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MPhil International Relations at Cambridge

There seem to be quite a few MPhil IR people here on the message board so maybe having a thread to talk about the course could be quite nice. :smile:

I am also very interested in hearing opinions from people who have survived the course. Which modules would you recommend? Which professors are nice? Is there any way to limit the workload? :rolleyes:

If you want to remain anonymus you could also send me a message and I would post your answer here. :wink:

All advice (or gossip, of course) is appreciated!

About myself: Conditional Offer 1st :frown:

, Track 1B , was allocated to Robinson College :smile:

, currently finishing my Politics undergrad degree at a British uni.

Now join the thread and mingle! :wink:

Reply 1

Sunflower52

Hi, everyone. This is a great thread - i get the feeling there are a lot of us on this forum. I also have a conditional offer: 3.79 GPA :frown:

But I think I'll make it - it's fair. I'll be at Jesus College. I'm finishing a BA in International Relations in the US. I'd also be interested to hear from the "survivors" - it's going to be a crazy year. I'm on track 1A now, but I might change to B tracks because I'm considering going on to a PhD, but I'm not sure yet (story of my life).

I also wanted to ask the age question from the opposite side of the coin than the others who've asked on this forum. I'll turn 21 in the summer before my course starts, which is considered young in the US for grad school, but what's the age mix at Cambridge? Is it mostly people going directly from undergrad (21-22) or people who have taken some time off for a career (mid-late 20s)?

Reply 2

Karat

OP

It is certainly a mix, particularly the Cambridge IR department seems to be interested in getting people from diverse backgrounds, at least according to the website. But I'll just be 22. :smile:

I suspect at just 21 you will be the youngest on the course!

Reply 4

AntiHegemony

I turned 21 last month... so perhaps i'll be the second youngest :-)

Reply 5

Sunflower52

Well...there's two at least! I got a bit freaked out when I saw the postgraduate colleges only wanted "mature students over the age of 21 at the beginning of the course", so I didn't even apply to them. I don't know if they'd let a graduate student in anyway, but I really didn't want to get a letter saying that I'm too "immature" for them (although, on second thought, it'd be kinda funny).

Tip for everyone: The application fee pays for itself if you visit. I visited Cambridge over Spring Break twice and went around all the colleges (Trinity, St Johns, Kings, ect) and they all let me in for free when I told them I have an offer for next year, even though I'm not going to those colleges. I'll hopefully be there all of next year, but I'm beginning to get the feeling I'll be holed up in the library the whole time.

Reply 6

Karat

OP

I am also quite paranoid about the whole getting a First think. I don't have any exams which is quite convenient so it all depends on my dissertation plus two essays... for the remaining 60% of my grades. I have already written them and now I feel guilty every day for not working on them anymore but there is only so much you can write within a strict word limit... The agony will be over soon...

Has anybody seen a full list of modules offered anywhere? I only found last year's preparatory reading list but I don't know whether that is all there is.

I presume you've found this

http://www.intstudies.cam.ac.uk/courses/MPhil_IRa.html

There is no breakdown below the courses listed here, ie you sign up for International Theory and you go to a set of lectures called International Theory, there is (though have they changed it this year, will they next?) no choice within that.

Reply 8

Karat

OP

threeportdrift

I presume you've found this

http://www.intstudies.cam.ac.uk/courses/MPhil_IRa.html

There is no breakdown below the courses listed here, ie you sign up for International Theory and you go to a set of lectures called International Theory, there is (though have they changed it this year, will they next?) no choice within that.

I found this website: http://www.intstudies.cam.ac.uk/courses/mphil_irmore.html
This suggests that you can actually pick modules from each subfield. Do you know what that means?

What I suspect will happen (based on the fact this was what used to happen before the restructuring) you select the requisite number of courses (3) from

•

International Theory

•

International Politics

•

International Law and International Organisation

•

International History

•

International Economics

•

Foreign Policy and Security Studies

The exam at the end, for example for International Politics, will have a couple of questions based on what Julie Smith taught, a couple from George Joffe and a couple from Halper/Thompson. You have to answer three questions (or maybe two, but that's not the point)out of the six on offer. You can choose not to go to Joffe's lectures, or not to revise his sessions etc, but his questions will be on the exam paper, so you are narrowing down your options. So not modules, just sections and you can choose how you approach the exam vis a vis revising all the sections or being more selective.

Things might have changed during the recent reshuffling, but as the courses on offer are very similar ie it's not a radical rewrite in terms of course content, I suspect the examination process is as I've described above.

