‘Elitist’ Oxford Dumped By Email

In an ironic act of defiance, 19 year old Elly Nowell decided to withdraw her university application to Oxford by sending Magdalen College her own ‘rejection letter’ by email.

The teenager, who had applied and been interviewed to read Jurisprudence (Law) at the college, parroted the institutions style of rejection, writing that regretfully, the university ‘did not quite meet the standard.’

She went on to criticise Magdalen for the ‘flaws in its education system’ and the ‘obvious gap between minorities and white middle class pupils’. Finally, she demanded that the college started offering water to its interview candidates, insisting that it was ‘rude to torture guests’.

Miss Nowell criticised Oxford University for the high proportion of students admitted from public schools, telling the BBC that she was ‘reluctant to be part of a system so heavily dominated by such a narrow group of self-selecting elites’.

Philip Hensher, lecturer of Creative Writing at the University of Exeter, commented that, ‘Miss Nowell is perfectly within her rights to think that Oxford was not for her, but it is a great shame if brilliant young people think that it's best to reject it before they reject them’.

Writing for The Independent, Hensher dismissed Miss Nowell’s claim that Oxbridge discriminate against state-educated candidates, asserting that ‘it is almost inconceivable to me that anyone involved in these institutions is remotely concerned with perpetuating or rewarding privilege…they are looking for the original mind, wherever it may be found’.

While Magdalen College have declined to comment on whether or not they had intended to offer Miss Nowell a place, a spokeswoman from the university described the letter as ‘a witty way to communicate her withdrawal’. Miss Nowell hopes to study at University College London.