ts admissions procedure to take into account the academic performance of its applicants' schools.[98] Hertford College's Bridge of Si

 to. Some courses may make "open offers" to some candidates, who are not assigned to a particular college until A Level results day in August.[93][94]
Access[edit]
Further information: University of Oxford undergraduate admissions statistics


The matriculation ceremony, at which new students officially become members of the university, takes place in Michaelmas Term.
The University states that its admissions policies avoid bias against candidates of certain socioeconomic or educational backgrounds.[95] However, the fairness of Oxford admissions has attracted public controversy through episodes such as the Laura Spence Affair in 2000.[96] Gaining places at Oxford and Cambridge remains a central focus for many private and selective state schools — much more so than most state schools — and the fact that the social make-up of undergraduates at the university differs substantially from the social make-up of society at large remains controversial.[97]
In 2007, the university refined its admissions procedure to take into account the academic performance of its applicants' schools.[98]


Hertford College's Bridge of Sighs. Hertford was one of the first colleges to encourage applicants from state schools through the Hertford Scheme.
Students who apply from state schools and colleges have an acceptance rate broadly comparable to those from independent schools (19% and 24% of applicants accepted respectively, 2010).[99] More than half of applications come from the state sector,[99] and the University of Oxford funds many initiatives to attract applicants from this sector, including the UNIQ Summer Schools, Oxford Young Ambassadors, Target Schools, and the FE Access Initiative.[95] Regarding the UNIQ Summer School, of all the UNIQ students who went on to make applications in autumn 2010 to enter the university in 2011/12, 39 per cent ended up with places. The overall success rate for Oxford applicants is around 20 per cent. Most colleges also run their own access schemes and initiatives.
The Oxford Admissions Study was a research project set up to investigate access issues, in which data were collected on 2,000 students who applied to the university in 2002, including exam results from the universities they went on to attend.[100] A number of reports were published based on these data. It was found that, if anything, admissions tutors treat applicants from state schools more favourably than applicants from private schools with the same attainment.[101][102] The research also suggested that this discounting was justified as private school students need higher grades at entry to do as well as their state school educated peers in final university examinations.[103] It was found that cultural knowledge beyond the school curriculum, linked highly to reading habits, was a good indicator for whether arts subjects would gain a place. Contrastingly, participation in cultural activities such as visiting museums, art galleries, classical concerts, and ballet made no difference.[104]
Veiled accusations of racism regarding the