Computer Science at Oxford

From Computer Science at Oxford

Applying to Oxford means applying to one of the colleges that offer your subject. So the first step in submitting an application is to choose a college.

Next, you will need to fill in your UCAS form, and we give some hints about the process of preparing your application.

In late October or early November, you will sit a Maths test. More details are given later on this page.

Based on the applications and the test results, we invite most applicants to come for an interview. Included here is a guide to what you can expect when you come for an interview at Oxford.

Finally, there is a page where I answer some of the questions that are often asked.

Detailed instructions for the applications procedure are contained in the University's Undergraduate Prospectus, and you should refer to that when competing the forms. The information given here is intended to supplement the official information given there. Tutors operate to formal admissions criteria in making decisions about applicants.

Choosing a college

Bridge of Sighs, Hertford College

The University Prospectus has some general information that will help you choose which college to apply to, but there are a few points that apply specifically to Computer Science.

Some subjects, such as Mathematics or Physics, admit a large number of students across the University, and you can be sure that these subjects will be well represented in every college. Other subjects, such as Music or Oriental Studies, are very small; in these subjects, you are likely to find that there are only one or two others studying the same subject in your college. In these subjects, the University department forms a more natural focus for students than their college.

Computer Science is somewhere in the middle. It is still relatively small in the University for a science subject, and it is not offered by every college.

You can find out the number of Computer Science students in each college from the University's Undergraduate Prospectus. First, look at the table near the back that gives the number of students studying each subject in each college. Add up the figures for Computer Science and for Mathematics and Computer Science, since many colleges treat these together for admissions purposes. Dividing by three gives you approximately the number of students in each year. Obviously, colleges with more places are going to offer you more chances of getting in; but then again, they do tend to receive more applications for each place, for one reason or another.

In addition, you can look at the pages for each college in the printed prospectus or on the web to find out who is the Computer Science tutor there. This page shows the colleges that regularly admit candidates for Computer Science, together with the tutors who teach for them.

If you do not wish to choose a college for yourself, you can make an open application where you do not specify a college, and the Admissions Office chooses a college for you. The process they use is randomized, but tends to favour colleges that have a relatively low number of applications for your subject this year. The benefit to you is that your application will go to a college that will be on the lookout for good applicants. The college that receives your application will not know that you made an open application, and you will not be asked about it at the interview.

Preparing your application

Applying to Oxford is very slightly different from applying to most other universities, in that we ask you to send your UCAS application off by a relatively early date in mid-October. This allows us to process all the applications in time for the interviewing period in December. (The special Oxford application form that was required in previous years is no longer used.)

No written work is required from applicants for Computer Science or Mathematics and Computer Science who are available to come for interview.

Other pages give some suggestions about what you should think about as you complete the UCAS form, and some phrases you should think carefully before using.

The closing date for applications for admission in 2010 is October 15th, 2009.

The Maths test

Applicants for Computer Science and for Mathematics and Computer Science are asked to sit a written test, shared with candidates for Mathematics and other joint degrees.

The test is administered in schools, and will take place on Wed. 4th November, 2009, the same date as the tests for various other Oxford degrees. If you have difficulty arranging to sit the test in your school (for example, if you're making a post A Level application) then please mail undergraduate.admissions@comlab.ox.ac.uk and we will try to put you in touch with a local participating school or test centre.

The test is designed to assess mathematical ability. In particular, there are some questions assessing the particular mathematical skills that are most important for Computer Science. Note that candidates applying for different degrees should answer different questions on the test: this is explained in the rubric of the test paper.

Further details of the test, and specimen papers, are given on another page. Similar information, together with a list of common queries about the test, appear on the website of the Mathematical Institute.

Interviews at Oxford

The Oxford admissions office publish an excellent booklet that explains in general terms what happens when you come for interview at Oxford. Most of that booklet applies just as well to Computer Science as it does to other subjects, so I'll just concentrate on the specifics here.

Each candidate will have at least three interviews – two in the college they have chosen, and another in a second college. These multiple interviews are intended to give you several chances to show what you can do. We are quite used to the fact that candidates are nervous when they come for interview, and we are willing to discount one or more interviews if we see that your nerves got the better of you.

We don't use "general" interviews about non-technical books you have read or current affairs, because we don't find that such interviews tell us much that is useful. Instead we use interviews that are like a mini-tutorial. Either you will have been given a problem to think about in advance, or a question will be asked at the start of the interview. What follows should be a dialogue between you and the interviewer where you explore together different aspects of the problem, and hopefully reach a solution that you both understand. I've written a sample dialogue that shows the kind of discussion we hope to have with you during the interview.

In case you want to practice thinking about similar problems, I've made a short list of problems that I've used in the past – and will never again use in the future!