Why we'd love you to come to Brasenose

IMG 6923An in-depth look at our most recent admissions statistics can be found here.

Here at Brasenose, we pride ourselves on having a diverse community of students, where we welcome the best and brightest from all backgrounds, across the UK and the world. We are very happy to see much the same in our 2023 admissions cycle.

For the fourth year in a row, around 80% of our UK offer holders are from state schools. This year, UK offer holders hail from Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Cardiff, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, London, Reading, Southampton, Bristol, Plymouth, and Cornwall. We also have an offer holder all the way down in Guernsey!

Looking internationally, we have offer holders from Canada, the USA, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Czechia, Türkiye, Singapore, and China.

Erin Bridgewater is a second year Historian, and the Access and Admissions Representative for the undergraduate student body. She commented: “I think there is a common misconception that Oxford is made for a specific kind of person which puts people off applying or creates a lot of nerves about accepting an offer. Coming from a Yorkshire mining-town where ‘Oxford’ tends to be presented as an impossibility and where beliefs in the Oxford myths are very much entrenched, I was so anxious that I would make no friends and struggle to find anybody ‘like me’. As soon as I entered Brasenose on my first day, it became very apparent that I was worried for no reason as I was immediately greeted with such a friendly atmosphere and an army of smiling student helpers ready to move me in! We like to think of ourselves as Oxford’s ‘friendliest college’, and I think for good reason. We have such a beautiful community spirit here at Brasenose, with students from all walks of life and all areas of the UK (and the world!!), all of whom are part of the Brasenose family. There are so many opportunities to meet people with common interests and experiences through the events our Diversity and Equality Rep organises, and our Welfare Reps always make sure we aren’t struggling in any aspect of university life. I feel so incredibly lucky to call Brasenose my home, and I am so glad I took the risk of applying to Oxford!”

Despite having a history that traces all the way back to the 1200s, Brasenose is an incredibly progressive and modern college. Brasenose was among the first of the Oxford colleges to become mixed gender, and the student body has a representative (or representatives) for Women*, welfare issues, charities, diversities & equality, and environment & ethics. Everyone is welcome at Brasenose, regardless of gender, religion, identity, or background.

The students body puts on a huge range of events to celebrate the range of backgrounds that make up the college. Examples include LGBTQ+ events, Ethnic Minority Dinners, a Chinese New Year dinner, a Burns Night dinner and Ceilidh, Holi, among many others. Of course, there are lots of events put on by the students just for fun as well, such as music festivals, film nights, pub quizzes, Halloween parties, garden parties, a massive selection of sports, and one of the universities biggest arts weeks.

We understand that some students have beliefs about Oxford thinking that it is more expensive than other universities and so they cannot afford it, or that they would not fit in. This is certainly not the case. Oxford is no more expensive than other UK universities, and Brasenose has funding available to ensure all our students can afford to study here, more information on which can be found here. You can also learn more about our students by visiting their profiles, our Humans Of Brasenose page on Facebook and Instagram, and our Brasenosejcr page on Instagram (especially the student take-overs). Hopefully, this will show you that there are students at Brasenose just like you. Brasenose has a reputation as one of the friendliest colleges in Oxford, and that is something we are very proud of; no one at Brasenose will be made to feel unwelcome.

Of course, the best way to get a feel for the college and our wonderful staff and students is to visit us on one of the university open days. More details can be found here, and we look forward to welcoming you!

So, if you are thinking of applying to Oxford, why not put down Brasenose as your college preference? We are always looking for the very best students, and we would love you to be one of them.

Check out our online prospectuses here


Read the Prospectus

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter for news from students and tutors, Schools Liaison and other interesting things