University of Oxford UNIQ Summer Schools Classics: Ancient Greece Residential Course

Your Classics teaching runs during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, after you arrive on Monday, and the week closes with a mini conference for everyone on your week before you leave on Friday. Oxford lecturers and tutors design the timetable, which mixes lectures, seminars and workshops on a wide variety of topics pitched at first-year undergraduate level, although UNIQ doesn't publish class hours.

Evenings are for optional social events with your college group, exploring Oxford and other colleges, and drop-ins with the ambassadors and your Site Manager. UNIQ describes the week as very intensive, so you'll have little time for anything else, and it suggests finishing any school project that's due around then before you go.

You can apply only if you meet all four of UNIQ's minimum rules on school, year group, age and residency. This course adds no subject requirement of its own, so you don't need to be taking Classics, Latin or Greek. After that, UNIQ reads your grades in context and looks closely at your background. It doesn't publish how many students apply for each course, although the whole program works with over a thousand students a year. UNIQ reviews its criteria every year, so check them again when 2027 applications open.

• School and year

  You must attend a UK or Islands state school or college (grammar schools count, and home-educated students can apply) and be in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland, S5 in Scotland or the first year of the IB Diploma. Independent schools are excluded even if you attend on a bursary.

• Age

  You must be under 18 at the residential and will normally be 16 or 17, with exceptions for Northern Ireland students and for students whose education was set back by extenuating circumstances.

• Residency

  You must expect to qualify for home fee status when you apply to university, which normally means settled status and three years' residence in the UK or Islands. Students from the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey can now apply, but overseas residents can't.

• Grades

  UNIQ normally expects six GCSEs with at least one at grade 7 or A, or six National 5s with at least one A. You can't hold more than one completed A level or have been on UNIQ before, and if something hurt your results, there's an extenuating circumstances section on the form where you can explain it.

• Background

  Students who have been in care get strong priority, and UNIQ also weighs past or present Free School Meals eligibility and socioeconomic factors such as your home postcode. It checks what you declare and can withdraw a place it can't verify.

Your family pays no fees, because UNIQ covers travel to and from Oxford, your college room, meals, and all teaching and staffing. The catch is that travel is covered only if you send back the information UNIQ asks for on time. If you miss those deadlines or lose your ticket, you may have to buy your own, and if someone drives you, fuel isn't reimbursed. Snacks, souvenirs and anything you forget to pack are on you, but UNIQ asks families who are worried about paying for something to get in touch.

Each college group is run by a Site Manager, who is a senior student ambassador, and current Oxford undergraduates act as ambassadors who stay in college with you and take you to lectures and seminars. UNIQ assigns your college, and you won't find out which one until you arrive in Oxford.

• Rooms

  You get your own lockable bedroom. Bathrooms are often shared with a few other UNIQ students on gender-segregated corridors, while ensuite rooms may be on mixed-gender corridors.

• Staying over

  Every student sleeps in college all week, including those who live close enough to commute.

• Food and faith

  Every college offers a vegetarian option, but halal, kosher and other religious diets can't be guaranteed because each college runs its own catering, so tell UNIQ your needs as soon as you get a place. Students can pray during the day, and UNIQ has a few prayer mats to lend.

• Access needs

  UNIQ makes reasonable adjustments for disabilities and other needs, and asks about them only after it offers you a place.

Applications are made only online, through the UNIQ website.

1. 1

   Check the course page for the 2027 week, which UNIQ plans to publish by the time applications open on 15 December 2026, and make sure you can attend the whole of it.

2. 2

   Pick Classics: Ancient Greece and a second-choice course, knowing UNIQ may offer you the second if the first is full and won't let you switch subjects afterward.

3. 3

   Nominate a teacher at your school, who will mostly be contacted only after offers are accepted.

4. 4

   Submit the complete form by 1 p.m. on 19 January 2027, since half-finished applications aren't considered, and look for the "application submitted" screen because no confirmation email follows.

5. 5

   Watch your email for a decision by early March 2027 and accept any offer within one week.

6. 6

   Attend a regional launch event in spring and an online preparation meeting in May or June before the residential.