London:
Receiving a rejection letter from the University of Oxford is common, but one applicant has turned the tables by sending a 'rejection letter' to the prestigious varsity on the ground that it is not up to the mark.
Interviews for admission to the ancient seat of learning are considered the most challenging. Very few of those who apply make it, while thousands are sent politely worded rejection letters around December every year.
But 19-year-old Elly Nowell, who went to a state-funded school rather than an elite private school in Winchester, Hampshire, parodied the admission process and sent her own letter of rejection to the university, which has been widely read.
She hopes to enroll at the University College London, instead.
Nowell, who was put off by the admission interview that is seen by many as daunting and intimidating, wrote in her letter, "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".
"I realise you may be disappointed by this decision, but you were in competition with many fantastic universities and following your interview I am afraid you do not quite meet the standard of the universities I will be considering."
Nowell "warned" the university not to "reapply". "While you may believe your decision to hold interviews in grand formal settings is inspiring, it allows public-school applicants to flourish... and intimidates state-school applicants, distorting the academic potential of both," she said, criticising the College's "traditions and rituals" and a perceived gulf between "minorities and white middle-class students".
A university spokesman dismissed the claims, and said it received only a few complaints from applicants.
He said, "Of the 10,000 interviews that we conduct over the course of the admissions period it is a very low number."
Nowell said, "It was while I was at interview that I finally noticed that subjecting me to the judgement of an institution which I fundamentally disagreed with was bizarre.
I spent my entire time there laughing at how seriously everything was being taken."
Admitting that her email was not meant to be taken 100 per cent seriously, she said, "Oxbridge is a fairly ridiculous and prominent elitist institution, yet unlike the monarchy or investment bankers it is rarely mocked. Even comedians tend to avoid Oxbridge as a subject".
"Being a successful student should depend on the student, not on whether or not a couple of academics have deemed you to shine in a 20-minute interview," Nowell wrote.
The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often criticised for admitting students from elite, private school rather than state-funded schools, a claim the universities reject.
Among the students who were not accepted at Oxford but went to achieve prominence is celebrated author, J K Rowling.