Oxford University was recently ranked as the top university in the Times higher education world rankings. Cambridge was ranked third in the same league table and the two universities, colloquially known as 'Oxbridge’, have consistently featured at the top of numerous university league tables - both domestically and gloablly.
What is less commonly known, or shared, is the experiences of students from ethnic backgrounds who have studied at either of these two universities. We have invited students and recent graduates to share honest, current and thoughtful insights into their university experiences at Cambridge or Oxford.
Dabi Odugbemi
Dabi Olu-Odugbemi is a 21 year old BA (Law) graduate from Cambridge University. Before Dabi started at Cambridge, she attended Sevenoaks School where she did the International Baccalaureate and prior to that she went to Day Waterman College in Nigeria.
So why did you chose apply to Cambridge?
"I applied to Cambridge because I wanted to study law and I knew that it was one of the best universities in the world offering a law degree. The summer before I applied, I was fortunate enough to attend the Cambridge Immerse summer camp, which provided attendees with a taste of what studying and living in a Cambridge college was like. I really enjoyed the experience and that motivated me to apply."
What was your first year at Cambridge like?
"My first year at Cambridge was quite challenging. I think this was because I was trying to get settled into this completely new environment, while finding that my workload had more than tripled and the intensity of the work was like nothing I had experienced before. Trying to keep up with the rigours of my degree while maintaining a social life proved quite difficult. Additionally, I had learnt about how competitive getting a job in the legal field was and so I had started applying to internships and was coming up to London multiple times a term for Open Days.
All of these activities took their toll and I struggled a bit with remaining optimistic and having good mental health. However, I made good friends in my first year largely through the African Caribbean Society (ACS). The ACS became a huge respite for me in my first year and knowing that I had an ACS event to attend at the end of the week would motivate me to complete my work as efficiently as possible so I could enjoy the event. By the end of my first year, I had settled into a good rhythm of law-societies-social life- job applications."
And how did you find the rest of your degree?
"My goal for my second year at university was to get more integrated into Cambridge. After finishing first year with solid marks, I knew that I could cope with managing my work and thus it was time to branch out and meet more people. I tried to attend more college activities in a bid to make more friends and I made a few. However, I think one thing that marked my first and second year was feeling slightly left out and a bit isolated. I’m not sure if there was anything that anyone could have done to help it, but I felt a lot like I didn’t understand things.
My humour didn’t quite click with everyone else’s and my perspective on life was very different from that of my non-ACS friends. Nights out became slightly tasking for me- I would go because I didn’t want to appear anti-social but the whole time in my head, I would be overanalysing everything and the introvert in me would scream to go home. So, at 1.30am, when I could finally take no more, I would bid my friends adieu and book my uber. I finished my second year at Cambridge with multiple job offers and a strong 2.1 but I still didn’t feel like I had gone to Cambridge. I also realised that I hadn’t yet felt truly happy and as summer 2018 came to a close my feelings about returning to university were, at best, tepid.
I tried to take control of these negative feelings by casting my worries to God. I spent the week before returning to Cambridge praying and fasting; I committed my goals and desires to God and started third year with a more open heart. It’s incredible because my final year was an amazing year! I was Co-Head of Food and Drink for the Fitzwilliam College Winter Ball, an event that catered to over 1250 people, I made amazing, life-long friends and I graduated from Cambridge with a first-class law degree."
What were the things that you enjoyed most about Cambridge?
"May balls!! May balls are these incredibly elaborate events that take place at the end of each academic year (to celebrate the fact that you survived). They are usually black or white tie and have unlimited food and drink, acts, games (literally anything from bumper cars and Ferris wheels to virtual reality). Performers have ranged from Fuse ODG to Mumford and Sons. I think the best way to describe a May ball would be festival meets red carpet, which sounds really weird, but honestly it just works."
Overall, would you say you enjoyed your time at Cambridge?
"I honestly also really enjoyed my degree. Law was incredibly challenging, but I found it to be very fulfilling and would not have wanted to study anything else. The supervision structure at Cambridge makes studying a degree really enjoyable as well. Supervisions are one to two-hour sessions with a supervisor who is an expert in that particular field and two to three students. It’s an opportunity to ask any questions that have come up from the reading, but also provides an opportunity to debate the topic with your supervisor who has oftentimes written some of the articles from your reading list.
