BPhil at Oxford

BPhil2012/2013

Hi all

I recently applied for admission to the BPhil at Oxford and am wondering about the likely standard of competition. Fierce, obviously. But I'm hoping for something a little more specific. Any prospective/current/former students out there? What sort of marks do you have/did you have? Prizes and awards? Referees?

For my part, I have a B.A., Double Major in Philosophy (GPA: 6.7/7), with Class 1 Honours (92%); a number of prizes and awards; and very strong references.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Regards

Reply 1

Humberto

Hey there,

I'm also applying for the course, which makes me a prospective student. I'm wondering about this too; but my info is roughly as follows:

A Dutch B.A. with an average of 9.0/10, which is the highest of this year at my university by almost a full point. It gets equated with an A+ on most scales. One of my referees said I was without doubt among the top 5% students. That being said, I felt my writing samples were quite weak; my best samples were on non-philosophical topics and as such I didn't submit them.

I'm not sure how to judge my references: they were from doctors/professors who I all had a very close relationship with and who were very eager to write recommendation letters. I guess this makes them strong, but I didn't read them (I promised not to, to evoke more honest responses) and they are not explicitly recognized as great philosophers by Oxford, barring one.

I didn't win any awards or so, perhaps in part because there are not many (if any) opportunities for philosophy undergraduates to win them. I was invited (and I accepted) by my university to follow an Honours program though; which in The Netherlands means that you follow evening classes on courses outside of your own discipline to "broaden your horizon" and of course do some reading and writing for these extra courses.

Without making this into a complete brag-post... I'd say I have a fairly strong application for a non-UK student that is 20 years old. Then again, I'm sure there are many excellent applications and quite a few that are even stronger, especially in writing samples.

We'll see, any other feedback is appreciated by me too;

May we drink a cup of coffee (or tea, is it?) at Oxford together next year :wink:

University of Oxford

Oxford

Reply 2

BPhil2012/2013

Hi Humberto

Thanks for the feedback. Very detailed. Hopefully we'll get some more; by the way, I posted this in the Oxford forum too.

It sounds like we're in very similar positions. So, if all goes well for us, yes, I'd love to have a cup of tea (it would be tea) with you! I'm actually Australian though, so how about we make it a beer? :wink:

If you have any questions for/about me--I feel like you gave me much more information than I gave you--shoot. I'm happy to answer. Otherwise, we'll just sit back and see what others have to say.

Oh, one more thing. I'm new to this site, so I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is, but we should keep in contact. It'd be nice, for me at least, to have someone to talk to about all this. Especially when it gets close to offer time: we can compare notes, share the anxiety, etc. That, and we're going to need to find each other for that beer :smile:

Reply 3

Humberto

Original post by BPhil2012/2013

Hello Bphil (seems weird to call you that in this context :wink:

),

it seems we need to be very patient with replies just as we need to be this with our applications. I wonder though, what made you decide to apply to Oxford? Many of my teachers are very fond of Australia as a place for philosophy, especially philosophy of mind. A referee even went as far as to ask me out loud if it wouldn't be smarter to apply in Australia rather than at Oxford/Cambridge. In the end she gave her blessing, although with a very clear warning that I shouldn't fall into the trap of "English conservatism" :smile:

Secondly, did you apply to any other universities? Personally, I applied to Cambridge as well, but my preference goes to Oxford, mainly because it is a 2-year program. I'd hate to arrive in Cambridge, only to have to start on PhD/post-graduate applications the month I arrived! If all else fails I am guaranteed a post-graduate spot at my current university for a 2-year research degree in philosophy because of my grades, which is a nice back-up at least :smile:

. So, what about you?

PS. I added you to my friend list here on TSR, so feel free to leave a message when the time comes! I will do the same. Any others by the way? I'm curious as well.

Regards,
Humbert(o).

Reply 4

BPhil2012/2013

Hello again Humberto

'BPhil' is a little strange, isn't it? It was just the first thing that came to mind; I joined this site for the sole purpose of asking the question of this thread. You can call me Ben instead if you like: that's my real name. :smile:

Yes, it seems we will have to be patient. I guess there aren't many here that are applying for the BPhil. Or perhaps they don't feel comfortable disclosing their credentials. Possibly both. Or... well, whatever it may be, let's hope some others start to come forward.

Re: Oxford/the BPhil. Besides the obvious--it's Oxford, and the BPhil is one of the most prestigious Master's that there are--it was mainly the fact that it is a taught course which provides a strong foundation for teaching. My Honours consisted solely of independent research: a thesis (approx. 15000 words) worth 50% of my total mark, and three essays (approx. 5000 words) comprising the other 50%. So given that I don't intend to do my PhD in the U.S., I thought the taught aspect/teaching foundation was important. There is also the fact that wherever you happen to come from (Aus, the U.K., the U.S., whatever) going overseas for a higher degree tends, all other things being equal, to be looked upon favourably.

Re: Australia and philosophy. We do have a good reputation here, e.g., for philosophy of mind (as you note), philosophy of time, ethics (CAPPE), etc., and it is justly deserved. In addition, I/you could go straight on to a PhD (Master's is not required here if you have a good Honours), and, in my case, have this fully funded (you eventually pay it back) by the government; I would actually apply for and undoubtedly receive a scholarship (e.g. APA). However, while I am quite happy with this as a fall back, I feel, for the reasons given, that Oxford/the BPhil is, on balance, the better option. That, or else Bristol.

Re: Other unis. The only other uni I'll be applying for (in the next few days, in fact) is Bristol (there's no deadline, but I need to get my app in shortly for scholarship purposes). The reason for this is, in the first place, that it is renowned for the history and philosophy of science (HPS), which is what I plan to specialise in. Secondly, one of my referees is very well connected there, which bodes well for me as regards acceptance/scholarships. I had considered LSE and Cambridge, as both are similarly strong for HPS, but for a variety of reasons decided against them; if neither Oxford nor Bristol work out this time I'll start a PhD here in Aus (at ANU or Melbourne, most likely) and re-apply next year.

Thanks for the add. I tried adding you before but I don't think it worked (as I say, I'm new to all this, and am virtually always on a pseudo-tablet, which makes things even more difficult). It will be really good to have someone to go through the process with, however it works out for us: hopefully in our having a cup of tea together! :biggrin:

I will definitely leave you a message once I know something.

By the way, what are your main philosophical interests? Besides HPS, I'd say that mine are, roughly, epistemology generally, naturalism, Hume, Nietzsche, and Australian materialism/the identity theory of mind.

Back to bed for me now; it's 5am. :s-smilie: