Frequently Asked Questions

St Edmund Hall is also often referred to affectionately by its nickname – Teddy Hall.

Visiting Students at St Edmund Hall typically take the same courses that are available to our undergraduates, although we are also able to offer some additional subjects designed specifically for Visiting Students that are not normally available to our undergraduate students. Depending on the subject, the topics offered will usually be from the first or second year of the undergraduate curriculum.

It may sometimes be possible for Visiting Students to take an introductory level course in a subject unrelated to their course at the home university or a subject in which they have no university-level experience. However, we would typically expect Visiting Students to have an academic background in the subject areas they wish to pursue at Teddy Hall.

In order to achieve maximum benefit from the Oxford tutorial system, we recommend that you select courses from only one or two subject areas. However, Visiting Students are able to choose up to a maximum of three subjects during their time here.

A helpful graphic with the course combination parameters can be found here, showing the possible Primary and Secondary subjects you can choose to study together. You should refer to this when completing your application form.

All the available course information is listed on the course pages. Some subjects will also contain links to the departmental websites, which provide further information on the syllabus, though this is not always possible.

Depending on the subject and given the style of teaching, extensive syllabuses are often not produced in advance, as the tutors aim to respond to students’ requests in a tailored way. If there are particular topics that you would need to cover, please email the Admissions Officer to see if they can be accommodated.

Successful students will be contacted by their tutors at the start of their first term to arrange a meeting to discuss tutorials.

Applicants should be of similar academic standard to our full-degree students. As a guide, successful students will have a level of achievement at their home university equivalent to at least a 2:1 UK degree classification. For example, North American students are required to have a minimum GPA of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale.

To accompany your application we request that you send us a sample of written work in the subject(s) for which you would like to be considered. Your written work should not have been produced especially for this application.

If you are applying to courses in more than one subject you are required to send a sample of work from each. Some examples of acceptable types of written work include: essays and other writing assignments; problem sets; lab reports; tests; examinations.

All work must be written in English, and if handwritten should be clearly legible.

Should the work be marked?

Where possible, written work ideally should have been marked by a professor or instructor at your home institution, and not re-written or corrected in any way.

What is the word limit?

No single piece of submitted work should exceed 2,000 words. However, you can submit an extract from an extended essay or paper so long as this is an appropriate length, and it is able to stand alone as a piece of writing.

What if I don’t have any written work in the subject I’m applying for?

If you are applying to courses in a subject that you have not recently studied, you are encouraged to consider submitting written work from a similar subject area. For example, if you would like to apply to a course in Comparative Literature, written work from an English class or anything on a literary topic would be an acceptable alternative.

Can I submit translated work?

All written work must be in English (except where required for Modern Languages). If your work is in another language please submit both the original work and your own translation into English.

The academic year at Oxford consists of three eight-week terms: October to December (Michaelmas term); January to March (Hilary term); and April to June (Trinity term). Although full-year applications are preferred, Visiting Students at St Edmund Hall can apply for one term (Michaelmas only), two terms (Hilary and Trinity) or a full academic year (Michaelmas to Trinity). The dates of term at Oxford can be found on the University website.

Visiting Students can access the same support and welfare networks, resources and facilities as all of our other students. However, we recognise that Visiting Students hold a unique position within the college and we have therefore made additional provisions specifically with our Visiting Students in mind.

The Tutor for Visiting Students is the Fellow (a Fellow is an academic and a senior member of the college) with overall responsibility for the Visiting Student programme and will be your Director of Studies. The Tutor for Visiting Students is assisted by two Visiting Student Junior Advisers who are current graduate students here at the College. They will be the first people to greet you on arrival and will do all they can to help you settle in and support you during your stay. They plan social events throughout the year and are always just a phone call or an email away should you have any questions or need any assistance.

In addition, Visiting Students are represented on the JCR Committee (a body of elected students who represent the views of their fellow undergraduates and sit on various College committees) by the International and Visiting Student Officer.

Prospective Visiting Students are reminded that the dates of the Oxford academic year may differ from their home institution and they should plan accordingly. Upon acceptance you will be informed of our term dates and you should refer to this regularly in your planning. It is our expectation that Visiting Students complete the full duration of their programme. Permission to leave early will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. Permission to leave early in order to attend internships will not normally be given.

St Edmund Hall does not award accreditation or college credit to Visiting Students. If you would like to earn credit for your studies at Oxford we request that you consult with your advisers at your home institution before applying in order to ensure that your proposed programme of study will be acceptable for credit transfer.

Upon successful completion of your programme, the College will provide you with a detailed transcript.