dani8023

I might be able to help (current student). The Oxford History Faculty has a lot of positive qualities, but also some significant quirks. The intellectual climate is vibrant, challenging, and active. Much of these interactions surround the seminars, which are numerous and cover a staggering amount of periods and topics. The community of graduate scholars is large, and the graduate network is very active, but social groups mostly tend to cohere around subject or period groups (e.g., the Americanists have their own facility and tend to keep to themselves, there are a very large number of medievalists who stick together, etc.). It's a wonderful place to study, and the libraries and available resources are phenomenal. On a more cautionary note, however, there are a few things to consider. The approach taken by different supervisors can vary by a wide margin. Although I've yet to meet anyone in the Faculty who wasn't invested in their students, incompatible supervision styles are a real problem. Make sure you've thought about who you are studying with. Besides that, probably the thing to be most aware of is that the Faculty (and Oxford in general) operates on an unofficial model of 'creative chaos' which can be absolutely infuriating to deal with on an administrative level. I have come to learn that it generally does all work out/get done in the end, but it can be a very frustrating process. As far as I am aware, the M.Phil has no assessed exams, only essays and papers. Also a lot of your social and administrative structure will come from your college and, again, experiences here can be quite varied. If you have more specific questions, feel free to send me a private message

@boomah Not vacation as such, as actual time to do reading/research. For me, breaks have been an excellent time where the undergrads leave and I get some peace and quiet to get some work done. Generally speaking, your professors will also be in residence throughout this time. You may not have any formal classes/training etc. but you will likely meet with your supervisor during this period.

Hey! Our situations do sound remarkably similar! I even do 12th/13th c. English Legal History. (The best time period, right?) (And best of luck on your housing hunt, and I hope you can find someone with easy answers. My lucky situation with college housing unfortunately means I don't have much helpful experience.) As far my experiences here - this has been the absolute best year, and I have learned more than I thought possible in this time period. As far as the Latin goes, they give you every opportunity to learn and every teacher I've had has been amazing. To put it in perspective, I just finished an essay with a large part of my evidence based on a Latin text I translated myself. Not WELL translated, I would say, but I know enough to fumble my way through some pretty complicated stuff. I have also had some incredibly useful/entertaining training in paleography, which has been helpful. The academic community here is just unparalleled. It really is such a great experience, and the faculty here are so supportive. I feel like I am absolutely getting the professional training and experience needed to move forward in an academic career. The University provides as many learning/research opportunities as you are willing to take on. For PhD prospects: I was in too much of a state with moving and getting acclimated to a new program to meet ANY deadlines beyond the Oxford one. I have been accepted for a DPhil here - without funding, sadly. A truly minuscule amount of history DPhils were funded this year. I am looking for alternate funding currently but we'll see. That being said, if I choose to re-apply for PhD programs next year, I feel highly confident in both my competitiveness for funding at other universities, and in the quality of referee letters I would receive from my professors here. I would love to stay here, but funding for international students is so scarce that I think my only realistic chance at funding would involve some sort of Hunger Games-esque. SUMMARY: I do not regret coming for one single instant, and if at all possible I will stay for the next three years. But, barring that, I feel that this course has fully prepared me for continuing my education elsewhere and allowed me the opportunity to make useful professional connections with some very important people in my field.

I'm certainly no expert, but I think it can vary depending on in which faculty you are. Rumors in the history faculty say that if you have a good working relationship with your supervisor you might have some leeway. But that is far from official, and generally depends on already being at Oxford. The best thing to do would be to contact someone in your specific faculty. If you are not comfortable talking with your supervisor, speak with admissions. They will be able to give you a concrete answer either way.

Congrats on your offer, jillcicle! I moved from the US to Oxford to start my master's last year, and I have loved every minute of it. The university is such a great place (although the town itself really wasn't what I expected!) I second everything hippyscientist has said. This website has a lot of really helpful information for international students in the UK generally about life, moving, etc. There are a lot of international students at the University, so you will be in good company and have a lot of help once you get here to get everything figured out. I found that my MCR had a lot of resources for me, so hopefully your college will as well. It might be worth getting in touch with someone from your college admin team as well to see if they have any suggestions. People generally seem to try to be very helpful. That is very unfortunate that you didn't receive college housing. That does make life considerably more difficult. I was able to secure college housing in the city center so I don't have any experience with your particular situation, but I understand that the large rental search engines (gumtree, etc) tend to work fairly well for finding accommodation. I think the University Accommodations Office also publishes some sort of alternate housing guide. As far as renting sight unseen... again, talk to someone from your college and see if they have any recommendations. If they have already notified you that you want receive housing, then they must have very limited facilities, and should (presumably) by very used to assisting students find housing elsewhere. I did find that - compared at least with my area of the US - everything is very very expensive here, housing included. Bring lots of pictures and things from home for the inevitable home-sickness (your third or fourth week in a new country is usually the most difficult, and things tend to improve after that). Most food things are accessible somewhere, but it might be worth thinking about what snacks and things you really love that they might not have over here. It can really make a difference when you're under a lot of stress. A month or so before I went over my MCR started a Graduate Freshers facebook page so that everyone could communicate and ask questions. Again, this will depend on your college. Things can vary quite widely depending on which college you are at. Over here, we are actually only juuuust about to start our third term (Trinity) so everything is geared primarily towards finishing out the year. In July, after term has ended, people should become much more available to answer questions, help you figure things out, get ready for new students, etc. Let me know if you have any more specific questions, I'm happy to help! Good luck!

