Open Days and Events

The 2026 University Open Days for prospective applicants will be on 1st-2nd July and the 18th September.

During the Open Days, our team of warm and friendly student helpers will be on hand to guide you around the College and give you a first-hand account of life at Somerville. There’ll also be talks to help you learn more about the subject you’re interested in applying for.

Open Days Timetable

The College Opening Hours are 08:45-17:00.

09.00-09.45: Admissions talk by Tutor for Admissions, Flora Anderson Hall. Our Admissions Tutor will be available to chat to prospective applicants all day.

09.00-12.30: Student-led tours of Somerville.

12.30-14.00: Meet the tutors drop-in. An opportunity to meet one of the Somerville tutors in the subject of your choice!

12.30-14.00: Free sandwich lunch in Flora Anderson Hall. Tea, coffee and refreshments will be available here throughout the day.

14.00-17.00: Student-led tours of Somerville.

Will Dawes our Director of Chapel Music will often be available in the college chapel to chat to anyone interested in joining the college choir or wanting to find out about choral/organ scholarships.

Travel Reimbursement Scheme

If the travel costs of coming to an Open Day are prohibitive, we may be able to reimburse up to £50 per student for their journey to and from Oxford, depending on where they are travelling from, and with discretion to go above this amount if a student’s individual circumstances and journey necessitate this.

In order to be eligible, you must be a UK-based prospective applicant attending a UK state school or college, for whom the cost of attending the Open Days would otherwise be prohibitive. We are usually only able to reimburse travel costs for students who are travelling via public transport, and receipts must be provided for your travel.

Please see our travel reimbursement application form for further details.

The deadline for applications for the July open days is the 15th June.

The deadline for applications for the September open day is the 31st August.

If you wish to arrange a personal visit to Somerville at another time, please contact our Access & Outreach team. If you are a teacher looking to bring a group, please see here to find out more about booking school visits.

The sign-up deadline for the Y12 Study Days have now passed. Registered students will be emailed by Fri 13th Feb with joining instructions for the session/s.

Somerville offers an annual series of four Virtual Study Days for Year 12 students attending a UK state school. These days feature taster lectures or workshops run by Oxford University academics, which will offer a challenging and entertaining introduction to university-level study of the subject. This year the subjects on offer are: Law, Biology, Politics, Medicine, Languages, History, English and Maths.

There will also be opportunities to hear advice from admissions and outreach staff about applying to Oxford and Cambridge, and to ask the college tutors and current undergraduates questions about their subject of interest.

This year’s study days will be 16th – 19th February half term and the daily timetable for the days is as follows:

15:00-15:50: Admissions talk with Q&A
16:00-17:00: Academic taster session (attendees have a choice between 2 different subjects per day)
17:00-17:30: Subject Q&A with Academic and Student Ambassadors

The sessions are open to all Year 12 students at a UK State School who are taking a related subject, and/or are thinking about going on to study a related subject at university.

For those still deciding what to apply for, we encourage you to attend in order to learn more about these courses and what it might be like to study them at Oxford.

These sessions would also count as great examples of supercurricular activities, and might give you ideas about topics or further reading to include in the personal statement.

Subject sessions schedule:

Monday 16^th February

Law – Dr Aradhana Cherupara Vadekkethil, Lord & Lady McNair Early Career Fellow in Law

This session will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying Law or Criminology at University.

Biology – Timothy Walker, Senior Stipendiary Lecturer in Plant Sciences; Former Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum

This will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying Biology or Medicine at University.

Tuesday 17^th February

Politics – Dr Patricia Owens, Fellow & Tutor in International Relations; Professor of International Relations

This session will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying Politics, PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), International Relations or a related subject at University.

Medicine – Dr Ain Neuhaus, Specialty Registrar (Resident) in Radiology at Oxford University Hospitals and a Stipendiary Lecturer in Medicine at Somerville College

This will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying Medicine at University.

Wednesday 18^th February

Languages – Professor Simon Kemp, Associate Professor of French and Fellow of Somerville College

This session is open to all Year 12 students who are considering a degree involving modern languages of any kind, whether that be French or another language.

History – Professor Faridah Zaman, Associate Professor of the History of Britain and the World at the University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor of Modern History at Somerville College.

This will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying History or a related subject at University.

Thursday 19^th February

English – Dr Annie Sutherland, Professor of Medieval Literature and Tutor in Old and Middle English

This session will be of interest to anyone thinking about studying English Literature at University.

Maths – Dr Renaud Lambiotte, Fellow & Tutor in Mathematics; Professor of Networks and Nonlinear Systems.

This session will be of interest to anyone currently studying Mathematics, who is interested in studying Mathematics at University.

Please email access@some.ox.ac.uk with any questions.

Somerville runs a BAME day aimed at Black, Afro-Caribbean and South Asian Year 12 students attending schools in our Somerville link regions. The day is held in the Summer half term and provides an opportunity to find out more about life as a student at Oxford.

The day includes Q&As with current students and information and guidance about Oxford University including the admissions process. 

Example Timetable:

10:15-10:45 – Arrival and sign-in
10:45-11:00 – Welcome
11:00-12:00 – Information and Guidance session
12:00-13:00 – Lunch
13:00-13:30 – Tour of Somerville College
13:30-15:00 – Oxford life talk and Q&A with current students
15:00-16:00 – Refreshments and opportunity to mingle and ask informal questions
16:00 – Depart

More information will be shared in due course. If you have any questions please email access@some.ox.ac.uk.

Can’t wait until Open Days to have a look around? Luckily, thanks to our Interactive Map Tour, you won’t need to.

TAKE a Virtual Tour of Somerville

Or you can watch our students’ virtual tour video to see college through their eyes:

Watch our students’ Virtual Tour

Also check out our students’ bedroom tours to see some examples of our first year accommodation.

Watch our students’ Bedroom Tours

School teachers may be interested in joining our mailing list in order to find out about the opportunities offered by Somerville and other parts of the University to learn more about studying at Somerville and Oxford.

Please email us at access@some.ox.ac.uk if you’d like to receive our regular newsletter or call 01865 280632 to find out more about applying to Somerville and organise a visit.

You can also find out about the latest outreach events by following us on Twitter.

Follow us on Twitter

If you’re a student, you can join the University’s Choosing Oxford mailing list to be kept informed about useful resources and outreach offerings across the university, which you can apply for directly.