MPhil International Relations at Cambridge

Are there any TSR members who are studying the postrad IR programme at Cambridge and if so could you give a brief overview of the course structure - Especially in Economics and Philosophy.

Also, are there any aspects which relate to the work of Foucault?

Thanks.

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

I can't vouch for the exact wording and reading lists for this years courses, but I certainly got through without ever meeting any discussion of Foucault in the taught element of the course. Several students were using him in their research, but he didn't appear on the taught syllabus. More broadly there is very little if any philosophy in the department and no philosophers. However, the department, partly due to the history of Cambridge and how faculties have developed, allows easy supervision/liaison with other departments. Much of my PhD in the department was done via the Philosophy faculty and many people have strong ties to the History and Economics faculty in particular.

Course details are here

http://www.cam.ac.uk/guide/pgcourses/mphil/ir.html

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Reply 2

Rahvin

Hmm, one question guys. I am about to send off the references/transcripts/research proposal for my MPhil IR application and suddenly got a bit concerned about the length. I had called Cambridge and was told that the proposal should be about 2-3 pages long. However, I can't find any information about the length on the department website. Also, it seems that many people talk about a length of 1-2 pages whereas my proposal is a bit less than 3 pages. I would appreciate if someone who has done this could give me some advice on that. I am really concerned and anxious because the whole damn application has been taking me so much time (thanks to two reference letters coming from the US and for which I have been waiting for ages...); so I just don't want to worry about yet another aspect of the whole process.

Reply 3

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

They say 1-2 pages, other places/people have been told, 500 words or 800 words, it depends on who you speak to in the department. Basically, they will have several hundred applications to read through and can't read pages and pages for each one. Just under three pages will be fine.