Get Into Oxford From The US

Being one of the best and top universities in the UK and the world in general, oxford university is highly sought after by students including those from the US who are seeking to do the variety of courses offered by oxford university under the graduate, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As will be seen below, there are quite a several students at Oxford University who are from the US. Many wonder how and what it takes to get into oxford university for an undergraduate, postgraduate or other further studies and education. 

Get Into Oxford From The US

Getting into Oxford from The US involves first Applying for admission into oxford university through the UCAS System (Universities and Colleges Admission Service). Secondly, you must ensure you meet all the educational and qualification requirements for admission into oxford university. These include the GPA, AP Exams, SAT or ACT scores. Some of these are mandatory and some can be equivalent depending on the course you are applying for. Lastly, you will sit an exam upon which if you pass, you will be admitted into oxford university from The US after passing an admission interview.

Getting Into Oxford from The Us

American students apply to Oxford in the same way as other students (via a UCAS form in October of the year before).

If you haven’t done UK A levels, the general minimum requirement at Oxford is

  1. SAT total score of 1,470 (out of 1,600). The optional essay is not required. (Criteria are different for the old-style SAT)

OR

  1. ACT with a score of at least 32 out of 36

AND

  1. Grade 5 in three or more Advanced Placement Tests in appropriate subjects *

OR

  1. SAT Subject Tests in three appropriate subjects at 700 or better.

Individual courses have specific requirements, so you will need to check the course pages for details. All admissions info is really easy to find on the University of Oxford pages.

You may apply to UK universities e.g., oxford university which has a lot of Americans and they may ask for your high school transcript, Other UK universities e.g., St. Andrews and Cambridge may also request transcripts as well from American students. For undergraduate degrees, Oxford is only looking at academic aptitude. It doesn’t care about what musical instruments or sports you play, or how much charity work you do. It only cares about your brain.

Assuming you meet the minimum entrance requirements (which are fairly modest for Americans), the real questions which will determine your admissions prospects will be (i) how well do you perform on the Oxford aptitude tests for your chosen subject, and (ii) how well do you perform at your admissions interviews.

Education and GPA, SAT, AP, ACT Requirements to Get into Oxford from The Us

On to Oxford itself, Oxford asks Americans to have a 3.7 GPA or higher and SAT scores of 1480, 33 in ACT overall, and of 700+ in Critical Reading and Math, with 1480+ overall (this will probably change in a few years with the planned restructuring of the SAT). This however depends on the course you are applying to, as some will ask for higher GPA requirements, while for other courses you may even get admitted into oxford from The US with a lower GPA.  

How To Increase Your Chances of Getting into Oxford from The Us?

You have to have:

  • Good predicted Level results, usually including one or two A*
  • A good admission test score in your chosen subject relative to the rest of the applicant pool
  • Strong written work (in an arts subject)
  • An interesting and convincing personal statement
  • A complete and accurate UCAS form (not to be dismissed!)
  • A convincing and engaging performance at the Interview if called up
  • A Level of results that meet or exceed your offer

Procedure To Get into Oxford from the US

Getting into oxford university from The US generally involves an application, interviews and lastly admission. 

The procedure is as outlined below:

  1. Applying via the UCAS Universities and Colleges admission system. The application for getting into oxford from The US generally has 6 parts. These include Personal details, including identity information, Course selection where you can apply for as many as 5 courses in no specific order, educational history comprising i.e., the high schools and any previous colleges or universities, course or certification completed, Work history, a comprehensive Personal statement, which is a written statement to state why you want to join, and why you think you stand out. Lastly, there is the Reference section where you give a list of people who can be contacted to vouch for you, e.g., past employers and colleagues. They can also write you a recommendation letter. 
  2. Depending on your educational qualification and scores e.g., GPA and SAT, ACT and AP scores, if selected, you can proceed and be called for either an online or a written interview either written or oral, either in person or otherwise. It is important to perform well in these interviews as they are crucial in determining whether you will be selected or dropped. 
  3. You can however choose to do them in person physically. The interviews are hugely important. 

You can also apply to get into oxford university from The US online and through several education consultancies and organizations that deal in student placement, and course selection, though this may be expensive. There are several sites and organizations e.g., UNICAF that deal in educational consultancy i.e., placing students in any course they want to start at any university anywhere e.g., oxford university in the UK.

Another way for getting into oxford from The US is if you have a scholarship to study there, although most likely if the scholarship is from and by oxford university itself, they may also require you to apply via the UCAS systems, too. The University of Oxford has a lot of scholarships and grants for education systems they award to students all over the world as part of their Corporates social responsibility efforts. You may apply and if lucky, you can get into oxford. 

