Oxford/Cambridge M.Phil in IR -- What does it take?

[Ethanf]

Does anyone have any experience with M.Phils in PoliSci/IR at Oxford and/or Cambridge? I'm an American wondering how competitive I will be for admission. I know they don't only accept Rhodes/Gates scholars, but is basically everyone a rockstar student? Thanks for your help in advance. 

[e2e4]

19 minutes ago, Ethanf said:

Does anyone have any experience with M.Phils in PoliSci/IR at Oxford and/or Cambridge? I'm an American wondering how competitive I will be for admission. I know they don't only accept Rhodes/Gates scholars, but is basically everyone a rockstar student? Thanks for your help in advance. 

Just takes money & often a posh pedigree. Westminster dog show of programs. Some of the dullest minds I've met in person, but spotless on paper.

[Ethanf]

1 minute ago, e2e4 said:

Just takes money & often a posh pedigree. Westminster dog show of programs. Some of the dullest minds I've met in person, but spotless on paper.

Really interesting. I have a B.A. from an Ivy and will be self-funded. Does that line up with what you've seen? 

 

 Are the classes not quite rigorous? How do they dull people complete the program? 

[Theory007]

28 minutes ago, Ethanf said:

Does anyone have any experience with M.Phils in PoliSci/IR at Oxford and/or Cambridge? I'm an American wondering how competitive I will be for admission. I know they don't only accept Rhodes/Gates scholars, but is basically everyone a rockstar student? Thanks for your help in advance. 

And, as far as I have heard, Oxford/Cambridge are weak in methods training compared to to basically any school in the US top-25. LSE is great though. But that is something to consider before you aim at schools in the UK

[e2e4]

3 minutes ago, Ethanf said:

Really interesting. I have a B.A. from an Ivy and will be self-funded. Does that line up with what you've seen? 

 

 Are the classes not quite rigorous? How do they dull people complete the program? 

Depends on Ivy, tbh, but if you got honors on your B.A. thesis and got a 3.7+ GPA you're well in the running. I don't know what it is with brits but the more fancy stickers you have in terms of awards and honours you have on file, the better. I do not know much about your interests, so there may be other international schools that you might consider, especially LSE as @Theory007 suggests, but really depends what you want out of it & the type of training you're after. 

Lots of heterogeneity among centres; some are stellar, others, eh.. make contact with profs and prog. well in advance. Programmes are what you make of them & really varies.

[billk]

I studied abroad at Oxford as a direct enroll student (granted not at the graduate level), but I completely agree with everything that's been said. Oxbridge is the vanilla ice cream of political science. Not engaging, super boring, and unnecessarily laborious. I got my Master's at LSE and loved it. Much more stimulating and a much, much stronger focus on methods that will make you a better researcher/thinker and more competitive on the job market.

Edited February 17, 2020 by billk

[Ethanf]

3 minutes ago, billk said:

I studied abroad as a direct enroll student (granted not at the graduate level), but I completely agree with everything that's been said. Oxbridge is the vanilla ice cream of political science. Not engaging, super boring, and unnecessarily laborious. I got my Master's at LSE and loved it. Much more stimulating and a much, much stronger focus on methods that will make you a better researcher/thinker and more competitive on the job market.

Thanks for the great info. I'm interested in cybersecurity policy -- Oxford has great stuff going on for the field, so I wonder if LSE's edge in methods training would outweigh Oxford's advantage in the field in general. 

[billk]

10 hours ago, Ethanf said:

Thanks for the great info. I'm interested in cybersecurity policy -- Oxford has great stuff going on for the field, so I wonder if LSE's edge in methods training would outweigh Oxford's advantage in the field in general. 

I think it depends on your career goals. If you want to go into academia, then it's methods, methods, methods. It you want to go into policy, then it probably depends on the relative strength of the program and, importantly, it's engagement with policy and practice. Again, I think LSE trounces Oxbridge when it comes to policy. But, people in the private sector might be dazzled by the fancy reputations of Oxbridge.

[elephantcastle]

I was in an MPhil program in Politics/IR at Oxbridge. Methods training has been improving since the department has recruited quant-focused people onto its faculty, so I wouldn't dismiss these programs as methodologically-weak. The reputation and competitiveness of the degree vary by the program. Graduates have gone on to top American PhD programs. Whether or not it's worth it is a nuanced question. This is all I am comfortable with saying publicly, DM me if you want specific advice. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by elephantcastle

[uncle_socks]

18 hours ago, elephantcastle said:

I was in an MPhil program in Politics/IR at Oxbridge. Methods training has been improving since the department has recruited quant-focused people onto its faculty, so I wouldn't dismiss these programs as methodologically-weak. The reputation and competitiveness of the degree vary by the program. Graduates have gone on to top American PhD programs. Whether or not it's worth it is a nuanced question. This is all I am comfortable with saying publicly, DM me if you want specific advice. 

I have no skin in this game, but just wondering if you can talk a little publicly about the methods curriculum there. I've always thought of Oxbridge to be methodologically years behind the US, and I'd love to update this prior. 

[elephantcastle]

If you take a look at the more recent hires at Oxford (especially CP) and what they specialize in/where they received their training/their prior institutions, the US/UK dichotomy in terms of methods is much more blurred now; academics move around. There are also new centers dedicated to formal/causal/etc. and a lot of funding is poured into that area. It's true that one would probably need to take more initiative to seek out methods training and there tends to be a reputation lag, but the quality of such training is respectable. Oxbridge has also traditionally been very strong in political theory/philosophy, so it also depends on the subfield. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 2/17/2020 at 3:22 PM, Ethanf said:

Does anyone have any experience with M.Phils in PoliSci/IR at Oxford and/or Cambridge? I'm an American wondering how competitive I will be for admission. I know they don't only accept Rhodes/Gates scholars, but is basically everyone a rockstar student? Thanks for your help in advance. 

Actually since you are interested in Cyber Security and I know someone who went to Oxford for Politics Masters focused in Cyber Security, I thought I would give you 2 cents.

Specific to that topic in general... UK is a super interesting place to look into it since they have interesting policy differences and approaches than the US but still with as similar to the US state of mind as it comes to legalities. My friend found it super helpful to have a unique perspective and was able to do groundbreaking research that launched her to an awesome PhD program. 

Edited April 17, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad