Graduate Study
There are around 170 graduate students at Mansfield. Each year we admit about 80 new students, a combination of those taking taught and research courses.
It is our policy to admit students in subjects where we can provide a College ‘advisor’ (a faculty member) who is conversant with the programme of study and the discipline more generally. Mansfield is a small college that does not take in every subject, so look at the list of subjects below to check whether you are eligible. You will usually find yourself with one or two other students in the same discipline and sometimes taking the same taught programme. Detailed information about taught course and research opportunities for graduates, and the admissions procedure, is given in the University's Graduate Studies Prospectus on the main University website.
The College is a friendly place and graduates have their own common room, the MCR, where they hold social engagements or can just spend time relaxing between study sessions. You can also take advantage of Mansfield's café/bar, laundry facilities, excellent lunches and dinners, and a beautiful galleried library with good holdings in the major subjects. The College provides grants for research trips for its research graduates, and book grants to help with the purchase of expensive texts to all our graduates.
The graduate membership is diverse, with students from all over the globe coming together in their studies. Mansfield has a lively, friendly graduate community which welcomes its new members each year with enthusiasm.
Selection Criteria
Applications for admission to advanced degrees are particularly welcomed in subjects where the College has a Fellow or tutor, namely Economics, Engineering, English, Geography, History, Human Sciences, Jurisprudence, Mathematics, Materials, Oriental Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Politics, and Theology.
To check whether the course you are interested in is offered by Mansfield, please check the college's page on the University website (under the 'Courses' tab). Full course details, including selection criteria and an A-Z course listing, can be found on the main University website.
Applicants must first have been accepted by a Department or Faculty of the University of Oxford before any college or permanent private hall may consider them. Preference will normally be given to applicants whose area of study overlaps with the academic interests of the College’s academic staff.
The College aims to admit a certain number of graduate students each year spread across the range of subjects in which it accepts graduate students, and this will determine the number of offers which can be made to applicants. Where there are more applicants than offers which can be made, the relative academic merit and potential of the applicants may be taken into account. It may not be possible to make offers to applicants whose applications are received late in the admissions round, when places are full.
The possession of competitively-won funding may be taken into account as an indicator of the applicant’s academic merit and potential.
The final decision on whether to offer a place in the light of the overall competition for graduate places and the spread of those places across subject areas is usually taken by the Tutor for Graduates. Please note that any offer of a place will be subject to satisfactory completion of the financial declaration form that will be sent to the applicant as part of the offer of a place. Please consult the 'Financial declaration' guidance for more details.
Preference may be given to current or past students of the College who meet the selection criteria described above.