Students in Fellows' Garden - Photo: © John Cairns - www.johncairns.co.uk

Life at Merton: Social life

Each college within the University has its own community and wide range of events, occasions, teams, clubs and societies – and Merton is no exception.

Undergraduate social life

The Junior Common Room (JCR), the undergraduate student body of Merton, has a budget each year with which to run a whole range of events for the student body. These include:

  • Themed bar nights
  • Acoustic nights
  • Karaoke nights
  • The Annual JCR Sports Day
  • Trips to clubs, bars, cinemas, ice rinks etc in town
  • Fortnightly free parties in college known as 'bops'
Graduate social life

Graduate social life in College is centred on the Middle Common Room (MCR), which is accommodated in a medieval Hall in Front Quadrangle.

The MCR is run by elected graduate officers who are responsible for organising social events and for the provision of newspapers, journals, television and video, and snacks and refreshments. Graduates are also members of the Junior Common Room (JCR) and can participate in undergraduate events such as the regular Bops at the Pavilion and the Arts Festival. Graduates play their part in the College's sporting, dramatic and musical life.

There is also the University of Oxford Newcomers' Club, an organisation whose aim is to help the newly-arrived wives, husbands or partners of visiting scholars, graduate students and newly appointed academic members of the University to settle in and to give them the opportunity to meet people in Oxford

Clubs and societies

There is a huge range of college clubs and societies, including:

Read more about student life at Oxford University