University of Oxford UNIQ Summer Schools Earth Sciences Residential Course

You arrive on Monday and leave on Friday, with the academic program running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. UNIQ doesn't publish class hours, but the Earth Sciences days mix lectures, practical sessions and tutorials on plate tectonics, volcanology, seismology, paleontology, mineralogy, planetary geology, geophysics and oceanography. The week also includes a local field course, where you see how earth scientists use evidence from the natural world to work out how the planet has changed.

Teaching is pitched at first-year Oxford undergraduate level, with academic staff, graduate teachers and student ambassadors on hand to help. Evenings bring optional social activities, time to explore Oxford and other colleges, and a common room where you can ask ambassadors anything. The week closes with a mini conference for everyone on that week's residential. UNIQ warns there's little time for other work, so finish any school project before you go.

You need to be in your first year of sixth form (the year before you apply to university) at a UK state school, have home fee status, and hold an 8 or 9 at GCSE in math, physics or chemistry while taking math and either physics or chemistry at A level or equivalent. Beyond those minimums, UNIQ reads your grades in context and prioritizes students with good grades from backgrounds under-represented at Oxford, so the only way to find out is to apply.

The course is small. Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences hosts around 30 students a year, and if your first choice is full, UNIQ may offer your second choice or a place on the reserve list. It isn't first come, first served, so every complete application submitted before the deadline is considered equally.

• Year group

  Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland, S5 in Scotland, or the first year of the IB Diploma.

• School

  A UK state school or college, grammar schools included, or home education. Students at independent or private schools can't apply, even with a scholarship or bursary.

• Age

  Under 18 at the residential and normally 16 or 17, with exceptions for some Northern Ireland students and for students in an offset year because of extenuating circumstances.

• Grades

  Normally at least six GCSEs with one at grade 7 (or A) or above, or six National 5s with one A in Scotland. If something affected your results, you can explain it in the extenuating circumstances section.

• First time only

  You can attend UNIQ once, and students who've already completed more than one A level aren't eligible.

• Background

  Care experience is strongly prioritized, and UNIQ also considers free school meals eligibility and your home postcode.

Yes. Neither you nor your school pays anything, and UNIQ covers your travel to Oxford, your room, meals and teaching. The travel cover depends on you sending information back on time, though, and students who miss UNIQ's travel deadlines or lose a ticket may have to pay for their own. Fuel for a car trip isn't reimbursed, and snacks, souvenirs and anything you forget are your own cost. UNIQ asks families who are worried about paying for something on the trip to get in touch.

You stay in student rooms owned by an Oxford college, with your own lockable bedroom, and you only find out which college when you arrive. Some rooms are ensuite, but many college buildings are historic, so you may share a bathroom with a few other participants on a single-gender corridor.

• Ambassadors

  Current Oxford undergraduates take you to sessions and stay with you in college, and they wear UNIQ t-shirts so you can spot them.

• Site Manager

  A senior ambassador runs each college and organizes drop-ins, tours and evening activities.

• Food

  Every college serves a vegetarian option, but halal, kosher and other religious diets can't be guaranteed, so tell UNIQ your needs as soon as you get a place.

• Access needs

  UNIQ makes reasonable adjustments for disabilities and medical needs, which you share after you're offered a place.

You leave with a week's experience of studying earth sciences the Oxford way, including fieldwork and handling geological specimens, and a much clearer sense of whether you'd want to study it as a degree. UNIQ's support continues afterward, with online help from August to December on your UCAS application, admissions tests and interviews.

It won't give you an edge with Oxford admissions. The university says UNIQ participants who go on to apply get no preferential treatment, and UNIQ doesn't mention a certificate or any credit for the course.

You apply online through the UNIQ website, choosing a first- and second-choice course on the same form.

1. 1

   Submit a complete application between 15 December 2026 and 1 p.m. on 19 January 2027, because unfinished or late applications aren't considered.

2. 2

   Expect UNIQ's decision by email by early March.

3. 3

   If you're offered a place, accept it within one week of the email.

4. 4

   Go to a regional launch event held on a spring weekend in a city near you.

5. 5

   In May and June, read UNIQ's information and join an online meeting before the residential.

6. 6

   Attend the residential in Oxford, in a week between 28 June and 30 July 2027 that UNIQ will confirm for Earth Sciences.