us leaflet 2013

7/27/2019 US Leaflet 2013

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www.ox.ac.uk/study

A guide to Oxford for American students

President Barack Obama wassworn in using the same bibleas Abraham Lincoln used at hisinvestiture in 1861. The LincolnBible was published by Oxford University Press in 1853.

Alumni Famous Americans who havestudied at Oxford include:

President Bill Clinton

Elena Kagan andStephen Breyer, USSupreme Court Justices

Susan Rice, US

Ambassadorto the United Nations

Richard Levin,President of Yale

George Stephanopoulos,television journalist

Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey

Ben Jealous, Presidentand CEO, NAACP

Harper Lee, author(To Kill a Mockingbird)

Naomi Wolf, author(The Beauty Myth) andpolitical consultant

Kris Kristofferson,writer, singer-songwriter,musician, and actor

Rachel Maddow, TV anchorand host on MSNBC

From the Vice-ChancellorOxford University is a wonderful place to live and

study. I hope you will consider coming to experience

life here in Britain, at the oldest university in the

English-speaking world. You will be surrounded by

some of the greatest minds of your generation, and benet from some of the best teaching in the world.

I studied here in the UK and in Canada, then worked

at Princeton University and University of Pittsburgh

before I became Provost of Yale. So I have personally

experienced some of the nest universities in the US,

and I know that Oxford University is truly world class.

I do hope to meet you here!

Oxford is consistently ranked one of the world’s top veuniversities, and number one in the UK.

Oxford offers unparalleled resources, many of which areaccessible to undergraduate students, not reserved for graduatestudents or professors as they may be at other institutions. Thetutorial system is a speciality of Oxford, where students spendtime with world-leading experts every week of their course.

Oxford is also renowned for its collegiate system, as theUniversity is made up of colleges, typically with a fewhundred students in each. This offers all the resources of aninternationally-acclaimed research-intensive University withthe supportive community environment of a liberal arts college.

American connections With over 30,000 resident alumni, the United States and Canada are home to

the largest number of Oxford University graduates outside the UK. The US is Oxford’s largest source of international students and international

academic staff.

The Rothermere American Institute in Oxford was opened by President BillClinton in 2001. The institute hosts the nest library of Americana to be foundoutside the US.

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While Oxford is rightly famed for its Classics and Humanities courses it is also a world-leader

in many scientic areas of study. Its libraries and other resources are virtually unparalleled.

The Oxford English Dictionary:the recognised authority on theEnglish languageworldwide

CoursesOxford offers: full time undergraduate degrees

Junior Year Abroad

full time graduate degrees, both taughtand research courses

part time distance learning courses andsummer schools for adults

Undergraduate coursesUndergraduate degrees at Oxford aremore specialised than those at Americanuniversities. There are no major or minor

subjects here, so you can’t mix and matchdifferent courses.When you apply, you need to choose one course from thelist of single honours courses (one subject) and joint honourscourses (two or more subjects). For the full list please see:www.ox.ac.uk/courses.

You will spend all your time at Oxford studying just thesubject or subjects that you chose at the start. This will suitsome students really well, though perhaps not everyone, asit means you focus on the course you’ve chosen, right fromthe start.

The rst year of each course usually follows a core

programme, where everyone on your course takes the sameclasses and tutorials, leading up to rst year exams. In lateryears there is usually still a core curriculum, but also a widerange of options, so you can specialise in areas of yourcourse that particularly interest you.

A standard bachelor’s degree in England usually takes threeyears, in contrast to the American four-year degree. In thesciences, students may do a fourth year to gain a master’sdegree. Some language courses take four years, including upto one year in a country where that language is spoken.

Independent studyA typical week at Oxford and at a leading US collegewould probably be very different. In the US, you wouldprobably spend a lot of time in structured classes in fairlylarge groups. At Oxford, you would have lectures withlarge groups but you would also have tutorials. These arehour-long meetings between (typically) two students andone tutor, where you discuss an essay or problems you have been working on. You would have one or two tutorials aweek throughout your course, and they provide you with anextraordinary level of personal attention and feedback.

Tutors at Oxford are like professors at American universities.They are not only dedicated teachers, they are also activeresearchers, developing new knowledge at the cuttingedge of their subjects, which they may bring into tutorialdiscussions.

You are required to structure your own time: you have toorganise your work to complete assignments in time for

your tutorials.

Law and MedicineAnother difference from the US is that law and medicine can be studied as undergraduate courses – you do not need tocomplete another degree rst. You can study for a BA in law(equivalent to an LLB) in just three years. The full medicalcourse at Oxford is six years long. This begins with a threeyear pre-clinical science degree, followed by three years of clinical training.

