Applying for graduate study

Previous academic excellence is a key requirement for graduate study at Oxford. Successful applicants tend to be those who achieved the very highest results of their graduating class.

The normal minimum qualification to be eligible for admission as a graduate student at Oxford is the completion of a Bachelor’s degree with a first or upper second class honours or the international equivalent. For guidance on how international degrees compare, please see the UK NARIC website.

Specific entry requirements for your programme are detailed in the relevant subject entries of the Course Guide.

Not all programmes require an undergraduate degree in the same subject area and there are some courses, in particular some of those offered by the Department for Continuing Education, which will take relevant experience or alternative backgrounds into consideration.

English is the language of instruction for all courses at Oxford and this also applies to thesis and examination papers. If English is not your first language you will need to provide evidence of your linguistic competence. For further information about the standard of English needed (and forms of evidence that are acceptable) please refer to the Guidance for international students page.

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