Having a degree from Oxford means having a very solid foundation to fall back on if it all goes wrong, making it less risky to take a chance on your ambitions working out. If you think about what was studied at Oxford in the Middle Ages, you might not have thought of science. Drawing on learning from the Classical period and from his Islamic contemporaries, he promoted the use of the scientific method. He contributed to a revision of the university curriculum, encouraging the study of optics, in his time covering the study of light, vision and the development of lenses.
More recent trailblazers to have studied at Oxford include Dorothy Hodgkin, the biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for her work on protein crystallography. In , she became only the third woman ever to be awarded a first-class honours degree from Oxford; this was 16 years before the University of Cambridge even began awarding degrees to women. A little like successful actors, writers usually need a day job or a wealthy spouse to support them while they become established.
For those relying on a job rather than a spouse, this can also take a strong work ethic, to come home from a nine-to-five job and then get back to the desk to write all evening. Going to Oxford can help with all of these: job prospects are of course very good, but it also leaves its graduates with the ability to handle a punishing workload.
The current editors of the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday, the Morning Star, the Economist and Private Eye are all Oxford graduates, and their writing staff are disproportionately drawn from Oxford too.
Broadcast media, too, is dominated by Oxford graduates; of the 18 Directors-General that the BBC has had since its foundation in , six have been Oxford graduates, including the current one. Why is this so? Pulling an all-nighter to get the second essay of the week ready for the deadline is closely related to the demands placed on journalists.
A recommendation, such as from an old friend at university, goes a long way. The city of Oxford, as much as the university, is known for its role in international development. There are thousands of universities in the world but only a few stand out from others and become the most famous and legendry. These include- Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, Yale and many more. But among them also, there is a university, almost ten centuries old with a rock-solid reputation of producing the best leaders and researchers across the world, and a class that no other university can match; it is the University of Oxford.
So, what makes Oxford so famous and prestigious? People generally connect the greatness of any institution with its age. Older the institution, the greater its reputation. And Oxford is really, really old! It was established in the year , making it the granddad of most of the universities in the world. Jokes apart, it is the second oldest university in the whole freaking world! First, Oxford and a few years later, Cambridge; these two were the only universities present in England until Whatever the reasons may have been but Oxford has been the flagship university of England since then.
Alumni are considered a major factor in determining whether a university is top-notch or not. After all, they are the end products that universities have produced.
They are the real-life proofs of the greatness of Oxford. This affects the mindset of students, professors, or investors while choosing any university. Oxford's Ashmolean Museum was the first museum in the world to be opened to the public when it was officially opened in according to the Guinness Book of Records.
The University of Cambridge was actually founded by Oxford scholars who fled the first of many 'Town versus Gown' riots that erupted in Oxford in following the murder of a local woman by students. As you walk around the Colleges, be sure to look up once in a while. All over Oxford's buildings are gargoyles technically 'grotesques' as these don't spout water - some in the shape of faces, some animals, some entire people.
The keenest of eyes will spot the funnier ones - the one picking his nose, the one going to the bathroom At the bottom of the stairs in the Great Hall at Christ Church, there are the words 'no peel' burned into a door. This 'graffiti' dates back to the 17th century when the college doctor prescribed potato peels as a means of warding off the Black Death.
After many breakfasts and dinners of plates of potato peels, the students finally protested, and the dreaded diet was dropped. Sadly, the above legend is not true. I recently learned the truth from a porter at the college - it is, in fact, the oldest form of graffiti on record the words were nailed into the door and was a protest against the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel who was in office 30 August — 29 June Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, was a real girl named Alice Liddell.
Lewis Carroll , who taught at the College. Dodgson spent much time with Alice and her family, and immortalized her in his books. The staircase leading up to the hall was actually used in several scenes in the films. The comma used before a conjunction such as "and" or "or" in a list of three or more items is known as the Oxford Comma. The phrase "shoes, bags, and hats" is written with an Oxford comma, but "shoes, bags and hats" is not. The term Oxford Comma comes from the Oxford University Press, where the use of the comma is standard.
The name Oxford comes from the old term 'Oxanforda' which literally meant a ford shallow crossing in the river where the cattle Oxen could cross safely. The famous street light is just a couple of metres away on this small Oxford street too!
Roger Bannister, a medical student at Oxford University, was the first male to run a mile in less than four minutes! He ran a mile in 3 minutes and He wanted to get a divorce from his wife who was Catholic, which was very difficult under the Catholic religion at the time!
He sent his trusted right-hand man Cardinal Wolsey over to the Vatican to ask for a divorce, but the Pope refused. Tragically, as a result, all of the books were taken out of Bodleian library and burnt. Thankfully, Thomas Bodleian donated all of his collection to the library to try and restore it — but only 3 of his books survive today in this collection. The University of Oxford has since then replenished the library and it is very much thriving. This is a far better death than what was most likely waiting for him.
Henry VIII was well-known for torturing people! Unfortunately they could only fit three. Instead, they mapped out the entire college and built their own version in London.
However, plenty of tourists still flock here believing they will see the exact halls! The good news is that you can see the Great Staircase here as well as the cloisters the students walk through in the film.
Hence, there are no technical properties in the Radcliffe Camera, but many history books! All the books are available online so not many students venture in, but there is a tunnel with a conveyor belt that connects the Bodleian library to the Radcliffe Camera. If you need one of the books, it will come from the library to where you are. Oxfam, the Oxford Committee for Famine, was founded in Oxford in and the original building is still an Oxfam store on Broad Street.
However, 20 years later as a wedding present for Alice, he wrote the whole story down and gave it to her in a book.
Thankfully, she managed to convince him to publish it by encouraging him to choose a pen name. He chose Lewis Carroll and the book is now a cherished story. The lovers were separated and did not see each other again, but Alice had a son and called him Leopold and Leopold had a daughter and called her Alice.
All Souls College is by far the most prestigious academic institution in the world. And getting in is extremely difficult!
Only 80 can apply per year and only 2 students get in: sometimes just 1. You will have already have to have done an Undergraduate degree and a Masters and the entrance exam is known to be the hardest University exam in the world.
Instead, applicants must very much creatively think out of the box and argue their answers well, in order to stand a chance of entering. If you are lucky enough to get in, you can stay as long as you like! You are given British pounds per month along with accommodation and food.
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