Which university did J.R.R. Tolkien attend as an undergraduate before his Oxford career?

J.R.R. Tolkien attended the University of Oxford as an undergraduate before beginning his Oxford academic career.

Tolkien studied at Exeter College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. He initially focused on Classics, then changed to the study of English language and literature. He completed his degree in 1915, shortly before serving in the First World War.

His university studies gave him a foundation in Old English, Middle English, Welsh, and other languages and literatures that later informed both his scholarship and his invented languages. Tolkien returned to Oxford as a teacher and professor after holding an academic position at the University of Leeds.

The wording can cause confusion because Oxford was both his university and the institution where he later held chairs. His undergraduate college was Exeter College, while his later professorship was associated with Merton College.