Which Oxford college to apply to, for a DPhil?

As a post-grad,

Which college would you suggest I apply too?

I am female, married, mature, from the Midlands and have multi-ethnic roots.
I'm v down to earth, but equally able to cope with a rather stuffy lot.
Do not like fakery or pretentiousness though.

I want good support, inspirational, visionary and an eclectic enviroment from which to work- somewhere I can call home.

Reply 1

john2054

Original post by red lipstick

You need to decide on your subject area, and then start negotiations with a supervisor who specialises in that area. Which field are you thinking about going in to??

jr

University of Oxford

Oxford

Reply 2

Wired_1800

Exeter College. They appear to be friendly and open.

Reply 3

red lipstick

hmmm,

Thanks,

Most likely to study Education - Psychology/Philosophy/Sociology, not sure yet have to finish MA.

I have no idea who the specialist in my field at Ox are, time to do research.

When is it best to approach the supervisors?

Reply 4

john2054

Original post by red lipstick

the sooner the better. just drop them an email. what is your bachelor's and masters degrees in? That should give you some idea what kind of area to go in to. But you are best discussing this with the experts?

Reply 5

red lipstick

BA Ed, MA EdPsy,

Am thinking have to stick close to the original qualifications.

Need to try and identfy the specialist in Education/Psychology.

Do you pick supervisor then college, or the college then a supervisor within it?

red lipstick

Reply 6

john2054

Original post by red lipstick

You could choose a college first, and then pick a supervisor from it. Or the other way round? What university did you study at so far, and what gives you confidence that you can study a PhD at Oxford??

Edinburgh & Warwick

Hubby is a at Oxbridge.

But I want to stand on my own two feet.

And study for a DPhil.

Reply 9

MonteCristo

Original post by red lipstick

Do you pick supervisor then college, or the college then a supervisor within it?

Postgraduate study at Oxford is very different to undergraduate study. The college you join is largely irrelevant to your Oxbridge experience - you won't have any teaching there and your supervisor will usually be based at another college altogether. It only becomes a feature if you choose to live in college accommodation, which you might be less inclined to do if married etc.

Postgraduate courses are based around departments, not colleges. You do indicate college preference from the start but your application is accepted by the department before it is passed to any colleges. Once you are accepted by a department, you are guaranteed a place at a college.

You should therefore choose your course and potential supervisor first as these are vastly more important than college preference. If you can engage a supervisor with similar research interests, admission to the course might become a lot simpler. The tricky issue is usually funding...

I would avoid blindly contacting supervisors (they probably get a lot of this) and start thinking about the kind of thing you would want to do during a DPhil. They are more likely to be supportive if you show that you are capable of coming up with your own ideas. You can usually browse through previous Oxford theses at http://ora.ox.ac.uk, although some of the sub-links from this page appear to be broken today.

Reply 10

red lipstick

Gosh thanks,

A lot to go away and think about in a short space of time again.

I can normally come up with the ideas, but they need contextualising and refining and they don't always pan out as expected. Which is no doubt a good thing, because you are then in a position to either accept or reject the premise.

Thanks for the link.
The more I learn, the less I realise I Know -

Reply 11

MonteCristo

Original post by red lipstick

I can normally come up with the ideas, but they need contextualising and refining and they don't always pan out as expected. Which is no doubt a good thing, because you are then in a position to either accept or reject the premise.

I think it's okay not to have a fixed plan for the DPhil as you're right that (a) this is likely to change and (b) the supervisor might also want to have some input into how it pans out. It would probably be okay to say that "I am interested in X and whether Y leads to Z" (or whatever is equivalent for your discipline!!) but ask whether they would have time to meet (or talk) to discuss potential thesis ideas...

They may well not like what you suggested but the fact that you're coming to them with something is better than nothing and provides a starting point for discussion...