Associate Members should have the US/Canadian equivalent of at least a 3.0 grade point average (out of a possible 4.0), and Visiting Students must have a grade point average of at least 3.7 (out of a possible 4.0). All students must have completed at least two years of university (at the undergraduate level) before their studies in Oxford commence.

Associate Members

Applicants for Associate Member status must complete the online application, which requires a letter of recommendation from an academic at his or her home university, along with an official academic transcript from the home university. Students must submit a tutorial request form and a personal statement of at least 500 words in which they explain their reasons for applying to study in Oxford as an Associate Member of New College, Trinity College or Oriel College, under the auspices of OSAP.

By submitting the online application, the applicant electronically signs a Rules and Regulation Waiver.

Once the application is completed online, the student’s full profile and all application documents are compiled by OSAP staff in Arlington, Virginia (USA) and forwarded to OSAP’s Oxford, UK office.

The Academic Director in Oxford, with the assistance of the Academic Advisor (collectively, the “Academic Office”), will review the file, and will make a preliminary decision to accept or reject the applicant. The file is subsequently passed to the Programme Director, who will make the final admissions decision based in large part on the recommendation of the Academic Office. The decision of the Programme Director is final.

OSAP has accepted students from over 600 US and Canadian colleges and universities since 1985. In some cases, the home college vets the applications for OSAP Associate Members and Visiting Students before their students are allowed to apply directly to OSAP (please check with your study abroad advisor).

For successful applicants who wish to have associate membership of Oriel College, Oxford University, the student’s file is forwarded by OSAP to the Tutor for Associate Members in Oriel College, who then consults a committee of colleagues. The committee will decide whether or not to approve OSAP’s recommendation that the student be accepted as an Associate Member of Oriel College.

If the student is accepted, he or she is notified of the decision (usually within four to six weeks of completing an application), and OSAP issues an acceptance letter which is dispatched from the US office.

Associate Members who wish to stay in Oxford for more than two terms (i.e. for six months or longer) are sponsored by OSAP for a Tier Four Visa on behalf of the Oxford University college.

Visiting Students (New College and Magdalen College)

Visiting Student applications are compiled in the same way as Associate Member applications (as outlined above), with the exception that Visiting Student applicants must submit a $300 (non-refundable) application fee and  two letters of recommendation; they must also submit a writing sample (related to their proposed course of study) which is forwarded to the Visiting Student admissions committee of Magdalen College or New College, depending on the preference of the applicant.