Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Fulfilling Academic Experience Past Review

By (Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/02/2017 to 04/13/2017 with

Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury – CMRS Oxford Humanities Program

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
CMRS was pretty intense but I learned how to engage more deeply with texts and write better essays. I made a lot of new friends and came back a far better student.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 2 weeks - 1 month

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

CMRS is intense but you will leave a far better student.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

The administrators onsite are great and super friendly and supportive! I would say the program as a whole has some larger administrative issues but the people onsite are wonderful.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The dorm is right in the center of town. Most rooms are pretty nice, but a few are way too small to be doubles. If your tutorials all take place in the building, you will have to make an effort to do your work elsewhere because otherwise you'll end up spending all your time in St. Michael's.

* Food:

Really well-stocked kitchen, I mostly enjoyed cooking. There is a meal plan but the dining hall is far away and I almost never went.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

There is almost no cultural integration built into this program. You can join outside clubs but otherwise will probably not interact with many Oxford students.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The international health insurance is great! Tutors are usually pretty supportive and understanding if you are sick and can't do an awesome job on your work, but you will still be encouraged to do at least some of it.

* Safety:

Though St. Michael's is in a sort of back alleyway, I always felt pretty safe.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

4: Was lucky that the pound was down. If you cook for yourself you can live pretty reasonably.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $70
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Cook!

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? 0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Academics
  • Oxford
* What could be improved?
  • Longer break
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Unlike the American system, the tutors aren't looking for super refined and polished essays with perfect grammar and no typos. They are looking to see that you thought about the reading and have some cool ideas. The essays do not need to be perfect. They will stress this in the program but I felt like I was turning in terrible essays each week and did fine.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Contemporary British Fiction
Course Department:
Instructor: Camilla Cassidy
Instruction Language: English
Comments: I loved this course. Camilla picks out a great list of books and gives you freedom to choose which ones you want to read and where you want to take your essay. She is incredibly knowledgeable about lit theory and the material and was always able to direct me to great secondary sources if I was having trouble finding them on my own. I loved that she gave me so much freedom to explore the themes I found fascinating. We had great discussions about the books and many of them are still favorites!
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Narrative
Course Department:
Instructor: Rebecca Gowers
Instruction Language:
Comments: Rebecca is an incredible tutor who really helped me improve my writing. She gives very direct but kind feedback. I went into this class never having written fiction before and went back to my home institution to take more fiction classes! Though I spent an equal amount of time on this course as my other tutorial, it was nice to get a break from reading books and writing analytically.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Shakespeare II
Course Department:
Instructor: Ralph Hanna
Instruction Language:
Comments: Great seminar. Interesting discussions and fun to read Shakespeare every week. Ralph knows so much about Shakespeare and has some fascinating insights.
Credit Transfer Issues: