Oxford OR Cambridge

[Erudite]

Someone told me that you can apply to either Oxford or Cambridge, never to both, at undergrad level. Is there a reason for this? Moreover, will they find out if you apply to both now that your other UCAS universities are not revealed to universities you've applied to?

Also, how do you decide which college to apply to? Which are the best for law? They all seem super!

Thanks!

Erudite.

[Gaby]

You can't apply to both. And apply to Oxford. Oxford is just cooler. (It's not like I'm saying it just because that's where I applied...)

You decide which college you want to apply for by reading the prospectus and eliminating by things like localisation. However, e.g. I applied to Merton and was reallocated pre-interview to New. You never know. You can also apply as undecided, and you'll be automatically assigned to one of the colleges.

[elaifyanre]

In the UCAS system, you can't apply to both Oxford and Cambridge. So I think if you fill in both the apply system will just not accept it.

http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/undergraduate/filling-your-application

Another restriction is that you can only apply to one course at either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. There are exceptions though – if you'll be a graduate at the start of the course, and you're applying for graduate medicine (course code A101) at the University of Cambridge, you could then also apply to medicine (course code A100) at Cambridge, as well as graduate medicine (course code A101) at the University of Oxford. (Some applicants will need to complete an additional application form to apply – visit the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge websites for more information.)

[Fermat]

Just out of curiosity, why can't you apply to both? I was under the impression that you could apply to ANY 5 uni's...

[zexing]

i heard that you can't apply to both so they can limit the number of applicants

that's also, i believe, the only exception to the 'any 5 unis' rule

[flinquinnster]

You can't apply to both. And apply to Oxford. Oxford is just cooler. (It's not like I'm saying it just because that's where I applied...)

You decide which college you want to apply for by reading the prospectus and eliminating by things like localisation. However, e.g. I applied to Merton and was reallocated pre-interview to New. You never know. You can also apply as undecided, and you'll be automatically assigned to one of the colleges.

Wow, I actually did not know this - oh no, now I shall have to decide which to apply to (e.g. which I think will be more likely to accept me). I'm presuming that you obviously also cannot apply to more than one college at the university?

Just to add another Oxbridge-related question, is it disadvantageous to do an open application? I honestly cannot decide, so this would seem the easiest thing to do, but I'm worried that it might look less dedicated/more lazy.

[Gaby]

You can't apply to both. And apply to Oxford. Oxford is just cooler. (It's not like I'm saying it just because that's where I applied...)

You decide which college you want to apply for by reading the prospectus and eliminating by things like localisation. However, e.g. I applied to Merton and was reallocated pre-interview to New. You never know. You can also apply as undecided, and you'll be automatically assigned to one of the colleges.

Wow, I actually did not know this - oh no, now I shall have to decide which to apply to (e.g. which I think will be more likely to accept me). I'm presuming that you obviously also cannot apply to more than one college at the university?

Just to add another Oxbridge-related question, is it disadvantageous to do an open application? I honestly cannot decide, so this would seem the easiest thing to do, but I'm worried that it might look less dedicated/more lazy.

You can't apply to more than one college within a university. Submitting an open application is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage - a system will automatically assign you to a college, the college will not know whether you chose them yourself or submitted an open application (from what I can recall). Also, do not try playing with the statistics - if they want you, they'll take you. Also, it is often the case that once you're in Oxford doing interviews, you will be sent to other colleges to do extra interviews, and one of those colleges might take you.

No harm in trying, I'd never thought I'd get an offer, and yet I did.

[Award Winning Boss]

You can't apply to both because they'd just end up with twice as many applicants. Then if people got both offers, many would put Cambridge as a firm and Oxford as an insurance since Oxford's offers tend to be lower. It'll slow down the application process quite a lot. If you play the organ to a very high level then you can apply to both because of the organ scholarship.

[ChocolateDrop]

You could go by academic reputation Oxford for [better known for] humanities, (arts and social sciences) whilst Cambridge [stronger reputation] for sciences, (engineering and medicine). The differences are slight. So for going by reputation alone, do law at Oxford.

http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/choosing-university/oxford-or-cambridge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford%E2%80%93Cambridge_rivalry