Application for graduate courses at Oxford is made to the University centrally, and applications are considered first by Departments and Faculties.
graduates

The University's Departments and Faculties administer all graduate courses.  Full details and application forms are on the University Graduate Admissions pages. In applying, a student may indicate a college of preference but if they do not a college will be assigned by the Graduate Admissions Office.  A college will consider a student’s application only after it has been accepted by the relevant Department or Faculty. 

Once a Faculty or Department has accepted your application, it is sent to the College of your choice or the college you have been allocated.

Admissions criteria

  • Applications are considered for any of the courses in which the College offers admission. 
  • Applications are usually considered first by the College tutor or tutors in the relevant subject area, who then advise the Senior Tutor as to their acceptability and relative strength.
  • The College aims to admit a certain number of graduate students each year, 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. In determining which applications to accept, the relative academic merit and potential of the applicants is considered.
  • The possession of competitively-won funding may be taken into account as an indicator of the applicant’s academic merit and potential.
  • Preference will normally be given to applicants whose area of study overlaps with the academic interests of the College’s academic Fellows and lecturers.
  • Preference may be given to current or past students of the College.
  • 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 College’s Senior Tutor.

Points to note

  • St John’s is a popular college with prospective graduates so it may not be possible to make offers to well-qualified candidates if their applications are received late in the admissions round.
  • Graduate applications are generally received by the College about 8 weeks after the application deadline date. It may take up to another 4 weeks before a decision is made.
  • If your application is accepted by St John’s, we will write to you with a College Offer in respect of the course for which you have been awarded a place from the Faculty or Department.  Any offer by the College will be subject to your providing a satisfactory 'financial declaration', which is explained on the University’s Fees and funding page.
  • The College does not allow graduate students of other colleges to transfer ('migrate') to St John's during their course.  Undergraduate or graduate students at other colleges may apply to St John's for admission to new graduate courses in the normal way.