The result

Colleges will inform candidates of their decision by sending a letter or email.  In 2013, letters were posted to candidates on Thursday 10 January and/or emails were sent on Friday 11 January. The date for 2014 will be published here as soon as it has been confirmed.

The letter or email you receive will explain one of three things:

• You are made an offer of a place to study your subject at a particular college. If you have already completed your examinations, this offer will probably be unconditional. If you have not yet finished your final examinations, the offer will probably be conditional upon your achieving certain grades, usually A*A*A - AAA, depending upon the course, at A-level, or equivalent qualifications. The offer may specify that you need to achieve certain grades in particular subjects and may include a requirement for evidence of proficiency in the English language.
• You are made an ‘open offer’, which means that you have an offer from Oxford and are guaranteed a place if you meet the terms of any conditional offer. However, the college you will go to has not yet been specified, and will not be decided until after your final examination results have been published.
• Your application has, unfortunately, not been successful. For many applicants who have, until now, been the most academically successful in their school or college, it can be very dispiriting to not get an offer. In recent years, over 75% of those who applied did not receive an offer; and it is probable, if you have selected your other courses wisely, that you will go on to study at another excellent university.

In a few years’ time you may wish to consider applying to Oxford for further study after you have completed your first degree elsewhere. We often see candidates who were unsuccessful in their undergraduate applications here making successful applications for graduate study.