Key Facts · Oxford
Oxford English and Modern Languages is a four-year BA combining English with a modern language; for UCAS code QR31, the route is English and French. The typical offer is AAA, the third year is normally spent abroad, and for 2027 entry there is no written admissions test but written work is required.
Section 01
The course combines English with a modern language, and QR31 is the English and French route.
The Oxford-specific fit is the sequence: foundations in English, practical language work and modern-language literature, followed by advanced options around a compulsory year abroad and Finals work across both sides of the degree. Strong applicants show precision in both halves: they can analyse a sentence closely, and they can explain why language, period, translation or context changes the reading.
The peer table should be used as a comparison aid rather than a league-table verdict.
How It Ranks Against Peers
| University | Guardian UK | CUG UK | Times UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Oxford | #1 | #3 | #1= |
| University of St Andrews | #3 | #1 | #1= |
| University of Cambridge | #4 | #2 | — |
| Durham University | #2 | #5 | — |
| UCL (University College London) | #8 | #4 | — |
| University of Warwick | #5 | #9 | — |
University of Oxford
University of St Andrews
University of Cambridge
Durham University
UCL (University College London)
University of Warwick
Ranks shown are UK subject-table positions from the three major UK guides. World rankings are not included — UK applicants compare using UK-focused sources.
Section 02
International Applicants
Hover to preview · Click to draw route
Select a highlighted country to see the admissions-test, score, and English-language requirements that apply specifically to applicants from that country.
Section 03
Section 04
YEAR 12
Before the application cycle opens, develop evidence of wide literary reading, language interest, and independent thinking. For post-A-level languages, keep grammar and oral practice active; for beginners' languages, build evidence of language-learning aptitude.
Tip:Keep a short reading log with 2-3 analytical reflections per text, not just a list of titles.
MAY — AUG
UCAS applications open in May 2026 for 2027 entry, with completed applications submit-able from 1 September. Use this period to confirm the language route, check college availability, and arrange the school reference.
Tip:Make sure your reference and predicted grades will be ready well before the October deadline.
1 SEP
From 1 September 2026, completed undergraduate applications can be submitted to UCAS. Review the English and Modern Languages course code QR31 and Oxford institution code O33 before sending.
Tip:Do a final consistency check across course choice, college/open application, qualifications, and reference.
15 OCT
Submit the UCAS application by 6pm UK time on 15 October 2026. This course has no admissions test, so the UCAS form, written work, academic record, and interview are especially important.
Tip:Do not leave submission until the final day: your school or adviser must complete the reference before the application can be sent.
10 NOV
Submit the required written work to the college by 10 November 2026. Oxford's course page requires written work in English for the English part of the course.
Tip:Use the correct cover sheet and re-read the submitted work before interview, because tutors may discuss it.
LATE NOV
Interview invitations are usually sent between mid-November and early December, depending on the subject timetable. Applicants may be invited by a college they did not apply to because of Oxford's reallocation process.
Tip:Keep the whole subject interview window free once invitations are approaching.
EARLY — MID DEC
Shortlisted applicants are invited to online interviews in December 2026. Expect academic discussion across both English and Modern Languages, with attention to texts, written work, language aptitude or competence, and tutorial-style thinking.
Tip:Practise thinking aloud about unfamiliar passages and explaining how your interpretation changes when challenged.
12 JAN
Oxford states that 2027-entry applicants will find out whether they have an offer on 12 January 2027. Colleges normally follow up directly after the UCAS update.
Tip:If you receive a conditional offer, read the conditions and any English-language evidence requirements carefully.
JUN — AUG
If all UCAS decisions are received by 12 May 2027, the standard UCAS reply deadline is 2 June 2027. A-level results day is provisionally 12 August 2027; use results day to confirm whether offer conditions have been met.
Tip:If results do not match the offer exactly, contact the college promptly and follow UCAS guidance.
YEAR 12
Before the application cycle opens, develop evidence of wide literary reading, language interest, and independent thinking. For post-A-level languages, keep grammar and oral practice active; for beginners' languages, build evidence of language-learning aptitude.
