We lay great emphasis on the strength of our teaching and the kinds of students we attract. For many years, we have recruited faculty from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, as well as the best universities in France and Spain, who are not only eminent in their fields but eminently suited, in terms of character and experience, to teach teenagers. Moreover, we encourage our faculty to use the stimulating and inspiring settings of our programs to fire the imaginations and interests of our students.

This carefully supervised and structured learning environment extends into the students’ free time: we ensure that our activities program includes the educational alongside the cultural and social; day trips, field trips and guest speakers are planned to complement each other so that students can make the most out of their trip to England, France, or Spain.

Above all, our students often find that their experiences with us involve, for the first time in their lives, camaraderie and friendship with other students who are as enterprising, enthusiastic and able as themselves. With supportive staff and a great peer group, participants often make friends for years to come in an environment which helps develop and expand their cultural, social and intellectual horizons.

In recent years, our students have come from countries as diverse as Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey - as well as the United States and Canada. The majority (roughly 85%) come from all fifty states in America and Puerto Rico. Over half arrive knowing not a single other student, and about 50% come from public schools.

Oxford is a larger city than Cambridge, with a population of about 135,000 compared to Cambridge’s 110,000. These are quite small populations compared to almost 8 million in London. Oxford has a busier city center than Cambridge and a larger shopping district; Cambridge’s more concentrated collection of colleges and university institutions in the town center gives it a slightly more relaxed atmosphere and the appearance of being considerably smaller in size.

Paris is the capital of France and is therefore much bigger than Montpellier with a population of about 2 million. With approximately 500,000 residents, Montpellier is the eighth largest city in France. It is still a cosmopolitan city, but has more of a small town feel. It moves at a slower pace than Paris, has fewer tourists, and one is less likely to hear English spoken in the streets. While Paris is known for its monuments and museums, Montpellier is known for its sunny weather and cafe culture.

Beyond the different locations, our programs differ according to size, physical situation and courses offered.

Of our high school programs, The Oxford Tradition numbers approximately 400 students who, due to the large number, are accommodated in two separate (but centrally-located and close) colleges in the city center, St. Peter’s and Pembroke.

The Cambridge Tradition numbers 260 students in Jesus College in the town center, and this is the only college in Cambridge to have its sports facilities (soccer, rugby and hockey fields, cricket pitch, tennis courts), gardens and grounds immediately adjacent to the college. For this reason, and although it is smaller than The Oxford Tradition, our largest number of students in a single residence is on The Cambridge Tradition.

L’Académie de Paris numbers 175 students and is distinct in scene and style, located in the heart of Paris. L’Académie de France takes up to 100 students and is situated in the historic center of Montpellier. Both French programs are housed in private boarding schools that – just like a college in Oxford or Cambridge - enjoy their own grounds, accommodation, classrooms and general facilities.

L’Academia de España is housed in a residence that accommodates up to 130 students. Located in the upscale residential area of Barcelona known as Les Corts, it includes classrooms and a dining hall, and is air conditioned.

Both our programs for 8th and 9th graders, The Oxford and Cambridge Prep Experiences, are housed in centrally-located and smaller colleges that are ideal for these programs. Corpus Christi College in Oxford looks out onto Christ Church Meadow over the medieval town wall and is immediately adjacent to Oriel College, the oldest royal foundation of all the colleges in Oxford. Peterhouse is the oldest college in Cambridge and located next door to the University's museum of arts and antiquities, the Fitzwilliam Museum. In size, however, these programs are different: The Cambridge Prep Experience numbers approximately 190 students while The Oxford Prep Experience numbers approximately 150.

Of course, another major difference to consider when choosing a program is the variety of courses offered in each location. Each program offers a selection of ever popular subjects (courses in literature, history, drama, art, etc.) as well as relatively specialized courses for students with particular interests and passions (Physics, International Espionage, Global Medicine or Filmmaking, and so on). The continental programs also offer language classes as well as Advanced classes in either French or Spanish.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities are made up of “colleges”, in which students are taught, supervised by college fellows, housed and fed. The “University” is the institution which controls the students’ academic departments and administers the exams at the end of their degrees. You can think of “colleges” as consisting of student rooms, dining halls, chapels and places of worship, sports fields and student common rooms; the “University” is what runs academic departments and faculties, examination boards and broad institutional government. By studying on one of our programs in Oxford and Cambridge, students do not become “members” of Oxford or Cambridge University, but they do gain invaluable and fascinating experience of college life in these great centers of learning.

