The Oxbridge Delusion

Oxford and Cambridge are arguably the most famous universities in Britain, if not the world. Their reputation far exceeds that of other universities and is often linked with academic excellence and social upheaval. The spires of the Oxford Bodleian library are recognised worldwide and the universities form a long established tradition of leaders attending them, the question is; does an Oxbridge education really give you that much of an advantage?

Some may argue yes, an obvious indication of their success can be seen by the fact that many of those in the top professions have attended Oxbridge, with more than 80% of high-court judges and 38% of MP’s attending either Oxford or Cambridge. This figures makes the obvious choice of most bright student when asked where they want to attend, to be Oxbridge.

However, despite many of the most high-profile jobs being taken by Oxbridge alumni, the starting graduate salaries surprisingly is higher at other ‘less profile universities’, London-Southbank university for example, despite being less reputable than Oxbridge is in the top 10 universities with the highest graduate-starting salaries along with Manchester, Warwick and the London Universities. Oxford and Cambridge came fourth and fifth on the list with average graduate earnings being £28,000 a year, a mere £3000 over the national average. With students from less competitive universities receiving on average, higher-starting salaries, why the obsession with Oxbridge?

Listening to Michele Obama’s speech, telling inner-city girls to aim for Oxbridge, wouldn’t it be fair to assume that Oxbridge would be accessible to those who work hard enough? However this assumption is often unfounded since despite being the ambition of many bright teenagers, to attend Oxbridge, there still exists to this day, a long established socio-cultural link between Oxbridge colleges and the leading private schools.

There is a hugely disproportionate representation of privately educated students at Oxbridge, and research conducted by the Sutton Trust Charity shows that private school students are 55 times more likely to get accepted into Oxbridge than public-sector students. Five private schools, including Eton, Westminster School, St Pauls Girls, St Pauls Boys and the City of London School for Girls, in the years 2009-10, sent more students to Oxbridge than 2000 lower performing schools combined. This is a clear sign of social elitism still being practised at these two universities, and despite Cambridge claiming that more than 50% of their undergraduate-intakes are from state-schools, this is still hugely disproportionate seeing as state-schools make up 80% of students whilst 20% coming from private schools.

Despite being reputable amongst employers and academics alike, and having arguably the finest pool of academics attending, the Oxbridge dream is often just a dream for many since the universities are evidently too elitist to be deemed as accessible to even the hardest working students. This makes the choice of applying to a less renowned but more accessible university be seen as an option to bright teens, who must also be reminded that despite being one of the most famous universities, success isn’t limited to Oxbridge.