Reply 10

Karat

OP

threeportdrift

What I suspect will happen (based on the fact this was what used to happen before the restructuring) you select the requisite number of courses (3) from

•

International Theory

•

International Politics

•

International Law and International Organisation

•

International History

•

International Economics

•

Foreign Policy and Security Studies

The exam at the end, for example for International Politics, will have a couple of questions based on what Julie Smith taught, a couple from George Joffe and a couple from Halper/Thompson. You have to answer three questions (or maybe two, but that's not the point)out of the six on offer. You can choose not to go to Joffe's lectures, or not to revise his sessions etc, but his questions will be on the exam paper, so you are narrowing down your options. So not modules, just sections and you can choose how you approach the exam vis a vis revising all the sections or being more selective.

Things might have changed during the recent reshuffling, but as the courses on offer are very similar ie it's not a radical rewrite in terms of course content, I suspect the examination process is as I've described above.

Ah, that makes sense. Well, your answer, not the system. :biggrin:

May I ask what you chose to do?

When I did the course we didn't have the luxury of any choice :P

I didn't have anything much about foreign policy or international organisations or the regional elements, and the rest was in four courses covering all the other elements you still have.

It seemed that last year a lot of people started out with four or even five options and dropped back to three after a few weeks of term.

Reply 12

Karat

OP

Have you been assigned a supervisor? A Dr Charles Jones is mentioned on my letter but I don't really know whether that means he will be my supervisor or whether it is just a generic thing because he is some person in charge of some aspect of the MPhil. I remember having read somewhere that you don't get a supervisor before you arrive.

Which courses to choose.... I will definitely go for IR Theory, best thing ever. :biggrin:

International Politics sounds good too, except that European Politics tends to make me very sleepy... so I need to avoid that. International Security looks really good too, that would be number three. I will pass on International Law, environmental governance and European Law just look too painful. International Economics could be interesting but I have no economics background whatsoever. I wonder why they have no module names for the International History part on their preparatory reading list.

Reply 13

JoulesSP

Hi!

about myself: Conditional offer 1st (Spanish sort of equivalent),track 1B, I'll turn 22 in july, currently finishing BSc. Politics and Public Management (last monday I passed the last exam), interested in International Security, college and supervisor still to be allocated.

As for the courses, I will also have a hard time chosing. I will definetely take IR Theory and ISecurity, but I find I Organisation very interesting as well. I've found quite good information at the current students facebook group. Try to look at the old posts:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23211575727

Could anyone enlighten me on the coursework (essays and so..) we are expected to produce?? The workload looks so scary..

Antihegemony, I've heard applications to the Oxford MPhil increased by 40% this year (along with the general trend everywhere), so it was almost impossible to get in.

Thanks!

Reply 14

Karat

OP

Hey Joules, where did you get those numbers from? Makes me feel better about my rejection. :wink:

I found this on the wall of the group
"Wendy confirmed that 1B is 3 + methodology + 20.000 words"
So it is not 4 Courses + Methodology for 1B. :smile:

Also, here is a link with information about the methodology stuff the 1B people have to do: http://www.jsss.group.cam.ac.uk/mphil/

Reply 15

JoulesSP

Hey!
a friend of mine who was also applying to Oxford was told about the 40% increase by Marga Lyall (the department's admissions officer).. quite a reliable source.
Do we finally know if we have to chose 3 general fields or just 3 modules within any field?

I've checked the methodology information and the modules are quite unrelated to what I would expect of a methodology course for IR, don't you think so?

thank you!

Reply 16

Sunflower52

I know I'll do foreign policy/security studies and probably IR history but I'm not sure what else. Looking at the last reading list for the US Foreign Policy course, it doesn't look bad. I have one of the listed textbooks for a class I'm taking now and it's not at all difficult - so that at least is really comforting. I've already taken US Foreign Policy courses, but I'd like to return to the US to work in IR, so I feel like I should take it again at Cambridge. Plus, it'll be interesting to study it from a non-US perspective.

Question: We do law totally differently in the US-it's a 3 year postgraduate JD degree, so I don't have any background in it. Will people doing IR law have a background in law from undergraduate? Is it necessary?

Reply 17

Karat

OP

Normal people (i.e. non-law students) have no background in law either, don't worry. I don't think they would have law-students-only modules in an IR degree.

Do we finally know if we have to chose 3 general fields or just 3 modules within any field?

The facebook group wasn't explicit about it either. Some suggested the former, some the latter. No way to find out until they send us some stuff about the course I guess.