Oxford - Teddy Hall Past Review
By Priyanka N (Chemistry., Wellesley College) for
University of Oxford - Visiting Students
I really learned how to be a self-motivated, independent learner and my time management skills got a lot better. I think this will really help me in my future studies. I loved the city of Oxford, which is beautiful, and the libraries, which are incredible resources that you won't find anywhere else, and the tutorial system. I would recommend it to anyone who's thinking about it, and I sincerely wish I could do it again.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I really found that I liked the Oxford method of teaching. It's very independent: you don't have to go to lecture if you don't want to (though it usually helps), I was assigned a problem set a week that I had to do every week and we went over it in tutorial. Also I had to do 14 labs by the end of year. I just had to read books and figure out the problems and fit in the labs whenever I could. Though it was tough at the beginning, by the end, I came to really enjoy it. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The administration (the college office) tends to be pretty hands-off when it comes to visiting students (and most other students) but they were helpful whenever I went in to ask for something and were pretty efficient and quick. They were quite good about getting transcripts to me in time for applying to medical school, so that was nice. There were about 20 visiting students total that year. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Housing off-campus in a dorm building about 15 minutes from Teddy Hall. The rooms were quite nice and had sheets, a comforter, and a pillow. It was sort of in a less-than-nice part of Oxford however, and so I tried not to be out after dark very much. I would have preferred to be on campus with the first-years because there was very little interaction with non-visiting students where I was living, however, Teddy Hall simply doesn't have the space in-college. |
| * Food: |
The food at Hall wasn't amazing; if you were vegetarian, there was very little choice. I found they were pretty generous with the quantity of food. Also, it was pretty comparable to Wellesley dining halls and it is the least expensive option. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Be careful and don't walk around alone at night, but other than that, Oxford's quite a safe city. The healthcare system for emergencies (the NHS) can be difficult to navigate, but I only ever needed the college doctor who's available once a week and the college nurse who's pretty good about being on top of her email. The only health issue that was discussed was meningitis, but having had the vaccine I didn't worry about that. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* 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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Over the term, I spent about 50-100 pounds a week, and over the breaks (when there's no Hall), I spent 200 pounds a week on eating out and other things. I think this could have been significantly lessened by cooking more, but I didn't really do that. I would suggest taking advantage of kitchen facilities to save on food as it can be quite expensive. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I would budget carefully, especially if you're planning to travel. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Go for the whole year and be open-minded and optimistic. Don't set overly high expectations for your time abroad as it will likely surprise you with challenges, but if you learn to appreciate the experience, it will definitely be worthwhile in the end. |
