On Monday Riazat Butt presented a programme on Radio 4 about how to get into Oxford.
One of the keys, she said, is knowing what you want to study & being passionate about it.
And that of course is the big problem for some people – especially if the choice of subjects is restricted. I suspect that the opportunity to put off that commitment is a big factor in the growing popularity of American universities for our brightest & best.
It is very difficult to make such a commitment when you are sixteen or seventeen, indeed I wonder if the supposed gap between summer & winter babies does not widen when faced with this choice, since the summer babies will be having to seal their fate when nearly a whole year younger than their form mates.
The narrowness of the choice may also serve to increase the perceived drawback of Oxford to those from the so-called disadvantaged backgrounds, who will not necessarily have the contacts & acquaintances to show them that a degree in, say, history or classics does not close off career options. Bernard Donoughue made this point in his autobiographical book The Heat of the Kitchen; his Oxford scholarship & first class degree were not quite enough to give him the confidence & knowledge to parlay that into a career at the Bar which he later rather hankered after.
The programme also, indirectly, made the point about another huge advantage of an Oxford education (according to one of my best friends): learning how to bluff. One young man managed to win through despite having to admit at interview that he had never read a single one of the books by Maynard Keynes. Not a problem in the ordinary course of events, but he had used his personal statement of application to declare himself a Keynesian economist. Talking one’s way out of that, persuasively, really does demonstrate strength & determination to fight, & his tutors will not have to work too hard to perfect that ability .
