How to decide where to do an English PhD

Hi, I’ve got several offers for PhDs in English starting thisautumn. I’m trying to choose between an offer of a full AHRC award fromNewcastle (fees plus living expenses), and an offer from Oxford that coverscollege fees (£2800 per year), but not tuition fees or living expenses. I wantan academic job after I complete the PhD, and wondered which of these optionswould look best on my profile?Thanks!

Reply 1

mld

Hi, I'm about to start my PhD in Health and Wellbeing this autumn too. Personally, this is a tough one. Full funding is great and they may well take you on at the end of the course. But Oxford is great, but how would you fund yourself through the three years or so... Would they offer you a teaching job at the end, possibly not. It also depends on whether you like Newcastle or Oxford.

I think I'd go Newcastle, but I've always kept well clear of Oxbridge.

What do others think???

Margaret

Reply 2

QHF

Original post by Confused90

Congratulations on your offers. I think that all else being equal a full AHRC studentship at Newcastle is likely to impress people more than a partial (and, really, quite small) block of funding from Oxford. Is all else equal? If (I'm thinking of an extreme case here) Oxford has a widely-known faculty strength in the area you're going to be working in while Newcastle would struggle to provide proper supervision in your specialty that might tip the balance the other way. But if both places are equipped to support your research, I would suggest taking the AHRC money.

The majority of those who do PhDs in English and want to go into academia wind up not going into academia, so it's worth preparing some backup plans. Although to a nonspecialist audience of potential employers an Oxford DPhil might possibly be more impressive than a Newcastle PhD (though it's not as though Newcastle isn't a very reputable institution), you will be in a better financial position after full AHRC funding. So that might be a consideration too.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

madamemerle

Original post by Confused90

Hi Confused. Congratulations on these fantastic offers!

What's your sub field?

Reply 4

Ftmshk

I think I would go for the full funding, unless you have some other reliable source of income. However, have you identified potential supervisors at the 2 Unis? Is one of them more aligned to your study subject? That might make a big difference too.

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Reply 5

Confused90

Hi everyone,

Many thanks for all your great replies - it's not easy to find advice about this so your comments are very much appreciated! I don't think either of the two supervisors I've got lined up is clearly "better" than the other - and for that reason I'm definitely leaning towards Newcastle. (Though, as QHF points out having Oxford on the CV might look better to many employers). I guess it's just that it feels very strange to be turning down any kind of offer from Oxford...

Reply 6

LSD

It's EXTREMELY difficult to get full funding for a PhD in humanities/English at least in comparison to funding in STEM. Take the money and run!!!

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Reply 7

madamemerle

Original post by Confused90

Are there any resources or archival collections etc that are either at either place, or more easily accessible from one or the other? Likewise, with particular research groups or reading groups, which in my experience can prove surprisingly vital to your sense of community as a PhD student?

It's fairly easy to figure out who gets the jobs in your subfield by scouring the junior staff profiles of the majority of English departments UK-wide. You should get a sense by doing that if one or the other of your choices presents an especially good bet for getting an academic job at the end of it all (most likely neither does...). But, for instance, in my sub field, there are two or three non Oxbridge unis which seem to produce a massive percentage of junior faculty, so they'd probably be the best bet for getting an academic job (though who knows...the numbers are so small anyway).

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 8

beautifulbigmacs

Reputation of Oxford vs the relief of not having to worry about money for the duration of the PhD.

Personally I would go with the fully funded option unless I had an easy way of making up the difference with going to Oxford.

Reply 9

QHF

Original post by Confused90

I guess it's just that it feels very strange to be turning down any kind of offer from Oxford...

This isn't true in every case but a noticeable proportion of the postgrads in English I've come across who went to Oxford 'because it's Oxford' rather than because it suited their area of study have been less than happy. As madamemerle says, the hotspots for postgrad education in English vary depending on which little corner of the discipline you're in, but they're certainly not always in Oxford (or Cambridge, for that matter).

Reply 10

Ftmshk

Newcastle is a really great city 😀. Loads going on there.

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Reply 11

Ftmshk

... And much closer to the seaside than Oxford 😎

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Good point Ftmshk!

Go with the AHRC Studentship. This is worth HEAPS in terms of credibility.

Reply 14

Josb

Original post by Confused90

It's much much more difficult to get an AHRC studentship than an offer for a PhD at Oxbridge (in the humanities). Academics will know that when you apply for a lectureship. Take the money, no question.

Bravo with Northern Bridge, they rejected me two times. :rant:

Reply 15

cambio wechsel

Original post by returnmigrant

Go with the AHRC Studentship. This is worth HEAPS in terms of credibility.

Original post by Josb

These people are right. For the scholarship alone, the Newcastle offer is much the more prestigious, never mind that the other will put you 50 grand in the hole.

Original post by Confused90

Reply 16

Confused90

Great - thanks for all the fantastic advice! I'm now feeling much more confident about saying yes to Newcastle!

Reply 17

JMM206

Original post by Confused90

Great - thanks for all the fantastic advice! I'm now feeling much more confident about saying yes to Newcastle!

You should be! I got a Northern Bridge AHRC scholarship too and I wouldn't trade the financial independence and security for Oxbridge status. There is no reason to think the AHRC funding won't look as good on your CV as having gone to Oxford would (and the former will allow you to relax and focus on your research rather than your underpaid, stressful part-time job).