Applying to Oxford in 2022 — what’s new?
One of my favourite times of year is new prospectus season. For those working in undergraduate admissions it’s time to reveal the product of months of collaboration, design, and proofreading, culminating in that wonderful new book smell of the undergraduate prospectus. In this current climate paper copies are a little scarce, however universities have put no less effort in producing engaging and informative digital content.
One of the biggest changes is both Experimental Psychology and Psychology, Philosophy, and Linguistics (PPL) students now have the option to extend their course to a 4-year integrated Masters programme, graduating with an MSci. The one caveat to this is PPL students must take Psychology for the duration of their degree; Philosophy and Linguistics students will leave with a BA after 3 years. This change extends the integrated Masters programme, which now includes most science-aligned subjects, with Biology having been added most recently.
For courses including Modern Languages, and a year abroad, the UK’s exit from the EU has left some questions regarding funding for that year. It’s important that applicants are aware of how this could impact their study options.
For Classics and Oriental Studies, Persian has been reinstated as a language option, while for Oriental Studies (Arabic with Islamic Studies) is now just Oriental Studies (Arabic).
There have been significant changes to entry requirements for some of the universities most popular courses.
For Economics and Management, the essay section of the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) will no longer be required, therefore applicants will only need to sit section 1, the multiple choice questions.
On the subject of the TSA, Geography have now brought this in as a requirement for entry, replacing the Geography Admissions Test which was suspended for 2021 entry.
In previous years, it had been recommended that Engineering Science applicants include Mathematics Mechanics modules in their studies, however this has now been removed.
Candidates for Music will continue to be asked to submit a recording pre-interview, rather than audition at interview.
For International applicants, Trinity ISE and Pearson ITE qualifications are now accepted to meet Undergraduate English Language requirements, as is the TOEFL iBT Home Edition.
Following the immediate withdrawal of the SAT subject tests, the University is conducting a full review of their requirements for US qualifications which is due to conclude in early June. It is likely that the University will require AP subjects in subjects related to the chosen course of study.
