Admissions & Application

What Qualifications do I Need?

If you are offered a place to read Biology at Oxford before your A-Levels, this will be conditional upon your ALevel grades the following summer. Routinely we ask for 3 A-Levels at grade A. Biology at A-Level (or equivalent higher qualifications) is fairly essential, and we tend to prefer other A-Levels in the Sciences. However, we also look favourably on those who have mixed an Arts subject with their Sciences. There are no “ideal” combinations of subjects.

How to Apply

You apply to Oxford in much the same way as you apply to any other University in the UK — but note the earlier closing date for applications. On the basis of your UCAS form, you will be called for interview in December by the tutor at your chosen college. Interviews are designed to enable you to show your enthusiasm for biology and your ability to study. We are not testing your factual knowledge but your ability to think. If you express an interest in a particular aspect of biology, be prepared to talk intelligently about it! The process is rigorous, but sympathetic, so that you can show us your best; there will not be any written tests, but you may be asked to interpret a written passage or a simple set of data given to you before the interview. After the interviews in your first choice college, you are likely to be asked to stay overnight in Oxford. The next day you may be asked to go to an interview in another college; this is because some colleges may have too many good candidates and others too few, so tutors from all colleges meet and ensure that good candidates get further interviews for places at other colleges.

Further information can be found on the University Central Admissions page

You can also gain more infomation about the course by looking at the course details as displyed in the University Undergraduate Prospectus.

Colleges

Though Oxford University has many centuries of history behind it, complete with traditions, legends and possible notoriety, we hope that we can immediately dispel any notion of elitism or “superiority”. There are some differences between us and most other British universities, but the only one that need concern you is to do with the Colleges at Oxford. Unlike most other universities, where you would expect to apply to a Biology department to study biology, at Oxford, you have to apply to one of the 20 or so Colleges that accept biologists. The University’s prospectus will tell you which colleges take biologists, and if you visit a selection of these, either electronically or even physically, you will soon get feel for how the system works. Rest assured that your choice of college will not influence your success as a biologist, since though your college will be your new home, most of your teaching (and indeed, exams) will be organized centrally by the biologists at Oxford. Your college’s biggest contribution to your education will be via the tutorial system, organized, or at least overseen, but your personal tutor in college who will also be an academic biologist. For more information on the Colleges, tutorials and applications please have a look at the University’s website, as well as those of individual colleges.

How to choose a College

You can either put down your preference for one particular college, or you can leave the choice of college to the University administration and be allocated to a college according to a formula designed to ensure the fair distribution of candidates. If you do choose your own (and most people do), make sure you select one which has a biology tutor. You can usually discover this from the college’s website. For more details, contact the Tutor for Admissions in any particular college which interests you. Please note that the choice of college for a biologist will not affect the quantity and quality of teaching you receive, since the bulk of your working time will be spent in the Departments. This is not to say that colleges are not keen to be centres of academic excellence — indeed they are—but college is also somewhere to live, relax and enjoy all that Oxford is able to provide.

Admissions Criteria

Pre-interview - based on UCAS form:

Applicants who fail to meet the published selection criteria to a high standard will not be called for interview. The standard offer for entry into the Biology course is AAA at A-level (or equivalent qualifications). One of your A-level subjects should be Biology.
Based on interview performance:

All candidates who are interviewed can expect to be seen by representatives of two different colleges.

What Now?

Talk to family, friends and academic advisors & come and meet us at the Schools Open Days which are normally held concurrently with colleges in July and September. For details or to ask questions, contact:-

Mrs Siobhán Organ
Undergraduate Teaching Coordinator

Email: undergraduate.enquiries@biology.ox.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 281214

Dept. of Zoology
South Parks Road
Oxford
OX1 3PS

 

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