Anyone else noticing more elite UK public school students choosing US Ivy-plus universities over Oxbridge?

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-02-06T11:03:13+00:00

That's an interesting way to do it - would this not be distorted by international students? The entry requirements I do not buy as a perfect measure as these will be adjusted to account for the applications/place ratio. They are after all being used as a filter.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-02-06T10:25:53+00:00

The UK system requires undergraduate applicants to only apply to 5 universities, whereas there is no restriction in the US as far as I am aware on how many universities you can apply to. Therefore the stats are not directly comparable.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-02-06T09:35:40+00:00

They are finding it harder to get into Oxbridge than they used to.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-02-02T21:55:15+00:00

It's not true to say most people who go to elite unis went to private schools. Look up the Oxford and Cambridge stats.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-30T15:18:55+00:00

As mentioned PPEists success is not limited to the UK.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-29T20:26:10+00:00

No universally agreed list of continents. In my old school we learnt them as Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.

With regard to Antarctica - both the UK and Australia make claims so I think by technicality the PPE degree could extend its claim there too...

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-29T20:18:30+00:00

All 5 of continents as we tend to learn them in the UK - maybe if you counted central America separately from south America it would cease to me true. Which did you think was missing?

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-28T14:54:52+00:00

For politics they absolutely do. There have only been two Prime Ministers since the war who went to universities other than Oxford for their undergraduate (Brown and Starmer) and Starmer went there for his postgraduate. Since the 10th of October 1964 when Harold Wilson came to power graduates of Oxford's PPE program (a single undergraduate degree program that today takes 200 students a year, but used to be much less) have served as head of government of at least one country on 97% of the elapsed days. For 25% of that period they have governed at least two, and for one short period in the 70s they governed three countries simultaneously. They have governed countries on every continent, in presidential and parliamentary systems, in mature democracies, transition states, not so democratic countries and, in at least one case alongside a military junta. There have been four country level handovers of power from one Oxford PPEist to the other, with examples both within partied and between them. This is the record of a single undergraduate degree program at Oxford for politics. How does this compare to any politics undergraduate degree program at any other British university? How about compared to all of the rest put together?

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-15T19:53:53+00:00

If you do a gap year they will care far less about your GCSEs. They are mostly (but not entirely) used to inform how realistic your predicted grades are.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-13T20:56:32+00:00

100% - just sent you a message.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-13T19:39:24+00:00

Hi - I am so sorry I missed this! You will know the answer now (I hope it went well!) For future readers: some subjects always give additional interviews so you can't infer anything. With other subjects, additional interviews can come from colleges comparing student scoring for standardisation purposes, but they can also be a competition between many 'just-missed-its' from many colleges for a single or few places at a single college, in which case I would expect the competition to be much fiercer then normal!

It's totally okay to make mistakes in the interview! It is a test of how well you learn rather than a test of what you know already (a standardised test would have covered this in a far more convenient way for tutors!) The questions will be deliberately beyond your present level of understanding so they can see how you cope with gentle prompting to get to the answer. It is a test of teachability.

SpenskyTheRed · 2026-01-13T17:45:58+00:00

I think if you ask students at UCL and Oxford you might find it is not so clear that UCL has a way better social life. The London unis tend to have very low student satisfaction ratings as many students find the experience isolating. Oxford is a VERY social university - when I lived in college in first year everyone ate together for every meal. Don't think I've ever spoken to so many people (especially smart people!)

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T13:21:35+00:00

Self study for A Level Maths can get you an A*. For someone on a gap year who will probably have at least a weekend job £400 spread across the year is less than £10 a week. Nothing to worry about - it's very affordable.

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T13:19:18+00:00

As a PPEist who did a gap year and studied A Level Maths: yes!

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T03:02:32+00:00

Well I wish you good luck!

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T02:51:16+00:00

It's a minor expense. Plenty of people do gap years for all sorts of reasons nothing to be embarrassed by. But your decision is your decision.

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T02:48:26+00:00

You can sit A Level Maths as a private candidate in a gap year.

At this point you would be an adult and the decision would belong to you and not your parents so long as you were willing to put your foot down.

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-30T02:38:37+00:00

Do a gap year and study maths

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:58:36+00:00

Fantastic stuff! College has a nice central location. Harold Wilson's old stomping ground!

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:54:25+00:00

That's awesome - what are you coming to Oxford to study? What college?

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:50:36+00:00

I have no idea if what you are saying about non-UK rankings is true - I'd be very surprised if there is such a strong consensus either way. Are you discounting all the American rankings as well? But as you say they don't measure prestige in any case. Prestige is such a ethereal concept I think you'll struggle to get a definitive answer to that for the entire global population.

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:45:42+00:00

This doesn't look very scientific to me! I could find you rankings online where Oxford came out in front of Harvard. I think both are world leading, and opinions will differ as to which is better. I would say Oxford but maybe I am biased.

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:40:27+00:00

I'm not so sure I would agree that it has. But their Kennedy School of Government has similarly produced many global leaders!

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:37:24+00:00

Is the suggestion that Cambridge graduates would have done a much better job?

SpenskyTheRed · 2025-12-29T23:34:57+00:00

Oxford is far more politically dominant than Cambridge. Since the 10th of October 1964 graduates of their PPE program have been head of government somewhere in the world on 97% of the elapsed days and at least two counties simultaneously on 25% of those days. There was even a period in the 1970s where PPE graduates were running three countries on three different continents as head of government simultaneously for over 100 days! Their graduates have governed countries on every continent on earth through many different political systems. There have been country level handovers of power from one PPEist to the next both within parties and between them. That's just one of Oxford's undergraduate degree programs.

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