Is Doxbridge a thing? We asked Oxbridge students

Despite our best efforts Doxbridge isn’t catching on. We decided to ask our future overlords at Oxford and Cambridge what they thought of the portmanteau. 

Turns out Doxbridge isn’t just a four-day sporting event in Dublin for colleges from Durham, Oxford and Cambridge. It’s also an entry on Urban Dictionary.

Microsoft Word underline it, autocorrect think we’re drunk, but we know it’s about time it got added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Unsurprisingly, a mixed range of responses followed when I asked Oxbridge boffs about Doxbridge. Most of these clever cloggs told us: “I don’t want to be featured in a Tab Article.”

Callum, St. John’s, Oxford

“Doxbridge is not a thing and never will be. Feel free to quote me on that.”

Joseph, Christ Church, Oxford

“It will certainly never take the place of Oxbridge…I don’t understand why Durham is lumped with Oxbridge and not another university in the UK”

Joe, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

“It’s flattering really that Durham are so keen to associate themselves with their superiors. Subservience to the elite is a key part of history and it’s nice to see Durham striving so hard to keep such tradition alive – maybe one day you’ll be respected enough to have your own traditions!”

Anonymous, St. John’s, Cambridge

“It depends what you’re talking about really, if it’s just academia and research and stuff then it’s really not even close. But in terms of sport and a glimmer of social life we don’t stand a chance”

Anonymous, St. John’s, Oxford 

“I think they’re barking up the wrong tree… make their own legacy… don’t try and scrape in on something started elsewhere”

Hope, Balliol, Oxford

“I literally haven’t ever given it any thought. Don’t really care either way”

Tabitha, St. John’s, Cambridge

“I don’t see the logic behind adding a third, it’s just not really that big a deal”

People often produced very filtered answers. Perhaps they didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Twitter, however, revealed some slightly stronger opinions…

Durham might not quite be up to Oxbridge standards yet, but we aren’t far off.

We came fifth in the Complete University Guide 2016 Rankings, in which we have been in the top 5 for the last 7 years.

We also moved up an incredible 31 places in the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, taking us to 61st. Not bad Duz!

So, does Oxbridge want the D? Apparently not. Although Durham might be willing to oblige.