Is Somerville College Oxford good?

Somerville is one of the few Oxford colleges able to house all its undergraduates in on-site college accommodation for every single year of their degrees . Somerville is known for its good food, excellent formals and beautiful central gardens, where students get together to study and socialise in the summer months.

What is the most oversubscribed college at Oxford?

The Oxford College Application Process It's true there are different Oxford college acceptance rates - Christ Church and Brasenose are among the most oversubscribed Oxford colleges, while St. Hilda's, for instance, is one of the most undersubscribed. That doesn't mean that St.

Which Oxford college is the most posh?

The most prestigious colleges in general (that admit undergraduates) are Christ Church and Magdalen . This is just a function of how grand the dining hall and chapel are, how grand the grounds, deer park etc. Second tier would be any of the other old architecture style colleges, of which there are many.

Which Oxford college gets the most applications?

The most number of undergraduate applications go to Brasenose college . In the 2015 cohort, they received 1,087 applications, of which 101 were accepted to the college, whilst 127 were accepted at other colleges.

What is the cheapest Oxford college?

The cheapest colleges by annual rent are: Hertford College. Mansfield College. New College. Queen's College. Somerville College. St John's College.

Which Oxford college gets the least applicants?

Figures released by the University have revealed wide disparities in the strength of applicants to different Oxford colleges.

Is Oxford easier to get into than Ivy League?

Obviously, acceptance percentages vary between programs and institutions, but Oxbridge often has substantially better average success rates for candidates . The class of 2025 Ivy League admission rate average is 5.4 percent, which is around four times lower than Oxford's average acceptance rate of about 20 percent.

Is Oxford easier than Harvard?

Oxford vs Harvard: Acceptance Rate How difficult is it to get in? As of 2023, Harvard's acceptance rate is 4%. Half of the applicants accepted at Harvard have an SAT score between 1480 and 1580. On the other hand, Oxford's acceptance rate of about 17.5% is appealing .

Who went to Somerville College Oxford?

Famous novelists who studied at Somerville include Dorothy L. Sayers, Vera Brittain, Penelope Fitzgerald, Winifred Holtby, Iris Murdoch, Rose Macaulay, Margaret Kennedy, Margaret Forster, Christine Brooke-Rose, A. S. Byatt, Jane Aiken Hodge, Michele Roberts, Maggie Gee, Liz Jensen, Francesca Kay and Kate Williams.

What is Somerville College known for?

In the 1910s, Somerville became known for its support for the women's suffrage campaign . In 1920, Oxford University allowed women to matriculate and therefore gain degrees. From the college's inception, all female students had to be chaperoned when in the presence of male students.

What College is better than Oxford?

One London college has just nipped past Oxford and Cam, taking the title of the second best university in the world in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2025. Beaten only by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Imperial College London was named the number two university in the world.

What is the most modern College at Oxford?

About the college. St Catherine's College (Catz) is Oxford's youngest undergraduate college and one of its largest and most diverse communities.

Somerville College | University of Oxford (2024)

The college provides a friendly environment for its students to meet and swap ideas with like-minded academics and where they can benefit from Oxford's world-class graduate training. A relaxed and friendly college, Somerville is free of religious affiliation, with students coming from many different cultural backgrounds.

The social centre of graduate life at Somerville is Margery Fry House, a building on the college site which is partly managed by students themselves and reserved for graduate-only use. This is the home of the Middle Common Room (MCR), which organises numerous social activities throughout the year.

College tour

College facilities

Library and IT services

The 24-hour access library stocks more than 120,000 volumes and offers unlimited book borrowing, with a loan period of one term or one vacation period. The library has strong research holdings across the humanities, multiple copies of science textbooks and special collections, including the library of John Stuart Mill.The librarian offers one-to-one orientation sessions with all new graduate students during the first two weeks of their first term.

Wi-Fi access is available in the library and throughout the college site. The library and computer rooms are equipped with scanning and printing facilities. There is an IT help desk available to handle student and staffqueries and problems (including emergency laptop loans).

The Dorothy Hodgkin Quad music room offers access to Sibelius music software, and the college offers laptops and digital camera for loan to students.

Sport, music and college facilities

Somerville College now has a study/reading room in the Catherine Hughes building for graduate use only.

The college has an on-site gym and croquet lawn, off-site shared sports facilities and numerous college sports clubs.

Music practice rooms, an organ and pianos support musicians at the college, including the music society and chapel choir. There is also a drama society, law, history, and medics’ societies.

The college's non-consecrated chapel is open to all faiths.

