Somerville College (Oxford): Detailed Guide, General Information and Contacts

Somerville College is located on Woodstock Road, just north of St Giles and is a 10-minute walk from the city centre. The College is adjacent to a wide variety of restaurants and cocktail bars popular with students

Somerville College offers a number of undergraduate scholarships and funding. The College also has funding for travel and projects for undergraduates and graduates alike. Awards are also available for sporting and wellbeing. More information can be found here.

The specific college societies are:

College Choir

Music Society

BAME Socials

Drama Society

Arts Week

University Challenge

Baking Society

Boat Club

Board Games Society

Deception Society

As well as these, there are over 300 university societies you can join.

Somerville College houses all of its undergraduates in-college for every year of their degrees. Rooms are allocated by ballot and the rooms consist of study bedrooms with shared bathrooms, showers, and kitchens. Undergraduate students are guaranteed rooms in their first, third, and fourth years and some second years choose to remain in College too. The College also aims to provide accommodation in or close to College for all first-year postgraduate students, and gives priority to those arriving from abroad.

For graduates, 53 students can be accommodated in two annexes of college-owned housing which are very close to the main site. These facilities provide shared kitchens. Bathroom and living areas.

More information about accommodation for undergraduates and graduates can be found here.

Somerville has a number of sports teams for males and females as well as a popular boat club. The sports clubs are welcome and inclusive regardless of past experience. Bear in mind, no ball games are allowed inside the college grounds. Sporting facilities include a gym onsite, and tennis courts as part of the Wadham/Somerville sports grounds.

Further information can be found here.

Somerville College has a dedicated welfare team who have undergone welfare training to offer non-judgemental and confidential support to students. As well as welfare support, there is a college nurse who is available every weekday to help with medical related issues. Every student has an annual meeting with the principle which is an opportunity to discuss academic and non-academic matters. Most of the Junior Deans are on call every evening since they live in College.

• The College was first founded as a women’s college in 1879, and is named after Mary Somerville, the scientist, mathematician, and astronomer. The College first admitted male students relatively recently in 1994.
• The College has one of the University’s largest undergraduate libraries which is open 24/7 and has over 120,000 items.
• The College has one of the largest quad’s in Oxford University and students are permitted to walk on the grass, something which not all colleges permit.

Margaret Thatcher

Indira Gandhi

Dorothy Hodgkin

Iris Murdoch