Tip:Keep a short reading log with 2-3 analytical reflections per text, not just a list of titles.
MAY — AUG
UCAS applications open in May 2026 for 2027 entry, with completed applications submit-able from 1 September. Use this period to confirm the language route, check college availability, and arrange the school reference.
Tip:Make sure your reference and predicted grades will be ready well before the October deadline.
1 SEP
From 1 September 2026, completed undergraduate applications can be submitted to UCAS. Review the English and Modern Languages course code QR31 and Oxford institution code O33 before sending.
Tip:Do a final consistency check across course choice, college/open application, qualifications, and reference.
15 OCT
Submit the UCAS application by 6pm UK time on 15 October 2026. This course has no admissions test, so the UCAS form, written work, academic record, and interview are especially important.
Tip:Do not leave submission until the final day: your school or adviser must complete the reference before the application can be sent.
10 NOV
Submit the required written work to the college by 10 November 2026. Oxford's course page requires written work in English for the English part of the course.
Tip:Use the correct cover sheet and re-read the submitted work before interview, because tutors may discuss it.
LATE NOV
Interview invitations are usually sent between mid-November and early December, depending on the subject timetable. Applicants may be invited by a college they did not apply to because of Oxford's reallocation process.
Tip:Keep the whole subject interview window free once invitations are approaching.
EARLY — MID DEC
Shortlisted applicants are invited to online interviews in December 2026. Expect academic discussion across both English and Modern Languages, with attention to texts, written work, language aptitude or competence, and tutorial-style thinking.
Tip:Practise thinking aloud about unfamiliar passages and explaining how your interpretation changes when challenged.
12 JAN
Oxford states that 2027-entry applicants will find out whether they have an offer on 12 January 2027. Colleges normally follow up directly after the UCAS update.
Tip:If you receive a conditional offer, read the conditions and any English-language evidence requirements carefully.
JUN — AUG
If all UCAS decisions are received by 12 May 2027, the standard UCAS reply deadline is 2 June 2027. A-level results day is provisionally 12 August 2027; use results day to confirm whether offer conditions have been met.
Tip:If results do not match the offer exactly, contact the college promptly and follow UCAS guidance.
Section 05
Oxford states that applicants for English and Modern Languages do not need to take an admissions test for this course. This means there is no ELAT or MLAT requirement for the current 2027-entry course page.
Because there is no test, the rest of the academic evidence matters even more: achieved and predicted grades, the UCAS form, the reference, written work, and interview performance. Applicants should still prepare for close reading and language discussion because shortlisted candidates may be asked to discuss prose or verse supplied before or during interview.
Section 06
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
Question Types You’ll See
Oxford interviews for this course are academic discussions with literary, textual and language-skills components. The location is online.
You should expect discussion of texts, submitted written work, personal-statement topics and, where relevant, language exercises such as grammar, reading comprehension or translation-style work. A useful preparation habit is to explain a reading aloud, then practise revising or sharpening that reading when a new detail, alternative interpretation or translation problem is introduced.
The aim is not to deliver a memorised mini-essay. Preparation should include unfamiliar poems, prose extracts and short passages in the target language, because the useful habit is controlled thinking under pressure.
Practise with realistic questions from our free English and Modern Languages mock interview bank.
Free Mock Questions →Section 07
Weighting of Admission Factors
100%
Indicative — exact balance varies by college and year.
For English and Modern Languages, Oxford's decision is a holistic academic judgement across both sides of the joint course.
Those criteria are interview performance, written work, academic record and predicted grades, personal statement and academic motivation, and reference and contextual evidence.
Treat those figures as illustrative context rather than current-cycle precision, because single-cycle applicants, offers and acceptances were not extracted from a static official source.
Practically, the application needs balance. A strong essay matters, but so does language preparation; fluent interview conversation matters, but so does accuracy in the written record.
