Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image description: a photograph of Christ Church, taken from the meadows I realised how alone I was in my application to Oxford when I was mistakenly taken away from a lesson one morning to sit the TSA. For admissions to Geography in 2018, no admissions test was required. Through no fault of their own – […]
Continue Reading
Image description: an aerial view of London, and the river Thames flowing down the centre of the photo. “To attract and admit students from all backgrounds with outstanding academic potential and the ability to benefit from an Oxford education.” This is the first commitment of the university’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan. While Oxford is far from […]
Continue Reading
Access initiatives at Oxford spend a lot of time trying to portray an equality across colleges. This includes their culture and what they have to offer which can help students decide what space is right for them. This is problematic and here is why. Growing up in East London, I always had ethnic minority peers […]
Continue Reading
Aged 17, I sat through a morning’s worth of application talks in the medical school lecture theatre, having been driven down to Oxford on a total whim for the last September open day. Undeniably terrified, but quietly fizzing with excitement, I diligently wrote down every plummy word that fell out of the presenting tutors’ mouths. […]
Continue Reading
Image Description: Oxford student jumps joyfully in front of the Rad Cam 5th week is now well underway, and although 5th week blues often set in about now and we begin to miss home, I for one am greatly missing Oxford. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to be happy about and lots of positive news from all […]
Continue Reading
Oxbuddy, a new access initiative to pair potential Oxford applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds with current students, was launched on Tuesday. The scheme aims to increase the chances of a successful application by demystifying the process and offering practical advice to pupils for whom it is otherwise hard to come by. PPE undergraduate, Olly Boyland, who co-founded […]
Continue Reading
Tilly Rose, the founder of That Oxford Girl, provides free resources for upcoming and current students at the University of Oxford through her blog, social media and her book, which we talked about in a 2019 interview: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2019/05/07/that-oxford-girl-tilly-rose-on-access-at-oxford-and-her-new-book/. We chat to Tilly again about what has changed since the publication of her book. Tilly also […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Magdalen tower For the first time, 69% of Oxford’s offers have gone to people from state schools. This may sound good, but that means that nearly a third of places have gone to an elite group. Said group representing 7% of the population. To some people this is not an issue. People have […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Magdalen College Improving access to students from more disadvantaged backgrounds has rightly become the priority for Oxbridge admissions. After all, no young person should be discriminated against “on the basis of the class they were born into”. The upper echelons of higher education should be open to all inspiring, budding young intellectuals and […]
Continue Reading
Imposter syndrome is an idea spoken about a lot in Oxford, especially during the start of the academic year. It’s the feeling that you don’t quite belong here – that your offer was a result of a mistake and someone else should have been accepted instead. Imposter syndrome is not unique to Oxford, but the […]
Continue Reading
“I believe law should be accessible to applicants from all backgrounds”. With this awkward statement I began my unsuccessful application to the LawSoc General Committee in Michaelmas 2018. I remember toying with what to put next, how best to project my identity in the 50 words I had to impress the faceless arbiters of my […]
Continue Reading
Image description: The bridge of sighs at Hertford College, Oxford. Oxford University has recently announced two new access schemes which aim to encourage academically talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for, and thrive at, Oxford. These follow other recent developments in Oxford’s access work, such as an expansion of the successful UNIQ programme, and also […]
Continue Reading
London and South East are still the areas with the highest level of Oxford admissions Computer Science admitted the highest percentage of state school students with Classics coming out the lowest Mansfield admitted more state school students and students from economically disadvantaged areas than any other college 9.8% of women in Computer Science while 79.3% […]
Continue Reading
Oxford University’s world-renowned Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) have been awarded 11 PhD studentships through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) programme. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) offer cultural and heritage institutions the opportunity of hosting doctoral researchers based at UK universities. The scheme […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Students at Keble College ball in 2008. An Oxford ball epitomises the stereotypical ‘Oxford’ experience- lavish and luxurious, these ‘unforgettable’ nights are a somewhat of a rite of passage and are a central part of many student’s social calendars. With names that sound like Apprentice teams, balls come in all different shapes and […]
Continue Reading
The University has officially announced two new initiatives designed to boost the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds studying at Oxford University. Foundation Oxford, one of the newly announced programmes modelled on LMH’s Foundation Year Scheme, is aimed at promoting accessibility of Oxford to students who have previously experienced severe disadvantage, such as individuals who […]
Continue Reading
New access statistics, to be released imminently by The University of Oxford, are expected to show that a record number of state school students are being admitted to Oxford and Cambridge, according to The Times. Oxford is also expected to announce that it is looking at introducing new measures to improve access for students from […]
Continue Reading
Oxford’s ‘Welsh College’ has received a £625,000 investment for access from, a single, anonymous donor. The mystery donor was identified as a former student, who is “keen to support its programme to encourage Welsh students from all backgrounds to apply to study at the College” Jesus College has gained an informal reputation as Oxford’s ‘Welsh’ […]
Continue Reading
Tilly Rose provides a student perspective of Oxford University through her successful book, blog, and social media pages ‘That Oxford Girl’. She aims to provide a free resource which will encourage young people from a range of backgrounds to apply to the university, targeting problems with access that the university faces. She shares her own […]
Continue Reading