Its that time of year again where the Oxbridge offers come out and a large majority of people are rejected. Unfortunately, that is just the way it is with Oxbridge. Two years ago, I was in exactly that situation and I want to take some time to reflect on how my rejection from Cambridge impacted me.

I had worked incredibly hard on my application to study English at Cambridge, as most people do. I had spent hours drafting and redrafting and redrafting my personal statement, I believe I had clocked up about 13 drafts by the time I sent the final one off. I’d done endless practice ELAT tests (the admission test for English). I’d persuaded my teachers to do practice interviews with me and requested that they asked me the hardest questions they could.

I felt that my ELAT could have gone better, but I was pleased with how I had performed in my interview. When it came to the day that the emails were being sent out, I was nervously refreshing my account every few minutes. I remember shaking as it finally arrived and I opened it. I scanned over the first few lines and saw the fateful words. I had been rejected.

I felt as if everything was over for me. My whole life I had planned on going to Cambridge to study English, it was what I felt I was destined to do. I took a minute and composed myself. I spoke to my teachers and they commiserated me. And then I got over it. I realised that I had only ever wanted to go to Cambridge so I could say I had been there. I’d even had conversations with my friends where I had considered rejecting them if they had given me an offer.

I can now proudly say that I go to the University of Exeter and I 100% believe that I am happier here than I would ever have been at Cambridge. The staff here are so incredibly supportive and always have their doors open to me. In fact, many of the fantastic lecturers I have met since I have been here have actually come from Oxbridge but moved to Exeter because they believe it to be a better atmosphere. The quality of education I am getting here is fantastic and I don’t think I have missed out on anything by being rejected from Cambridge.

My beautiful housemates and friends

I know that for me personally, the high-intensity and pressure of Cambridge would have been more than I could handle. I am stressed enough with the workload here, I would not have been able to cope with the increased workload that comes with being at Cambridge. I also firmly believe that the selection process for Cambridge means that you are in an environment that breeds competition among peers and a pressure to do better than everyone else. I know that I do not thrive in this sort of environment and I am glad that the admissions tutors saw that that would be the case.

I want to end this post with some words of advice for anyone who is crushed at their rejection. I know it seems like this situation is the end of the world, but I can promise you that it will not define your future anywhere near as much as you think it will. If you haven’t already, visit what was going to be your second choice of university, really immerse yourself in what living in that place is going to be like. If you can get yourself excited about where you are going to go instead, the process is going to be a lot easier. Know that wherever you go will become your home so quickly. I cannot imagine myself at anywhere other than Exeter and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

I also highly recommend checking out Jack Lawrence’s really heartfelt open letter to his friend that got rejected from Cambridge. He’s got a lot of great advice in there!

I’d love to start a conversation in the comments below about what big things you feel you missed out on and why you’re glad in the end that you did!

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