Wadham Rocks! (Oxford University in general)

Member Name: Feef

Product:	Oxford University in general
Date:	17/12/00 (1285 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Open, tolerant, wonderful people.

Disadvantages: Supposedly not rich!

silly spelling mistakes corrected 01/01/01 (oooh, what an exciting date!)


Okay, you've decided to apply to Oxford. But there are just sooooo many colleges- how do you choose? Well, I'm not exactly writing from a balanced perspective, since obviously I only attend one college- but I think it's such a fantastic place that I've just got to sell it to you (um... metaphorically)!

Wadham is one of the lesser-known Oxford colleges, and also one of the less ancient ones (1620-ish, I think). But I think that being less famous than, say, Magdalen, St John's or Christchurch may have its advantages, for some people at least. I imagine there's less competition to get in, and once you're in, there's a much more laid-back atmosphere. Wadham only requires you to ponce about in gowns when it's absolutely necessary (matriculation and exams, where the university insists on it). None of this dressing up as batman just to eat dinner for us Wadhamites!

There may be disadvantages, in the sense that our college has less money than the larger, older, more famous ones- they tell us we're a relatively poor college, but I can't say I've ever noticed evidence of that. 'Less stinking rich' might be a better way to put it. They pour free wine down our throats at every opportunity, give us £350 each towards renting accomodation in the second year, provide a 24 hour library and computer room with free internet access, and provide a rocking if somewhat cheesy party (ahem, 'bop') every fortnight. Wadham 'Queer Bop', I might add, is one of the most fantastic nights you could have in Oxford, despite its intense weirdness.

All first years and finalists get accomodation on the college campus. The rooms vary widely in style but not in standard- they're all really nice and all cost exactly the same (at present it's about £75 a week including dinner and cleaning). Many fresh
ers, like myself, get put in a so-called 'shared set', even if they wanted a single room. But I absolutely promise you, sharing is great. You have your own bedroom, the only difference from single rooms being that you get a slightly smaller bedroom but a shared living room instead. This gives you the opportunity to have loads of people in your room at once (but don't call it a party or you'll get thousands of people descending on your peaceful gathering!). Almost everyone I know who ended up sharing loves it.

Wadham is the only Oxford college with an SU rather than just the JCR. I'm not particularly involved in student politics so I'm not sure how much of a difference this makes, but be assured that if you want a politically active student body, Wadham is the place for it! ('Free Nelson Mandela' is sung after every party to celebrate the role Wadham played in opposing Apartheid and the subsequent visit from the man himself, and Amnesty letter-writing takes place in Wadham every week).

In addition, Wadham was this year the only college to have an entire week of organised Freshers' activities. Yet more free booze! We also have a college 'family' system, i.e. you're allocated second year 'parents' to look after you in the first few weeks. It meant that by the time some of my friends going to other colleges arrived in Oxford, I had already settled in and made some really good friends. The Freshers' week is a bit of a whirl and a bit scary, but it's so much fun and so brilliant in making the Wadham community so cohesive.

As an overall summary, Wadham is where you should apply if you want to work hard but also have a really friendly, fun, supportive network of people around you. Everyone of every year socialises with everyone else, and there is a great deal of openness and tolerance (hence our healthy mix of people of all nationalities, social backgrounds and sexualitie
s). If you don't want to wallow in tradition and be surrounded by people showing off about their wealth or the school they went to (even if you're incredibly rich and went to a great school), apply to Wadham. Wadham rocks.

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