Course Options
Through our programmes you can study at Oxford for one semester, two semesters, or for one month. Whichever course you choose, you will be cared for by the same SCIO team, and each programme has its own advantages
In This Section:

SCIO Semester Programme
If your GPA is 3.7 or higher, and you are self motivated, intellectually inquisitive, and ambitious, you can apply to join like minded students on the SCIO Semester Programme.
Independent learning and undergraduate research are the methods used by SCIO to foster scholarly habits and encourage innovative thinking. At the heart of your programme will be tutorials, one-to-one meetings with your tutor with whom you’ll debate your ideas, grapple with questions of translation and grammar, seek elegant solutions to mathematical problems, or discuss the science underlying the phenomena you investigate.
You’ll do two tutorials, and will complement that work with seminar classes in which you’ll explore problems of sources, methods, and approaches in your discipline, and prepare a research essay – something which students often use as a writing sample for graduate school admission or as a valuable step towards writing a senior thesis at home.
In the British culture course you’ll be encouraged to take a critical view of the country where you’ll be living for 15 weeks. On field trips you’ll get beyond the tourist experience with expert guides to point out things which are often missed. You’ll write three more essays to develop your writing skills and deepen your understanding.
Many students find that independent travel in the UK or continental Europe further enriches their experience.
Some SCIO students enjoy their first term so much they choose to come for a second term, while others return to Oxford as graduate students. All become members of SCIO alumni groups who have drunk tea together in many US states: lifelong friendships are made at SCIO!
If you are ready for a new intellectual challenge find out more about the SCIO Semester Programme here. All applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
SCIO Summer Programme
If you are self motivated and intellectually inquisitive, you can apply to join like minded students on the SCIO Summer Programme. The minimum GPA is normally 3.0, though many students have higher scores. We welcome enquiries from those with lower GPAs and non traditional students. Courses are designed to be stimulating for graduates (whether students or not) as well as undergraduates. The summer programme is ideal if your timetable or budgets won’t allow you to come for the longer semester programme.
As an summer programme student you’ll have access to many of the University’s most beautiful and best stocked libraries, as well as being an affiliate member of Wycliffe Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford.
Independent learning and undergraduate research are the methods used by SCIO to foster scholarly habits and encourage innovative thinking. At the heart of your programme will be tutorials, one-to-one meetings with your tutor with whom you’ll debate your ideas.
You’ll choose two seminars and, after independent reading and ten hours of discussion classes run by expert tutors, you’ll be ready to write Oxford level essays for discussion in those tutorials.
On field trips you’ll get beyond the tourist experience with expert guides to point out things which are often missed.
Along your studies you have the chance to see Oxford at its most beautiful and many students find that independent travel in the UK or continental Europe further enriches their experience.
Some students enjoy the summer programme so much they choose to come for again, or to come for the SCIO Semester Programme, while others return to Oxford as graduate students. All become members of SCIO alumni groups who have drunk tea together in many US states: lifelong friendships have been made at SCIO!
If you are ready for a new intellectual challenge find out more about the SCIO Summer Programme here. All applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
I learned more in the past four weeks than I have in a semester at my school. The reading before, the discussion classes, and the tutorials solidified what I had learned and how I can improve my work.