Two studentships... one decision (social sciences)

Hi all,

so I'm real lucky to have this choice, but it's a tricky one. I have been given a 2+2 scholarship to Oxford (MPhil Politics) and a 1+3 to Southampton. Most people have, obviously, told me to snatch up the first, but it's not so simple. There are a few things stopping me.

1. Intensity, competitiveness of the course. Basically, I suffer from pretty bad anxiety, and in times of high stress it really gets to me. I'm not sure that Oxford will offer me the right environment for this. Secondly, it's not my sort of social circles. I'm first to go to Uni in family, etc.
2. Family. My family live close to Southampton, and it'd be great to be near to them. This is obviously not something people can advise on, but it's important to consider.
3. Free time. This might be a silly one for some people, but I like to do my own thing! At Soton I'll have the opportunity to do new things where at Oxford I just won't have time.

With those outlined; are the benefits of Oxford so huge that it outweighs all concerns? Will a PhD from Soton be so much worse than one from Oxford? Can other things be done - collaboration with industry - to cancel out the detrimental effects?

In my head, I've made my decision. The problem is, it goes against all convention and advice. I'm crowdsourcing opinion, here!

Cheers

Hi, I don't know you and I'm just a bored student resurrecting this account to procrastinate so take my advice with a pinch of salt, but I think you'll really regret it if you turn down a place at Oxford.
1. As far as socialising is concerned, I'm from Oxford and while I don't go there (more on that in a minute) many of my friends do and honestly there's a real mix of people there - of course there's a certain social stratum comprised of absolute ***** but you'll come across that in most universities and actually I'd say there were fewer of them at Oxford than at other places.
2. The university aren't great with serious mental health issues - I'm not an expert but I believe the current option if you want a leave of absence is to be rusticated, a procedure typically reserved for disciplinary purposes where you're banned from the college during your time off - but for anything less than that they're actually alright; my best friend is there atm and also suffers from anxiety, panic attacks etc and says the college have been fairly understanding. I think you're referring more to the stress of the situation making your anxiety worse than it would otherwise be (rather than whether or not they'll be nice to you) but again, if you've got medical documentation and need a deadline extended or whatever they're legally obliged to accommodate that so don't let that stop you.

Apart from that...yes the benefits outweigh the risks! I've been to Southampton from Oxford and it's not that far, I think it was an hour or two in the car - you could get down once a week, and I reckon you would have time. I know Oxford is notorious for putting pressure on their students but I've heard postgrad is much less intense. A friend of mine actually went out with a postgrad last year and he seemed to have plenty of spare time so it's not so bad. Either way, it's only temporary - I'm guessing it's a year or two, then you're stress free and you have a degree from Oxford! I don't know about your anxiety but if your family and friends are all telling you to go to Oxford then that suggests that it's not something that immediately occurs to them as a reason why you shouldn't go. I don't know you at all so this is a really generic suggestion but if there's any chance you're just trying to pre-emptively dismiss Oxford before you have the chance to crack under the pressure and fail then you can't let something like that hold you back - I know it's not as simple as "letting" anxiety prevent you from doing things and it's obviously not something you can control but it would be a shame to miss out on this unless you were 100% certain you wouldn't be able to make the most of it. You're clearly intelligent enough and deserving of this opportunity and it would be a shame to deny yourself that.

As far as how good an opportunity this is...

I'm not at Oxford because I screwed up my interview and was subsequently rejected. I'm in my second year at another top university getting a fantastic education and am really happy here. I'm doing really well in my course and am spending my year abroad at another prestigious university in France. However, I'm constantly worried that other people doing my course at Oxford are learning more than me and, more to the point, am aware that even if I come out with a first I'm still going to be overlooked in favour of someone with a 2:2 from Oxbridge. Not that there's anything wrong with Southampton - I don't know what their research output is like or their politics dept and both possibly **** all over my university - but if you were going to take somewhere other than Oxford or Cambridge and have a hope of being considered alongside people with Oxbridge degrees you'd have to at least pick one of the go-to Oxbridge reject universities (Durham, St Andrews etc) or UCL/LSE/Imperial.

If I were you, I'd take Oxford and suffer for 2 years but enjoy exponentially better job prospects afterwards. The university are actually OK with mental health etc and the students are drawn from all sections of society so it's not the red-trousered private school reunion you'd imagine it to be. I really hope you give it a chance and good luck either way.

This is not a Masters is a PhD. So it will be about 4-5 years.

An MPhil is a Master's you twit. It takes two years to complete.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/mphil-politics-political-theory

....

LOL. You are embarking on a PhD. Wherever you do it, it's going to be highly stressful and intense. And I would not assume that you would have much free time during your PhD. I suggest you check the Guardian to know what the life of a PhD is like.
If you have been offered a place at Oxford it is because they think you can handle Oxford-level workload. If you think you can handle it, I would take it. But seriously, a PhD is not for the faint-hearted! If you cannot cope with crazy workload, consider not doing the PhD! It ain't a road of roses, you know?

The reason I said 4 years was because of this: "2+2 scholarship to Oxford (MPhil Politics) and a 1+3 to Southampton". I think OP is doing a masters and then a PhD all included in a single "package".