The Student Room Group
wholenewworld
As far as I know you can apply for as many postgraduate courses as you like even at the same institution (provided you can deal with the paperwork:smile: ) so if I was to apply for both the MPhil and Mst in Modern History at Oxford, would it be a problem that I'd submit the same research idea for my dissertation?
Who can say, all I wanted to know is what you might think, would that be a good idea or definitely not?


There would be absolutely NO POINT. Seriously. If you want a research preparation masters you apply for the MSt. If you want a final degree - bear in mind it's two years long - you do the MPhil. You simply do not apply for both. It's a demonstration you aren't serious. You'll most likely be asked - did you make a mistake?

You want to pay £50 for them to ask...?
Reply 2
oriel historian
There would be absolutely NO POINT. Seriously. If you want a research preparation masters you apply for the MSt. If you want a final degree - bear in mind it's two years long - you do the MPhil. You simply do not apply for both. It's a demonstration you aren't serious. You'll most likely be asked - did you make a mistake?

You want to pay £50 for them to ask...?



No no, sorry, thanks very much for that reply.

If I recall correctly you once said that the MSts are nothing but cash cows?
The MPhil is more substantial and the dissertation is longer certainly and I suppose I'd rather go for that. But doing a Phd after the MPhil is not impossible though, is it? (You said final?)

Problem is that I'm just so completely lost with everything and it's all a bit daunting. I suppose it would be for everyone, but for me not being at a British institution it is doubly-agitating, even with the references, one of my referees is a professor who only taught me for a term when I was on Erasmus in Nottingham (and the module I took with him was in European Union policy making, not History:no: ). The professors here at my Hungarian uni however are completely unknown to me, it is an all lectures and exams-based system here unfortunately.
wholenewworld
No no, sorry, thanks very much for that reply.

If I recall correctly you once said that the MSts are nothing but cash cows?
The MPhil is more substantial and the dissertation is longer certainly and I suppose I'd rather go for that. But doing a Phd after the MPhil is not impossible though, is it? (You said final?)


MSts are effectively cash cows but they're a necessary evil for funding purposes. The MPhil is by no means a barrier to a PhD but it is a 2 year degree and has the substantial thesis. It's often done by Americans who merely want the 'Oxford' experience.

You can do either route, but if the PhD is what you want - the MSt is your best bet.
Reply 4
oriel historian
MSts are effectively cash cows but they're a necessary evil for funding purposes. The MPhil is by no means a barrier to a PhD but it is a 2 year degree and has the substantial thesis. It's often done by Americans who merely want the 'Oxford' experience.

You can do either route, but if the PhD is what you want - the MSt is your best bet.



I see. I haven't really thought as far ahead I have to admit, although I know I should have.

But even the MSt is a free-standing degree, isn't it?

Incidentally, with the cost factored in, wasn't it the one or the other (the MPhil if my memory serves me well) that you are more likely to get the course funded?

Oh and another thing, there is no equivalent for the Oxford one year MSt at Cambridge?
The general 1 year Masters degree at Cam is called an MPhil.

The Cam MSt is the part time equivalent of the MPhil, taken over two years.
wholenewworld
I see. I haven't really thought as far ahead I have to admit, although I know I should have.

But even the MSt is a free-standing degree, isn't it?

Incidentally, with the cost factored in, wasn't it the one or the other (the MPhil if my memory serves me well) that you are more likely to get the course funded?

Oh and another thing, there is no equivalent for the Oxford one year MSt at Cambridge?


It is free standing aye but isn't your normal degree name so people might get confused ... just as a warning.

Erm, it'd be the MSt at Oxford that you'll have more chance of getting funded. The MPhil isn't a research preparation masters as such.
Reply 7
oriel historian
It is free standing aye but isn't your normal degree name so people might get confused ... just as a warning.

Erm, it'd be the MSt at Oxford that you'll have more chance of getting funded. The MPhil isn't a research preparation masters as such.



But MPhils cost you more because they last longer? Why would someone opt for the Mphil instead of the MSt then if both are sort of master's degrees, free standing and one lasts a year earlier and if you so decide can even open the route to the phd anyway?
wholenewworld
But MPhils cost you more because they last longer? Why would someone opt for the Mphil instead of the MSt then if both are sort of master's degrees, free standing and one lasts a year earlier and if you so decide can even open the route to the phd anyway?