Section 08
Do not write one paragraph on English, one paragraph on French, and then stop. For this course, the stronger statement shows how literary interpretation, language and culture connect.
Use one or two texts you can discuss precisely. It is better to make a small, defensible point about voice, form, translation or ambiguity than to list many books without showing how you think.
As editorial best practice rather than Oxford-published instruction, include at least one moment where French changes the way you read: a translation problem, a film, a poem, a political context, or a phrase that does not carry cleanly into English.
Avoid claiming that you have “always loved reading” unless the sentence quickly becomes analytical. Tutors are looking for a mind that can notice detail, form a view, and revise that view when better evidence appears.
See a full annotated example with line-by-line expert commentary.
English and Modern Languages PS Example →Section 09
A good project gives you something specific to discuss at interview. It does not need to be large, but it should show that you can frame a question, read closely and reflect honestly on what changed.
A strong project for this course joins the English and language sides of the degree. Comparative reading, translation commentary and motif-tracking are all strong fits because they create evidence of both literary attention and language awareness.
How to present a project:
A comparative close-reading portfolio can pair three short English extracts with three texts in the modern language or in translation, with a 500-word comparison for each pair. A translation commentary project can translate a poem, prose passage or dramatic scene and then explain choices around idiom, tone, rhythm, ambiguity and cultural reference. A motif project can trace exile, memory, childhood, the city, revolution or the double across one English text and one modern-language text.
Supercurricular work should make you better at reading, writing and speaking about texts. For Oxford EML, discussion and translation practice are especially useful because the application includes tutorial-style academic conversation and a course structure built around both close reading and practical language work.
These are support, not substitute. The core application still needs strong subject requirements, written work and interview readiness.
Competitions are not required. What they can do well is stretch your ability to write a sustained argument, read independently and handle translation or literary detail under constraints.
None are required; one or two done well beats five half-attempted.
Section 10
Students build the core toolkit for both sides of the degree: close reading, literary analysis, practical language work and introductory study of literature in the chosen modern language. The first-year examinations must be passed to progress, but the marks do not count towards the final degree.
Prelims establish the joint English-and-language foundation before the degree opens into wider options.
Students continue practical work in their modern language while studying literature across wider periods in both English and the chosen language. Oxford groups Years 2 and 4 together for Finals content, so Year 2 is best understood as the first stage of advanced option work leading into final honours assessment.
Year 2 begins the assessed Final Honour School pathway while maintaining intensive language progression before the year abroad.
The third year is normally spent abroad in an appropriate country or countries. Students may work as paid language assistants, undertake an internship, study at a university and/or follow other approved activity, with an agreed independent course of study during the year.
A compulsory year abroad is the distinctive practical and cultural immersion element of the four-year course.
After returning to Oxford, students select from special option papers in English, Modern Languages and comparative literature, while completing practical and written language work. The final-year dissertation allows an extended research piece in English language or literature, or a comparative topic combining English with the chosen modern language.
The dissertation creates a substantial independent research bridge between English and the modern language side of the degree.
Section 11
Written work is required for English and Modern Languages. The deadline is 10 November 2026.
Oxford states that applicants for English and Modern Languages must submit one piece of written work in English for the English part of the course. Applicants should follow the English Language and Literature written-work requirements and the college submission instructions they receive.
Choose work that you can discuss carefully. Re-read the submitted piece before interview and be ready to explain the argument, the evidence you used, and what you would improve now.
Section 12
Use this section as a sequence rather than a shopping list: start with resources that sharpen translation and critical method, then add English, modern-language and Oxford-specific material that gives you something precise to discuss.
For critical method, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction is a compact route into questions about language, meaning, identity and interpretation.
For English study, This Is Shakespeare models argumentative reading of canonical drama. The Art of Fiction gives short chapters on narrative technique, useful for naming what fiction is doing.
For Oxford-specific material, the University of Oxford channel includes admissions, subject and interview-related material. Oxford Modern Languages gives subject-specific language and culture material, while the Faculty of English, University of Oxford provides English Faculty talks and lectures.
