After being interviewed by Magdalen College, one of Oxford’s most prestigious colleges, 19-year-old Elly Nowell decided to withdraw her application to study Law at Oxford University.
Before formally receiving her acceptance from Oxford, Miss Nowell sent a rejection letter to Magdalen College which said: “I have now considered your establishment as a place to read Law (Jurisprudence).
“I very much regret to inform you that I will be withdrawing my application.”
Miss Nowell modelled her response directly on the rejection letter that Oxford University sends to their hopeful applicants.
According to a spokesman from Magdalen College, Miss Nowell had withdrawn her application on the UCAS system straight after she had the interview.
Miss Nowell sent the university admissions and the law faculty the letter to inform them of her decision, and the university replied to her, acknowledging that they had received it.
She therefore, withdrew her application regardless of the university’s decision.
Miss Nowell made it clear that it was the interview that made her averse to studying at Oxford.
She wrote: “While you may believe your decision to hold interviews in grand formal setting is inspiring, it allows public school applicants to flourish and intimidates state school applicants, distorting the academic potential of both.”
She also pointed out that when she was at the college, she found there was an obvious gap between middle class students and minorities.
The reason why she withdrew the application was that she fundamentally disagreed with the judgment of the college so it would be bizarre and hypocritical to accept judgment from them.
In response to Miss Nowell’s letter, an Oxford University spokeswoman used the admissions figures to clarify that Magdalen College had accepted seven UK students and that only one of them was from an independent school.
