Merton Pathways

Merton Pathways is a seven-month long outreach scheme ran by Merton College. The scheme has been established to support high attaining state school students from BME backgrounds when making an application to selective universities, which may include Oxford and Cambridge.

It aims to enhance skills and build up confidence to ensure students involved go into the application process informed and comfortable. Following an online format, participants will have the opportunity to attend online webinars / small group sessions throughout Year 12 and the beginning of Year 13.

Although we are targeting students from our outreach areas due to this being the programme’s pilot year, we encourage applicants who meet the above criteria to sign up. Students can expect sessions from academics, current students, and access and outreach staff.

The programme will run from April to November 2026, and sessions will be delivered via Zoom. These include (but are not limited to):

• Sessions giving an insight into the life of university students, an introduction to university (and Oxford), and general advice around what makes a strong university application.
• Subject Exploration Sessions and Academic Taster Sessions
• Interview Skills Preparation Workshops

The deadline to submit your application is Sunday 15 March 2026.

For more information about this programme, please visit the Merton College Website.