So, I want to dispel some myths in this post about what it’s like to attend Oxford as a visiting student. Here are 6 things you should know if you’re considering studying abroad at Oxford, plus a YouTube video I made for my study abroad program in 2017! (This video includes most of the academic info in this post—#1-3. If you prefer to watch/listen instead of read, go for it. The rest of the post is new information, though).
Table of Contents
Video: My Experience Studying Abroad at the University of Oxford
What it’s Like to Study Abroad at Oxford University
The Taylor Institution, the European languages library1. Classes are extremely individualized and very infrequent
Holywell Street2. The workload is intense, but there are long breaks between terms
This might sound like a breeze compared to the American academic schedule: 1.5 hours of class a week, only 2 courses per trimester, and 6-weeklong breaks?! The workload at Oxford is actually pretty heavy though, and requires you to be self-motivated. For my math tutorials, I had to basically learn the material on my own. Even when I had lectures, they were only somewhat related, as I needed to cover specific concepts to satisfy course requirements at Amherst (my home college). For my French tutorials, I had to read stacks of texts and essays, sometimes entire books, between each tutorial. I’m extremely grateful that French was my secondary tutorial and not my primary, because I couldn’t imagine that volume of reading weekly—the extra week really made a difference!
That said, academics at Oxford are manageable, as long as you space out your assignments and work steadily throughout the week.
3. There are no exams for visiting students
The colorful houses of Jericho, Oxford4. People will pick up after you, whether you like it or not
I guess all of this was pretty convenient, except when I wanted to sleep in and the housekeepers knocked on my door early in the morning to empty my trash haha. I was kind of uncomfortable with this level of “poshness” though—I have no problem doing all these tasks on my own.
I would also be remiss not to mention the level of privilege at Oxford. For instance, participating in extracurriculars and the social scene can be pretty expensive. Some student organizations require you to pay around 100 pounds (125 USD) to join, and I had to pay 90 pounds (110 USD) just to get access to the university pool. A classic Oxford experience is also going to a school ball, which is also often 60-100 pounds, and sometimes upwards of 200 pounds! These sky-high prices can make participating in certain experiences prohibitive for students without the means, which is really sad. I was lucky that my financial aid from Amherst carried over to studying abroad, as student life definitely felt more expensive there.
The Radcliffe Camera–a library only for students, and Oxford’s most iconic site5. There’s a strong sense of tradition
The dining hall at Magdalen College6. It’s difficult to become friends with locals
The Divinity School
What to Pack for Studying Abroad at Oxford
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There are a couple essentials you’ll need for your semester abroad, if you’re coming from outside of the UK. These links go to Amazon if you’re planning to shop there anyways, but I also want to encourage you to buy from small, local shops, if you can.
- Universal adapter—I used this one when living in Europe, and when I traveled to the UK. Keep in mind that this doesn’t have USB C charging ports, so you’ll need a USB to USB C cable or adapter if that’s what your phone needs.
- European SIM card—You can buy SIM cards once in England (I recommend Lycamobile, which is cheap and can be found in many corner shops). But, if you want cell service upon arrival, you’ll need to buy something at home, or at the airport. This SIM card has good reviews, but feel free to shop around as well.
- Wise borderless account—You’ll likely need to exchange currency or open up a UK bank account, but you can skip the formalities and high conversion rates with a Wise borderless account. Wise gives you the real exchange rate and takes a 1% fee. This is way cheaper than services like Western Union and sending money directly from traditional banks. Wise also has a free borderless account that allows you to hold 50+ currencies (including the British pound!), and withdraw the equivalent of 250 USD from ATMs for free each month.
Cheers (is this too cheesy for a post about Oxford haha?),
10 Comments
Courses at Oxford sound awesome! Most of my science classes at university had 400-600 students in the lectures, so if it hadn’t been for my music classes, I’d never have had a small classroom size. :[ I would’ve loved to study abroad while I was in college but never got the chance to (kinda my own fault; I was doing too much). That’s awesome that there were no exams for visiting students!
I really enjoyed reading this, Lily! Also, small world, I went to UMass Amherst! I studied abroad in Edinburgh and found a lot of similarities in this post. It was super hard to meet local students. Our classes were also infrequent, very different than at UMass!
Lauren
http://laurensjourney.com
It is such a small world, haha! It looks like you’re in Boston too, which is where I’m currently based 🙂 It must’ve been amazing to study in Edinburgh. I visited when I was at Oxford, and the city is so lovely. I would’ve loved to explore Scotland more!
This was such a fun post to read! I love hearing about other people’s study abroad experiences. I had the same issue as you when I studied at Sciences Po in Paris – I only made friends with other international students and no French students. But I wouldn’t trade those friends for anything and we still keep in touch even 4 years later!
Glad you enjoyed it! I do think you can probably form closer bonds with other study abroad students as you’re going through something similar. I also studied abroad in France, but in Bordeaux! I actually made a lot of local friends there, I think mostly because we lived in host families and because the program was language-oriented, so I was really motivated to practice with locals.
Thank you for this post! I am a current Wellesley student (Also from the Boston area!) thinking about studying abroad at Oxford, but I’m nervous about it. This helped me get a better sense of what to expect! Can I ask which college you went to?
Hi Kate! Glad it could help you 🙂 I went to Hertford College through IFSA Butler. Hope you get the chance to go – it’s a really fantastic experience!
Hi Lily! I loved this article it was super informative. I was wondering what are the requirements to get into Oxford as a Canadian or American student.
Hi Kennedy, thanks for reading and leaving a comment! It depends on the study abroad program and the Oxford college. Most usually require around a 3.75 GPA. I would look into the programs and colleges you’re interested in!
Class of 2018 from UMass Amherst and I spent a semester in Cork, IRE at UCC. EU/UK course load is pretty intense! We had to sit exams and it determined if we got credit for our requirements ! I also did not really make any friends, but the personal experiences are immensely valuable nonetheless. Thinking of studying for my MA in Oxford