[HDNG]INTRODUCTION:[EHDNG][PARA]The oldest university in Britain and, along with Cambridge, probably the most famous in the world.  It is split into 36 colleges and 6 private halls, which all have their unique features - hence, Oxford's catch-phrase: '...except for some of the colleges'.  Each college is self-managing, though applications are co-ordinated centrally and the University also provides many central facilities.  On the following pages, [PUSH]push[EPUSH] spills the beans on undergraduate colleges.  3 of the 6 'Permanent Private Halls' are dissected on the following pages - the others are Campion (Jesuit), Manchester (mature students) and St Benet's (Benedictine).  There are also 6 graduate colleges (Green College, Linacre, Nuffield, St Anthony's, St Cross and Wolfson) - for further info about these, please contact the University at the above address.[PARA]The citizens of Oxford manage[ITAL] to avoid virtually all contact with students despite their influence.  It's a bit like one of those Escher drawings where monks walk up and down the same set of stairs, but are completely ignorant of each other's existence.[EITAL]  It is, however, impossible to ignore the stunning elegance of Oxford, the city of the 'dreaming spires'[ITAL] [EITAL]of colleges' chapels.  Around every unassuming corner is a scene from everyone's stereotypical image of Oxford with the River Cherwell or the Thames (or Isis, as it's called around Oxford) completing the picture.  The buildings in the city centre, date from every century since the years reached four figures.  They are all connected with the University, but these are interspersed with shops, supermarkets, houses and all things civic.  Just 10 miles out of the city are the villages and hills of the Cotswolds.[HDNG]LIFE IN OXFORD:[EHDNG][PARA][ITAL]If someone says s/he's a student at Oxford, people will immediately think of intellectual superiority, gowns, teddy-bears, jugs of Pimm's and 'Inspector Morse'.  [EITAL][PARA][ITAL]      The stereotypes are - as are most stereotypes - true in part.  Oxford is indeed a hive of tradition - it is the elephant's tusk from which the original ivory tower of academia was carved.  It is full of pomposity and circumstance and some of the students are as intelligent, and some are as arrogant, as the myths tell.  On the other hand, some are not so special nor so intimidating and nobody should assume that everyone will be brainier or richer or more deserving than them.  The legends of excellence mainly spring from an utter intensity of activity.  At Oxford, it is just not 'the done thing' to concentrate on your degree to the exclusion of all else.  Not that students don't work hard - they do.  Very.  And no-one should underestimate the work involved.  But Oxford students are also constantly active in other ways too: in politics, debating, sports, drama, the media or tiddlywinks.  They almost all find some untrivial pursuit.  Almost, but not all.  Oxford, like anywhere else, has its bar-proppers and room recluses.   [EITAL][PARA][ITAL]     Life for many is centred around their colleges.  Unless students live out, they eat, sleep, play and work in their college.  In theory, it would actually be possible to avoid ever leaving and rumour has it that this is what some dons - as tutors are called (but not by students) - have been doing for centuries.  Students, however, usually find the colleges, which range in size from 90 (Regent's Park) to well over 600 (St Catherine's) are altogether too claustrophobic for 24 hours a day.  The atmosphere varies enormously from college to college, from the supposedly stuffy Magdalen to the tentatively trendy Wadham.  It would be almost as big a mistake to apply to any old college (or new college, for that matter), as it would be to apply to just any university without discretion.  Features worth watching for are whether the college does the course you want to do, how big it is, the sex ratio, the accommodation, where it is and how it's designed (St Catherine's buildings are uncommonly modern for Oxford, and New College is ironically, very old). [EITAL][HDNG]THE CITY:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Population: 109,000 [BULL] London: 55miles [BULL] Bristol: 55miles [BULL] Birmingham: 55miles[ESTAT][PARA][ITAL]If tourists want to 'do' England properly, they must 'do' Oxford.  They must tour the colleges, go for a punt on the river and possibly drop in to one of the city's many museums:[EITAL] the famous Ashmolean (archaeological and artistic treasures); the Bate Collection; Christ Church Gallery; History of Science Museum; Museum of Modern Art; the Oxford Museum; the Pitt Rivers and the University Museum.  However, it's not all atmospheric shots from 'Morse'; real people do also live in Oxford and for them there are plenty of shops (including 2 shopping malls), banks, a market, public libraries, and enough new and 2nd hand bookshops[ITAL] to fill a village on their own[EITAL].  On the seedier side, there are also 2 brothels in Jericho, North Oxford.  Also,[ITAL] amongst Oxford's more dubious honours,[EITAL] the city has one of the worst homelessness problems outside London.[HDNG]TRAVEL:[EHDNG][PARA][BOLD]Trains: [EBOLD]Trains draw up at Oxford Station, close to the steps of the city's most central colleges.  Main line service to London, Paddington (1hr), Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, etc.[PARA][BOLD]Coaches: [EBOLD]As well as National Express, there are 2 other coach companies (Oxford City Link and Oxford Tube).  [ITAL]For London, the bus is much cheaper, more frequent and only slightly slower than the train. [EITAL] National Express services to London (£5.50, 1:40hrs, every 20mins), Bristol (£1.10 2:25hrs,5/day), Birmingham (£6.50, 1:25hrs, every 2hrs).[PARA][BOLD]Car:[EBOLD] 5 mins off the M40.  Also on the A40, A34, A23, A43 and A420.  However, there is very restricted access to the city centre and parking is either limited or expensive.  Car theft is also a problem - remember the University is only a few miles from the infamous joyriders of Blackbird Leys.[PARA][BOLD]Hitching: [EBOLD]Pretty good on the M40 or the larger local A roads, but get out of the city by bus.[PARA][BOLD]Local:  [EBOLD]Several local bus companies with frequent and cheap services (40p to get as far as digs in Jericho), [ITAL]but they're not really worth it for shorter trips[EITAL] and they give up at about 11pm.[PARA][BOLD]Taxis:[EBOLD] Enough of them, but they cost about £3 a mile.[PARA][BOLD]Bicycles:[EBOLD]  [ITAL]Ah yes.  Paradise on pedals.[EITAL]  Oxford is flat, many roads are closed to cars and most colleges have sheds. [ITAL] Everyone cycles - it's an integral part of being an Oxford student.  Two words of warning: (i) a good lock and a cheap bike is the safest defence against theft; and (ii) pedestrians, beware of pedal-powered hells angels. That's 21 words. [EITAL][PARA][PARA][ITAL][HDNG]LIBRARIES and COMPUTERS:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA][ITAL][STAT][BULL] Books: 8million[ESTAT][EITAL][PARA][ITAL]Contrary to popular belief, Oxford students tend to spend more time in libraries than pubs.  This isn't just because the opening hours are longer, but also because the choice of libraries is virtually unparalleled.[EITAL]  The famous Bodleian Library is the collective title given to the University's main research libraries (including the Radcliffe Science Library, Hooke Library, Bodleian Law Library, Rhodes House Library and Indian Institute Library mainly housed in the Old and the New Library Buildings, the [ITAL]architecturally astonishing [EITAL]Radcliffe Camera and the Clarendon Building).  It is one of the country's 5 copyright libraries which means that it can demand a copy of any book published in this country and, as a consequence, it has over 8 million books, including [PUSH]push[EPUSH].  Only 859,000 of these - yup, a mere 859,000 - are on open shelves and most of them can't be borrowed.  In fact, Oxford students don't have the right to use the Bodleian, until they've undergone one of the University's many bizarre initiation rituals.  Like so many others, this one involves wearing subfusc (gown and white tie) and swearing oddly practical oaths such as agreeing not to set fire to the buildings.  Nude dancing and sacrificing virgin goats is not usually an essential part of this ceremony. Pity.[PARA][ITAL]    Although most students pop into the 'Bod' regularly, the college libraries tend to be more useful.  Whether students are able to find the books they need depends on their course.[EITAL]  Every University department also has its own library, most of which lend books[ITAL].[EITAL][PARA][ITAL]The story for computer facilities is less impressive[EITAL] although most colleges have computer rooms with a few Amstrads or Macs -[ITAL] okay for word processing, but a bit of a byte-size bummer otherwise.[EITAL]  There is also the Computer Teaching Centre with 100 networked terminals and the Computer Service which provides support for students' research where their departments fall short.[HDNG]CAREER PROSPECTS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Careers Service [BULL] No of staff: 11full/6part [BULL] Unemployed after 6mths (1992): 2.6%[ESTAT][PARA]There is a theory that certain fields of employment won't take anyone unless they've been to Oxford (or maybe Cambridge).  The professions particularly pin-pointed include politics, the civil service, journalism (the BBC especially), law and high finance.  Some say this is just paranoia, but that doesn't mean they're not out to get us non-Oxbridge types.  Whatever the truth, the Careers Service is [ITAL]big [EITAL]and offers a variety of services including vacancy lists, careers library, talks, counselling and so on.[HDNG]SPECIAL FEATURES:[EHDNG][PARA][BULL]Oxford has terms of just 8 weeks, though it would be a tragic error to think that means long lazy days of vacant vacation.  Exams such as 'mods' (nothing to do with parka-wearing bike-riding Jam fans), 'collections' (nothing to do with church plates and small change) and 'prelims' await students' return.[PARA][BULL]Oxford is full of ritual, especially when it comes to exams where students have to dress in subfusc and look like batman on the way to a dinner dance.  It is rumoured that once a student turned up for his finals exams and demanded a glass of sherry in accordance with an ancient rite.  After the exam, he was fined a shilling by his college authorities for not wearing his sword during his exam - another forgotten statute.  Rites like these seem ordinary when compared with some of the continuing traditions.[HDNG]FURTHER INFO:[EHDNG][PARA]Prospectuses for undergrads and postgrads.  Also available are the Alternative Prospectus (£3.95) and the Oxford Handbook (£4.75) from OUSU - [ITAL]both excellent[EITAL].  Most colleges produce their own prospectuses and some JCRs also cobble together their own alternative guide.[PARA][PARA]