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So many questions about postgrad English...please help!

I have many questions and would deeply appreciate any answers anyone can give me. (Apologies if they've been asked elsewhere! I've perused these boards and the university websites, and hopefully haven't missed anything too obvious.)

1) Does anyone have any opinions on York's medieval studies program, which I understand to be very good, vs. Oxford's? (I would especially love to hear from anyone who has completed an MSt or MPhil at either.)

2) Does anyone have any opinions on applying for the MSt vs. for the MPhil (beyond funding-related issues)?

3) How detailed a prospectus do you think applicants need to submit? That is, should I have a dissertation topic in mind, or is it enough to indicate my areas of interest?

4) Oxford says you do not need to contact a prospective supervisor when applying, but do most successful applicants do so anyway?

5) How difficult is it to continue into the DPhil from a master's (taught or research)? (At York or at Oxford?) I'm assuming there is a formal application process, but didn't see anything about it on Oxford's site.

6) I'm American, and have accepted that funding this degree is going to be excruciatingly painful. That is assuming I have a chance of getting in anywhere. So (again, sorry if this is horribly obnoxious), but could anyone with a US undergrad degree post their stats and whether they were accepted? Oxford asks for about a 3.7 GPA, minimum. Unfortunately, my cumulative GPA was about 3.66 (about 3.9 in my English major). I transferred from a large state school where I had a 3.49 to a much more prestigious small liberal arts college where I had a 3.88. I have good extracurricular activities, an excellent job now, and will have VERY good references (and I was given a department prize). Anyone willing to speculate on my chances?

7) I didn't see the distribution/admissions statistics for the MPhil or MSt in Medieval English, vs. the other periods, on Oxford's website. Could anyone tell me where to find these?

If you waded through all this, thank you so much! Again, I'm sorry if these questions are at all annoying or repetitive.

Reply 1

apotoftea

19

PhilippaC

I have many questions and would deeply appreciate any answers anyone can give me. (Apologies if they've been asked elsewhere! I've perused these boards and the university websites, and hopefully haven't missed anything too obvious.)

1) Does anyone have any opinions on York's medieval studies program, which I understand to be very good, vs. Oxford's? (I would especially love to hear from anyone who has completed an MSt or MPhil at either.)

2) Does anyone have any opinions on applying for the MSt vs. for the MPhil (beyond funding-related issues)?

3) How detailed a prospectus do you think applicants need to submit? That is, should I have a dissertation topic in mind, or is it enough to indicate my areas of interest?

4) Oxford says you do not need to contact a prospective supervisor when applying, but do most successful applicants do so anyway?

5) How difficult is it to continue into the DPhil from a master's (taught or research)? (At York or at Oxford?) I'm assuming there is a formal application process, but didn't see anything about it on Oxford's site.

6) I'm American, and have accepted that funding this degree is going to be excruciatingly painful. That is assuming I have a chance of getting in anywhere. So (again, sorry if this is horribly obnoxious), but could anyone with a US undergrad degree post their stats and whether they were accepted? Oxford asks for about a 3.7 GPA, minimum. Unfortunately, my cumulative GPA was about 3.66 (about 3.9 in my English major). I transferred from a large state school where I had a 3.49 to a much more prestigious small liberal arts college where I had a 3.88. I have good extracurricular activities, an excellent job now, and will have VERY good references (and I was given a department prize). Anyone willing to speculate on my chances?

7) I didn't see the distribution/admissions statistics for the MPhil or MSt in Medieval English, vs. the other periods, on Oxford's website. Could anyone tell me where to find these?

If you waded through all this, thank you so much! Again, I'm sorry if these questions are at all annoying or repetitive.

hobnob will be the best person to ask

hobnob

x

Oh biscuity one :biggrin:

Reply 2

hobnob

14

PhilippaC

1) Does anyone have any opinions on York's medieval studies program, which I understand to be very good, vs. Oxford's? (I would especially love to hear from anyone who has completed an MSt or MPhil at either.)
Can't help you there, I'm afraid, as I'm not a medievalist. They're both considered very strong departments, though, as far as I know. Oxford is the bigger department, though.

2) Does anyone have any opinions on applying for the MSt vs. for the MPhil (beyond funding-related issues)?

Again, I'm not actually a medievalist, but I'd expect that it would depend on whether you want to do the dissertation in the second year. :dontknow:

3) How detailed a prospectus do you think applicants need to submit? That is, should I have a dissertation topic in mind, or is it enough to indicate my areas of interest?

I assume you mean proposal? :wink:

If you do have a topic in mind, it can't hurt to talk about it for a bit; I've got the impression (which may well be wrong, though) that they quite like proposals to be detailed.

4) Oxford says you do not need to contact a prospective supervisor when applying, but do most successful applicants do so anyway?

I don't think so, especially for MSts it would seem a bit over the top. But it'll probably be a good idea to double-check that there's *someone* whose interests sound like a reasonable match for yours.

5) How difficult is it to continue into the DPhil from a master's (taught or research)? (At York or at Oxford?) I'm assuming there is a formal application process, but didn't see anything about it on Oxford's site.

At York I'd expect that as long as you managed to find funding, continuing for a PhD shouldn't be too much of an issue (unless you did very badly on the MA, perhaps). At Oxford, you'd have to apply again. I think there used to be a simplified procedure for transferring to the DPhil, but they got rid of that a couple of years ago.

6) I'm American, and have accepted that funding this degree is going to be excruciatingly painful. That is assuming I have a chance of getting in anywhere. So (again, sorry if this is horribly obnoxious), but could anyone with a US undergrad degree post their stats and whether they were accepted? Oxford asks for about a 3.7 GPA, minimum. Unfortunately, my cumulative GPA was about 3.66 (about 3.9 in my English major). I transferred from a large state school where I had a 3.49 to a much more prestigious small liberal arts college where I had a 3.88. I have good extracurricular activities, an excellent job now, and will have VERY good references (and I was given a department prize). Anyone willing to speculate on my chances?

Can't help you there, sorry. :dontknow:

7) I didn't see the distribution/admissions statistics for the MPhil or MSt in Medieval English, vs. the other periods, on Oxford's website. Could anyone tell me where to find these?

They don't publish them, I'm afraid. My guess would be that the medieval MSt / MPhil may be marginally less popular than some of the other strands, though.

Reply 3

hobnob

14

apotoftea

hobnob will be the best person to ask

Oh biscuity one :biggrin:

Pff, I got there before you - it just took me ages to write my post, that's all. :p:

Reply 4

apotoftea

19

hobnob

Pff, I got there before you - it just took me ages to write my post, that's all. :p:

Whatever! Slacker :p:

Reply 5

Angelil

19

I did an MSt at Oxford, but in Linguistics. Nevertheless, let me know if I can be helpful to you. I just indicated my interests (though I was quite specific), but didn't include a dissertation title; I also didn't contact anyone at the department before applying.

I went for the MSt over the MPhil for a variety of practical reasons, some of which may be relevant to you: in my department, candidates did the same final exams, had to write the same length of dissertation, and attended the same classes. Only difference was that the pass threshold was higher (50 for the MSt, 60 for the MPhil). I figured why spend the money and the extra year if I was essentially going to get the same degree? :p:

I wasn't going to pursue my studies at PhD level, so this wasn't an issue in choosing the MSt over the MPhil. I was also planning to move abroad to finally live with my partner, and didn't really want to delay! :p:

Note also that Oxford will have no interest in your extra-curriculars at postgraduate level unless they happen to be relevant (I included conference attendance and paper publications in my statement, and also mentioned a non-Oxford academic who I had met and that this was a highlight for me because of my interest in her work). So leave out the fact that on the weekends you like to go skiing (or whatever) :p:

Reply 6

hobnob

14

Angelil

I went for the MSt over the MPhil for a variety of practical reasons, some of which may be relevant to you: in my department, candidates did the same final exams, had to write the same length of dissertation, and attended the same classes. Only difference was that the pass threshold was higher (50 for the MSt, 60 for the MPhil). I figured why spend the money and the extra year if I was essentially going to get the same degree? :p:

I wasn't going to pursue my studies at PhD level, so this wasn't an issue in choosing the MSt over the MPhil. I was also planning to move abroad to finally live with my partner, and didn't really want to delay! :p:

According to the departmental website, the MPhil dissertation is 10,000 words longer. :s-smilie:

Anyway, as it's a different department, I think matters are likely to be different for the English MSt / DPhil (for example I'm relatively certain I heard somebody mention that the pass mark for the was 60, possibly even 65).

Reply 7

PhilippaC

OP

Thank you all so much! This is all very helpful.

Reply 8

Angelil

19

Ah yes, my fault...quite a lot of the courses were the same though, so I guess I just got a bit carried away :o:

Reply 9

PhilippaC

OP

Hobnob and Angelil, if you don't mind, I'd love to know a few more things - do you feel now that going to Oxford was worth it? Was the education everything you'd hoped it would be, and did you feel better prepared for what you did next? Do you have any advice for applicants or, assuming that by some miracle I'm able to go, for new students?

Thanks so much for your responses - I realize we're not in the same boat, really, but it's great to have your input.

Reply 10

Angelil

19

PhilippaC - yes, I did feel in the end that going to Oxford made a difference. While the Oxford name still carries plenty of clout in Britain, the degree of reverence for it has decreased, and it's not the case overseas (I knew that I would be leaving Britain soon after completion of my studies). Because I attended a less well-known university (Exeter) for undergraduate study, I wanted to supplement this with a better-known institution at postgraduate level (hence my applications to Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of London - though of course this wasn't my only reason for choosing these places). I spent a frankly miserable summer in Britain collecting unemployment benefits after finishing at Oxford, but found I was offered work immediately on moving to France that September (2008). I have not been out of work since and have often been approached regarding new opportunities, which I'm not sure would have been the case in England.

On the whole, the standard of education I received was fantastic and the library facilities were second to none; in this regard, I really wish that I could have stayed longer, but student life was just not for me (plus, I was keen to end my international LDR by moving overseas :p:

).

Advice to applicants: make sure you have lots of relevant experience (conference attendance is always a good bet if nothing else) that you can mention in your statement of purpose.

Advice to new students: heed the reading list that they send you!! I was abroad when they sent mine (for months) and so didn't have access to the texts over the summer. This meant I was really behind when I arrived and felt pretty lost for the first term. It was only when I could get going on my specialism that I felt better, but I wish I'd been able to make better use of the reading list.

Hope this helps :smile:

So many questions about postgrad English...please help!

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