Finally, I really enjoyed the vast amount of opportunity that students at Cambridge are given. You can get involved in virtually anything from human rights societies, to investment and finance to the Shiela and her Dog Society (don’t ask). In the summer of my first year I was given the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong for five weeks through an Oxbridge society and that was one of the highlights of my university experience.
On the whole, I think Cambridge is what you make it. Like anything in life, there will be lows but there can also be amazing highs. I don’t regret any part of my experience because it has taught me so much and moulded me into the person I am today (and I quite like her). "
Salif Jalali
Saif Jalali graduated from Cambridge in 2019 with a First-Class degree in Law. Saif grew up in the USA but moved to the UK in 2012 after his mom passed away and has been in the UK since he was in year 10 doing his GCSEs.
Why did you apply Cambridge?
"Honestly, I wasn’t really the most academically inclined kid. My school was pretty bad, and I had always been more focused on friends/sports/socializing than my education. When you couple that with the really unexpected circumstances I found myself in this country as a result of, school wasn’t really my priority. I finished my GCSEs with 3A*s 4As 2Bs. So pretty good objectively, but nowhere near the standard 12+ A*s you hear about from many Oxbridge candidates (hell, I only had 9 GCSEs total anyway).
That being said, at A Level I decided to really buckle down. If I’m being honest, I only chose Cambridge because I googled “best place to study law” and Cambridge was ranked #1 that year. I didn’t know anyone who had been there or anything about it. I just refused to take no for an answer. It’s all pretty blurry to tell the truth, but I can tell you for sure it wasn’t really much of an informed decision."
How did you find your first year of Cambridge, in terms of study/integrating into university/making friends?
"I hated first year with a burning passion. In fairness though, this was probably partly my fault. As I said, I had pretty much no idea how Cambridge operated. I knew we had a college system, but hadn’t really grasped the full extent of how school-like that could be. In my first year I pretty much exclusive chilled with people from college and, with the exception of a couple of people, my college didn’t really have people that were into similar stuff as me. That made me feel really isolated. Coupled with the workload (which I don’t think anyone can really understand before experiencing it) and life wasn’t too great."
Did this change in your remaining years at Cambridge and if it did change, why do you think so?
"Absolutely. I knew I had to make a change going forward. So I pretty much started over in second year. Went out to tons of societies, played university sports, etc. I met pretty much all of my closest friends in second and third year. Big shout out to the Cambridge University Hip Hop Society!"
What were the things you enjoyed most about Cambridge?
"From second year onwards, I found a twisted humour in being a minority, hip-hop loving, basketball playing, American guy at Cambridge. I found the place to be pretty homogenous, so ticking all the other boxes made me laugh a lot in terms of how un-relatable certain cultural elements of Cambridge are. I honestly almost burst out laughing the first time I heard someone speak Latin before a formal. That all sounds very cynical, but it was actually a really sick learning experience. Although I found a lot of it funny, I can definitely say I’m a lot more culturally enriched having come out the other side."
What challenges did you face at Cambridge?
"Honestly, my biggest complaint is probably a moot point considering we all signed up for it and it isn’t really hidden from us even from the point of first applying. That being said, I think the Oxbridge academic system is horrible anachronistic. 8-week terms with impossible amounts of work only to have a 6 week “break” that consists of little more than working to understand what the hell went on in the past 8 weeks? Why not just take more time in term to guide us slightly more? 4 hours of supervision time per subject per term is pretty scant when you think about the ridiculous amount of content we cover. Imagine having 4 hours to discuss a thousand pages of textbook reading/detailed law? Doesn’t really make sense to me, but hey, maybe I’m just not the smartest tool in the shed. Just my two cents."
Boma George
Boma George graduated this summer with a 2.1 in Law from Balliol College, Oxford and will be starting starting her LPC in January 2020. Boma is from Lagos, Nigeria and will also be starting a training contract in August 2020 with a Magic Circle firm.
Talk us through your decision to apply to Oxford to study law.
