Good universities for Medieval History/Studies Masters?

Original post by theopyrus

Hi everyone,

I wrote this very late but reading the older post has helped me.

First a little bit about me: I am from Latin America (Mexico) and loved Medieval Studies since childhood. Unfortunately this kind of studies is not sufficiently encouraged in my country (save few specialists in Spanish language), so I enrolled in Classics, which seemed to mean appropriate background for my real goal.

As I was finishing my undergraduate degree, Idecided to apply for Medieval Studies at University College London and Oxford (my ultimate goal is a D. Phil). A long shot (I thought), but worth to try. Two weeks ago I received the acceptance letter from UCL and two days ago from Oxford. That day I didn’t care about it, yesterday I went very nervous and today... well, I realized the offer was there. I felt (and feel still) intimidated. I asked myself if I may be worth of it. But I guess there was something good about my application. I will accept Oxford's offer.

Anyway, I have two concerns: the first is about economic matters, and the second is about academy itself. I would not like to discuss here about the economy, which brings to the academy. My interests lie on the Twelfth Century and Medieval Latin historiography. I am especially fascinated with theinteractions between different parts of Europe and Latin historiography and hagiography as a subject of study (hence my preference for Medieval Studies vs. Medieval history). Did someone try enrolling in other languages (Old Engish, Old Norse, Celic etc)? Does someone know how difficult is to follow towards the D. Phil. after the M. St. is completed? Is there any advice for the Medieval Studies Master?

P.D. Sorry for any mistakes but I am new at the forum and my computer keeps changing me words and eliminating spaces!

Wow, so many medievalists coming out of the woodwork...... Welcome!

I know a few people on the Medieval Studies in Oxford. Twelfth century historiography and hagiography should be well covered, there's a lot of staff around with interests in those areas, as well as an optional course on the 12th century renaissance (don't know any details, other than it was on Friday afternoon this year, which caused lots of complaints!). Who did you get allocated as a supervisor?

In terms of other languages, I think it will depend on your pre-existing knowledge of Latin. If it's not great, or non-existent, lots of time will be needed for that, so I imagine a second medieval language would be very hard to fit in (not impossible though). One guy taking the studies course I know has excellent Latin coming into the course, and took Old English and Modern German without huge difficulty (I should say, without huge difficulty is relative; he doesn't appear to be in more difficulty or more stressed than any of the rest of the master's students!). Best thing to do is probably drop your supervisor an e-mail with your interests, current language skills and what you'd like to work on, though you will have to fill out a training form before term starts anyway, essentially signing up for various classes.

Progress to the DPhil isn't hard if you're a hard worker (and you got in to Oxford so you must be). Knowing the department, having an internal reference(s) and being able to have your potential supervisor look over your DPhil application will be advantages when it comes to progressing (you're also exempted from the application fee!).

As for general of whether you are up for the course, you are! They don't accept people if they think they aren't worthy of a place. Masters are hard and there will be feelings of guilt, incompetence and despair at times, but you've got a place because a lot of very intelligent people have looked very closely at your application and concluded you have what it takes. Good luck!

Reply 42

Original post by ellie.rew

Wow, so many medievalists coming out of the woodwork...... Welcome!

I know a few people on the Medieval Studies in Oxford. Twelfth century historiography and hagiography should be well covered, there's a lot of staff around with interests in those areas, as well as an optional course on the 12th century renaissance (don't know any details, other than it was on Friday afternoon this year, which caused lots of complaints!). Who did you get allocated as a supervisor?

In terms of other languages, I think it will depend on your pre-existing knowledge of Latin. If it's not great, or non-existent, lots of time will be needed for that, so I imagine a second medieval language would be very hard to fit in (not impossible though). One guy taking the studies course I know has excellent Latin coming into the course, and took Old English and Modern German without huge difficulty (I should say, without huge difficulty is relative; he doesn't appear to be in more difficulty or more stressed than any of the rest of the master's students!). Best thing to do is probably drop your supervisor an e-mail with your interests, current language skills and what you'd like to work on, though you will have to fill out a training form before term starts anyway, essentially signing up for various classes.

Progress to the DPhil isn't hard if you're a hard worker (and you got in to Oxford so you must be). Knowing the department, having an internal reference(s) and being able to have your potential supervisor look over your DPhil application will be advantages when it comes to progressing (you're also exempted from the application fee!).

As for general of whether you are up for the course, you are! They don't accept people if they think they aren't worthy of a place. Masters are hard and there will be feelings of guilt, incompetence and despair at times, but you've got a place because a lot of very intelligent people have looked very closely at your application and concluded you have what it takes. Good luck!