Research partnershipsOxford’s research collaborations include a longstandingconnection with Princeton. There are three maincomponents to the relationship: student exchange, researchcollaboration and a joint postdoctoral programme in globalpolitical economy.

Entrance RequirementsCompetition for places atOxford is very strong, and

even excellent grades will notguarantee you a place.As a guide to the minimum we wouldusually expect, you would need:

SAT Reasoning Test with at least 1,400 in Critical Reading andMathematics and preferably also 700 or more in Writing. OR ACT with a score of at least 32 out of 36.

Grade 5 in three or more Advanced Placement Tests in appropriate subjects.

OR SAT Subject Tests in three appropriate subjects at 700 or better.

OR a combination of APs and SAT Subject Tests

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Other equivalents would also be acceptable, such as the InternationalBaccalaureate with a level of performance around 38-40, includingcore points, with 6s or 7s in the higher subjects.

Students are also welcome to apply to Oxford while they are

studying at other universities for a Junior Year Abroad, or for acomplete degree. However, Oxford does not accept transfer students,so if you want to study for a full degree at Oxford, you will need tostart the course here from the beginning.

How to apply

The one exception to this rule is for studentswho have already completed their rst degree,and who may apply for ‘Senior Status’, to startin the second year of an Oxford degree.

www.ox.ac.uk/sud

Students usually apply at the beginning of their senior year.All candidates must apply through UCAS by 15 October, whichis earlier than the usual December deadline for US universities.All courses at Oxford start in October, almost a full year after theapplication deadline.

UCAS is the University and Colleges Admissions Service. This issimilar to the Common App, and it’s used by all universities in theUK, making it easier to apply to several institutions. You need tocomplete an online form at www.ucas.com where you can list up tove university courses to apply to. Please note that you may apply toone course only at Oxford, and you cannot apply to both Oxford andCambridge in the same year. You will need to provide details of yourhigh school record and also write a personal statement outlining yourreasons for wanting to study the course you are applying for. There isalso a section where your teacher or counsellor provides a referenceincluding the grades they expect you to achieve in any exams you stillhave to take.

Tutors will read this form and take into account your academicachievements, your personal statement, the academic reference fromyour teacher and, for many subjects, examples of written work andan admissions test. They will then draw up a shortlist of the strongestcandidates who will be invited to an academic interview in December.Candidates who are able to travel to Oxford for interview are welcometo do so. If you are not able to travel, or you can’t get a visa, tutors maychoose to interview you by telephone or some other remote means,such as Skype.

If your application is successful, you will receive an offer of a place by mid-January. If you have not yet completed all your high schoolqualications then this offer will probably be conditional on your nalgrades. This is not the same as the wait list for a US university. If youachieve the grades required in a conditional offer then your place at

Oxford is guaranteed.For further details of the application process, please seewww.ox.ac.uk/apply.

Selection criteriaWe are looking for academic achievement and academic potential.Although we take many all-round talented students, who captainsports teams, run volunteer societies, and write plays, we do not selectstudents for their extra-curricular achievements or their leadership.In contrast to our US peer universities, we select on academic criteriaalone. This means that our academics – your future professors –are the people making the admissions decisions and conductingadmissions interviews. An Oxford admissions interview is an academicinterview: in the sciences, you might be asked to solve an equation; inthe humanities, you might be given a poem to read and analyse. Wewant to understand your academic potential, and give you a chanceto experience Oxford learning. This is quite different from a typicalUS college interview, which is a more general discussion about yourschool performance, academic interests and extra-curricular activities.

FeesMost American students pay University fees atour international rate, which is very competitivewith US universities. Many of our undergraduatecourses are just three years long, which cansignicantly reduce the cost of your degree. Ourworld-class resources also help keep your livingcosts low. For example, our outstanding librariesmean that you won’t need to buy many books.

www.ox.ac.uk/funding

Funding and scholarshipsUnfortunately, we are not able to provide nancialaid to international students except in certain rarecircumstances. In general, international studentsneed to be condent that they will be able to meetthe costs themselves.

