IFSA: University of Oxford Partnership

I absolutely loved my time at Oxford with IFSA. I not only received and unparalleled education through Oxford's tutorial system but II also met amazing people who have now become my lifelong friends. I received endless, heartwarming support from IFSA from the moment I hopped on the plane to go to the U.K. to the moment it was time for me to return home. I am so grateful to IFSA for the opportunity to go abroad!

In my first few days in the UK, our group of IFSA Oxford students were housed in London and completed an IFSA orientation. This gave us a chance to decompress and prepare for the transition to another university – we discussed issues of identity, wellness, academics, and social life. It also meant that we got to know a few other Visiting Students prior to arriving on campus. After orientation, we traveled to Oxford and I started my time as a de facto undergraduate student – I was allowed to join sports teams, participate in student clubs and societies, and attend university-wide events. Most importantly, I lived in residential dormitories and took classes (selected from a slightly truncated list) alongside other Oxford undergraduates. Because of this full immersion and the small size of my residential college, Worcester college, I was able to form close relationships with other undergraduate students and independently plan out my days. Even though other students had already established routines and social circles, they were extremely welcoming to the Visiting Students. The gift and curse of Oxford is that there are always multiple interesting events happening at the same time! Though we could choose to do things entirely on our own, throughout the term IFSA offered opportunities for discussion and support – in my view, this was one of the greatest advantages of applying through a third-party. The IFSA Resident Director for Oxford visited every week and gave us times where we could swing by for a pastry and quick chat. This was a fun and helpful time to reflect on what was going on each week!

I had an amazing time at the University of Oxford and would highly recommend the program to anyone looking for a challenging and exciting academic experience abroad. I loved the tutorials and found that I grew a ton as a writer because of the close attention my tutors gave to my papers. I loved the independence and freedom that the tutorial model gave me to dive into the subjects that I was studying and follow my interests through in-depth research; with the many amazing libraries at Oxford, I had what felt like nearly-limitless access to resources for researching topics. One of my favorite things about the program was just walking through the city and getting to know Oxford. I liked studying in the various coffee shops, and I visited all 38 of the university's colleges during my year there, which was a great way to see as much of the city as possible! I studied at Mansfield College, and I loved the people there - everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and it didn’t take me long to feel fully immersed in my college’s community. Oxford was definitely challenging in a number of ways, but this helped me to grow as a student and learn a lot about myself as a person. IFSA specifically was an amazing resource at every step on the journey. My IFSA advisor in the states, Aimee, was incredibly helpful as I was applying to Oxford and then preparing to go abroad. I had never left the United States before going abroad, so I really appreciated that our advisor abroad, Andrew, who was based in London, picked me up from Heathrow, took me to my hotel, and helped me to feel settled and comfortable instantly in a new country. Throughout the year, Andrew would come visit us in Oxford to catch up and talk about our goals, and he and the rest of the IFSA staff always made me feel so supported while abroad. They also took us on two trips to the Lake District which were really fun opportunities to get off-campus for a few days and meet some students from other Oxford colleges and other IFSA programs in the United Kingdom! I would give anything to go back and relive IFSA’s Oxford program over and over again!