How to Apply for Classical Courses

Application forms

An online UCAS form must be submitted by October 15th. On this you either name a college of first choice, or submit an open application, which means that you will be allocated a college of first choice. Tutors do not distinguish in any way between those who chose a college and those who submitted an open application. We try to make sure that the deserving candidates find a place. Do not agonise over which colleges are going to have big entries and which small - this is unpredictable from year to year.

Criteria

The Faculty has published its criteria for admissions:

Written work

For all the classical degrees, you will be asked to submit two pieces of written work, marked by your teachers, by mid-November, usually normal school work done as part of your course. You should keep a copy, since you may well be asked about this work in the course of the interview procedure. Do get in touch with a Classics tutor at your first choice college if you see problems about the written work.

Interviews

If you are invited for interview, you will come to Oxford for a few days in early December and stay in your first-choice college. Because we try to find places for as many good candidates as possible, you may well find that you are called for interview by several colleges while in Oxford in December. In the interviews tutors will be trying to bring out your merits, not to trip you up. They are, above all, looking for potential and an enquiring mind.

Written tests

Unless you are applying for Ancient and Modern History or Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, during the interview period you will be given one or more written tests, lasting in total no more than two hours. These are to assess linguistic ability. If you are studying for a Latin A2-level (or equivalent), you are given a piece of Latin to translate unseen; the same for Greek. If you are applying for Course II, you take a Language Aptitude Test. N.B. Tests will be sat in schools and colleges. This is timetabled for Wednesday 2nd November 2011. Examples of written tests are available here http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/admissions/

Offers

If you are successful at this stage, you will receive an offer of a place. This will be conditional on your achieving specified grades in your school-leaving exams, unless you have already left school. The standard offer is, for candidates taking A level, AAA; for Advanced Highers AA/AAB; for the IB 38-40, including core points; or an equivalent level in other qualifications. An A may be asked for in a specific subject or subjects.

Overseas Candidates

We welcome applicants from outside the United Kingdom. There are students from all over the world studying Classics at Oxford. We encourage students from abroad to study the entire course if at all possible, but those doing a second BA may sometimes be allowed to do a shorter version of an undergraduate course. Information about applying from outside the UK is available on the main University of Oxford website. We are used to dealing with applications from a wide range of educational systems and make offers which are appropriate in each case. For further advice on these and other qualifications, please consult the Schools Liaison Officer or the Undergraduate Admissions Office, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD, or seek advice from a classical tutor at one of the colleges.

There are one or two general reassurances to bear in mind. One is that all the colleges follow the same procedures, as set out in the Undergraduate Prospectus and on the web-site. This means that all the reading of written work, interviews, decisions, etc., take place at the same time of year - and tutors in different colleges are in close contact with each other about these things. However, the biggest reassurance for all candidates should be that colleges are looking for the people they believe will make the best of what the classical degrees at Oxford can offer. This means that we are doing our best to take into account all those factors which advantage some candidates and disadvantage others, such as an early or late start in Latin or Greek, timetabling provision. We aim simply to admit the candidates with the greatest potential to work hard, enjoy and succeed in the degrees which we offer.

© C@O 2011: Classics at Oxford, Faculty of Classics. Webmaster. Last updated: November 11, 2011.
Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LU.