Admissions Selection Criteria

Nuffield makes decisions about which applicants to admit based on the following selection criteria:

  • Applicants must first have been accepted by a Department or Faculty of the University of Oxford before any college or permanent private hall may consider them.
  • Applications are considered for any of the courses in which Nuffield offers admission. Please consult this link to see the courses to which the college admits.
  • Nuffield has launched a scheme whereby all new students offered a place at Nuffield are guaranteed funding. Therefore, decisions about admission at Nuffield are effectively funding decisions. As a result the College works closely with the relevant Departments and Faculties to shortlist the most competitive applicants in accordance with the selection criteria relevant for each course. Please check the relevant course pages on the Graduate Admissions website for further information.
  • In College, applications are usually considered by one or more of the College’s relevant subject admissions panels (Economics, Politics and IR, Sociology and Social Policy), in consultation with the Senior Tutor.
  • Preference may be given to applicants whose area of study overlaps with the academic interests of the College’s academic staff.
  • The College aims to admit a certain number of graduate students each year spread across the range of subjects in which it accepts graduate students, and this will determine the number of offers which can be made to applicants. There are usually many more applicants that are considered than offers which can be made and admission at Nuffield is very competitive (the success rate is normally around 15%). Selection is based solely on academic merit and potential in accordance with the course selection criteria set by the Departments and Faculties.
  • The final decision on whether to offer a place in the light of the overall competition for graduate places and the spread of those places across subject areas is usually taken by the Senior Tutor in conjunction with the College’s subject admissions panels.
  • Please note that any offer of a place will be subject to satisfactory completion of the financial declaration form that will be sent to the applicant as part of the offer of a place. Please consult this guidance for more details.