Oxford Modern Languages Interview Invite 2026: Dates, Notice and a Day-by-Day Plan

An Oxford Modern Languages interview invitation comes as a letter or email from a college, usually between the middle of November and early December 2026, and you may only be given a week’s notice. First-college interviews run from Monday 7 to Thursday 10 December 2026, online. The course page states that there is no pre-interview language test for Modern Languages (and Joint Schools) courses in 2026.

The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages adds that shortlisted candidates find out approximately a week beforehand. This page follows one course family through the wait, the invitation and the days before the first interview, on the dates Oxford has published for it. It covers Modern Languages, the five joint schools that share its timetable row, and European and Middle Eastern Languages, which has a row of its own.

When will an Oxford Modern Languages interview invitation arrive?

Oxford gives a window rather than a date. Its interview pages say you will receive a letter or email “usually between the middle of November and early December”, that “different courses will issue invitations on different days depending on when their interviews are scheduled”, and that the message will usually come from the college you applied to. Its admissions timeline lists “Shortlisting (from end of November)” and “Interviews (early to mid-December)” as the stages that follow the written-work deadline of 10 November. The timeline and the interviews page describe the start differently: from the end of November, and usually from the middle of November.

The Faculty is more specific for this course family. Its application page says: “You will find out if you have been shortlisted for interview approximately a week beforehand.” Oxford’s central guide gives the same order of magnitude, saying you “may only be given a week’s notice that you have been shortlisted”.

Our arithmetic from those two statements, not a date Oxford has published. The first-college block opens on Monday 7 December 2026 and closes on Thursday 10 December. Seven days before Monday 7 December is Monday 30 November; seven days before Thursday 10 December is Thursday 3 December. A week of notice would therefore put the email between Monday 30 November and Thursday 3 December 2026 for a first interview inside that block. This page states no typical invitation date for Modern Languages, so read that span as the notice both sources describe, not as a forecast; it can be shorter or longer. An email in mid-November sits inside Oxford’s window just as well.

Oxford ties the day an invitation goes out to when a course’s interviews are scheduled. Modern Languages first-college interviews fall between Monday 7 and Thursday 10 December 2026; the timetable gives most Mathematics interviews as Monday 14, Tuesday 15, Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December. A friend applying to Mathematics is working to a different calendar from yours.

What shortlisting is, according to the course page

The Modern Languages course page says candidates “will normally be invited to interview unless they display at least one of the following shortcomings”: GCSE results that are not at a sufficiently high level; predicted A-level results that suggest the candidate is unlikely to meet the conditional offer; or a school report with clear negative aspects. A candidate with one of these may still be invited if the application gives a clear justification. The Faculty’s report on the 2025-6 round, which still included a language test, listed test results in the bottom quintile as a further shortcoming; the 2026 course page lists the three above. Oxford’s central guide says that if you are not shortlisted, “that means that your application has not been successful”. What to do in that case has its own page: not being invited to an Oxbridge interview.

The Faculty’s report gives one count for the 2025-6 round, and it is the 2025-6 round’s number under the 2025-6 rules, not a forecast: 684 candidates applied for courses with Modern Languages and 641 were shortlisted, with 43 withdrawing or not invited. Our arithmetic: 641 ÷ 684 × 100 = 93.7%. For single-honours Modern Languages the course page’s own three-year average is 94% interviewed.

Is anything due before the invitation, and does it change for a joint school?

The UCAS deadline was 6pm BST on 15 October 2026. After it, the written-work deadline in Oxford’s timeline is 10 November, which can fall before the email. Oxford’s written-work page says the college considering your application will get in touch about how to submit it, “usually before the end of October”, and that if you are shortlisted your written work “may well form a springboard for discussion at your interview”, so keep a copy.

Which courses ask for it is stated course by course. Seven Oxford courses sit in the Modern Languages family, and each course page carries the same sentence on testing: “There is no pre-interview language test for Modern Languages (and Joint Schools) courses in 2026.” The Faculty’s application page names all seven. Written work differs, and the table gives each course page’s own wording (all seven pages read on 24 October 2026). The test question has its own page: what Oxford Modern Languages asks for instead of a test.

