Hello, everyone! I’m Jacob, and I’m studying Law here at Corpus Christi, just about to enter the second year of the degree.
I’m from a small town in Somerset, so the idea of coming to the “big city”, much as my friends from London tell me how small Oxford apparently is, certainly brought with it a lot of expectations. Some of these were largely correct. There certainly is an incredibly number of things to do, with opportunities just about everywhere for any conceivable matter at any possible time. Others were mostly incorrect; Corpus feels just as small and friendly as the village hall, and simply everyone knows everyone.
Studying at Oxford is certainly difficult, which is no big secret. The workload does increase from Sixth Form or College, at least as far as my experience is concerned. However, the fact that everyone around you is struggling with the same sorts of problem-questions and essays means that it never feels isolating. Far from it, the collective effort provides a litany of shared experiences, often shared around the table at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Corpus, as mentioned earlier, has the informal motto of being small and friendly, and it definitely abides by that expectation. Whether it is at meetings of the JCR, at Welfare Tea, or just walking around the garden, it does not take long for almost every face to become instantly recognisable. That was part of why I applied to this College. From what I heard on a virtual open day, the closely-knit atmosphere was precisely the sort of experience that I wanted, to balance out the work of reading legal cases.
Speaking of which, the work in Law I knew would be interesting, but I didn’t expect it to be so fun. Strange as it may sound, the tutors at Corpus do make every effort to provide enjoyable tutorials and events, including interpretative dance on at least one occasion! We also have a great system of support between the years, which is rather required to support the first-years with their exams in Hilary.
Within Corpus, I am the Vice-President of the JCR (though not yet having taken office), minuting various committee-meetings and supporting the President. Outside of Corpus, I am a member of RPGSoc, a society dedicated to roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons, as well as WhoSoc, which is the Doctor Who Society, and the Wychwood Warriors, a society sufficiently unusual that it defies written description.
My time at Corpus has been absolutely wonderful. When I first thought of applying to Oxford, I didn’t realise quite how important the Colleges were, but they do make all the difference. I’m sure that all the rest are lovely in their own right, but Corpus does have a truly uniquely friendly atmosphere, and I personally cannot think of going anywhere else.
Resources
Resources categorised by subject and by Key Stage, as well as materials for applying to Oxford and finding out more about Corpus, can be found here.