Lack of Racial Diversity and its Implications at the University of Oxford

Sunlight and lily pads on pond

Because there is no affirmative action (or the like) at the University of Oxford, and the fact that the majority of the undergraduate students must be British citizens (the United Kingdom is 87.2% white), the student population is overwhelming white and largely comes from privileged backgrounds. In contrast, approximately sixty percent of University of Oxford graduate students are from outside of Britain, and

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Studying in the United Kingdom – A Different Approach to Schoolwork

At Oxford, I have enjoyed learning how to conduct better research and write more quickly. I love having less class time because it encourages me to explore more of campus and study in various places, including the magnificent Bodleian Library, which contains several buildings and was used in the first Harry Potter movie and the film The Golden Compass. Like all of the other colleges at Oxford, the Radcliffe Camera

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A Short Guide to Being Polite in Austria

After spending over two months in Austria and being more than halfway through my study abroad experience, I thought it’d be fitting to describe some of the social norms in Austrian and Viennese society more broadly. The main underlying theme seems to be efficiency—though Austrians claim to be the most “laid-back” of German-speaking countries, and while the stereotype of precise

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My Life in the United Kingdom – A New Perspective on College

While great pressure lies upon most United States college students to join extracurricular activities (and seek leadership roles in these organizations), the expectation for students at Oxford to participate in clubs and societies does not exist to nearly the same extent. Because of this difference, people seem to genuinely enjoy the activities that they pursue outside of academics at Oxford. This

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A City of the Arts

After neglecting to fully dive into the art and music that flourishes in the cultural city of Vienna, the time has come. The arts are simply huge here. Austria spends more money on the arts than its military. In 2015 Vienna alone allocated 231 million euros to the arts, while the entire country of the U.S. allocated 146 million dollars.

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Diversity and Culture Shock in the United Kingdom

While I expected to experience many cultural differences in the United Kingdom, Britain’s distinctive culture has continued to shock me since flying over the Atlantic. During my first night in London, I witnessed several inebriated friends wrestling on the street as well as a group of men gleefully cursing at one another right outside an upscale hotel. While these people might have been non-British

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