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

J.R.R. Tolkien studied as an undergraduate at the University of Oxford.

He entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1911 and initially studied Classics. He later changed his course to English Language and Literature, completing his degree after his military service during World War I. His Oxford education gave him a rigorous foundation in historical languages, medieval texts, and philology.

Tolkien returned to Oxford as an academic after holding posts at the University of Leeds. He became a professor of Anglo-Saxon and later a professor of English Language and Literature. Oxford therefore shaped both his formal education and much of his professional life.

The university is sometimes confused with Cambridge because Tolkien’s friend and fellow writer C.S. Lewis taught at Cambridge later in life. Tolkien’s academic career, however, was strongly centered on Oxford. His house at 20 Northmoor Road and later homes became associated with the city’s literary history.