US students are entitled to apply for Federal loans,made through the Direct Loan Program. These can be approved by Oxford University, and can providefunding up to the full cost of attendance. The basicloan type is borrowed directly by the student and

a further top-up loan is available for parents to borrow on the student’s behalf.www.ox.ac.uk/funding

Students applying to study a second undergraduatedegree may be eligible for a Rhodes Scholarship.www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk

Visa information and other support

The Student Information and Advisory Serviceprovides visa and immigration informationto new students. This includes how to obtaina visa to study, information about your statusand your legal obligations, immigration forfamily members, travel during your stay andstaying on to work after your studies. TheService also offers a meet and greet service towelcome you on arrival to the UK, as well asan orientation programme to help you settle in.

www.ox.ac.uk/students/international_students

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Michelle Obama addresses prospective

students during a visit to Oxford

There are 30 alumni branches in the US withat least one branch in 26states. For more details:www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/ nagroups

Oxford’s many Olympians include American swimmer Davis Tarwater, gold medallist at London 2012.

Sport at Oxford: from college competition

to Olympic excellence.

C O V E R P h O t O C

R E d I t s

C l i n t o n : H e r b i e K n o t t / R e x F e a t u r e s S t e p h a n o p o u l o s : W i k i m e d i a / G a r r e t N u z z o - J o n e s W o l f : W i k i m e d i a / D a v i d S h a n k b o n e . D e s i g n e d b y U n i v e r s i t y o

f O x f o r d D e s i g n S t u d i o .

STUDENT COMMENT: MAYNever in my wildest dreams did Ipicture myself as an Oxford student, yethere I am, studying at one of the mostprestigious universities in the world.As proud as I am about it, I must say Iowe a lot to the fact that I am the onlyperson I know from home that even

applied. Give it a try: you never know!

MORE STUDENT COMMENTSee Oxford students from around the

world interviewed in a series of short

information lms online. Just go towww.ox.ac.uk/100faces

Liverpool

Manchester

London

Birmingham

Oxford

Edinburgh

Cardiff

Belfast

Stansted

Gatwick

Heathrow

STUDENT COMMENT:JANE

I know that my professors are expertsin their eld. Working with them, oftenone-on-one, is one of the real highlightsof Oxford, something I didn’t expect toget out of an undergraduate degree,and that I doubt I could have receivedat any of the American universities towhich I applied.

The city of OxfordOxford is in the beautiful Cotswolds region, with traditionalEnglish scenery of rolling hills. It’s just an hour to London bytrain, and there are excellent connections to the airports.

There are two universities in the city: Oxford University itself,and Oxford Brookes University. This means that for a fairlysmall city, Oxford has a large student population of over 30,000, bringing a youthful and cosmopolitan atmosphere and plentyto see and do.

There is no campus as such, as most colleges and departmentsare situated in and around the city centre. The beautiful andhistoric architecture may be familiar to you from lms suchas Shadowlands , The Golden Compass and Harry Potter. After all,Oxford is the city which inspired writers such as JRR Tolkien,Lewis Carroll and CS Lewis.

As well as the ancient buildings, there are also retail stores,numerous coffee shops and restaurants, and a thriving bar andclub scene. Oxford also has a surprising amount of green space,including beautiful riverside walks, the oldest botanic gardenin the UK, the University Parks and college gardens.

Student lifeStudent life is primarily based in the individual Oxford colleges– where you would live, at least in your rst year, and makeyour rst friends. There are dozens of clubs and societies at acollege level, and hundreds more across the University, suitablefor your level of interest in all kinds of sports, dance, music,drama, journalism, volunteer work – or whatever else you wantto do. The Oxford Union Society is a particularly popular placeto go, with debates and meetings with world famous speakers,as well as parties and other events. The Union has a strongAmerican tradition: Presidents Reagan, Nixon and Carter haveaddressed the Society. Two of the greatest gures of 1960sAmerica spoke at the Union shortly before their tragic deaths:Malcolm X, and Senator Robert Kennedy. More recent

visitors include Henry Kissinger, Dan Quayle,Newt Gingrich, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen,OJ Simpson, Johnny Depp, Jerry Springer, andeven Kermit the Frog.

However busy you are during the day, youhave your own room to go back to in theevening, as Oxford has only single student bedrooms, and no dormitories.

It’s difcult to take on paid work during Oxfordterms - there’s so much to pack in that there justisn’t time. However, you can nd jobs duringthe vacations of course, and our expert CareersService can also support you in nding

employment after you graduate.

Finding out moreOxford’s Student Recruitment Teamvisits the US every year. To nd outabout events near you check www.ox.ac.uk/int

If you are coming to Oxford, then we reallyrecommend you come to an open day if possible,or download one of our audio tours.www.ox.ac.uk/opendayswww.ox.ac.uk/audiotours

If you have any questions at all, please contact ourAdmissions Information Centre by [email protected]

+44 (0) 1865 288000www.ox.ac.uk/aic

us leaflet 2013

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