College preference
What is a college?
‘College’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). Our Colleges section provides an introduction to the college system at Oxford, a profile of each college, and guidance on how to choose a college.
All ‘matriculated’ students belong to a college. Matriculation is the formal process of becoming a member of the University, for students who are enrolled at the University on a degree-level course.
Not all colleges accept students for every course. The Courses section of each college page will show you a list of all the courses for which that college accepts students, and the Colleges tab of the relevant course page will show you which colleges are available for that course.
Not all colleges accept part-time students, so your college options may differ depending on whether you're applying for full-time or part-time study.
Non-matriculated courses
Students on non-matriculated courses don't become formal members of the University and aren't members of a college.
If a course is non-matriculated, this will be stated on the Colleges section of the course page. When making an application to one of these courses, you won't be able to select a college preference on your application form.
Indicating a college preference
On the Course tab of the application form, you should select either:
- one preferred college, from the available list; or
- ‘I have no college preference’.
The application form will only display the colleges that accept applicants for your chosen course. You may indicate one college preference.
You will not be able to change your college preference after you submit your application, or indicate a college preference if you previously chose not to do so.
Graduate students are first admitted by a University department. Stating a college preference will not affect how an academic department considers your application or whether you will be offered a place.
If you receive an offer from an academic department, you're also guaranteed to receive a college place if you're studying for a matriculated course. If your preferred college isn't able to offer you a place, you will be offered a place at another college. Once you receive an offer from a college, you won't be considered by any other colleges. You must accept this college offer in order to take up your place on the course.
If you decline the college offer made to you, you are also declining the offer of the place on your course.
For information about the timeline for getting a college place after you receive an offer from your department, visit our Decision timeline page.
How do I apply for college scholarships?
A number of colleges have scholarships available for graduate students. You can use our fees, funding and scholarship search to find out if you're eligible for any of these and whether an additional separate application is required.
For the majority of college scholarships, you're not required to choose that college as your preference on your application form or complete a separate scholarship application. All eligible applicants who apply by the deadline will be considered. If you're selected for a college scholarship, we'll move your application to the relevant college.
What college preference should I give if I'm applying to more than one course?
If you're applying for more than one course in any given admissions cycle, you must indicate the same college preference in all your applications, unless the college doesn't accept applications to your course(s).
Can I stay at my current Oxford college?
If you'd like to remain at your current Oxford college, you should check whether it accepts applications for the course to which you are applying. If it does, you can indicate this preference when you apply. If not, you should contact your college office to ask whether they would be willing to make an exception.
If your college indicates that it is willing to consider your application for a course it doesn't usually accept, or if you're a fellow of All Souls College, please contact Graduate Admissions before submitting your application.
If you wish to stay at your current college but apply for scholarships at other colleges, you should choose your current college as your college preference when you apply, unless you're applying for a scholarship that explicitly requires you to choose a specific college as part of your application. Your application will be available to other colleges for scholarship consideration, even though your current college is indicated as your college preference.
If you choose a college other than your current college and you are not accepted by that college, your application will go through the same college allocation process as all other applications. It won't automatically be sent to your current college and you cannot request to be routed back there.
If you're applying for a scholarship that explicitly requires you to choose a specific college as part of your application and you are not awarded the scholarship, your application will go through the same college allocation process as all other applications. It won’t automatically be sent to your current college and you cannot request to be routed back there.