London is located about 60 miles south of Cambridge, and about 60 miles east of Oxford. From Oxford to London it takes about an hour by train and between 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours by bus; to Cambridge, it also takes about an hour by train and about 2 hours by bus.

At present, we do plan to take students on our 10-12th grade programs to London for one day-long trip. We do not permit students on our 8-9th grade programs to travel by themselves and, if they visit friends or relatives, they must be collected from Oxford or Cambridge and, in doing so, introduce their guests to a Dean or the Program Director; for our 10-12th grade programs, a student requires written parental permission to visit a specific adult (including family friends or relatives), whose contact details also need to be provided. We also require that these trips be done outside of class time – namely, Saturday afternoon and Sunday

Of course! We’ve designed our curriculum to include a large number of courses that are rarely offered at the high school level, such as International Espionage, Criminology, Zoology, and Social Anthropology, and we don’t expect our students to have much, if any, background in these subjects. Even subjects such as English Literature or European History, which are taught at all high schools, will cover material you are unlikely to find at home. You can study an entirely new subject or new material in a traditional subject. Whichever you choose, you’ll experience creative teaching in a stimulating, refreshing learning environment.

Yes. Students on our programs in Paris and Montpellier do not need to speak French or study French while they’re there. However, signing up for our beginner French class is a perfect way to pick up the language during your stay. Meanwhile, students who are already taking French in school can study French language at the intermediate or advanced levels, and those who are already proficient can take any of the Advanced courses that cover topics of French cultural interest and are taught exclusively in French. All language classes concentrate on using French in everyday situations and improving communicative competence in addition to technical accuracy.

Yes. Students on our program in Barcelona do not need to speak Spanish or study Spanish while they’re there. However, signing up for our beginner Spanish class is a perfect way to pick up the language during your stay. Meanwhile, students who are already taking Spanish in school can study Spanish language at the intermediate or advanced level, and those who are already proficient can take any of the Spanish immersion courses which cover topics of Spanish cultural interest and are taught exclusively in Spanish. All language classes concentrate on using Spanish in everyday situations and improving communicative competence in addition to technical accuracy.

While the continental programs are open to students regardless of whether they speak French or Spanish, or no language at all, more than half choose to study the local language, either as a Major or Minor course. For those who have already mastered the language in school (or who speak it at home), there is the option of taking Advanced courses, which are taught entirely in French or Spanish and cover topics of cultural interest (art history, cinema, literature, etc.). Furthermore, students can choose to live on a hall where no English is spoken and to eat at the French Table or Spanish Table during meals. Students can also participate in activities in the local language, such as museum visits, plays, presentations by guest speakers, and movies.

Yes. If English is your second language, please be aware that programs are conducted primarily in English, and our programs in Oxford and Cambridge are taught exclusively in English. While we welcome students from all over the world, we do want to make sure that students are able to integrate fully with the program community. In France or Spain, immersion courses are taught exclusively in French or Spanish, but program information, materials and literature are all available only in English.

You should expect roughly one hour of homework per night for your major classes, and none for your minor classes. Drama classes tend to require greater rehearsal time, approximately 4-5 hours a day leading up to the final performance at the end of the program. Film and Journalism classes, which also conclude with a final production or project, also demand extra time.

But no matter what you take, your work will culminate in an exciting final project that will test your grasp of the course material: the Law classes, for example, take part in full-scale moot courts at the end of the summer, complete with “judges” in full British gowns and wigs; Creative Writing students publish magazines containing their best work; Studio Art, Architecture, and Photography classes mount exhibitions open to the entire program body.

Your academic work, however, is not the only thing you do – we have a full (but optional) curriculum of social and cultural activities, including films, lectures, dances, plays, sports events, field trips and, of course, there’s plenty of time to explore the city on your own and with your new friends.

After the conclusion of the program, you will receive a written evaluation, grade, and a description of the coursework completed for both your Major and Minor classes. We do not issue credit ourselves, but we are happy to issue copies of these gradesheets to your school to help you get credit there. The majority of our students also submit copies of their gradesheets along with their college applications, and we are happy to provide additional copies of teachers’ evaluations and references at your request.

In addition to the gradesheets made available upon completion of a program, students are able to request five copies when applying to college. Additional copies can be provided at the cost of $5 each. To order copies, alumni are asked to contact Sunil Purushotham, Admissions Coordinator, at sunil@oxbridgeprograms.com.

