Visiting colleges gives you a great chance to see in to the heart of Oxford University, and visit the places that most students live, and where they spend much of their time.
Open days are the best time to visit. The University open days in 2013 will be 26 June, 27 June and 20
September. As well as participating in the University open days,
most colleges also hold individual open days and other events at different times
throughout the year. For more information see:
College pages 
Events
and Outreach
Most colleges are also open to drop-in visitors throughout the
year, at least for potential applicants to walk around the grounds.
Visiting the colleges
Not sure which colleges to visit?
The first thing to do is check which colleges offer your course. Then you can read more about each college on our college pages, which have links through to colleges’ own websites.
You might like to consider
- the size of the college (how many students it has)
- how old or new it is
- the
location (is it in the city centre, or a few minutes away? Is it near
your department building, the park, the river or the swimming pool?)
- if
you want to be able to live in college accommodation all through your
studies or whether you might want share a house with friends during one
or more years. Only some colleges offer rooms for every year of study.
You can always watch a short video on choosing a college.
You
may like to visit several different colleges so that you can get a feel for which college may suit you
best.
Don't worry!
Our advice is not to worry too much about choosing colleges to visit. Oxford
colleges have more in common than they have differences, and we find
that students develop a fierce loyalty to whichever college they are in,
and all believe their college is the best!
All Oxford colleges
are alike in offering good computing, library, sports and music
facilities, as well as in providing students with quality food and
accommodation, plus a common room and a bar. So, although it doesn’t
matter which college you choose, college life is certainly a central
part of being a student at Oxford. It’s definitely a good idea to visit
a college to find out more.
Most teaching at Oxford takes place
in college tutorials, and students’ academic progress is monitored by
college tutors. However, all tutors are members of their subject
departments and the course you study is the same whichever college you
go to. Most colleges offer most courses, and they are all very strong
academically.