Well quite! However, the answer to their continued existence - the MPhil I mean - is the fact that many Americans will pay the fees to stay in Oxford for 2 years and have it on their CV. It's as cost-effective as a postgraduate course over there and Oxford opens doors in the US simply on the basis of prestige. Almost all home students and EU students elect / apply for the MSt. If you are serious, that's what I advise you apply for.
Reply 9
Yep, I did the MSt in Linguistics at Oxford and went down the same train of thought as you: the MPhil students on my course (curiously, many of them were home students) attended the same classes, took the same exams, and had a dissertation of the same length as those of us on the MSt, so I never did understand why you might spend double the money getting what is effectively the same qualification.
Angelil
Yep, I did the MSt in Linguistics at Oxford and went down the same train of thought as you: the MPhil students on my course (curiously, many of them were home students) attended the same classes, took the same exams, and had a dissertation of the same length as those of us on the MSt, so I never did understand why you might spend double the money getting what is effectively the same qualification.


The history course is different though. The MPhil is two years long so there is a greater element than the research prep MSt.
Reply 11
Our MPhil was two years as well...the only difference, as far as I could see, was a longer period in which to research the dissertation and the chance to attend the same classes again the following year if needed.
Reply 12
threeportdrift
The general 1 year Masters degree at Cam is called an MPhil.

The Cam MSt is the part time equivalent of the MPhil, taken over two years.


Considering the above, is it the case that the History one year taught Masters at Cambridge is one year, yet at Oxford it is two? Or does Oxford do a 1 year course?
Reply 13
Funny you guys should mention that the MSt is the typical way to the PhD, because the linguistics faculty states the opposite in their handbook.
it is the mphil, not the mst, which leads to dphil. at ox, if you do an mphil and are accepted for dphil, the dphil takes you only 2 years because the second (final) year of mphil counts as your first year of dphil. many people doing mphil in modern european history (and countless other subjects) do this.

i know a number of history peeps that initially were doing the mst, decided they liked the research/writing, and so switched to mphil, with a view to doing dphil after.
La Pantera Rosa
it is the mphil, not the mst, which leads to dphil. at ox, if you do an mphil and are accepted for dphil, the dphil takes you only 2 years because the second (final) year of mphil counts as your first year of dphil. many people doing mphil in modern european history (and countless other subjects) do this.

i know a number of history peeps that initially were doing the mst, decided they liked the research/writing, and so switched to mphil, with a view to doing dphil after.


True, but it is equally viable to do a one-year MSt and re-apply for a three-year DPhil beginning the following year (with the same outcome - a doctorate after four years).
Reply 16
Goldorak
Funny you guys should mention that the MSt is the typical way to the PhD, because the linguistics faculty states the opposite in their handbook.

I'm pretty new to it, but I have had a look around at the different programs, and it seems that different subject areas utilise the two masters degrees differently and that generalisations are hard to make.

This was my rationale:
- I could have applied for an MSt but why not initially secure more for myself? My bachelors from Australia really doesn't hold much worth internationally, so I think that two years in Oxford is exponentially better for me than one.
- It's important to put the likelihood of funding issue aside; suggesting that 'Because there's more funding for MSts over MPhils, you should apply for one' is silly because that argument could be applied almost universally.
- The particular MPhil program looked pretty decent to me. <- This was obviously the major argument for applying for the MPhil over the MSt. The MSt would be too short for me, and that's really all there is to it.
Reply 17
Just a point that may affect some people - like me, for instance. Since July 2011, students from outside Europe can only bring their dependants with them if the course lasts 12 months or more. The MSt is only classed as lasting 9 months, so if you want to come with your partner/spouse/kids, you will need to bite the bullet and apply for the MPhil. The alternative is for your family members to enter the UK as visitors, with a 6 months maximum stay and even that is not guaranteed. Of course, if they can enter under ancestry provisions or similar, their position may be better. I just think it is odd that for courses (a) up to 6 months or (b) 12 months or more, your partner can come with you, but not for the MSt.
Hi all -- how hard is it to get accepted /admitted to the MSt at Oxford -- applying to English? I'm new to the forum, and know this can be tricky as getting accepted just depends on so many factors.
(edited 7 years ago)