I have problems with the exact same thing. Hamster-wheel brain syndrome! Can't stop thinking! This may not work for you, but I've had success (even more so than with reading books) with audio books. I turn it down really low, put one earbud in, and that gives my brain something to focus on without requiring too much investment in staying awake. It's gotten to the point where I pretty much never go to bed without it.

Sounds like several people have experience studying in the UK. Any big tips/things to watch out for? I am headed there for my MA in a few months. Just submitted my visa application (yay!). Despite all of the inevitable culture shock, part of me thinks that the hardest part about this move is going to be the weather... I am from a desert! I hate rain! Oh well. I will probably end up living in a library anyway.

Thank you so much for everyone's advice! This is all really helping my define what my priorities should be. dw3000 and napolean87 - congratulations and commiserations on this difficult decision! I've confirmed my initial place already, and reached out to a few of the current students in the program. Haven't gotten the nerve to email my potential advisor. And I don't have my college placement, so my final expense amount is still up in the air. Yes, I am American (and school is so, so, tragically expensive). I think I'd have better chances of funding at a US school, but it wouldn't be Oxford. Telkanru - thank you so much for your advice, I really appreciate your experience in this area. I know German and Italian (beginning - I studied abroad there) so far, and have worked through beginning Latin on my own (without a formal course). My undergrad university is small and their entire Classics program - including all Latin classes - was discontinued during my Freshman year, so I never had that opportunity. One of my LOR writers was my German/Linguistics professor, and I'm sure that helped somewhat. I'm trying to convince my linguistics professor to help me with an unofficial Latin directed study over the summer. I'm hoping that that, along with the pre-sessional Latin course that Oxford offers, will be enough.

eqv and L13 - crossing my fingers for you two! I'd love to connect with other students in the program prior to its start, if I end up going. Eqv - my undergrad GPA was 3.97, not sure what other stats would be helpful? telkanru - I think that's what I'm most concerned about. Jumping too quickly into mountain of debt without a hope of making it pay off for my doctorate. I know that at the very least I would come out with better languages (I would have the opportunity to learn latin) and a solid writing sample. Do you have any specific advice for making the most of the program? I keep trying to keep a level, rational, head about this decision and keep getting overruled by the little 'but OXFORD' voice in my head...

Last week I received the astounding news that I was accepted into the Medieval History MSt at Oxford. Since this is my only admit, I'm trying to stop obsessing until I hear about funding. I've been trying to weigh the exorbitant cost versus the perceived prestige of the degree. Help me distract myself! Is anyone else planning on Oxford, or has previously studied there? Is the degree and experience worth the high cost? I would love to hear from other people in the same boat as me!

I did a senior thesis. However, since I graduated from my undergraduate program in 2012 I have been taking grad-level courses at my University in my spare time. My writing and methodology have vastly improved since my senior thesis was written. I have considered re-writing either that paper or another, but I don't think I would be happy with the result. Looking at them now, I see enough structural issues I'm not happy with that if I started revising, I would rewrite the whole thing anyway. I feel like a fresh start with a new topic would be more productive and result in a better product. So... I guess a revision might be faster, but it would probably be poorer quality. This may just be me being a perfectionist, but hey, that's what grad school is for, right?

Hello all, I thought about posting this in the applications section, but this seemed more appropiate as it is more a matter of history than writing. I am preparing to apply to Master's programs in history (Fall 2015 entrance). Traditional wisdom states that you should submit an already written piece of writing for your writing sample. However, I'm not sure what I have is appropriate for submission. Here's the situation: The paper that I consider to be the best example of my writing and research skills is not a research paper, but a bibliographic review. Although it does have a thesis and I make an argument, its primary purpose is historiographical inquiry into a specific subject. I am worried that this would not be a good paper to submit because it deals ONLY with secondary sources. I feel that it shows that I have good writing and argumentation skills, but that the lack of primary sources makes it less optimal for submission. While I do have other papers that do include primary source research, they were written some time ago and my writing and analysis have matured a lot since then. My two options at this point are to submit the bibliographic review, or to write an entirely new research paper. Does anyone have any insight into whether or not my concerns are valid?