For audio resources, Great Writers Inspire offers short talks on major writers. Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation is a strong fit for the overlap between English, modern languages and comparative literature.
For structured study, Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations models different ways of reading a major English novel. Modern & Contemporary American Poetry is centred on close reading and discussion of challenging modern and contemporary poems.
Section 13
39 colleges offer this subject. ~20% of applicants submit an open application. ~33% of places come through the pool.
Applicants may name a college or make an open application.
Open applications are assigned to a college or hall with fewer applications for that course in that year. Oxford may also reallocate applicants from oversubscribed colleges so that each college interviews roughly the same number of applicants per place and strong candidates are not disadvantaged by applying to a more popular college.
College choice affects where you may live, receive tutorials and join a college community, but Oxford stresses that colleges use a common admissions framework and do not specialise in particular undergraduate subjects. Around one third of successful applicants receive an offer from a college they did not specify.
Choose for practical fit: accommodation, location, size, atmosphere and subject provision. Trying to game the numbers is usually less useful than applying somewhere you would be comfortable working for four years.
Section 14
Where graduates of this course head after leaving — by sector, as reported in the university’s destinations survey.
Full employer lists, median salary bands, and sector notes live on the careers data page.
Oxford presents English and Modern Languages as a degree with broad career transferability, combining language skills with communication, critical thinking, interpretation, analysis and persuasive argument. The official course page lists destinations including broadcasting, publishing, teaching, journalism, theatre, administration, management, advertising, translation, librarianship and law.
The important point for applicants is that the course develops both close textual judgment and usable language ability, which can travel into several kinds of work.
Section 15
Oxford states that grades and predicted grades are considered in context where possible, so school context, subject availability and educational background may be relevant to assessment. Contextual information does not remove the need to meet subject requirements: applicants still need strong preparation in English Literature or English Language and Literature, and the relevant modern-language route.
Applicants whose school does not offer the target modern language should check the course-page guidance carefully. For post-A-level routes, Oxford normally expects A-level, Advanced Higher, Higher Level IB or another academic equivalent, but may consider evidence such as B1 CEFR where the language is not formally available.
For beginners' languages, Oxford indicates that candidates would not be expected to have studied the modern language before, but English Literature or English Language and Literature is still required. Disruption, illness, school moves, limited subject access or other educational circumstances should be explained through UCAS, the school reference, or the channels specified by Oxford or the relevant college.
Watch & Learn
Student vlogs, mock interviews, lecture tasters, and admissions advice.
Official-style overview of studying modern languages at Oxford, useful for understanding the language side of the joint course.
Demonstration material showing the kind of academic discussion applicants may encounter for modern languages.
English Faculty introduction to the study of English at Oxford and the kinds of literary questions students explore.
Interview advice from an Oxford English academic, useful for understanding how to discuss literature under pressure.
A sample Oxford English Faculty lecture that helps applicants see literary argument and contextual analysis in action.
All videos are the property of their respective creators.
Further Reading
Super-curricular reading, websites, and tools recommended by our expert tutors.
by University of Oxford
Primary source for entry requirements, course structure, written work, admissions statistics and 2027-entry details.
by University of Oxford
Explains Oxford's interview format and how academic conversations are used in admissions.
by University of Oxford
The key reference for country-by-country qualification equivalencies.
by University of Oxford
The official source for IELTS, TOEFL, waiver, deadline and CAS/student-visa guidance.
by University of Oxford
Oxford's own suggested resources and activities for prospective applicants.
by University of Oxford
Free talks on major writers, suitable for broadening literary range before application.
by Oxford Medieval and Modern Languages
Modern Languages outreach blog with accessible reading, culture and language-learning material.
by Matthew Reynolds
A compact starting point for thinking seriously about translation, multilingual reading and comparative literature.
Free Resource
Free Admissions Newsletter
Weekly tips on English and Modern Languages admissions, application deadlines, and interview prep — straight from Oxford graduates.