Students do not need laptop computers while they are on our programs so we recommend that they are left at home. In class, your teacher will only expect hand-written work. Local internet cafés provide access to email and, should your teacher suggest you conduct research online, we will provide you with the computer facilities to do so.

Students can bring cell phones with them, but we would like to remind you that making calls from transatlantic cell phones (either tri- or quad-band) is extremely expensive. We prefer that cell phones are used as an emergency resource, not a social utility. For parents, they can provide peace of mind and ease of contact but for students and their friends they can also be a great distraction – for this reason, the use of cell phones is not permitted in classes, dining halls, on trips or in students’ rooms after curfew.

It is very easy for parents to contact students by calling, e-mailing, or e-mailing the Program Office in each location and leaving a message, which will be delivered promptly to the students’ mailbox. There are a variety of options in Europe for inexpensive calling cards, which students can use at payphones in all of our locations.

Our students are able to pursue a wide variety of activities and interests. In addition to the field trips (such as Broughton Castle, Warwick Castle, Stratford, and Canterbury Cathedral in England, Giverny and Chartres in Paris, Carcassonne and Nîmes in Montpellier, and Girona and Montserrat in Barcelona), students are offered a range of local activities, which include discussions with eminent guest speakers, concerts, plays, dances, quiz competitions, talent shows, open house poetry readings and coffee socials.

After exercising the brain in class, students can take part in a wide variety of sports: some favorites include basketball, softball, soccer, cricket, pétanque, swimming and Ultimate Frisbee. Classes in such activities as yoga and kung fu are sometimes offered. In Oxford and Cambridge, we do our best to make sure that rowers (crew) receive some coaching on the River Cam or the Thames, or the Isis as it’s known locally.

We make every effort to ensure that our activities programs complement the cultural and intellectual enrichment of our academic programs. We structure and supervise them carefully to ensure that students get the most out of their time in Europe.

You can, within reason. Keep in mind that (in addition to the rest of your luggage) guitars, drum kits, keyboards and cellos will prove extremely cumbersome and almost impossible to transport. In the past, student bands have formed by renting instruments from local stores, and our residences typically have music practice rooms, some of which have pianos – so there’s no need to pack one of those either.

Each year, some students ask whether they can bring pets, such as dogs, cats and horses. There are several difficulties with this, from transportation, vaccinations and import licenses to accommodation. For such reasons, human participants are not permitted to bring their animal acquaintances.

You’ll receive a detailed suggested packing list in the weeks leading up to the summer. Clothing in class should be appropriate for an academic environment and you should bring at least one outfit to wear to dances and to the formal Final Banquet.

In addition to your hand luggage, please do not bring more than one other bag/suitcase. Carriers normally have a strict transatlantic limit of 70 lbs, and we recommend that you check your carrier’s requirements before flying as overweight baggage can result in additional charges and in some cases you can even be refused admittance to your flight. We also advise that you consider that your luggage might be even heavier at the end of the summer, what with souvenirs, gifts for friends, and mementos. Please bear this in mind as airlines are within their rights to withdraw a passenger’s permission to board if additional charges are not met and can even ban a passenger from flying with them in the future.

All of our colleges in the UK and the residence in Barcelona have coin-operated washing and drying machines. In Paris and Montpellier, we use a laundry adjacent to our residence.

The majority of US health plans should cover you on your trip abroad, but you should check with your plan to be sure. England, France, and Spain all provide excellent emergency medical care to all people, regardless of citizenship, within their borders. Be prepared, however, to pay up front for all medical services and keep your receipts, as many US insurers will only reimburse you after the fact. If you have a medical condition that requires constant monitoring, you will have to make arrangements with a private medical facility independently, and will have to pay a fee for each visit.

In addition to the many health clinics in Cambridge and Oxford which ordinarily cater to the large student populations during the academic year, hospitals in both locations are amongst the best in Europe. Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge is the largest hospital in the Cambridge area and a national medical centre; its affiliation to Cambridge University and several research foundations also make it an international center for genetics and neurology. Oxford’s hospital trust includes the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals as well as the Radcliffe Infirmary, and together they constitute an internationally-renowned center for medical treatment that includes the world’s leading research facility into molecular genetics.

In France and Spain, hospitals also have excellent facilities. In Paris, we are a short distance from Cochin and Salpêtrière, recognised as two of the best hospitals in France. Montpellier is renowned as a center of medical excellence whose local hospitals, like in Oxford and Cambridge, boast a large number of surgical and research facilities. The same goes for hospital facilities in Barcelona. All of our residences are only minutes away from major hospitals.

