Academically rigorous, socially unintegrated Past Review

By (Wellesley College) - abroad from 10/14/2016 to 06/18/2016 with

St Anne's College, University of Oxford - Visiting Students Program

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
My self-teaching, reading and writing abilities all improved immensely so it was worth it.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The tutorial system is vastly different from Wellesley's education system and I had to get used to learning in a new way. The emphasis is on self-teaching. By the time of the tutorial, I would have already self-taught most of the material, produced an essay, and prepared myself for in-depth dicussion. It was very reading and writing intensive. Even though there is only one week to self-teach very difficult material of an advanced and broad topic for each of my two courses, during the tutorials, the expectation for how much you should understand is very high and the essays are graded at a high standard. I had just finished intermediate-level courses at that time and had to learn advanced-level junior-year courses under this new and rigorous system, so it was a major difficulty advancement in both the course level and education system. Needless to say I struggled quite a bit in the beginning. Some courses were easier to get the hang of, while other remained challenging throughout the term. However, none of this was unexpected and I appreciated the academic challenge. My academic ability certainly improved tremedously with this year of coursework. The major frustrating thing is that the course experience varied vastly depending on the tutor. The structures of the tutorials are completely different. In some we just went over the posted discussion questions, while in others the discussion had no predetermined structure at all. Their grading standards are completely different. While there were no exams throughout the year, the tutors gave comments and a predicted end-of-university exam grade. I would get unexpected low grades for classes where I did well in the discussion but unknowingly not as well for the essays according to the tutor's preferred essay structures. There are classes where I did very well and the tutor refrained from predicting an exam grade.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

The economic tutor and main advisor in charge of all the visiting students unfortunately rarely responded to emails, often no matter how many follow-ups I send. One of the only times he did was when I finally titled it something like "Please, I need your help!" A disadvantage embedded in the tutorial system is that it was pretty much impossible to shop classes or switch out of them. I had to decide on what I wanted to take in the first term at the time when I applied. I tried switching to a different tutor after a first tutorial, finding the tutor's teaching style very hard to learn from, but they simply couldn't find me another tutor after the term had begun.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

This was the first year that they started putting some undergraduate visiting students in the dorm for grad students, and I was one of them. I wish I was housed with the undergrad students and their dorms are also much more homey and come with sinks. I also had a lot of issues with my mailbox being places in the undergrad mailroom but my fob didn't grant my access to there because my room location allows me to the grad student mailroom. Hope they think through everything more carefully when placing visiting students in the grad dorm again. Having said that, I liked living on campus, I had a single, and the room was large enough.

* Food:

The dining hall food was quite tasty and cheap, although it gets repetitive some times. There are vegetarian and vegan options. The town also has many great restaurants.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Not being very integrated with the British student body is probably most unfortunate part of my study abroad experience. I made good friends among the American visiting students but mingling with the Brits seemed much harder. They seemed more reserved by nature, and the difference between Americans and British people was larger than I expected. It was easy to make acquaintances during Fresher's Week, but much harder to make close friends, and soon there became a clear divide at lunch tables. I think this had been the case in previous years as well. International students who are full-time and matriculated were poorly integrated with the British students too. It doesn't help that the academics is very demanding and heavily relies on self-study. Whereas at Wellesley I would make friends in classes, at Oxford people spent a lot of time studying on their own in the library or in their rooms. As Oxford consists of a few dozens of colleges, it takes committed effort to be in an organization with those of other colleges and to get to know them. I barely had time for joining an org that requires regular commitment.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had an eye infection late at night once, so I called the porters and the person on duty came to check on me. We dialed a national UK healthline where I checked all my symptoms and got recommended to go to the John Radcliffe Hospital. I went by myself by taxi and waited for 2 hours. A very friendly doctor checked on me and gave me meds, and I was cured faily easily.

* Safety:

The town is very safe. I rode a bike around town and it was immensely helpful to own a bike.

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

The academic program was of high quality and my learning ability improved immensely.

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)

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? £100
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Eat at the dining hall for every meal.

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

  • Local Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
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?
  • Academic challenge
  • Highly intellectual classmates and visiting student friends
  • Getting to know and experiencing the town of Oxford; travelling in Europe
* What could be improved?
  • Lack of organization and centralized standard in the education system across tutors, courses, colleges at Oxford
  • Difficulty in making close friends among the local students
  • The majority of time spent rigorously self-teaching, lack of time for joining a club, and the gloomy weather made the experience lonely at times
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Be well-versed in the sophomore-year course materials before diving into Oxford courses. Honestly, not that much - nothing was exceptionally unexpected and I couldn't have done that much to fix the things I didn't like.

Reasons For Studying Abroad

To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you.
The Academic or Linguist
You went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you!