The Greats in Oxford & Cambridge
2024 Enrolment Now Open!
The Oxford Exchange's 2023 course for St John's College USA in Oxford was a resounding success!
Register your interest for the 2024 course by completing Step 1 below.
St John's College in Oxford 2024
SUMMER 2024 - 2-Week Course - 29 July - 10 august
The Greats in Oxford - The Oxford Exchange is a UK nonprofit organisation that offers bespoke courses in Oxford and Cambridge. We designed the two-week residential course with St John's College USA for undergraduate students, graduate students, and college alumni.
Our Oxford Tutors facilitate discussion-based learning through a blend of Oxford University and St John's College pedagogical traditions (discussion-based seminars, tutorials, engaging lectures, and guest tutorials). The course is meant to encourage students to immerse themselves in Oxford (or Cambridge) academic and social life. Scroll down to the next section ("A Summer of The Greats") below for more detailed information about the course structure.
CURRENT UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE STUDENTS: Get ready for an action-packed two weeks! This course is designed to serve as a review of your previous year at St John's as well as allow you to dive into works you will be reading in your final year(s) at St. John's College. The Oxford Essay will also allow you to start thinking about your Senior Essay or dissertation.
SENIORS (and graduate students in their final year): Use this course and draw upon the expertise of your individual tutor and cohort tutors to reflect on what you have learned and accomplished as you plan for your next academic journey (MA, PhD, etc.) or career.
ALUMNI: You will be an active member of the cohort, yet you will also have the opportunity to utilise your private tutorial sessions to fit your interests and goals. Renew your love of The Greats, learn new perspectives, and share your wisdom with young adults about to embark on their careers.
PARTICIPANTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO:
Network and Renew Your Connections: Network with other lovers of The Greats in a magical summer setting in England. Socialize over meals or pub crawls in historical Oxford settings.
Relax and Contemplate: Enjoy studying and reading in Oxford’s libraries. Read a book in the beautiful college gardens or in the back garden of a pub. Enjoy some downtime by enjoying a light “Movie Night” in the college or other social activities.
Plan Your Next Academic Journey: Each student is assigned a tutor. Fancy writing up a PhD proposal or writing papers for academic journals? Our tutors have all been through those challenges and will be able to advise you.
Write and Present an Oxford Essay: Of course, you are also required to write an Oxford Essay to present to the rest of the cohort at the end of the course, so get ready to be challenged!
A Summer of The Greats
2024 COURSE DESIGN - SJC EXCLUSIVE
One-to-One Tutorials: Each student is assigned to an Oxford Tutor and is expected to complete an "Oxford Essay" to present to the cohort at the end of the course. This is an opportunity for Johnnies to begin thinking of their Senior Essays or postgraduate dissertations.
Oxford Seminars: Oxford tutors will guide the cohort through themed discussions that reference The Greats. in postgraduate seminar-style with a St John's influence. ALL PARTICIPANTS (current undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni) will participate in "All Cohort" seminars, Group seminars (organised by interest and year at SJC), "All Cohort" Guest Tutorials, and will be assigned an individual tutor.
Guest Lecturers & Discussions: In the late afternoon or early evening, we offer the opportunity for prominant scholars to share their research or a book with the class relevant to The Greats. These tutorials are usually followed by dinner where the Guest Tutor is invited to dine with the students and further the discussions over a meal.
London Study Trip: The cohort will visit sites of academic interest such as Houses of Parliament, The British Museum, The Globe Theatre, and other key sites in the city.
Local Study Trips: We offer shorter trips to places such as Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill's childhood home), the Cotswolds, Chedworth Roman Villa, and other sites.
Oxford Tours: We offer optional daily tours of the other Oxford colleges where authors of The Greats studied (Adam Smith, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Shelley, etc.). View Chaucer's original Canterbury Tales, and tour Christ Church College Hall and JRR Tolkien's Garden. There will be time to also visit Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum (Britain's first public museum, the world's second university museum), the Pitt Rivers Museum, and other sites.
Baroque by Candlelight in Chapel: Performed by an Oxford-based musical ensemble (Chiavari Agreable), this is a magical experience we do one night for the students after dinner, followed by drinks.
High Table Dinner: The cohort will experience a formal dining experience in the college dining hall (we refer to it here in Oxford as 'Formal Hall').
Activities: Our Oxford “Mentors” (student assistants) lead the cohort in a series of activities including Punting on the Isis, Croquet (surely a favourite among Johnnies), Pub Quiz, the Oxford Pub Crawl, Movie Nights, Oxford-at-Night, Picnic in the Oxford University Parks, and more.