All our programs take place on secure, supervised premises. Oxford and Cambridge colleges, first built hundreds of years ago, were originally designed to keep the townsfolk out. Now, the “castle-like” walls keep troublemakers outside and, for our purposes, students inside after curfew. The continental program residences are also extremely secure, as they are designed to house students year round. Entrances to all residences are supervised round-the-clock either by College Porters (in England) or by our own staff, who learn our students’ faces and can detect unauthorized personnel. Many of the porters are former police officers or military personnel, and the colleges themselves invest in close-circuit TV cameras to protect extremely valuable works of art as well as their students.

All students on the high school programs must check in with the Dean on duty between 10:00 and 11:00 pm. Curfew is at midnight. On our Prep programs, students must check in once at dinner and again in the evening between 9:00 and 10:00 pm. Curfew is at 11:00 pm.

Check-in means that students must present themselves to a Dean who records their presence, after which they are not permitted to leave the premises; curfew means that students are in their own rooms, by themselves and quiet. After curfew, the gates are locked but our office remains open for a short while, and some staff patrol the grounds, in addition to (in Oxford and Cambridge) the College Porters. The majority of our staff live inside the colleges, alongside the students, so our presence remains throughout the night.

Our policy is that friends do not room together. This is for two reasons: first and foremost, we believe that meeting new people from all over the United States and indeed the world is an incredibly important part of your experience. Students who live with people they already know tend not to be adventurous about meeting new people on our programs, and their experiences are often less rich for it. Second, we have seen quite a few friendships from home dissolve under the strain of living in such close quarters. That said, in nearly all cases we can house you and your friends in the same hallway or staircase so you won't be far away from each other.

We welcome students of all faiths and we make every effort to accommodate everyone. We are not able to provide Kosher or Halal meals in our dining halls, but you can pick and choose from our offerings that fall into those categories, such as many items from our salad bars and sandwich counters. Some students choose to buy or rent a mini refrigerator to keep in their rooms, and supplement the dining hall food with Kosher and Halal foodstuffs they buy in town. In Oxford and Cambridge, there are also catering services that will deliver Kosher and Halal meals to your college, which you can store in your refrigerator. We can put students in touch with these businesses or those students who, in the past, have used them. Our dining services staff will be happy to heat these prepared meals in their ovens at mealtimes should you request it.

We strongly discourage missing class on Saturdays or any other day. We ask that you attend services outside of class time if at all possible. In the past, some students have sat in on Saturday morning classes without taking notes, and attended services either before class starts or after it finishes. If these procedures would not work for you, let us know ahead of time and we will try to make arrangements with our staff to accommodate your needs.

We house boys and girls in separate hallways, staircases, or floors. The majority of our faculty and staff live in the dorms with the students, so there are adults available to monitor and counsel 24 hours a day. All students must be quiet and in their own rooms as of 11pm on our Prep programs, and by midnight on our high school and continental programs.

This really depends on how frugal or decadent you are in your spending habits in general. Students tend to spend the majority of their money on lunch, but it is definitely possible to eat very cheaply in all of the cities where we are. Our own research has indicated that students tend to spend the equivalent of about $15-30 day on average for meals, incidentals and the like. More may be needed for any souvenirs for you and your family at home.

We definitely encourage your parents to visit you. Keep in mind, however, that between class, social activities, and exploring your new surroundings, you will be kept very busy during your time with us. Parents are certainly welcome to visit for the day, but we suggest that they schedule family trips either before the start or after the conclusion of the program. We also ask that they not take you out of class.

As our programs all run during the same period in July/August, it is impossible to do more than one program in a single summer. If you do The Oxford Tradition or The Cambridge Tradition, however, you can participate in the one-week-long Paris Connection immediately after the conclusion of your program in England. If you participate in L’Académie de France, you can spend the last few days of the program in Paris. Also, several students return each year, either coming back to the same program they completed the previous summer or swapping from one location to another. In the past, we have had students study at a Prep program one year, and then high school and continental programs in successive years afterwards.

Yes. Students are not accepted into the program if their academic or behavioral record suggests very clearly that they will not cope with the standards and policies which we uphold. In cases where this is unclear, references will be approached to clarify the student’s suitability.

Many teachers have looked at our programs and wished – half jokingly – that they could go themselves. For this reason, and to provide intellectual replenishment with professional development, we run a series residential Teacher Seminars in Oxford, Cambridge and Paris that interested teachers, counselors, librarians and school administrators are welcome to attend. Please see our Teacher Seminar section for more information.