Oxford/Cambridge?

TSRPolymath
Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:19:42 +0000

@orangelogic, @collegeready1234 same question, same answer :p

"“I heard that the pretense that Oxford is more humanities-friendly and Cambridge leans toward the sciences is false. Is that true?”

As orangelogic said, over the last 8-900 years Oxford has been more known for its humanities, with strong Philosophy/PPE courses.

However, this is not even remotely true anymore, and both universities work WITH each other to ensure this - they consider each other’s course content and adjust so that the decision of university is made easy for you.

For example, Cambridge only offer Natural Sciences, whereas Oxford offer individual Sciences - this is deliberate to make the choice easier and ensure that the right students end up on the right courses at each university.

Cambridge make you study 2+ languages if you enroll on their MFL course, whereas Oxford allow you to do just one.

Cambridge have less combined degrees (Oxford have PPE, M+P, CS+P etc.) but they allow far more flexibility in switching each year (it would not be uncommon for you to do, say, Maths for two years followed by a year of Physics).

Cambridge’s Philosophy program, for example, is outstanding, and many famous philosophers came from Cambridge. Cambridge also have far more people in the media, especially comedy/acting.

Ignore any of the sweeping statements and look at the course breakdown - there is no correlation of Cambridge = Sciences and Oxford = Arts at all."