No, all students must take all elements of the programme which are designed to complement one another. The exceptions to this rule would be students with special needs consequent on disability for whom a reduction in workload might be suitable, and students returning for a second semester who have already taken some courses. Exceptional cases are dealt with ad hoc and students falling into these categories should make detailed arrangements with SSO staff before the start of the semester.
No. The programme as described on the website is a whole programme and must be taken as described.
No student may do any extra work such as an outside independent study while on the semester. This is partly because SSO students typically have neither time nor energy for yet more study on top of what is already required, and because any further academic commitment risks undermining their productivity and quality of work. Many students, however, find that work they do in Oxford is excellent preparation for advanced study, such as a senior thesis, that they must do at home, and they choose their tutorials to help in that. If a tutor from your university asks you to do additional study while in Oxford please contact us to ask for help.
No. The fees you pay do not entitle you to attend any laboratory classes. The fees for such classes are very much higher than the fees for humanities and social science studies.
Some dead and living languages are offered by SSO as tutorial choices (see the BestSemester tutorial lists). All SSO students may use the University’s Language Teaching Centre for self guided study using a variety of media in some hundreds of languages. Successful applicants will be told about this on arrival.
Yes. SSO welcomes all applicants. Applicants with a non conventional background should submit all the information normally required, even if it shows them in an unfavourable light, plus other explanatory material so that SSO can assess the application fairly.
Though SSO has some tutors whom it uses regularly, it is impossible to say for certain who will be giving which tutorials in any particular subject in any particular term. This is because tutors' timetables change from term to term according to their research commitments and other factors. The Senior Tutor will always try to get the best tutors available, taking into account the tutor's expertise in the subject, their teaching skill, familiarity with American students and the particular challenges they face, and so on. Sometimes several tutors teach the same course in any one term so students taking the same tutorial will have different tutors. You will be told who your tutors are when you get to Oxford. This information is not available before that time.
Tutors are of many denominations, several different faiths, and none. They are chosen on the basis of their intellectual and teaching skills, not their religious stance.
All Oxford tutors will challenge SSO students’ views and existing positions with a view to sharpening their intellectual skills. The challenge will not be intended to undermine views students hold dear, but to force students to re-examine and perhaps rethink ideas which they have accepted without rigorous enough thought. SSO does not per se encourage people to change their views, but we certainly encourage them to think about them rigorously and critically. We do not expect any of our tutors to try to win converts for any particular approach, and expect our students to challenge their tutors just as they will find themselves challenged.
The main criterion is that you should be really interested in the field: most students find they work more intensely than they ever have done before, and to sustain that level of effort it’s important to have a real interest in the subject matter. The choice is really open to you, but you might like to choose courses you can’t cover at your home university, or ones which depend on the greater library resources in Oxford compared with your home university’s. It often works well to build on topics you’ve particularly enjoyed at your home university and would like to follow in more depth. Make sure your tutorials give you the credits you need. We hope that the disciplinary and thematic concentrations will help you navigate the lengthy tutorial lists and see which elements of the programme would work well together.
You’ll meet your tutor once a week during the eight week University Full Term for your primary tutorial, and once a fortnight during the eight week University term for your secondary tutorial. That probably doesn’t sound much, but remember that you will spend about 20–30 hours reading for each tutorial meeting and will bring a substantive essay to each tutorial meeting!
Most seminar meetings and most reading time are outside University Full Term. You will meet about 6 times as a group and will have individual meetings with your seminar leader to prepare for writing a long essay. You will attend two lectures a week in Full Term in conjunction with your seminar.
SSO welcomes applications from all students, including disabled students. SSO always selects those students who it believes will be able to benefit most from study in Oxford. Disabled students have very successfully participated in the programme in the past. Because disabled students may have special needs they should discuss the possibility of study abroad with the relevant authorities (such as the disabilities office and study abroad office) at their home universities, and contact the Washington office as early as possible in the application process so that practical arrangements (including, where appropriate, financial arrangements) can be investigated. Students should disclose all relevant medical information to SSO staff to enable them to provide appropriate help where necessary.
Many students take the opportunity to travel in Britain and the rest of Europe, and SSO encourages all students to make the most of their time in this way: but you should not make arrangements for travel during the semester before you arrive. Once in Oxford you will have your detailed timetable and can judge how hard you are going to have to study, and how your finances will work out: then you can make your travel plans. You should not expect to have many weekends free for travel: there are no SSO academic events as a rule, but most students study at the weekend to get through the work expected. There is a break of a few days during each semester: in the autumn semester it falls around the beginning of October and in the spring semester around Easter and/or in March. Living expenses are higher in Europe than in the US and there are always many students who can’t afford to travel as much as they would like so you will not feel uncomfortable if you are on a tight budget.
Oxford is well placed with train and bus connections for visits to most places in the UK and to major airports for longer distance travel.
Field trips in Oxford and beyond are organized by SSO in September and March/April.
SSO does not prohibit visits, but neither does it encourage them. Visitors should not interfere with your work and should understand that you will not be able to take much time off to show people around Oxford. It’s best if people come during the spring/autumn break. Guests may not stay in SSO houses. You may do best to get a sense of your workload before inviting guests to visit you as you will be very busy.
