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Thursday 11th March, 2010
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PPHs a 'back door' into Oxford

by Theo Merz | 19:12 GMT, Thu 29 January 2009

Photo: Hector Durham

Permanent Private halls have been criticised as a "back door" into the University for not conforming to the academic standards of other colleges.
Students have criticised the application procedures for PPHs as well as the reputation and stigma surrounding them.

One applicant this year, who wished to remain anonymous, originally applied to Keble but was pooled to Regent's Park and offered a place there. She expressed concern that her application to the PPH was not tested to the same level of that of the original college.

"Regent's ignored my appalling aptitude test, they didn't pick up on any grades, and didn't ask me about my submitted essays," she said.

Keble had given her four interviews and grilled her about a B-grade for one of her AS subjects. At Regent's Park she was given just one interview. "I had only one interview, which was less than twenty minutes long," she said. "They also didn't ask me about Theology at all, which seemed odd as I'm doing joint honours."

The applicant was still undecided whether she would accept her place at the PPH, but admitted that it was "a second shot at Oxford."

Furthermore, the president of Regent's Park's JCR has admitted that PPHs are a "back door" into the University.

JCR president Ed Harding said that the Permanent Private Halls (PPHs) had long battled a reputation for accepting candidates that might not otherwise had been offered a place at the University, but added, "we are trying to shed that back door image."

"There were definitely a couple of applicants at this year's interviews who using it as a back door," he said.

Current St. Benet's undergraduate Alexander Hayward had originally applied to another college but was pooled to St. Benet's.

But he disagreed that it is easier to gain admission to a PPH than to another Oxford college, "the assumption that PPHs operate under a different admissions policy is incorrect, and insulting," he said. "So too is the assumption that PPH students should be more grateful for their place than any other student."

However, Harding, who first applied to Worcester, wondered why any applicant would chose to apply directly to a PPH for a subject other than theology. "If you apply for theology, then fair enough, but if you are applying directly for any other subject maybe it is a back door," he said. "We had the first direct applicant for geography this year, and you think: why would you do that?"

An Oxford law lecturer, who has taught students at Campion and St. Benet's, praised the PPHs sometimes unconventional admissions procedures, stating that the PPHs were often less "risk-averse" than other colleges .

"They were a more eclectic, and hence perhaps a more erratic, group than one would find at most colleges," he said of one group he tutored.

"Part of me wishes that the collegiate university as a whole were less risk-averse in admissions, and hence that we got a more eclectic...bunch of undergraduates; more firsts and thirds," the lecturer added.

Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, said that the PPHs were all fully engaged in operating the Common Framework for Undergraduate Admissions.

He said, "the PPHs operate collaboratively across the subjects that they offer with the Departments and Colleges to ensure that the strongest applicants displaying the greatest potential are seen".

Harding was keen to downplay the popular rumours which circulate about the PPHs, denying that monks occasionally wake up students during the night to check that there are no members of the opposite sex in their room, or that it is compulsory for students to attend ‘high tea' with them every afternoon.

"I've had a normal undergraduate experience," he said. Hope Hadfield laughed when confronted with the rumours and said that "nothing like that happened."

 

Page last updated: 2009-01-29 13:38:51
Comments and Opinions:
"Response to Bully" by Andy
Posted: 20:22 GMT, Thu 5th February 2009
If you'd done your research Bully, you'd know that the prime reason for underperformance at PPHs is the presence of ministerial students, many of which are pursuing an Oxford degree while undergoing ministerial training at the same time. I'd like to point out that the current JCR President at Regent's was top of his year in Theology and that half their English students got distinctions in Mods.
"Ridiculous Ariticle" by Interviewer
Posted: 00:42 GMT, Thu 5th February 2009
The comments from the Keble applicant about the length of interview indicating the quality of college are ridiculous. I have been an interviewer at two colleges, one of which is in the Top 10 of the Norrington table (while Keble isnt) and that college has only one 20 minute interview for PPE. Moreover, lots of very good candidates get pooled, thats no indication of the college/PPH's strength.
"Erm" by Bully
Posted: 16:13 GMT, Tue 3rd February 2009
http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/facts_and_figures/undergraduate_degree.html Norrington, had Theo consulted it, reveals that PPHs come way, way down the bottom of the Norrington. So yeah they do the same degrees as everyone else. Just not very well.
"Oh come on!" by Dan
Posted: 11:30 GMT, Mon 2nd February 2009
Are PPH finals papers marked with partiality? Are our degrees worth less than yours? As a finalist at a PPH I find this article incredibly patronising and offensive. Just because the PPHs can't afford to piss champagne down their undergrads' throats doesn't mean anything about the quality of students or tutors in them. Pull your head out of your backside, withdraw the article and issue an apology, Theo.
"Come now..." by Me
Posted: 09:52 GMT, Mon 2nd February 2009
Even Greyfriars didn't have monks. It had friars. Clue's in the name. This is pretty lazy journalism, the same story that gets churned out every term....
"Tucker" by Malcolm Tucker
Posted: 20:52 GMT, Sun 1st February 2009
Er, have you ever met anyone from St Benets? Tutors there happily acknowledge that they basically just scrape up the thicko catholic public school rejects from other colleges. It's also quite common for Ampleforth boys to be offered places there under the wire. That's why most of them are thick are shit. This article though was appallingly researched. Where are your case studies? Hatchet job.
"PPHs are not a backdoor" by PPH-lover
Posted: 18:47 GMT, Sun 1st February 2009
Was Mansfield a backdoor into Oxford before it became a college? NO! When PPHs gain college licences it does not transform the institution but simply acknowledges that the PPH is the same in every way (except its title) as a college. Regent's is of this mould. Furthermore, Regent's offers PPE and H&P which are harder to get into than some courses at ANY college in terms of the number of applicants
"Misconceptions" by Jack
Posted: 14:04 GMT, Sun 1st February 2009
The reason why the anonymous applicant was pooled would have been that the college felt that she was worthy of a place at the university but there was not one available at the college. It is no detriment to her that this has happened. She's considered better than anyone who was rejected outright. PPHs are not a back door, or weird, or secretive. This is Oxford University, not the Da Vinci Code.
"An easy target, handled sloppily" by Andy
Posted: 13:18 GMT, Sun 1st February 2009
I have plenty of friends at Regent's Park and they have as normal an Oxford experience as you can get. I wish the papers would stop picking on PPHs: it's unfair, unqualified, and, for the lovely people who attend them, deeply hurtful. Would you like it Theo if we called *your* College 'a back door into Oxford'? Go back to the OxStu.
"shut up" by Pippa
Posted: 23:20 GMT, Sat 31st January 2009
yeh I wnet 2 a pPH nd theirs nuffing rong wit mi academick potenshil
"Really?" by Helena
Posted: 11:05 GMT, Sat 31st January 2009
Does "There were definitely a couple of applicants at this year's interviews who using it as a back door," really imply that "PPHs are a 'back door' into the University"? Or is the key word here *applicants*? People *apply* to all colleges for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. Oh, and I only had one interview for Wadham, with no mention of my grades...
"This article is ridiculous" by Henry
Posted: 00:15 GMT, Sat 31st January 2009
PPH students are normal. They go clubbing, they get tutored by faculty members, they sit university exams and Regents has no monks! There is an undoubted perception that PPHs are a backdoor, perpetuated by shoddy journalism like this. Maybe the reason interviews are brief when you get pooled to a PPH is they already have all the info from the previous interview at the applicants original college..
 
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