End of Course Celebration: After each participant has presented their Oxford Essay to the cohort, we will gather to celebrate the end of the course, followed by dinner and drinks.
Be a Part of History
Ancient Classics
A Long Term St John's Programme
Oxford Connection
St John's students (Johnnies) read The Greats for all 4 years of their undergraduate studies and all 2 years of their graduate studies. Johnnies will be able to greatly contribute to Oxford's academic community and learn to apply their knowledge in a European (and distinctly British) context.
Oxford Connection
A Long Term St John's Programme
Oxford Connection
"In 1937 Stringfellow Barr, a University of Virginia graduate who had attended Oxford, was elected president of the college (SJC) and, along with Scott Buchanan, the new dean (and an Oxford graduate as well) completely revamped the curriculum. They introduced the Great Books program that would turn St. John's from a struggling regional li
"In 1937 Stringfellow Barr, a University of Virginia graduate who had attended Oxford, was elected president of the college (SJC) and, along with Scott Buchanan, the new dean (and an Oxford graduate as well) completely revamped the curriculum. They introduced the Great Books program that would turn St. John's from a struggling regional liberal arts college into one of the most distinctive institutions of higher education in America" (Martin, R, 2018: 13).
A Long Term St John's Programme
A Long Term St John's Programme
A Long Term St John's Programme
This summer will mark the first year of a planned long-term "St John's in Oxford" programme. Join us for this unique inaugural summer course in Oxford and become a "founding alumnus" of the programme!
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The First edition of The Canterbury Tales as displayed in Merton College's "Old Library."
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Oxford Exchange: Certifications
British Council Accreditation
royal society for the prevention of accidents
oxford university qualifications
The Oxford Exchange is accredited by the British Council.
All of our employees and contractors must pass the appropriate British Council's extensive safeguarding training requirements.
oxford university qualifications
royal society for the prevention of accidents
oxford university qualifications
Our founders, our mentors and our tutors have earned qualifications (degrees) from Oxford University and are members of a number of Oxford colleges. Our wider faculty team have served as tutors, instructors, or researchers at the University.
royal society for the prevention of accidents
royal society for the prevention of accidents
royal society for the prevention of accidents
At The Oxford Exchange we treat each student's safety and wellbeing as our top priority. We are Affiliate Members of ROSPA and we have strict policies on the protection of students, staff, and faculty at all times during our courses.
COURSES CERTIFIED BY ACCREDITATION UK
royal society for the prevention of accidents
royal society for the prevention of accidents
The Oxford Exchange and its affiliate, the Oxford IQ Preparatory Academy, are UK members of The British Council.
We are certified by Accreditation UK, the quality assurance scheme for the English language teaching industry in the UK.
University College ('Univ')
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Univ has a claim to being the oldest college of the University of Oxford, having been founded in 1249 by William of Durham.
THE SHELLEY MEMORIAL
The memorial consists of a white marble sculpture of a reclining nude and dead Shelley washed up on the shore at Viareggio in Italy after his drowning, sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford, associated with the New Sculpture movement.
The College is associated with a number of influential people, including Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Bill Clinton, Neil Gorsuch, Stephen Hawking, C. S. Lewis, V. S. Naipaul, William Beveridge, Bob Hawke, Robert Cecil, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
UNIV DINING HALL
Completed in 1656, Univ's Hall is one of the most spectacular in all of Oxford with its hammerbeam roof and paintings of prominent former members of the College.
Read The Greats Where They Were Written
Scholarship Information for "The Greats & PPE in Oxford"
2023 Oxford johnnies - discount for 2024!
If you attended the inaugural course in 2023, you are a lifelong member of the "Oxford Johnnies" (and the Oxford Dead Poets Society).
If you register for the 2024 St John's in Oxford course, The Oxford Exchange will further reduce the cost of the course and award you a few extras. Contact us below for details:
Matthew Leeming Scholarship 2023 and 2024
In 2023, all SJC undergraduates, graduate students and alumni were credited with a generous scholarship towards their course fees. The Oxford Exchange will continue this tradition of giving in 2024.
The scholarship is named in honour of an Oxford Scholar and keen expert on Afghanistan who passed away in 2022. Mr Leeming read theology at Trinity College, Oxford and read for an MBA at Lincoln College, Oxford.
St John's College Annapolis
Refer to the Study Away web page on the SJC website for information regarding SJC Annapolis Pathways funding: https://www.sjc.edu/career-success/annapolis/pathways-fellowship-program
St John's College Santa Fe
Refer to the Study Away web page on the SJC website for information regarding SJC Santa Fe Pathways funding: https://www.sjc.edu/career-success/santa-fe/ariel-internships-general-pathways-global-pathways-fellowships-program