Well, it seems official. We are here for four years. Oxford has taken the research MSt off the books and now in its prospectus speaks of the MSt as ‘the normal entry to the DPhil’. This means one year of course work and a 15 000 word dissertation before work on the thesis can begin. So the offer of entry straight into the DPhil last year was possibly one of the last gasps of the old system as Oxford takes on one (very small) element of the American doctoral program.
I am disappointed. This will bring the number of years of full time tertiary study up to twelve, meaning I have spent more of my adult life as a student than a worker. I am also still (five years on) a bit jaded with exams after the fairly intense experience from Moore’s BDiv. Sitting down for a few years to write an original lengthy piece of research is one thing, going through another set of exams quite another.
The ‘bright side’ in all this is that it is an Oxford coursework/research Masters.
Thus I have to sit three papers and hand in a long essay (the dissertation) at the end of the year. How I get through those hoops is up to me and my supervisor. This means that there aren’t lectures I have to go to as part of my requirements – and, perversely, this frees me up to look at all the (mainly undergraduate) lectures on offer and pick out the ones I would like to do. Precisely because they aren’t tied to the assessment, I feel free to enjoy them.
I am also going to experience the Oxford tutorial system. My supervisor and I will meet weekly this term and I will produce a 2000 word essay each week on a question given by him from a bibliography provided by him. We’ll then take an hour to talk over the issue. We’ll work through the areas that will be examined in one of the three papers I have to sit in June next year (the development of doctrine up to Nicaea). I’m looking forward to this part of things, as I have always felt that this was a method of learning that I was particularly suited to. It’ll be interesting to finally test that thesis.
Finally, the long essay can be something that can be integrated into my doctoral thesis – so I can also have the feeling that I’m doing something towards my medium-term goal and am not just treading water this year.
It’s not the lean three year thesis machine that my older colleagues are used to in an era (just) gone by, but it is going to give me the chance to broaden out my education a bit, and pick up some things that I haven’t had the chance to investigate yet. If I’m here for an extra year, I’m going to make sure I get something more from it, which will be the subject of my next post. And if these four pieces of assessment are the gatekeepers to the DPhil, I’m going to make sure I hit them pretty hard. MDB
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2 comments:
Oxford tutorial system: half your luck!
Don't discount the possibility of churning through in three still.
A thesis in two years? Perhaps if my name was Con Campbell or Andrew Bain (and the latter only if I was single), but such a feat would be anomalous given my history. I won't rule it out, but I'll only allow its possibility as a pleasant surprise.
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