The acceptance rate of students who want to get into oxford from the US

There is only something like 1500 (around 9% acceptance rate for international students looking to get into oxford, with nearly half of the total student population at oxford being international students) American undergraduates at Oxford every year, 

How to Apply and Get into Oxford from The US? Important Instruction to Follow

Data shows that only 7.6% of Americans were successful in their applications from 2015–2017, compared to 21.3% of Britons. Applying to Oxford as an American is extremely different from applying to a normal US school through the Common App or the UC App. Although the UK does use UCAS, a variety of factors including deadlines, admissions tests, & interviews deviate in several ways.

Here is how to prepare for, apply and interview for an opportunity to get into Oxford from the US:

1. UCAS Deadline:

Applying to Oxford through UCAS has an October 15 deadline (UK time!), whereas most US schools have an Early Acceptance deadline on November 1. By then, you must be finished with every part of your application, including your statement, teacher reference, and your minimum qualifications (ACT 32+, 3+ AP scores with 5’s). Note: You do not submit your GPA. Oxford doesn’t look, and UCAS doesn’t ask. The most important is course selection. Unlike in the US, you have to declare your field of study immediately, and you will not be able to switch later in college.

2. Admissions Tests:

On qualifications, you will likely have to take a specific admissions exam dependent on your course. For say a PPE applicant, that was the TSA, an absolute difficult process. It’s supposed to test:

“Problem-solving skills, including numerical and spatial reasoning. Critical thinking skills, including understanding argument and reasoning using everyday language.”

In other words, it’s nothing like an American standardized test. Instead of giving straightforward Math or English questions, it was much more of a logic/puzzle exam. Most American students will be very unfamiliar with this format. You need to perform absolutely well in the tests and get good grades, scored above average on your first TSA practice. Study hard over the summer! This test is usually in late October, and if you don’t meet the cutoff, you will not reach Part 3. It is therefore important to take it seriously as it will determine whether you are selected for admission into oxford or not

3. Finding Test Centers

If you’re in the continental US, you may have a very hard time finding a test centre to administer these exams. If you live in California, you may even find that the nearest public TSA exam centre is in Las Vegas, six hundred miles away. If lucky, you can apply to set up your private testing centre, but this will require a special application and a school administrator willing to create specific testing conditions for you. That’s due by September 30th.

4. Interviews

Depending on your application and admissions test scores, in December you could be invited to the famous Oxford interview process on campus. Although you may be allowed to Skype in, most will usually travel to Oxford for a week, and your travel costs are on you. It’s wonderful experiencing the dorms and dining halls, but unfortunately, the interviews can be quite stressful and sometimes require additional preparation of their own.

If you do well, you’ll find out if your application was successful in January. One good thing about being American is if you took the relevant apps to your course, your offer may be unconditional, meaning that you don’t have to worry about being rescinded second-semester senior year.

It’s tough applying as an American to any foreign university. But to study at Oxford university, it may just well be worth it!

Requirements for applying to get into oxford from us

  1. Personal details, including identity information. 
  2. Course selection. One is allowed to apply for as many as 5 courses in no specific order.
  3. Educational history, i.e., the high school one has attended or any previous colleges or universities, and course or certification completed. 
  4. Work history, list of where you worked before and/or currently, in what roles etc. 
  5. Personal statement, which is a written statement to state why you want to join, and why you think you stand out. 
  6. Reference, a list of people who can be contacted to vouch for you, e.g., past employers and colleagues. They can also write you a recommendation letter. 

Conclusion

Oxford University is one of the top universities in the UK and has a lot of students interested in studying there, including students from the US. Getting into Oxford from the US involves applying via the UCAS system, where you will need to submit the required documents and details including personal statements, references and recommendation letters, but admission will depend on if you meet the GPA and SAT scores requirements of 3 or 4 and 1480 respectively. All these after successful applications and placement, and passing the interviews and tests, will increase your chances of getting into The University of Oxford from us.  

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: Is it rare for an American to attend Oxford as an undergraduate?

Yeah, pretty rare. There are normally about 150–175 or so American undergraduates admitted each year. But even that overstates it a bit; many of those came to Oxford from American high schools but were themselves immigrants or had otherwise spent some part of their education abroad.

Question 2: Is it easy getting into Oxford?

No. You have to have Good predicted Level results, usually including one or two As, A good admission test score in your chosen subject relative to the rest of the applicant pool, Strong written work (in an arts subject), An interesting and convincing personal statement, A complete and accurate UCAS form (not to be dismissed!), A convincing and engaging performance at the Interview if called up, and lastly Level results that meet or exceed your offer.