Oxford Asian and Middle Eastern studies postgrad applicants 2025-26

Hey just wanted to meet all the applicants for AMES Oxford postgrad for this year. Any updates for anyone?!

Passing by just to push the post to the front.
If anyone's here, what is your subject group or studying fields?

Korean sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. So far no news! I'm so anxious

Passing by just to push the post to the front.
If anyone's here, what is your subject group or studying fields?

so far no updates ( next Tue is Week 8

Hello! It’s been a tough time and we are making to the 8th week…. Finger crossed to all the AMES applicants fellows.
Did you get any interview? I haven’t besides from a Team talk with one of the faculty before I applied. My field is classical Islamic history.

Hello! It’s been a tough time and we are making to the 8th week…. Finger crossed to all the AMES applicants fellows.
Did you get any interview? I haven’t besides from a Team talk with one of the faculty before I applied. My field is classical Islamic history.

No updates yet! But I would not be bothered by it. It is highly unlikely that they will post anything before deadline. In fact, it will probably be later than sooner. So, nothing to stress about.
I have applied for Modern Middle Eastern European Studies (with Hebrew), but that being said, I have previously studied law (and this particular language as side quest lol). I have also applied for Jewish Studies, since during my time at Oxford I wish to explore the influence of Holocaust on the current military identity and policies of State, yet that being said - I would be more satisfied with MMES due versatility and better emphasis on language.
The quickest update shall come at 4th of March, but again - unlikely. Usually when unis give 8-10 weeks then it is more in the middle or later term. So, I think we can expect between 10 - 14th March. Although, I hope I'm wrong! It is just based on experience of my friends who applied last year. No reason to be anxious, fr fr! I know it is stressful time and everyone wants to know, but well, it will not come any sooner. I highly recommend dropping the idea of checking the button everyday. I know it is popular on the other threads, but it seems to be more harmful than beneficial. Simply makes people panic, stay in stress and get frustrated by lack of an action. They do not give the spam of 8-10 weeks for no reason, Ox knows that they could not really publish the results any sooner, therefore genuinely no reason to stress yourself with it as they ain't themselves.
I did not get any interview. Although, from what I was reading (and just double checked) there is no mandatory interview for this particular department when it comes to MPhil (might vary for DPhil and undergrad). Therefore, if you do not have an interview, then well - everything is alright. Would be more concerning if you had any lol.
Anyways,
Fingers crossed for all of you! Hopefully we all will get what we want sooner than later 💖

Thank you for the detailed post!! Fingers crossed for all of us 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

Though strangely AMES does seem a little slower in releasing results than the other departments whose deadlines were on 7 Jan. I've seen some with the same deadline that already sent out the results like this week and last week

I just had an informal meeting with my potential supervisor before applying and that’s it. I heard someone got called for an interview for dphil in mid feb. idk really.
Do any of you know the acceptance rate of this dept?

I just had an informal meeting with my potential supervisor before applying and that’s it. I heard someone got called for an interview for dphil in mid feb. idk really.
Do any of you know the acceptance rate of this dept?

Fingers crossed and always look at the bright side . For now - all of us are in, since none of us got rejected lol. Time to get worried can only come with actual rejection, but even with it - worry not, rejection is usually redirection.
To be faaaair a lot of posts in official Oxford thread are coming from people from December deadline! And they just got answers lol. They are some extremely rare departments who released results before, but it is worthy to check what is their application number and places to fill. If they have 10 applicants for 8 places, then would be hard no to. With MMES it is quite complicated, since there is not a lot of teaching staff. Bear in mind, 14 people whom have to rate almost 100 applications (if not more) while teaching undergrads, supervising MPhils dissertations and looking at their PhD students. Hectic work!
Also, that being said, MMES is very multidisciplinary course itself. Idk if you guys opted the possibility of being moved around to another courses, but if you did - additional work for them. I have seen once reddit thread regarding that matter, and apparently due the amount of spots, split between MSc/MPhil and studies around (Islamic Studies, Islamic Art, Jewish Studies, Politics, IR) they also have to look who is suited best, and who possibly could be moved around to make place for other. For e.g. if someone speaks well in Turkish, then there is no point to ask them to stay for MPhil and it could be easier to move to MSc, and vice versa. Same with if someone is highly oriented on islamic art, then highly possible that could be switched to this particular course instead of being taken into account at MMES. It's quite a lot of the juggling around, and goes between departments. So, no wonders!
Depends on course! Regarding to the data published by Oxford on their page:
DISCLAIMER: THEY DO NOT PUBLISH REJECTION RATE THEMSELVES, SO I HAVE NO IDEA IF THEY REJECT SOMEONE FROM COURSES THAT HAVE "GUARANTEED" SUCCESS ADMISSION OR NOT! I'm also extremely far from being any talented mathematician lol
MMES MPhil has 59 applications and 16 spots, so 27.12%
MMES MSc has 47 applications and 8 spots, so 17.02%
Islamic Studies and History has 32 applications for 20 spots, so 62.50%
Classical Hebrew has 3 applications for 15 spots, so 500%
Jewish Studies MPhil has 10 applications for 20 spots, so 200%
Jewish Studies MSt has 19 applications for 15 spots, so 78.85%
Modern South Asian Studies MPhil has 18 applications for 6 spots, so 33.22%
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies MSt has 13 applications for 15 spots, so 115.38%
Syriac Studies MSt has 3 applications for 15 spots, so 500%
I'm sorry if I forgot about any course, also, do not take it too serious - again, it is estimation based on rough data they present themselves without much detail