Source: the seven Oxford undergraduate course pages, read on 24 October 2026. Interviewed, Successful and Intake are three of the figures each page prints, as a three-year average for 2023-25.

The interviewed column runs from 84% for History and Modern Languages to 95% for Classics and Modern Languages and for Modern Languages and Linguistics. Those are past averages, and the page does not use them to say what will happen to any one application.

What is still in your hands before the email

Three things can be done before any invitation. The first is the personal statement: the course page says interviews “will normally comprise three parts: discussion of a text, a grammar exercise, and personal statement-related discussion”, so what you wrote about is material. The second, for the three joint schools with written work, is the piece you submitted; Oxford’s guide says “Tutors may also refer to any written work that you were asked to submit”. The third is the grammar exercise. The course page says the sentences for translation into English that featured in Section 2 of the Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT) “are indicative of the kind of sentences that may be used for the in-interview exercise”, and the Faculty’s application page lists MLAT 2025 past papers and mark schemes for Czech, French, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. You can read them on the Faculty’s how-to-apply page.

What are the 2026 Oxford Modern Languages interview dates?

Oxford’s 2026 interview timetable gives Modern Languages this row:

First college interviews will take place on Monday 7, Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 December. Decisions regarding second college interviews will be communicated to applicants by 2pm on Friday 11 December. Second college interviews will take place on Monday 14, Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December.

The timetable gives its times as UK time (GMT). Laid out on the calendar:

The same text appears on six rows: Modern Languages, Classics and Modern Languages, English and Modern Languages, History and Modern Languages, Modern Languages and Linguistics and Philosophy and Modern Languages. European and Middle Eastern Languages has a row of its own. Its first-college days are the same, but its hour is 5pm on Friday 11 December and Oxford gives its additional interviews as between Thursday 10 and Wednesday 16 December. If that is your course, follow the dates in your own invitation.

How the sources describe first-college and second-college interviews

Oxford’s interviews page says that in some subjects you “might have 'initial' interviews at your first college and then be invited to an 'additional' interview at another college after these have taken place”. The timetable’s introduction says that in some courses “there will be an initial block of pre-organised interviews which may then be followed by additional interviews”, and that where those are possible “the timetable gives the time by which you will be informed about them”. For Modern Languages that time is 2pm on Friday 11 December. The Faculty’s report on the 2025-6 round says candidates “normally receive at least two interviews from the College that shortlisted them” and that “Around 130 additional interviews were held” in a round where 641 candidates were shortlisted. Our arithmetic: 130 divided by 641 is about 0.2, about one additional interview for every five shortlisted candidates. It counts interviews, not candidates, and it describes the 2025-6 round. What a second college is for, and who is told, is set out in second and extra college interviews at Oxford.

The timetable says you “should be given at least 24 hours' notice of any additional interviews” and that candidates “may be asked to attend interviews outside of the timeframes given”. Oxford’s interviews page adds that interviews cannot be rearranged, and that if there are technical issues during an interview you will be offered another time. From 2pm on Friday 11 December to Monday 14 December is three calendar days, with the weekend of 12 and 13 December in the middle. The row gives days and one notification hour, so this page states no interview start times; those come in your invitation. For the other subjects on the same timetable, see the cross-subject Oxbridge interview dates page.

Who sends the invitation, and what should you confirm?

The email or letter usually comes from the college you applied to, or from the college you were allocated if you made an open application. Sometimes it comes from a college you did not apply to: Oxford calls this reallocation, “where applicants get moved around to make sure everyone interviewed has a similar chance of being made an offer”. The Faculty’s report counts 68 reallocated candidates in the 2025-6 round. How reallocation works, and what it does and does not signal, is on Oxford college reallocation explained.