The University of Oxford is not a conservatory so no University music tutors give instrumental lessons. It is generally possible to find a teacher outside the University, though this is not something which SSO can arrange. It is always possible to find an orchestra or band of some sort to play with, since there are so many, often of a high standard, though students should not expect there to be vacancies in the best ensembles unless they (the students) perform to a very high standard.
Anywhere you like. There is a very broad range of churches and chapels inside the University and outside. Many denominations are represented, though several specifically American denominations are not. Most students try more than one place of worship. Some students make a firm commitment to a place of worship, for example by joining a college chapel choir. Others take full advantage of the freedom offered, visiting some places for the high quality of the preaching, others to listen to world class music, and others to experience a church in the community near to SSO houses. There are some SSO services at Wycliffe Hall and some prayer meetings (all of which are optional) and sometimes students organize their own bible study.
See the programme’s Costs page (in the Admissions section) to review anticipated expenses for food. Food costs are not billed from the programme through your home campus. You can prepare your own meals, either by yourself or as a group, using the well equipped kitchens in SSO houses and buying groceries locally, or buy meals at Wycliffe Hall, or eat out. Mostly students cook for themselves as eating out is very expensive in Oxford compared with the US. A small part of the programme’s instructional fee is used to buy group meals taken at Wycliffe Hall by SSO students as a group, or provided at SSO houses (for example during orientation), or on requisite field trips. Food groups organised in the houses provide an excellent way to eat well and cheaply, to get to know other students on the programme, and to save cooking time.
It provides a basic international insurance which is useful in an emergency, and it serves as a second international id card (American drivers’ licences and credit cards are not generally accepted). The CCCU in Washington requires that all students on CCCU programmes have one.
Applicants
- may be offered a place on the programme for the semester they have chosen,
- may be offered a place on the programme for the semester following that which they have chosen and be put on a waiting list for a place on the semester they have chosen,
- may be put on a waiting list for a place on the semester they have chosen,
- may not be offered a place for any semester and may not be put on the waiting list for any semester,
- may be encouraged to apply for a place on the Oxford Summer Programme.
When you confirm your acceptance of a place on the SSO you must confirm your tutorial selection. You can make changes at that point but not thereafter. There may be come flexibility in seminar selection after this point.
Almost all students get their first choice tutorials. Those who don't are generally hoping for tutorials in very small subject areas where teaching is not offered in some terms, for example when all available tutors are on sabbatical, or where illness or some other emergency makes finding a good tutor impossible.
Following standard Oxford practice students will be told the name of their tutors and their contact details once they arrive in Oxford. Oxford tutors are all actively engaged in research and use the time outside term to research and write: to preserve this time for their research students are not normally put in contact with them until immediately before the start of term.
No. Programme houses are not available for occupation before 9 a.m. of the first day of the programme or after 11 am on the final check out day i.e. the Monday following the last day of the programme.
Yes. Orientation begins on the first evening so you must arrive in Oxford between 9 am and 5 pm of that day.
Generally speaking, no. However if you are a mature (older) student or a married student, it is sometimes possible to allow for alternative housing arrangements. All other students are required to live in SSO houses.
No. Although you might want to travel in Britain or Europe before the programme starts, it is generally not a good idea to come to Oxford during that time. If you do, you won’t be able to live in SSO houses and SSO staff won’t have time to help you as they put the last details in place for the whole group. Plan to come to Oxford on the day the programme starts.
The programme ends on a Friday at 4 pm, but your SCIO accommodation is available to you until 11 am the following Monday. You must check out at some point between these two times.
Rarely. A student visa will allow holders to work part time, though you should note that regulations may change without warning and are completely outside SSO’s control. Given the rigorous nature of the course, however, SSO students are not allowed to work more than 10 hours per week.
Please check current regulations as they change all the time.
For your University of Oxford card which gets you into libraries and other facilities, for SSO and Wycliffe Hall noticeboards so staff can get to know you better, and for your permanent file which is referred to, for example, if staff are asked to write references for students after they have left.
A debit card is a convenient way to draw money in England from your bank account. It is a good idea to let your bank know that you will be leaving the country and regularly using your card in England. Visa and Master card credit cards are very widely accepted in Britain, but American Express and, particularly, Diner's Card are not so widely used.
Though you should expect to behave more formally in classes in Oxford than at home (no eating, drinking, or gum chewing for example) you’ll find that dress is fairly casual, and anything clean and tidy will be fine. You should not, though, wear a hat or cap inside as this might be read as rude. You’ll get more hints on how to avoid things which might appear too informal or rude in Britain once you arrive.
Most American find British houses cold and the British climate mild but wet, so bring warm indoor clothes, and waterproof outdoor clothes. You’ll want one formal outfit but the rest of your clothes can be casual.
Yes. Students often get a great deal out of a second semester in Oxford and SSO staff always welcome applications for two terms, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to get visas for a second term, and students are students are encouraged to apply for two terms from the outset.
The great majority of tutorials are offered in every term, but in very specialized subjects with few tutors there may be terms when all the tutors are away on research leave, or maternity leave, or for other reasons. Pick the tutorial you want on the assumption that it will be available and give an alternative just in case.
For some, yes. These are in mainly in Classics or Modern Languages where a knowledge of one or more language is necessary. For other tutorials we strongly recommend your having taken some classes in the subject, broadly defined. For example, the Oxford semester is probably not the time to start studying philosophy from scratch, but if you have done some philosophy at your home school, you could well try a new branch of philosophy in Oxford.