Fingers crossed and always look at the bright side . For now - all of us are in, since none of us got rejected lol. Time to get worried can only come with actual rejection, but even with it - worry not, rejection is usually redirection.
To be faaaair a lot of posts in official Oxford thread are coming from people from December deadline! And they just got answers lol. They are some extremely rare departments who released results before, but it is worthy to check what is their application number and places to fill. If they have 10 applicants for 8 places, then would be hard no to. With MMES it is quite complicated, since there is not a lot of teaching staff. Bear in mind, 14 people whom have to rate almost 100 applications (if not more) while teaching undergrads, supervising MPhils dissertations and looking at their PhD students. Hectic work!
Also, that being said, MMES is very multidisciplinary course itself. Idk if you guys opted the possibility of being moved around to another courses, but if you did - additional work for them. I have seen once reddit thread regarding that matter, and apparently due the amount of spots, split between MSc/MPhil and studies around (Islamic Studies, Islamic Art, Jewish Studies, Politics, IR) they also have to look who is suited best, and who possibly could be moved around to make place for other. For e.g. if someone speaks well in Turkish, then there is no point to ask them to stay for MPhil and it could be easier to move to MSc, and vice versa. Same with if someone is highly oriented on islamic art, then highly possible that could be switched to this particular course instead of being taken into account at MMES. It's quite a lot of the juggling around, and goes between departments. So, no wonders!
Depends on course! Regarding to the data published by Oxford on their page:
DISCLAIMER: THEY DO NOT PUBLISH REJECTION RATE THEMSELVES, SO I HAVE NO IDEA IF THEY REJECT SOMEONE FROM COURSES THAT HAVE "GUARANTEED" SUCCESS ADMISSION OR NOT! I'm also extremely far from being any talented mathematician lol
MMES MPhil has 59 applications and 16 spots, so 27.12%
MMES MSc has 47 applications and 8 spots, so 17.02%
Islamic Studies and History has 32 applications for 20 spots, so 62.50%
Classical Hebrew has 3 applications for 15 spots, so 500%
Jewish Studies MPhil has 10 applications for 20 spots, so 200%
Jewish Studies MSt has 19 applications for 15 spots, so 78.85%
Modern South Asian Studies MPhil has 18 applications for 6 spots, so 33.22%
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies MSt has 13 applications for 15 spots, so 115.38%
Syriac Studies MSt has 3 applications for 15 spots, so 500%
I'm sorry if I forgot about any course, also, do not take it too serious - again, it is estimation based on rough data they present themselves without much detail

Hahaha that's true... And even after acceptance the next thing to worry about is the funding. Endless worries so might as well not worry 😜

Real. I did quick estimations for MMES Mphil and MMES MSc and...
MMES MPhil
Tuition: £22,520 × 2 = £45,040
Accommodation: £1,425 – £2,035 × 24 months = £34,200 – £48,840
Mandatory Summer Abroad: £3,000
Total Cost: £82,240 – £96,880
MMES MSc
Tuition: £23,400
Accommodation: £1,425 – £2,045 × 12 months = £17,100 – £24,540
Total Cost: £40,500 – £47,940
It is obviously estimate for home students, I do not even dare to do it for international ones
Hella expensive. I'm personally manifesting scholarship, but well. There is a certain favour for Arabic speakers and Islamic scholars, as they have way more scholarship opportunities, so I would say, this group should be sleeping well, y'all guys should get something at the end of the day.
The stupidest take I will say, but idk cannot be bother until I get in. When I get in, well, that's when I will be figuring out any additional scholarships, looking outside uni to cover funding etc. Before that I cannot even lift a finger, could not care less. I think that is also one of the reasons people go crazy. Everyone is worried about it before even starts, endless applications for scholarships and god knows for what other. At the end of the day, if you do not get in, there is a feeling of wasting 489830493094039 to apply for everything instead of just casual rejection feeling

Hahaha that's so true. Anyhow Oxford isn't my only option, I do have one other offer at the moment (which I believe is funded based on chatting with the profs and since it's a US uni). Patiently waiting for the results of the others as well...

Hahaha that's so true. Anyhow Oxford isn't my only option, I do have one other offer at the moment (which I believe is funded based on chatting with the profs and since it's a US uni). Patiently waiting for the results of the others as well...

Hi. I’m also curious which university your offer came from? I am holding an offer at Edinburgh, and a waitlist at Chicago so still no funding is ascertained for me.

That's so cool! Congrats! What Uni if I might ask?
I have not applied for anything else. Decided that it's either Oxford or continuing with career and then applying again next year. But that being said, I have privilege of having a very stable work in the sector