[jsmcgd]

Congratulations and welcome to the club. I was rejected too and to be honest I think they made the right decision. When I applied 5 years ago I definitely wasn't the academic they were looking for.

Anyway my point is just that I wouldn't put too much stock in the fact that just because these institutions are filled with arguably the brightest people in the land that this will automatically propel you upwards. I personally feel that the value of a university is very closely tied to its curriculum, not its resources or people.

(anecdotal evidence: I know some people who went to universities with more stringent entry requirements and left there only knowing how to program in Pascal. In my university they now teach Haskell, Prolog and Java in year 1).

If you still feel very strongly about the benefits of networking in Oxbridge you can always apply to do an MBA.