English Language & Literature

Applying to St Hugh’s for English

English is a large, successful and friendly subject at St Hugh’s. If you like the challenging questions that literature raises – including the question ‘What is creativity in language?’ – then we’d welcome your application.

We’re looking for students who are interested in a variety of genres, approaches, historical periods and forms of writing. Our students want to ask searching questions about the cultures they live in, as well as the cultures they study, reading works that range from a time before England was thought of as a nation, to a contemporary world where many varieties of English are spoken and written across the globe. For more about the content and structure of the English course at Oxford, visit the University’s English Faculty pages.

We welcome applications from candidates taking English Literature, or English Literature and Language, at A-level. There is no required combination of subjects alongside English, and we also welcome applicants taking Scottish Highers, the International Baccalaureate, and other qualifications from across the world, along with people applying post-qualification.

As part of an application, you will be asked to submit one recent example of writing. This should normally be a marked essay produced in the usual course of your school or college work and should not have been rewritten after marking. See the English admissions pages for more details.

Applicants are then selected for interview based on their submitted essay, and the information on their UCAS forms. Our interviews are online, and we may give you something to read and discuss, and talk about what you’re studying and reading. We’re not trying to catch you out at interview; we’re interested in having engaging conversations about literature and language.

The usual conditional offer we give for English is three A grades at A level, or the equivalent for other exams and systems. We usually interview about 35 candidates, and give places to around 10 applicants, including some in the joint honours courses (known as ‘joint schools’ in Oxford): History and English; Classics and English; and English and Modern Languages.

Choosing St Hugh’s for English

The Oxford English course is incredibly wide-ranging: in the first year alone you’ll be studying literature from before the Norman Conquest, to modern and contemporary work from around the world.

Within this framework, we give our students plenty of choice about what they study, and we want them to develop their own reading interests. Even (or especially?) in the age of ChatGPT, a literature degree is about learning to read and think in and through the process of developing your own writing and critical voice. The tutors here have expertise across many parts of the course, and teach in a mix of groups and styles: from tutorials (in pairs, threes, or sometimes one-to-one) and in college classes (groups of five to about ten). We regularly bring students out of the classroom too, for example to study rare books in the Bodleian Library (Oxford’s University Library), or have an object handling session at the Ashmolean Museum.

The College Library at St Hugh’s is excellent, with large collections for studying English, and students have access to the virtually unrivalled collections of the Bodleian Library and to a vast network of online resources. From October 2025, the Humanities faculties are moving to the new Schwarzmann Building, only a few minutes’ walk from St Hugh’s, which will have a big library, lecture rooms, performance space and lots more.

In a typical week of term, you may have a tutorial, after researching and writing an essay; a class, for example on literary criticism and theory, where you may give a short presentation; and be attending several lectures given by professors from across the English Faculty. The course is challenging and demands plenty of intensive work, but it’s also fun and very rewarding. You will need to do significant amounts of reading and preparation during the vacations too, so that you can make the most of our eight-week terms.

Literature is the house of nuance and contrariness against the voices of simplification. -Susan Sontag, 2001

Professor Nicholas Perkins

Professor David Francis Taylor

Professor Peter D. McDonald

Studying and Living at St Hugh’s

We have a thriving community of English students – both undergraduates and postgraduates studying for a masters or doctorate. We believe that St Hugh’s is an intellectually stimulating place to study and live, and it’s also down-to-earth and supportive.

Doing an English degree here will help you develop many skills in reading closely, thinking hard, analysing data, presenting your work orally and in writing, and working both independently and collaboratively. Our graduates choose widely different careers: while many go on to pursue further studies in English, or other subjects, others have made successful careers in law, journalism, publishing, teaching, the financial sector, creative arts, and international development, just to name a few.

What do our current students think?

‘What I enjoyed most about studying here was the sense of intellectual adventure; of being able to develop an independence of thought which is not imposed upon you from above, but cultivated slowly through the many transformative experiences which the course enables. It’s an education that will outlast the years I spent here.’

Orna, final-year student

‘The style of learning with tutors who also want to learn and be students rather than just teachers is enlightening and enjoyable.’

Ali, second-year student

I’ve really enjoyed doing English at Oxford because of how supportive my tutors are. This course has strengthened my ability to think flexibly and critically, and, more importantly, has helped me build confidence in making an argument. Although my interest was primarily in contemporary literature before university, I really enjoyed Old English in my first year.’

Michelle, second-year student

‘Our tutors are lovely – always supporting us while challenging us to think about cool material in exciting ways. The college library is comfy and has so many English texts that you can live in there. Come to Hugh’s and your mind will explode in all the best ways – I went from fearing Old English like a werewolf with rabies to choosing the course specialising in medieval English!’

Cayden, second-year student