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PHD Medieval Literature

Hi!

I'm about to start an MA in medieval literature and langauge at York with a scholarship and have just finished my undergraduate degree in english lit and creative writing. I got a 1.1 overall and consistently got 70+ in my honours years and so I thought I would try and apply for PHDs in the next intake.

Am planning on researching late medieval literature, particularly chivalry and honour.

Is there any universities I should look into in particular or any advice for applications anyone has? Would I be silly to apply to oxford? (there's several professors there whose research interests align pretty perfectly with my own but I don't know if it's realistic?)

Other unis I've looked at are York, Manchester, Bristol.


Thanks!

Reply 1

Hi Mairwen,

It's excellent to hear that you'll be joining us in September for the MA in Medieval Literatures and Languages here at York and congratulations on your fantastic results from your bachelors degree.

Your MA year will provide a great opportunity to further develop your interests in medieval literature and to learn a range of linguistic and technical skills to assist with a move to postgraduate research. A lot of our academic staff in the Department of English and Related Literature have research interests in medieval literature and I'm sure would be happy to discuss your research ideas with you. The Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) is also a pioneering interdisciplinary research centre with staff from a range of different academic departments at York, including our very own Professor Kenneth Clarke as Director.

In thinking about applying for a PhD at York, it may be useful to have a look at our detailed guidance on applying, entry requirements and supporting documents on our PhD in English course page.

We look forward to welcoming you to York in September, and hope you will consider applying for a PhD with us, too. If you have any questions please do contact us at [email protected].

Naomi
Original post
by mairwen
Hi!
I'm about to start an MA in medieval literature and langauge at York with a scholarship and have just finished my undergraduate degree in english lit and creative writing. I got a 1.1 overall and consistently got 70+ in my honours years and so I thought I would try and apply for PHDs in the next intake.
Am planning on researching late medieval literature, particularly chivalry and honour.
Is there any universities I should look into in particular or any advice for applications anyone has? Would I be silly to apply to oxford? (there's several professors there whose research interests align pretty perfectly with my own but I don't know if it's realistic?)
Other unis I've looked at are York, Manchester, Bristol.
Thanks!

Hi mairwen, 👋

It's great to hear you are considering a PhD in Medieval Literature, that sounds exciting (fellow English literature PhD student here!) 😄

Th University of Sheffield's School of English is second to none (that's why I did my BA, MA, and now PhD all here in English Literature!) 📚️

The staff support and knowledge is phenomenal. Someone who started their PhD here at the same time as me says they get more contact time here for their PhD than they did for their Master's they did elsewhere!

I'll link the English PhD programme webpage here so you can read how applications work if you are interested (or you can ask any questions to myself as someone who recently went through the application process!) I'll also give you the link for the Find a Supervisor page here so you can see suitable supervisors (after a quick glance it looks like Dr Charlotte Steenbrugge would be perfect with her focus of medieval literature). All staff are more than happy to receive emails enquiring about their availability and interest in supervising a new PhD project so feel free to reach out to them to gauge their interest!

Again, if you have questions at all about PhD study or even MA study, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to help a fellow literature student!

All best wishes (and good luck for your MA!),
Phoebe 😃
Student Ambassador - PhD in English Literature

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