Oxford’s FAQ says that for each interview “you’ll be sent a separate calendar invitation containing a link that will take you to the Microsoft Teams virtual interview lobby”. Do not assume that link is attached to the message telling you that you are shortlisted. If the Teams email does not appear, the FAQ’s first step is to check your junk/spam folder, then to contact the admissions office of the college sending the invitation. Oxford’s technology page puts all seven courses in tier 1, video conferencing only. The FAQ says a tier 1 interview needs a computer with a microphone, speakers and webcam, and Microsoft Teams, and that “your interviewers might share their screens to show you a document, or hold something up to the camera”. The rest of the set-up is on Oxford online interviews in December 2026.

What to confirm on the day the invitation arrives:

• Which college sent it, and how many interviews it lists. The Faculty says there is typically a separate interview for each language or subject you apply for.
• The date and time of each interview. Oxford’s timetable gives its times as UK time (GMT), so check the time zone your invitation uses.
• Where you will sit. Oxford’s interviews page suggests discussing it with your school or college when you receive the invitation, and describes somewhere with reliable access to the technology and a quiet space.
• Any adjustment you need. Oxford’s FAQ says to make sure whoever invited you knows about it promptly; see interview access arrangements.
• What to do if you are ill. Oxford’s FAQ says to contact the Tutor for Admissions at the college that invited you without delay; the college may be able to offer another date, although the short timescales mean that is not always possible.
• Any reading. Oxford’s FAQ says a passage may be emailed before the interview and that you must not research it online unless the interviewers say you may. The Modern Languages page says a short text may instead be given to read during the interview, so your invitation is the place to find out which applies.

How many interviews will you have, and for how long?

The Faculty states that all interviews take place online and last approximately 30 minutes, that there is typically a separate interview for each language or subject you are applying for, and that some of the interview may be conducted in the foreign language. Oxford’s guide says interviews are typically conducted by two tutors, and that for a joint course you should expect tutors representing each subject: “For some joint courses, interviews may be arranged separately for each subject area”.

A college can publish its own pattern inside that frame. Hertford College states that all candidates will have two interviews with Hertford tutors (a third if you apply for Beginners’ German), one for each language or subject if you apply for two, each around 30 minutes; if you apply for one language, “your second interview will be a general interview with tutors who are specialists in another language”. Oxford’s guide says “You are quite likely to have more than one interview”. With the Faculty’s wording of a separate interview for each language, that suggests more than one interview is likely, and your invitation gives the exact count.

What the three parts of the interview ask of you is covered on the Oxford Modern Languages interview page and in Oxford Modern Languages interview questions; how long interviews run across Oxford and Cambridge is on how long an Oxbridge interview is. This page stays with the calendar.

What should you do between the invitation and your first interview?

The plan below takes the week of notice both sources describe: an email on Monday 30 November 2026 for a first interview on Monday 7 December. It is a plan on the weekdays of the published timetable, not a prediction of when yours will arrive. If your interview is later in the block, count back from your own date; if your notice is shorter, do the first two rows first. For a plan that works for any Oxbridge course, see the seven-day plan after an Oxbridge interview invitation.

Between those days you need something to practise against. The hub lists the French, German and Spanish packs by subject: ten questions in each, each with prompts and a worked answer, £180 per pack, written by us and not drawn from Oxford or Cambridge interviews. The hub also lists a free German sample, which is a separate download and not part of any pack. Use them for the Thursday row, and use a person for the Friday conversation and the Saturday dry run.

What happens after the first interview block?

The next published point is 2pm on Friday 11 December 2026, the hour by which Oxford says it will communicate decisions regarding second college interviews for Modern Languages and five joint schools (5pm for European and Middle Eastern Languages, whose additional interviews Oxford gives as between Thursday 10 and Wednesday 16 December). For the other six rows, second-college interviews are given as Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 December 2026. Oxford says that if there are technical issues during an interview you will be offered another time, and that interviews cannot otherwise be rearranged.

The outcome follows on Tuesday 12 January 2027: Oxford states that shortlisted candidates for entry in 2027 will be informed via UCAS, and that colleges will follow up directly later that day. What happens if the answer is no, including how to ask a college for feedback, is covered on not being invited to an Oxbridge interview.

Frequently asked questions