How to apply

Worcester College offers around 90 graduate places each year across a wide range of taught courses and research programmes. We hope you’ll join our international community of graduate students based here at Worcester.

If you’re thinking of applying to study with us, you’ll need to first check whether we offer the course you’re interested in. Then you can apply directly to the relevant faculty or department of the University of Oxford.

Check which courses are available at Worcester

Making your application

We recommend that you apply by the earliest deadline, usually December/January, as this means you’ll automatically be put forward for any scholarships or bursaries you might be eligible for. Give yourself plenty of time to apply, as pulling together all the relevant documents and securing two references may take longer than you expect.

If we offer your course, you can declare a preference for Worcester on your application. Once you’ve been accepted by your University department or faculty, we can then consider offering you a place. It may not be possible for us to make offers to applicants whose applications are received late in the admissions round, when places are full.

Find out more about the application process

How we select our graduates

We aim to have a diverse student body, with graduates spread across a wide range of courses and disciplines. This does, however, limit our available places for each course of study.

Preference will be given to applicants whose research focus overlaps with those of our academics and who have demonstrated academic merit and potential. We may also consider competitively-won funding as an indicator of your academic potential and give preference to current or former Worcester College students who meet the selection criteria.

MEET OUR ACADEMICS

Securing your place at Worcester, is dependent on whether you can make a satisfactory financial declaration that you can meet the tuition costs for the first year of your course.

Worcester College graduate selection criteria

Applicants must first have been accepted by a department or faculty of the University of Oxford before Worcester College can consider them. Details of the application procedure are given in the University’s Graduate Studies Prospectus.
Applications are considered for any of the courses in which the College offers admission. For further information please consult the Worcester College page on the University website.
Applications are usually considered by the College’s academic staff in the relevant subject area.
Preference will normally be given to applicants whose area of study overlaps with the academic interests of the College’s academic staff.
The College aims to admit a certain number of graduate students each year across the range of subjects in which it accepts graduates, and this will determine the number of offers which can be made to applicants. Where there are more applicants than offers which can be made, the relative academic merit and potential of the applicants may be taken into account. It may not be possible to make offers to applicants whose applications are received late in the admissions round, when places are full.
The possession of competitively-won funding may be taken into account as an indicator of the applicant’s academic merit and potential.
The final decision on whether to offer a place in the light of the overall competition for graduate places and the spread of these places across subject areas is taken by the College’s Graduate Office.
Please note that any offer of a place will be subject to a satisfactory financial declaration that the applicant can meet the tuition costs for the first year of his/her course. For guidance on this matter please refer to the information provided on the University website about financial declarations.
Preference may be given to current or past students of the College who meet the selection criteria described above.