There is a college nurse with a treatment room on site available by appointment and via open door sessions.

Facilities for disabled students

Although bedrooms in most of the college's accommodation are not suitable for wheelchair users, wheelchair-accessible bedrooms are available on the college site.

The dining hall and Terrace Bar have lift access. The library, function rooms and chapel are on the ground floor and have level access, although they may not have automatic opening doors.The MCR is accessed via the lift to the Terrace Bar and via several small steps, so as such it is not wheelchair-accessible.

Somerville College will consider requests for other adaptations. Please contact the Disability Coordinator, Jo Ockwell, to discuss requirements.

MCR

The Somerville Middle Common Room (MCR) is located in the primary graduate accommodation hub of Margery Fry House and net to the Terrace Bar and outdoor seating area. There are twice-termly MCR/SCR symposia with dinner and an annual MCR dinner with supervisors and college advisers.

The common room space provides a communal kitchen, lounge area, a quiet study area, small computer room and a room available for graduates to tutor in.

Accommodation and meals

Accommodation

Most of the college's graduate accommodation is within the college site or very close by. The main graduate building on site is Margery Fry House. The college also has a graduate house within 10 minutes’ walking distance on Woodstock Road and has the use of a number of houses in St Giles Terrace and a number of rooms in Wellington Square for graduate accommodation, all immediately opposite an entrance to the college.

The college can accommodate more than half of its graduate students in their first year and rooms are allocated on a first- come, first-served basis with a waiting list normally operating for later applications. Accommodation after the first year is subject to availability.

Somerville has single rooms only with shared facilities. We also have a small number of rooms which can be adapted for those with a wide range of disabilities. The college has a nursery onsite available to student and staff members with young children.

Further information onaccommodation at Somerville Collegeis available on the college website.

Meals

Three meals a day are available in the college's dining hall from Monday through to Friday with brunch and dinner available on weekends, and Formal Hall is held six times per term. The Terrace Café/Bar is open seven days a week serving a range of snacks and drinks during term time.

During the vacation there are no weekend or evening meals available. All graduate accommodation buildings and the Middle Common Room (MCR) also provide communal kitchens.

The accommodation charge does not include meals. The dining hall and Terrace Bar are both accessible by lift as well as via the main stairs.

Courses

This college accepts graduate students for the following courses:

Course

Mode of study

Expected length

Advanced Computer Science MSc

Full time

1 year

Ancient History DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Ancient History DPhil

Part time

6-8 years

Ancient Philosophy MSt

Full time

9 months

Applied Digital Health MSc

Full time

1 year

Archaeology DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Area Studies DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Astrophysics DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Atomic and Laser Physics DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Bachelor of Civil Law BCL

Full time

10 months

Biochemistry DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Biochemistry MSc by Research

Full time

1-3 years

Biodiversity, Conservation and Management MSc

Full time

1 year

Biology DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Biomedical Sciences (NIH OxCam) DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Cardiovascular Science DPhil

Full time

4 years

Cellular Structural Biology DPhil

Full time

4 years

Chemistry DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Chemistry MSc by Research

Full time

2-3 years

Classical Archaeology DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Classical Archaeology MPhil

Full time

21 months

Classical Archaeology MSt

Full time

9 months

Classical Languages and Literature DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Classical Languages and Literature DPhil

Part time

6-8 years

Clinical Embryology MSc

Full time

1 year

Clinical Medicine DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Clinical Medicine DPhil

Part time

6-8 years

Clinical Neurosciences DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Clinical Neurosciences DPhil

Part time

6-8 years

Clinical Neurosciences MSc by Research

Full time

1-3 years

Clinical Neurosciences MSc by Research

Part time

2-6 years

Comparative Literature and Critical Translation MSt

Full time

9 months

Computer Science DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Condensed Matter Physics DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Creative Writing MSt

Part time

2 years

Criminology and Criminal Justice MSc

Full time

9 months

Development Studies MPhil

Full time

21 months

Diplomatic Studies MSt

Full time

1 year

Economic and Social History MPhil

Full time

21 months

Economic and Social History MSc

Full time

11 months

Economics combined MPhil and DPhil

Full time

5 years

Economics DPhil

Full time

3-4 years

Economics DPhil

Part time

Somerville College | University of Oxford (2024)

College tour

College facilities

Library and IT services

Sport, music and college facilities

Facilities for disabled students

MCR

Accommodation and meals

Accommodation

Meals

Courses

FAQs

Is Somerville College Oxford good? ›

Who went to Somerville College Oxford? ›

References