (the latter more or less futile as cyclists try to weave through crowds of students and tourists). Both let you escape the town within 20 minutes’ walk and go swimming in the river.
Cambridge is smaller, is more compact, has slightly more chain shops and restaurants and less diversity. Oxford feels slightly less like Disneyland for adults and slightly more like a functioning city. Oxford has a couple of good supermarkets in the centre; Cambridge really doesn’t (which makes a bigger difference than you think). If you like modernist architecture, you’ll love the University Library in Cambridge; if you don’t, then you’re bound to feel at home Oxford’s Bodleian. For me (speaking entirely for myself), Oxford edges it in the end because of the Cowley Road—a mile-long stretch in the south-eastern corner of Oxford that feels a million miles from the gleaming spires. It has loud graffiti, good Indian and Caribbean and Syrian and Italian food, bars and clubs that feel more at home in Bristol or Brixton than Oxford. Cambridge’s Mill Road is a pale imitation. Sometimes you want to feel like you’re not in Brideshead Revisited, and Cowley Road is your ticket out.
Extra-curriculars
These really are almost identical. Same sports, same societies, same student politics scandals, same student newspapers, same drama. Not much to go on here—you’ll find plenty to do at both.
Nightlife
Until fairly recently, I would have said the nightlife at Oxford is significantly better. Cambridge is confined to a few small, sticky clubs that like to play Mr Brightside a lot. (Cambridge students love to complain about them but get defensive if anyone else does!) Oxford used to have a pretty respectable club scene—lots of live music, big variety of nights—but a series of club closures are rapidly bringing it down to Cambridge’s level. That said, it still edges Cambridge out for now—and has much better kebab vans.
Balls and summer fun
The biggest difference is probably that Cambridge has “May Week”. At the end of June, the exams stop and the parties start. This is when the balls and the garden parties and the punting happen, when you finally get to do the things you’ve made plans to do all year but never have. It’s absolutely glorious. That said, it can also be divisive. It’s not uncommon to go to more than one ball, a lot of them cost over £100, and if they’re not your thing at all it can be a bit tedious.
Oxford doesn’t really have an equivalent. Balls tend to be spread over Trinity term, with the biggest at the end (though often so late that people go home then come back just for the balls). That said, you will get at least one Trinity term without exams, so you can spread the fun out. Again, there’s a lot to be said for both!
This article was written by Tom (Oxford & Cambridge- Classics).
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Author: Tom - Oxford/Cambridge
BA/MPhil Classics
I’ve been lucky enough to study Classics at both Oxford and Cambridge. This means I’ve had experience of the admissions systems at both universities, as well as of the important differences in teaching and course structure.
