As well as developing your enjoyment of a subject, supercurricular study helps you demonstrate the intellectual curiosity, independent thinking and academic engagement tutors look for when assessing your suitability to study at Oxford — especially for our tutorial-style teaching.
What is supercurricular study?
A supercurricular activity can be anything you do to engage with the ideas and information that interest you. You can think of it in three parts:
- Explore - read, watch, listen to or try to find out things related to your subject other than what you are being taught in class.
- Engage - question everything you encounter. Do you agree? Does it fit with what you have learnt previously? Has it changed your mind? How does it link to other ideas?
- Reflect - tutors want you to be able to explain what you learned and why it interested you. Being able to talk in depth about one subject resource is more impressive than reeling off a list of books you have read.
Some examples include:
- Reading books or articles related to your subject, for example, via subject-specific reading lists on department or college websites or academic blogs or journals written for general audiences
- Watching documentaries and videos related to your subject
- Attending public lectures or online talks
- Listening to academic and general podcasts
- Entering essay competitions or seek out free short online courses on topics which interest you
- Carrying out small independent projects on something which interests you
- Attending Oxford's University, department or college outreach events. These may offer support with your application but many also include a learning component which you may find inspiring and helps with your supercurricular study. Access Oxford below has more information on these opportunities.