Working class? Don't think that Oxbridge is for you.

I wonder how many bright young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have got into Oxbridge but then felt like a fish out of water, having nothing in common with other students?

It doesn't matter.

She can't tell people that they can't aim for Oxbridge because they are working class.

I had very little in common with other students at the university I went to, which was by no means Oxbridge.

Germanshepherdsmum

I wonder how many bright young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have got into Oxbridge but then felt like a fish out of water, having nothing in common with other students?

Then time the working class contingent was upped imo

They are trying to do that wwm but there will always be a good many from wealthy backgrounds.

volver

It doesn't matter.

She can't tell people that they can't aim for Oxbridge because they are working class.

I had very little in common with other students at the university I went to, which was by no means Oxbridge.

There's a rather funny (in the sense of 'if I didn't laugh I would cry') passage in Fiona Hill's book where she describes a conversation she had with a student from a privileged background when she was at St Andrews.

Basically it went along the lines of "We need all the advantages that our wealth brings us because otherwise the clever working-class students will take over and that would upset the social order"

Germanshepherdsmum

They are trying to do that wwm but there will always be a good many from wealthy backgrounds.

But the more students from working class or middle class background then the more they will each have someone to identify with.

It is really only the Bullingdon types that may cause an issue.

And there are plenty of them.

According to the House of Commons Library ‘for the last two decades both Oxford and Cambridge have taken more than half of their entrants from state schools. The latest rates are 67% for Oxford and 68% for Cambridge, or somewhat higher if overseas students at UK schools are excluded. These rates have generally increased over the past few decades with particularly large increases in the last two years.’
To ask students to aim lower, whatever their background, is supremely patronising, they should all be aiming for the highest they are capable of achieving. In reality those who make it from working class backgrounds are amongst the brightest of their generation because they have had the odds stacked against them from the beginning. It’s most likely only elements like our esteemed PMs Bullingdon Club that are discriminatory once they arrive.

Cross post WWM2 we were obviously thinking along the same lines!

My son went to a state school but didn’t come from a disadvantaged background - professional parents. State school figures alone mean nothing.

Using your logic GSM, numbers of working class students at Oxbridge would never increase in case they were upset by being a minority!

I’m suggesting that some disadvantaged students would be happier, and maybe perform better, elsewhere. Suicide rates amongst students don’t make for pleasant reading.

A friend's daughter from a working class family went to Oxford. She was thoroughly miserable. She felt out of place and different. She was constantly sobbing to her parents on the phone.
Eventually she left, went to a different university, was happy and got her degree. I realise it works for some.

I have one Cousin Oxford and my Niece Cambridge.
Both state schools, both had an amazing time and now fabulous careers.
Neither had any problems.
My niece shared a house with a World famous drummers son, she was the sensible one in the house who they all looked up to.

My friend's daughter went to Oxford after attending a state school, in an area of high deprivation.
She later became a professor there.

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m suggesting that some disadvantaged students would be happier, and maybe perform better, elsewhere. Suicide rates amongst students don’t make for pleasant reading.

You can’t operate like that! Back in the day when a working class student would have been like hens teeth in oxbridge, my cousin had a scholarship to Oxford. He survived and flourished - ended up in the Treasury which he loathed and spent his career working for the IMF.

Yes he came across idiots but apart from telling some hilarious tales of their stupidity Bute given my cousins intellect, they don’t seem to have worried him in the least, and this is what the country so badly needs very bright individuals, without any sense of entitlement and snobbery.

Did they come from disadvantaged backgrounds though, visgirl? That’s the point, and having a state education doesn’t mean you’re disadvantaged. Oxbridge bend over backwards to take students from state schools nowadays. But imagine coming from a background where people had no table to eat at and being plunged into dining in hall, with more cutlery to cope with than you’ve ever seen.

OH came from a family ‘up North’ that couldn’t afford a council house until he was 15. So no bathroom or loo in the house he grew up in. He passed his 11+ and went to Grammar School. Got into Oxford, which he loved. Captain of his College football team and made lots of friends, some of whom he still sees.

Almost any young person who came from a house with no table but still got into Oxbridge would cope with dining in hall!

GSM -I'm sure the dinning room, would be a problem?
My niece was also given a personal bursery which all students are entitled to, as they don't want the Student to go out to work. As a family we always sent her back with food parcels, to save her money. ( I also did when he was at University, not Oxbridge)
How much you get depends your circumstances, no one asks.
Don't underestimate these student, they are not all "Brats"

Less than 1% of all students drop out of Oxford or Cambridge Germanshepherdsmum. That’s much lower than most universities. It’s very patronising to suggest that coming from a working class background means you don’t have good table manners. Working class doesn’t mean you don’t have a good upbringing in a large proportion of cases you know.

Not be a problem

I didn’t suggest that Casdon. I said that some might not have eaten at a table at home. Nothing to do with table manners, just feeling totally out of your depth. I know a little of what I’m talking about - one of my son’s best friends, from a very disadvantaged single parent family up North, had a hard time at Oxford but stayed the course. He was far from happy though.

Most Oxford students I’ve known have been far more concerned about being able enough academically compared with their peers to stay the course, as having been the brightest at school they are plunged into a world where everybody else is very academic too. Background doesn’t come into it - except for a few student groups who consider themselves elite (mainly entitled idiots who the other students take the Micky out of these days).