RookIV

Should be due this week.

Yes, most Oxford grads find work at non-US schools, the majority in the UK I would say. This is partly because the majority of Oxford students are not from the US, but it is certainly true that the degrees obtained in the US vs. UK are very different. The vast majority of Oxford grad students are unfunded. I personally find this deeply unsettling and I would not recommend taking out loans to complete a degree here. But, as you can imagine, many of my peers disagree.

For what it's worth, someone on the admissions committee here in Oxford (which does not accept GRE scores) used to be on the admissions committee at Rutgers and he said that Rutgers took GRE scores very seriously and that they were the deciding factor for may applicants. Edit: Oh yea, and he said that they didn't even bother reading applications whose GRE scores didn't meet their cutoffs. Maybe they do it differently now though, it's hard to say. I doubt it though since admissions have only become more competitive and the number of applications continues to increase every year.

Humboldt University of Berlin perhaps?

Russell makes this same point in his History of Western Philosophy. Anthony Kenny responded by saying "Russell spent several hundred pages trying to prove that 2+2=4, a fact he has believed his whole life." I can understand why people find modern or contemporary philosophers overrated, But I find it troubling how many important philosophers have been mentioned. The idea that Plato or Aristotle are overrated is, frankly, a little preposterous. These guys are responsible for the entire structure of Western history until fairly recently. Any person who can alter the course of history merely with a pen and paper deserves to be read with the utmost care and precision. We forget easily that at the time of Aquinas, Descartes, Newton, Kant, Hegel, etc. there were plenty of other forgotten philosophers, probably more than there are now, but we remember these names because they saw something that made a profound impact on human history. "I disagree with so and so" should not translate into "So and So is overrated" or "I hate so and so." Aristotle is a fantastic example. Here is a guy who would devote chapters and chapters at the beginning of his most important works to surveying the great minds before him. He did this so that he might extract the grains of truth that lay hidden in their cryptic statements. The intellect works as if governed by the truth, Aristotle thought. If someone lays out a strong argument and firmly believes it, there is likely something true contained there, and it can educate us. Consider Parmenides. Parmenides thought he disproved the existence of motion. Obviously, he did not, but his argument could not be refuted for a couple hundred years precisely because it pointed out so many true things. Most of the views of the eminent philosophers are like Parmenides. The conclusions you may disagree with, or may be manifestly false, but to carry that over into the statement that the philosopher is "overrated?" To the poster who said Thales, Thales apparently invented geometry and was considered by the Greeks to be the first philosopher. In other words, we owe the very existence of our discipline and perhaps the whole existence of Western science to Thales! Have you ever thought to wonder why he said that all things are water? Or why he would express his opinions in this way?

Also, responders to this thread may find David Mamet's play Oleanna worth a read.

How rewarding the experience is depends on 1) who your supervisor is, 2) how well you are able to manage your work. There is so much going on at Oxford. More classes/lectures/seminars that will interest you than you could ever hope to attend. You are free to attend whatever you want, but you must leave yourself sufficient to time produce high quality research material. Standards in general are quite high. Some supervisors are great and very helpful, some are not. Only come to Oxford if you are comfortable with the tutorial system and what it entails (or if you merely want to use is as a springboard to a phd, which many students do). Housing is ridiculously expensive here. I feel very bad for the local residents. Housing options depend on which college you attend. Some are better and more plentiful than others. St. John's College, e.g., is the richest college and heavily subsidizes housing, so you would be well off to live at St. John's. Many of the smaller colleges cannot offer subsidies, and some can't even offer housing and students have to apply through the University or simply find their own place. I would say the majority of first year graduate students in philosophy have housing either through a college or the university, but that is only based on who I have met. I live in my college in a nice quiet flat. I am happy with it, but it is probably at 60% more than what a paid in Berkeley, and I get a lot less for my money frankly. Money is a big issue here. Many of the department's best students are unfunded. As for the town itself, it really depends on the personality. Many people love Oxford (the town), many people don't. Lot's of pubs here. It's basically a university town that exploded in growth and population (and traffic). So there is much much more to do here than in Cambridge, but you pay for it with loads of cars, noise, and stupid chain stores/restaurants. Your college placement doesn't make a difference academically speaking, just socially and financially speaking.

I'm at Oxford. but can't compare it to St. Andrews because I have never been there. I'm not really sure what you're asking for though... I will say that despite its reputation, it is much easier to be accepted into Oxford than to other top ranked programs because the faculty at Oxford know that many of their top choices will be admitted to American schools as well and American schools offer much much more funding than Oxford can. Really, the funding situation at Oxford is quite terrible, and I think that in the long run it is going to hurt the department because they will not be able to continue to attract the best students without offering them funding. Oxford is very different than any US program. Much more independent. Your experience is really what you make of it. Insanely expensive to live here.

I'm at Oxford. I would be happy to answer any questions about the philosophy department here.