Merton is one of Oxford’s oldest and prettiest colleges, 600 metres from Carfax, with magical gardens (where Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings), an enormous chapel and freakish gargoyles. The famous Mob Quad is the home of the library (one of the oldest in England), which is supposedly infested with ghosties and contains Chaucer’s Astrolabe. Merton’s not only big and clever, but darn loaded too - counting Corpus Christi College, the Turf Tavern and a hefty chunk of Coventry among its assets. The atmosphere’s bubbly and laidback but academically stellar. The more wacko traditions include walking backwards around the quad drinking port for an hour whenever the clocks go back, apparently to maintain the integrity of the space-time continuum. Like you do.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 58:42 |
Founded: 1264 |
| Full-time u’grads: 305 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 278 |
Mature: 1% |
| State:private school: 60:40 |
International: 15% |
| Academic ranking: 1 |
Disabled: 7% |
Large bar with fortnightly bops — bonzer 90p toasties; weekly quizzes, karaoke, casino and open-mic comedy nights. Drama in the gardens in May Week; Xmas Ball; mighty Choral soc; weekly Merton Newspaper. Two libraries (more than 70,000 books) with a cramped 88 study places, open until midnight during term; 15 computers, with 24-hour access. Ethernet connections in all on-site rooms and at intervals in library. JCR with WiFi, Sky, kitchen, free pool, darts and table football; DVD rental service; charity-happy Exec. Lots of arty, talky societies. Chapel. Two tennis courts (and one of the UK’s few real tennis courts) and sports grounds 10 mins away shared with Mansfield College; annual Sports Day – there’s more of an emphasis on having a go than on thinking you’re hard enough, although badminton, pool and women’s rugby are top notch. Everyone can live in high-quality, very elegant catered accommodation for 25 weeks of the year (£87-93/wk, single-sex); some rooms – one fifth en suite, not many kitchens; daily formals (‘cept Sat) with tasty chow, termly black-tie meal. CCTV, entry phones and night porters; doctor and shared nurse; Women’s Advisor and Welfare Officer; Equal Opps and two LGBT reps; free attack alarms, condoms, pregnancy tests; 'welfare tea' and movie nights. Narrow doorways and paths make wheelchair access tricky, some adapted rooms and parking available, support funds (especially for the visually impaired) . Access bursaries (£4,000 in the first year, £3,000 thereafter, dependent on household income); scholarships, grants towards books, hardship and travel. Alternative prospectus.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
Theodor Adorno (philosopher & composer); Roger Bannister (athlete); Max Beerbohm (caricaturist & writer); Thomas Bodley (founder of Bodleian Library); Frank Bough (broadcaster); F H Bradley (philosopher); Thomas Bradwardine (astronomer & theologian); Andy Cato (half of Groove Armada) Howard Davies (deputy Governor, Bank of England); T S Eliot (poet); Mark Haddon (author); Adam Hart Davis (garishly shirted TV historian); William Harvey (discoverer of circulatory system); Kris Kristofferson (singer/songwriter); Louis MacNeice (poet); Robert Morley (actor); Crown Prince Naruhito (Japanese heir apparent); Sir Andrew Wiles (mathematician); John Wycliffe (religious reformer).