pre-mba: college selection process

I've written elsewhere on this blog about how "Oxbridge" differs from many American colleges (or any college for that matter) in that Oxbridge uses a system of Colleges whose role is to matriculate, care for, and graduate their students. Undergraduate students apply directly to their College of choice, rather than to the University itself. It differs for graduate students, who first apply to the appropriate program department (i.e. b-school). Then, once accepted, the student must produce a "financial guarantee" (unlike American colleges) that proves they can finance the tuition and room & board (I needed to prove 48,000 pounds total). MBA students must also pay a 15% down-payment credited toward tuition within 30-days of the acceptance offer to secure their seat in the program. Only then, does a student's "dossier" (aka: application) get forwarded on to their first (and if need be, second...and so on) choice of Colleges. All accepted grad students are guaranteed College admission, the twist is...where?

By latest tally, students can choose to have their application sent to any of the 38 Colleges and 6 Private Halls. The 5 oldest Oxford Colleges are: University, Balliol, Merton, Exeter, and Queens. However, GreenTempleton is the de-facto b-school College. Plus, Worcester is most closely located to the b-school. Also, I hear that St. Hughes has the best food, although it's located in northern Oxford (Jericho). Further, if you're a rower (1 out of 3 students row at some level at Oxford), then Oriel might be the choice for you (just watch "Oxford Blues" with Rob Lowe). You can see that students pick Colleges for many different reasons & they are all wonderful choices!

It might help prospective Oxford MBA students to know how my own time-line unfolded. I applied to the Oxford MBA program for the Round 2 deadline on 01/16/2009 (there are 4 Rounds). I found out that I was accepted on 03/27/2009, which was the R2 admission decision deadline (early notification is only given if you are under time-pressure to choose between a competing MBA offer). Things moved fast. I paid my deposit 15-days later, because I wanted to get a jump-start on my classmates for College selection. 

I had my application sent to Balliol first, which happens to be the most popular College at Oxford (as measured by the total volume of applications received). I heard that in the past Balliol had accepted just 1 MBA student who happened to be a Rhodes Scholar from Harvard that had majored in micro-cell biology. Still...it didn't hurt to try. Balliol received my application on 04/27/2009, the same day my "financial guarantee" was confirmed by Oxford (I was waiting on my student loan approval. It took me just 5-business days from application to approval through SallieMae, but don't wait!) Unfortunately, Balliol rejected me 2-weeks later. 

Without hesitation I called, and had my application forwarded on to Exeter College, which is centrally located on Turl Street. Exeter also provides recently renovated housing for its grad students for low cost at Exeter House on Iffley Road. Home to J.R.R. Tolkien during his undergrad years, Exeter College also served as the setting for the fictional "Jordan College" in the movie, "The Golden Compass," based on the book(s) by former Exeter student, Philip Pullman. If you can't already tell, I was accepted by Exeter on 06/02/2009. They took just 8-days to make their decision. In another post I will write more about Exeter College and post some photos. in the meantime, enjoy the "Admission tips" below:

Admission tip #1: no matter what they say, you improve your chances for acceptance (and getting your choice College) by applying in Round 1 or 2. Later Rounds do get more difficult as space fills up, and students start looking less unique. By R4 you better have a 700+ GMAT, a 3.5+ GPA from an Ivy-league college, have worked for an investment bank or management consulting firm, and have spent 2-years as a Peace-Corp volunteer building schools in Africa.

Admission tip #2: it is critical that you email (and call to follow-up on your email) the Oxford administrator in charge of College placement, otherwise, you will invariably get lost in the crowd. Although they will get to you eventually, you can't afford to miss even a week as spaces fill quickly. Christ Church and New College filled-up before R2 students were admitted for the 2009-2010 academic year. And, similarly, the following colleges were full before R3 students were admitted: Balliol, Brasenose, Exeter, Jesus, Lincoln, Magdalen, Merton,  St. John's, and Worcester. 

I think that the most prestigious remaining choices for R3 and R4 students are (in alphabetical order): Corpus Christi, Oriel, Pembroke, Queens, and Trinity. I think that Oriel is waiting to admit an Olympic rower. And it appears Trinity only accepts SBS scholarship winners. Meanwhile Queens offers no housing, which has undoubtedly deterred some students from applying. Some of the other Colleges fill quickly because they take few MBAs (1 each for Balliol & Magdalen) while others possess the holy trinity of prestige, academic rankings, and central location (8 each for Merton & Brasenose). In fact, Brasenose just opened very desirable grad housing directly across from the b-school for 2009! But, perhaps, Christ Church stands alone as the penultimate of all the Oxford Colleges having left indelible images in both literature (Alice in Wonderland, Brideshead Revisted) and in the movies (Harry Potter) - plus, it's filthy rich! (their £228,744,460 endowment as of 2006 is the 2nd largest endowment of any Oxford College other than St. John's)