Organ award application form 2025/26 entry

Please read the introductory information carefully before completing the form.

The form requires a lot of mandatory information, and you will not be able to edit these details once you have submitted them. We advise you, therefore, to save your entry elsewhere (e.g. in a Word document), and to check the information you have entered carefully before clicking Submit.

Please do not use bullet points or the '-' (hyphen) symbol as a bullet point in your statement, as this may truncate the text which is submitted.

If you have queries about completing this form, please contact us by email ([email protected]) before submitting it. 

Personal details and academic record

Please complete your personal details and your academic record. Please ensure in particular that your contact details are entered carefully.

Academic qualifications

For your academic qualifications, please ensure that you include the Subject, Date, and Grade achieved. 

For A-levels or equivalent qualifications which you have not yet completed, please include predicted grades and the subjects you will be taking.

Examples:

GCSEs or equivalent

Mathematics (June 2022 – 7)
English Literature (June 2022 – 8)
English Language (June 2022 – 8)
French (June 2022 – 6)
German (June 2022 – 7)
Dual Award Science (June 2022 – 8 8)
History (June 2022 – 9)
Geography (June 2022 – 9)
Computing (June 2022 – 7)
Theatre Studies (June 2022 – 8)

A-levels or equivalent

French (June 2024 - A)
German (June 2024 - A)
Mathematics (June 2024 - A*)

College preferences

The second section of the application form allows you to nominate as many preferences of college/year of entry, in order, as you like.

This grid shows which colleges are offering organ awards for 2025 and 2026 entry. Please note that colleges may have vacancies for one year only or for both years, and some have restrictions on what subject you must be intending to study. 

*Organ Award recipients at Harris Manchester College must be 21 or over by the start date of their course. 

** Lincoln will not consider candidates for deferred entry, so any candidate wishing to apply to that college for entry in 2026 should do so in the 2025 admissions round.

You should first check that the college preferences you are naming all offer the course you intend to study. In principle, organ scholars can read for any course offered at the University. In practice, not every college is able to offer every course to organ award applicants. You can see which colleges offer your proposed course here.

You may then wish to print the above college grid to identify which ones are valid choices for your course and in what order you would like to name them as preferences.

Use the drop-down boxes to show, in order, the colleges and years of entry for which you wish to be considered. You may only choose each option once. If you wish, you can jump back and forth between 2025 and 2026 entry.

You can state as many preferences as you wish, but you are advised to select at least three, in case your college of first preference is particularly oversubscribed. Once you have selected all your preferences, leave the remaining boxes blank to state 'No further preferences'.

Applicants for organ awards may apply to both Oxford and Cambridge (for an organ award, but not on their UCAS application), except those applying to read Medicine. At the foot of the form, please indicate whether you are also applying for an organ award at Cambridge.

Please note that you will be considered by all your first-choice university college preferences before by any of the colleges at your second-choice university. For example, therefore, if you name Oxford first and state ten preferences, your first choice in Cambridge is effectively your eleventh overall. 

Supporting materials

Personal statement and references

In addition to completing this online application form, you must also submit a personal statement outlining your reasons for wanting to study your proposed course at Oxford. This statement should be no longer than one page in length and should be similar to your UCAS personal statement if possible.

You should also check with your school that arrangements are in place for your references to be submitted. Your application must be supported by both an academic report and a report on your practical music ability, both completed in confidence.

You can submit your personal statement and your referees can submit their references by email. These should be added as attachments, in either doc or pdf format, and emailed to the Admissions Officer at your first-choice college of preference. We encourage you to submit these documents by email, but they can if necessary be posted. Email and postal addresses for colleges can be found on the college pages.

Please ensure that emails and attachment file names clearly indicate your candidate name.

Written work

Many subjects require you to submit written work as part of your application to Oxford. For organ award applicants, this written work is to be submitted as part of the assessment for the organ award, not later in November as for standard undergraduate applications. You should prepare and assemble the written work required for your proposed subject in a good time so that it is ready to be submitted in early September.

For details of the written work required in your subject, see the summary of written work requirements.

Candidates applying to read Music should submit two marked essays on any areas or aspects of music (or one of your other A-level subjects or equivalent if that is more convenient), and a marked sample of harmony and/or counterpoint where possible. Candidates may also submit one or more compositions.

You do not need to send the written work until it is requested by the college - if it is required, you will be notified within a few days of the closing date for applications.

The deadline for completing this form and for receipt of the personal statement and references is 12 noon on 1 September 2024.

When you submit the application form, you will be taken to a page outlining the next steps of the organ award selection process.