Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Applying to English Masters in Oxbridge

Scroll to see replies

Reply 20

ChemistBoy

Pernell Whitaker

This, I think, is a big part of what Oxford is all about. It's not necessarily a negative thing.

Can't quite see how that can work with the individual tuition system at the place though.

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Reply 21

shady lane

That's my problem with it. I learn more from my peers in general, but one-on-one tuition at Oxford gave me absolutely no chance to get that experience.

Reply 22

Alan Smithee

shady lane

That's my problem with it. I learn more from my peers in general, but one-on-one tuition at Oxford gave me absolutely no chance to get that experience.

It's such a long-lasting criticism of Oxford tbh.

Even some of the great figures of yore disliked Oxford for it's teaching methods. In particular I refer to Dr. Johnson and Thomas More. And I'm sure they weren't the only ones.

Reply 23

hobnob

ChemistBoy

Can't quite see how that can work with the individual tuition system at the place though.

You don't always have single tutorials, though, and in some cases that's quite deliberate. In a tutorial group of two or three people, it's entirely possible to be "taught" by your fellow students as well as by your tutor.

Reply 24

shady lane

I had one tutorial with myself and another student, the rest were alone. I think 8-10 students is actually the perfect size.

Reply 25

the_alba

Pernell Whitaker

This, I think, is a big part of what Oxford is all about. It's not necessarily a negative thing.

I meant that as a positive thing, obviously. The negative thing was that the tutors were ****.

Reply 26

ba_mhaith_liom

Thanks again for being so forthcoming with the information.

Teabag and the alba, your experiences of the MSt differed so widely. Can I just ask which MSt period you were in, Teabag? Your study there seems to have been really challenging, structured and purposeful. Elements I would hope to see in the Master's degree I end up in, but which seem to have been missing for the alba.

From what both of you have said, it seems like Oxford is a wonderful place for scholarship in many different areas of English literature, but not twentieth century. I think this is exemplified by the numbers remaining in Oxford for DPhils after your respective Master's courses.

I think that I will e-mail someone in the faculty, the MSt convenor if they're listed, and put my research interests before them. If there is not a supervisor quite suited to me, well, I may concede that Oxford's MSt just isn't for me.

Reply 27

the_alba

shady lane

I had one tutorial with myself and another student, the rest were alone. I think 8-10 students is actually the perfect size.

Whatever the downsides of one-on-one tutorials are, the problem with the MSt we're talking about here is that the class groups are ridiculously large. I'd rather have one-on-one teaching (provided it was with a half-decent tutor) than have to sit in a room full of 30 people, like an oversubscribed primary school class, half of whom are not even on the same course as you.

Reply 28

hobnob

shady lane

I had one tutorial with myself and another student, the rest were alone. I think 8-10 students is actually the perfect size.

Yes, but you were a visiting student who had chosen a fairly specific topic, right? And 8-10 students is a class, not a tutorial.

Reply 29

shady lane

Yeah, that's what I mean; I prefer a class to a tutorial. Point being, the tutorial system may or may not be the best for everyone, yet it's the biggest selling point for Oxbridge (besides "the prestige").

the_alba, that's shocking that you had classes with 30 people! You don't mean lectures, do you?

Reply 30

hobnob

shady lane

Well, I suppose you can never please everybody, no matter what system you have. :dontknow:

For me, the tutorial system worked fine, and classes were often a bit disappointing because some people just wouldn't speak up and take part in discussions. I'd say the tutorial system is a selling point because it's unusual, not because it's inherently better than other forms of teaching, but a lot of people just don't seem to realise that...

Reply 31

Teabag

I should make clear for anyone reading this thread who might be confused that one-to-one tutorials don't happen during most of the Master's course: the teaching is done in big groups for the compulsory courses and small groups for the elective classes. Probably the only one-to-one time you'll have is when you're writing your final dissertation.

Alba I would strongly suggest that you send in the letter you talked about earlier and have it signed by as many people as possible as nothing will change in the future if you don't complain about it. 20th century isn't my period and all I know about the course is that the numbers of people on it have increased a lot in recent years. There is one person at my college who's just finished the 1900-present day MSt and is planning to carry on to the DPhil, but perhaps he isn't representative. My uninformed impression about the 20th century at Oxford is that it has strengths in certain areas (Modernist writers, PoCo, biography, Ireland, America) but doesn't cater well for a number of other topics.

ba_mhaith, I wouldn't have said the course was particularly brilliantly 'structured' but it was challenging, yes. If I were you I would start with

http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/graduate/MSTstrands/1900Present.htm

and then read the course specifications if you haven't already done so, look at the tutors and find out a bit about their research interests, maybe come on an open day if there is one.

Reply 32

ChemistBoy

hobnob

Small tutorial classes are not exactly unique to Oxford though, are they? I used to have tutorials with 2 or 3 people at St Andrews.

Reply 33

shady lane

KCL has them as well. But for some reason people don't seem to know this!

Reply 34

hobnob

ChemistBoy

Small tutorial classes are not exactly unique to Oxford though, are they? I used to have tutorials with 2 or 3 people at St Andrews.

I didn't claim they were unique, did I?

Reply 35

ChemistBoy

hobnob

I didn't claim they were unique, did I?

I was responding to a more general point that people make about the unique educational environment of Oxford (and Cambridge). Pernell Whitaker made a comment previously about being challenged by fellow students that implied this was somehow unique to Oxford, however, the only thing I can see that is unique about Oxbridge is the one-on-one tutorial system.

Reply 36

apotoftea

As a fellow "looking at MA applications" student - this thread is rather eye-opening (not that I'd be applying to Oxbridge anyway)

Can I ask a question though regarding tutorials? Are we talking actual one-on-one teaching/going through readings etc or just general read & provide crit for an essay & then feedback afterwards? Or is it a bit of both?