• Why you should apply
• Making an Application
• Interviews
• Offers
• Deferred entry and gap years

Why you should apply

If you are showing academic ability and promise in school or at college, and are developing a real enthusiasm and commitment towards your subject, then you certainly should consider applying to Oxford and to St Anne's.

The College draws its applicants from all type of schools and backgrounds, from all parts of the UK and from overseas. We have a deserved reputation for being a thoroughly mixed college. St Anne's was in the vanguard of widening access to university education, and equality of opportunity remains a key commitment today.

If you still feel unsure, we want to reassure you that almost all applicants to Oxford are as just described above. They are like you. Of course that means the competition is going to be tough, but not unrealistically so.

Making an Application

If you decide that Oxford and St Anne's might be the place for you, then you must apply through the usual UCAS university application route.

The application process starts earlier than at most universities, with a deadline of October 15th. The steps required are detailed at the Undergraduate Admissions Office's website.

If you are at school in the UK or Eire, application materials should be obtained from your school or college. But if your school or college does not have the Oxford forms, they can be obtained from the Undergraduate Admissions Office by post, or directly from their website.

No applications are considered outside the Autumn procedure, and Oxford does not take part in clearing after A-level results are announced.

It is the UCAS form that tells us much about you. College tutors in your subject independently review your UCAS form, paying particular attention to your personal statement, results of examinations already taken, your referee's report and examination predictions.

In certain subjects, written work has to be submitted to College by mid-November, and this too is assessed by several tutors independently. Where required, written work is a very important part of the admissions process. Using all this information, a decision is made whether to call an applicant to interview in Oxford.

(Overseas students outside Europe will not normally be called for interview – but those for Medicine are. Arrangements are made to interview candidates from the Far East at centres in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia and from North America in East and West Coast centres.)

Interviews

At St Anne's each interviewee is normally given two interviews while in Oxford.

The style of interview differs between subjects. There are neither trick questions, nor a correct style of answering. Making allowances for nervousness, we try to treat the interview as a discussion, and look for academic engagement from you.

In the physical sciences and mathematics you may be asked to solve problems at the whiteboard, problems which may extend work you have done in school. We want to learn something of what you know, but more interesting to us is how you apply your knowledge to new systems.

In the arts, the same principle applies. Certainly tutors will wish to gauge the breadth and depth of reading, but also to test how you draw on that reading to, for example, make a critique of some previously unseen passage.

Offers

Candidates will be informed of the College's decision whether they are offered a place, or not, usually before the end of December.

If you are successful but have not yet taken your final examinations, your offer will be conditional on receiving certain grades in them. If, however, you have your results already, the offer is unconditional. Conditional offer candidates will have to wait for their exam results to confirm their places at St Anne's; the College is highly unlikely to relax the conditions.

In recent years, several subjects have offered a few Open conditional offers. Here candidates are guaranteed a place in Oxford if they satisfy their conditions, but the College is not specified until after all examination results are known in mid summer.

Deferred entry and gap years

If you apply before taking your final school examinations (AS+A2 levels, International Baccalaureate, and so on) you can apply to start your degree course either in the year just after leaving school, or for a year later.

Such delayed or deferred entry allows a 'gap year' between school and university, and is popular amongst school leavers allowing an opportunity to travel and to gain work experience. Only for candidates in Mathematics do we discourage it.

You may also indicate that you are uncertain about the year of entry. However, if you are made an offer, it will be for a fixed year of entry and it will not be possible to change later.

If you already have the results from your final examinations, you can of course still apply! We discourage deferred applications in this case: for most a gap of two years between school and university will be too long.