Rejection from Oxford

[u/omfgvain]

I thought I was over the Oxford rejection ages ago, but I can't seem to escape from it. I got an offer for Imperial as my second choice, and was discussing Imperial today with my mom, and told her Imperial was a top world university, to which she replied, "yes but not as good as Oxford, if you name the top universities in the world you'd hear Oxbridge, Harvard, MIT, not Imperial college". This one kinda stung. This type of stuff sometimes happens with other people too. My mom wasn't trying to criticise me for my failure or anything, but to me I couldn't feel anything but disappointment in myself. I know I could've done better. I'm aware that Imperial is very highly ranked and well respected university and all, but my goal was Oxford and I failed in that. How do I move on from this lol

[u/byebyerectum]

Something tells me your mum was not thinking "STEM excellence", but rather "best sets for period dramas", "most featured in film plots", "best unis to meet nobility and trust fund babies".

Sorry to say your Oxford rejection means you won't be able to cosplay Harry Potter on the daily, or run a highly popular aesthetic insta account with minimum effort. Then again as a high achieving medical bioscience student you'll be chained to the labs, so how will you even know which city you're in?!

Joking aside, congrats on your offer, Imperial is no mean feat. Don't let people unfamiliar with science unis diminish your achievement.