How's History at Oxford?

[ringo]

I want to do a MPhil degree at Oxford, and am curious about how it's like. 

Any info would be useful (community, profs, exams, researches, etc.)

 

 

Thanks!

[AP]

I would suggest contacting both current students and alumni to receive a well-informed response. 

[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