Thank youEllie.rew for everything. For my main interests there are a lot of people whomI can work with, both from history department and from other areas. I have acouple of other projects but I am eager to start classes (although there isstill much to do before) in order to materialize my ideas. As for thesupervisor, I was assigned to Dr. Skoda (but have not contacted her yet).
In terms oflanguage, I have a decent level in Latin. Would like to best it though! Butlearning other languages seems more appealing right now. I took some courses inmodern German: my speaking abilities are far from good but I can read academicpapers and some literary (with a good dictionary of course). For my interests itseems more suitable to learn a Medieval Language (Old English and Old Norse areparticularly attractive), but I guess it depends in particular academic aims.
Thank youfor cheering me up. Those were soothing words. I know it is very hard toreceive and offer and still need to work many things out.

Reply 43

Original post by theopyrus

Thank youEllie.rew for everything. For my main interests there are a lot of people whomI can work with, both from history department and from other areas. I have acouple of other projects but I am eager to start classes (although there isstill much to do before) in order to materialize my ideas. As for thesupervisor, I was assigned to Dr. Skoda (but have not contacted her yet).
In terms oflanguage, I have a decent level in Latin. Would like to best it though! Butlearning other languages seems more appealing right now. I took some courses inmodern German: my speaking abilities are far from good but I can read academicpapers and some literary (with a good dictionary of course). For my interests itseems more suitable to learn a Medieval Language (Old English and Old Norse areparticularly attractive), but I guess it depends in particular academic aims.
Thank youfor cheering me up. Those were soothing words. I know it is very hard toreceive and offer and still need to work many things out.

It sounds like you're more than capable for the course and I can't imagine much trouble doing Old Norse or English if you've already got good Latin and a basic grasp of German. I havn't had much contact with Hannah Skoda, but the general impression I get is that she's lovely and really helpful, so you're in good hands! I know that Oxford is daunting, but it'll be great, trust me!

Reply 44

Original post by ellie.rew

It sounds like you're more than capable for the course and I can't imagine much trouble doing Old Norse or English if you've already got good Latin and a basic grasp of German. I havn't had much contact with Hannah Skoda, but the general impression I get is that she's lovely and really helpful, so you're in good hands! I know that Oxford is daunting, but it'll be great, trust me!

Hope you are right. And yes, Dr. Skoda seems very nice. I am writing her in the next few days. By the way, I need to ask you a silly question. I read about the colleges at Oxford with attention and got to know the basics; I looked mainly at Oxford website, and some particular colleges; I also read a chapter of a book about the history of the universities, but it stops by the 14^th century, so I am outdated for some centuries. Despite that, I have not yet fully understood how exactly the collegiate system works. I have never lived something similar to it. Can you give some information about it, explain it?

Reply 45

ZakV

8

Original post by theopyrus

Hope you are right. And yes, Dr. Skoda seems very nice. I am writing her in the next few days. By the way, I need to ask you a silly question. I read about the colleges at Oxford with attention and got to know the basics; I looked mainly at Oxford website, and some particular colleges; I also read a chapter of a book about the history of the universities, but it stops by the 14^th century, so I am outdated for some centuries. Despite that, I have not yet fully understood how exactly the collegiate system works. I have never lived something similar to it. Can you give some information about it, explain it?

I refer you to the following webpages: http://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/the_collegiate_system/index.html and our own http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/how_to_choose_an_oxford_college

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 46

QHF

11

Original post by ellie.rew

Wow, so many medievalists coming out of the woodwork...... Welcome!

Maybe we should have a thread for postgraduate medievalists?

Reply 47

Original post by QHF

Maybe we should have a thread for postgraduate medievalists?

Quite possibly, as there seem to be a bunch over on the Oxford postgrad thread too. So there certainly seems to be an audience in any case.

Reply 48

smithka164

Could this be considered a thread for that? I created a post/thread to find other medievalists just for Uni Bristol but had no luck. Most of the responses from this thread seem mainly about Oxford's program anyway.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 49

Original post by ZakV

I refer you to the following webpages: http://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/the_collegiate_system/index.html and our own http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/how_to_choose_an_oxford_college

Thank you for the references. I knew the Oxford site, but I was looking for a more intimate opinion.

Reply 50

Original post by smithka164

Could this be considered a thread for that? I created a post/thread to find other medievalists just for Uni Bristol but had no luck. Most of the responses from this thread seem mainly about Oxford's program anyway.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I disagree, there has been people asking for York University’s programme as well as Bristol’s and St. Andrew’s. I have monopolized the latest responses for Oxford’s programme but the interest is there. However, I do not know if particular threads would achieve enough responses on their own, but a general one may work.

Reply 51