"My journey to Oxbridge was a reluctant one, as I was adamant that for me it was London or nothing. I had my heart set on LSE or UCL and didn’t even want to apply to Oxford and jump through its extra hoops when I’d never go there. This is what I told anyone who would listen, and even tried telling myself. On some level, however, I didn’t want to apply simply because I was afraid that I couldn’t get in. I had the grades, and parents, peers and teachers alike were all confident in my ability. Though they told me this daily I had trouble believing them, and covered this lack of self-belief by making every argument as to why applying would be a waste and why LSE would be a better fit for me.
Fortunately everyone could see right through my stubbornness, and I was strongly encouraged (if not practically forced) to at least give it a go. On the other side, I’m grateful to everyone who made sure I didn’t let fear prevent me from experiencing the best three years of my life so far, and I can say going to Oxford was the best decision I could have made."
What was your first year of Oxford like?
"Having just said that, my start at Oxford could not have been worse. I genuinely cannot remember most of the first two weeks of first year, but what I vividly remember is how lonely I felt. I am very much an ambivert, but during Freshers’ Week I completely retreated into my shell and found the very in-your-face organised fun incredibly overwhelming, not to mention my genuine offence at the many Taylor Swift-themed club nights.
I wish I could pinpoint what caused that all to change, but two weeks in at the first college party I found myself laughing and chatting freely in a circle with a group of my soon-to-be housemates and closest friends. From that point I became more comfortable, and as soon as I opened up to Balliol I had no trouble making friends and acquaintances. I was especially grateful for the relative diversity in college, both in terms of ethnicity and my year in particular having a big international community."
Were you a part of any societies at university?
"Yes, I also began to build my community outside of college, joining ACS and Law Society right away. I participated in other activities, but these are the two that really helped define my time at university. Through Law Society I was exposed to the many different firms, including the one at which I’ll spend the next few years of my life, as well as getting to know the type of people I’ll be working with. There’s a strong “corporate type,” and Law Society helped me realise that a social education and learning to network may be just as important an academic one.
For better or worse the people I met here more often than not made up over half the room of the many open days and insight schemes I attended, and it was not uncommon for my interviewer at a firm to be an Oxford alum himself. The Oxbridge name opens doors and can kickstart relationships, and attending Law Society made that immediately clear.
The African Caribbean Society was a home away from home, and as dramatic as I am I nearly cried when I got my plate of jollof rice during our first meeting at the very end of Freshers’ Week. Being in a room full of people that looked like me, listened to the same music as I did and ate genuinely seasoned food was a breath of fresh air after having the loneliest week of my life. Though I never felt quite so low following the aforementioned college party, ACS never lost this feeling of home. "
There’s been accounts of racial issues at Oxford university, did you experience any of those personally?
"Throughout my time at Balliol, I luckily never faced any racism, whether overt or implicit, nor microaggressions of any kind. Especially when compared to the daily horror-stories I heard from others, I can genuinely say I was never made to feel 'othered' or apart in any way. Even so, it was impossible not to be conscious of being the only black person in a room, or to wonder if my neighbour would have something to say if I played my hip hop or afrobeats a little too loudly. This was never a worry when amongst my ACS friends, and I looked forward to the weekly meetings until the very end."
How did you find studying at Oxford?
"Any account of life at Oxbridge must mention the workload, which is as heavy as they say. From the first week of first year I was writing three 3,000 word essays every two weeks, with a tutorial for each. I would essentially read out my essay to my tute partner and tutor, and then spend an hour defending what represented a day or two of reading against comments and criticisms from a world-renown academic with decades of expertise in that very topic. An Oxford term is 8 weeks of this non-stop cycle, churning out essay after essay with little time to sit and really reflect on what you’ve learned until the holidays.
The infamous “fifth week blues” can be very real, and by this point the bags under everyone’s eyes were semi-permanent. There is no way to sugar-coat how difficult the work is but making it all worth it was the sense of accomplishment I felt each week, turning in and doing well on an essay written on a topic I didn’t even know existed days prior. I learned how to turn nothing into something and hold my own even if I may not be the smartest person in the room, and I know now that even if faced with a task that feels impossible today, I’ll find a way to get it done tomorrow."
How would you personally summarise your experience at Oxford?
"Looking back just over a month after graduation, I think I made the most of my time at Oxford. Among other activities, I was Balliol’s Law Society representative, ACS Events Officer, Captain of the college netball and women’s football teams, regularly attended Union talks and debates with all sorts of speakers, and went on nights out as regularly as my patience for pop, cheese and techno would allow.
I genuinely believe I made friends for life, some of whom I’ve just come back from holiday in France with, others I’ll be working with and one I’ll be living with this year in London. Of course there were some people who just could not “get me,” nor I them, and at times that meant I was very aware of being outside certain Home Counties/London private school circles. Through it all, however, I feel like I was able to stay true to myself the whole way through, and I gravitated towards people who brought out and accepted the many different sides of me that I may not have explored anywhere else."
Looking back, would you say you are glad to have applied for Oxford?
"I am forever glad to have pushed through my fear and applied despite my self-doubt, and would encourage anyone in the same position to just go for it. Don’t talk yourself out of the challenge, because you could be robbing yourself of an experience unlike many others. I can’t say that I woke up smiling ear-to-ear every single day, but even at my lowest points I considered myself incredibly lucky. Although I’m excited for the next chapter I miss Balliol already, and I know for sure that I’ll always cherish my time at Oxford."
Emmanuel Goriola
Emmanuel Goriola is a final year law student at Selwyn College Cambridge.
Why did you choose to apply to Cambridge?
"For a few reasons but I suppose the main reason was that I wanted an academic challenge and Cambridge is obviously renowned as one of the best academic institutions in the world, so I guess the prestige played into it too. I also thought it would be good for my future and enable me to find a training contract more easily. Finally, I liked the homely sound of the college system."
How did you find your first year of Cambridge, in terms of study/integrating into university/making friends?
"With regards to integrating into Cam, I was in a fairly privileged position because I had a friend from school going to my college and that definitely helped to ease the transition. However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about moving into an unfamiliar environment with people very different from me. But I immersed myself in College life relatively quickly and made friends quite easily through sport.
With regards to studying, I struggled at first because I hadn’t mastered the technique of answering essays and legal problem questions and wasn’t aware of the most efficient ways to take notes. However, I was really blessed to have great supervisors and a good director of studies that made clear what my weaknesses were and how I could improve my written work. After mocks going okay but not as well as I had hoped, I saw a noticeable improvement in my work from Lent term onwards and especially in exam term."
Did this change in your remaining years at Cambridge?
"My second year was quite different to my first year because I severely tore my meniscus playing football at the start of the year. So a lot of my second year was spent on crutches, preparing for surgery and then recovering from surgery whilst going to frequent physiotherapy. This meant I couldn’t play sport and initially struggled to move around Cambridge and even get to lectures. However, Selwyn supported me a lot and paid for all my taxis to supervisions and physiotherapy. I also still had a good support network of friends who were there for me during a difficult time in my life.
Second year was also busy for me because I was juggling applications for vacation schemes and training contracts with acting as president of my college’s law society. So second year I ended up just having more on my plate.
My third year was completely different because I did an Erasmus year in Madrid and studied Spanish law for the year. Having this contrast made me realise how great the teaching is at Cambridge and how much more support we get academically. The year was considerably more laidback, and I got to pursue other interests, develop my Spanish and experience a new city, culture and way of life. Nevertheless, absence does make the heart grow fonder and I am looking forward to going back."
What were the things you enjoyed most about Cambridge?
"Being away from Cambridge for the year I think has made me romanticise it and I look back very fondly at the social side of things. I have missed a lot of the things I did in college and getting involved in the sport teams.
I have enjoyed the academic challenge of studying law, especially criminal law, tort law, land law and family law. As well as the general exposure to law events and opportunities that I have had access to."
What challenges did you face at Cambridge?
"Throughout my time at Cambridge, I’ve had to put up with slight elements of ignorance, but I have just had to learn to pick my battles. It could vary from patting my hair when I had a high top, to people comparing their skin tone to mine after they go on holiday or just small absentminded comments.
I also didn’t like the fact that there seems to always be a strong social pressure to always partake in certain activities regardless of the cost.
There have been occasional bigger challenges such as my knee problem in second year."