Decisions

Congratulations if you have received an offer!

Over the next months we will keep in touch via our offer holder newsletters which will give you tips and insights into student life at Oxford and let you know how to prepare for your arrival here next October. If you can’t wait that long, then have a look now at our Oxford Students website. 

Typically, we receive more than 23,000 applications for around 3,300 places and every year we receive applications from many more brilliant candidates than we have places for. We are very aware that sadly not everyone will receive the news from Oxford they were hoping for.

We also know that many who do not receive an offer here go on to have a fabulous time at another university and some even come here for postgraduate study. So we may meet again, but in the meantime, we wish you every success with your studies and would like to thank you for considering Oxford.

Different types of offers

Conditional offers

If you receive an offer but have not yet completed all your current qualifications, it is likely that this will be conditional. Normally, meeting these conditions involves achieving certain examination results and where examinations are going ahead as planned, we expect these conditions to be met.

In countries where the normal examinations have been cancelled, we will expect the conditions of your offer to be met by the alternative assessment put in place by qualifications' regulators. Oxford remains committed to a fair and flexible admissions process which will aim to ensure no students are disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular those from under-represented and less advantaged backgrounds.

However, whatever changes occur, providing you meet all the conditions of your offer with us by the deadline stipulated by UCAS, your offer will be confirmed and you will be accepted by the University. This applies to all our offer holders, wherever you are currently studying in the world.

For details of typical offers for your course, please see the Entrance Requirements tab on the relevant course page. Please note that any offer may also include a requirement for evidence of proficiency in the English language.

Some candidates who receive conditional offers will have already completed school or college leaving qualifications and met the conditions. In this case, once you have completed all the necessary administrative steps to provide your college with the evidence required, your place will become unconditional and be confirmed. 

Open offers

If you get an open conditional offer, your place at Oxford is guaranteed (as long as you meet any conditions attached to the offer and complete the necessary administrative steps). However, the college you will go to has not yet been specified, and will not be decided until after you have produced evidence that you have met the conditions of your offer and when your place is confirmed. 

Opportunity Oxford

Each year, up to 250 offers include a place on our Opportunity Oxford programme. Through this programme, we make offers to candidates who have demonstrated outstanding potential and who we feel would benefit from additional academic support in preparation for their course.

Offers made to applicants on the Opportunity Oxford programme are made on the same rigorous basis as all others. The programme aims to smooth the transition to university from school or college so participants have the best possible start to their undergraduate career at Oxford. 

Financial conditions

If you receive an offer of a place, your college will require you to complete a Financial Declaration form in order to meet your financial condition of admission. This aims to ensure that you are fully aware of the expected fees and living costs associated with your chosen course of study at Oxford and to give you the opportunity to plan your finances before you arrive to begin your course.

Further information

Read the 2025/26 Course Information Sheet for your course.

Read more about your contract with Oxford University.

On occasion, we are notified of bogus letters claiming to be from the University of Oxford, offering a place and/or scholarship funding to an applicant, and requesting payment in order to secure the offer(s). Genuine communications from the University will be sent to you from:
 [email protected] or from an ‘ox.ac.uk’ email address.

The University will never ask for money to be paid in order to secure a scholarship. If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of a document that you have been sent by the University or one of its departments/faculties or colleges then please contact the University.