University of Oxford UNIQ Summer Schools Music Residential Course

You can apply if you're in your first year of sixth form at a UK state school or college, which includes grammar schools, or if you're home educated. You also need settled residence in the UK or the Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey), or to expect home fee status when you apply to university. You must be under 18 at the time of the residential, with limited exceptions for some Northern Ireland students and for students whose schooling was delayed by extenuating circumstances. The Music course has no subject requirement of its own beyond UNIQ's general criteria.

Meeting the minimums doesn't guarantee a place. UNIQ reads your grades in context and prioritizes students with good grades from backgrounds under-represented at Oxford. Care-experienced applicants get strong priority, and UNIQ also takes into account whether you've ever been eligible for free school meals and your wider socioeconomic background, which it may check against your home postcode.

• Grades

  UNIQ normally expects at least six GCSEs with one or more at grade 7 or A, or six National 5s with at least one A, and says its minimums may be lower than you think.

• Ruled out

  Students at independent or private schools (even on a bursary), overseas residents, anyone with more than one completed A level and anyone who has already been on UNIQ.

• Context counts

  If something disrupted your schooling, the extenuating circumstances section of the form lets you explain it, and UNIQ takes it into account.

You arrive on Monday and leave on Friday, with four nights in an Oxford college. From Tuesday to Thursday the Music faculty runs the academic day, with lectures, tutorials and private study in which you work on set tasks and write up your own ideas with advice from tutors. The course also covers how to apply to study music at university.

Evenings bring optional social activities with your college group, time to explore Oxford and other colleges, and plenty of chances to quiz current students. At the end of the week, everyone on your week comes together for a mini conference with more guidance before heading home.

Current Oxford undergraduates, known as ambassadors, live in college with you and take you to your classes, while a Site Manager, who is a senior ambassador, runs each college and organizes drop-ins, tours and evening activities. You get your own lockable bedroom. Some rooms are ensuite, but shared bathrooms are common, and those are on gender-segregated corridors.

Each college runs its own catering. All offer a vegetarian option, but halal, kosher and other religious diets can't be guaranteed, so tell UNIQ about your needs as soon as you're offered a place. The same goes for disabilities and medical needs. If you'll be fasting, UNIQ asks you to get in touch, and it will ask any student whose health starts to suffer during a fast to break it or go home.

Very little. The residential is free for you and your school, and UNIQ pays for travel, accommodation, meals, staffing and tuition. You may have to buy your own ticket if you miss UNIQ's travel deadlines or lose your ticket, fuel for driving isn't reimbursed, and snacks, souvenirs and anything you forget are up to you. UNIQ asks families who are worried about any cost during the visit to get in touch.

Not directly. The University of Oxford says UNIQ participants who apply get no preferential treatment. What you take away is first-hand experience of how Music is taught at Oxford and advice on applying for the subject. From August to December you also get online support with your UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) application, admissions tests and interviews. If you're not offered a UNIQ place, Oxford says that won't affect a later application to the university.

Applications go through the UNIQ website only.

1. 1

   Check Music's 2027 week once UNIQ posts it in December 2026, because you need to be free for the whole week and can't switch subject after places are allocated.

2. 2

   From 15 December 2026, fill in the online form, choosing a first and second course and nominating a teacher at your school. If your first choice is full, UNIQ may offer you your second.

3. 3

   Submit the fully completed form by 1 p.m. on 19 January 2027, because unfinished or late applications aren't considered. If you spot a mistake after submitting, email UNIQ quickly, as there are only about three days after the deadline to fix it.

4. 4

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

5. 5

   If you get a place, go to a regional launch event in spring and an online preparation meeting in May or June before the summer residential.