At which Oxford college did J.R.R. Tolkien study as an undergraduate?

J.R.R. Tolkien studied as an undergraduate at Exeter College, Oxford.

He entered Exeter in 1911 and initially studied Classics. He later changed direction toward English Language and Literature, graduating with first-class honours in 1915. His university education deepened the linguistic and literary interests that became central to both his scholarship and fiction.

Tolkien’s academic work focused especially on old languages and medieval texts. His professional career eventually brought him back to Oxford, where he taught at several colleges and became one of the university’s best-known literary figures.

Exeter College is sometimes confused with Pembroke College, where Tolkien later held an academic fellowship and wrote much of The Hobbit and the early part of The Lord of the Rings. Exeter was his undergraduate college; Pembroke was an important later workplace.