An amazing year August 06, 2024

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I honestly will say that this ranking will really depend on which tutor you get, which course you selected, and what subject you're in. Overall, I think my educational experience at Oxford was decent. As visiting students, our workload was generally lower than the full-time undergraduate students, who I believe typically took more courses. Thus, my weekly workload for my subject was definitely doable. Because of that, and the tutorial system, I had a lot of free time to do my work and pursue extracurricular activities. The rigor was around the same, perhaps sometimes a bit harder than my home uni courses, but not by much. What I liked least was the lack of access (sometimes) to support outside the classroom, though this may be a UK + EU vs US thing more so than something unique to Oxford. My tutors were usually very busy fellows or PhD students who had little time to answer my questions between weekly tutorials, which were only an hour each. For Oxford students, this doesn't matter as much because their weekly assignments do not really "count" for them, since they only are officially graded by their exams. But for us visiting students, each assignment (only 8 of them per course) matters more for our grade conversion back home. I enjoyed the discussions I had at tutorials, and indeed it is an unique system I was extremely privileged to experience. Just wish there was a bit more support for visiting students.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

St. Edmund Hall is consistently known to be a college with some of the best food at Oxford, since a few years ago when they got a new chef or something. I'd say that's true, although day-to-day meals vary in quality. I'd say our formal meals were all quite good though, especially in comparison to some of the formals I've had at other colleges.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

In my experience, the British students and professors were all fairly nice, and even inviting to us visiting students. I do know visiting students who made local friends, but they all had to reach out first/integrate themselves into a club. At least at St. Edmund Hall, us visiting students lived on off-campus accommodation (only 10 minute walk away, but still made a difference), and since we were all grouped together there was a natural inclination for us to stick together, eat together, etc. I didn't try as hard to make local friends, though I did make a few acquaintances through clubs/chance encounters. I feel like I learned a lot about British culture during my year at Oxford, but how socially integrated you are with other students really depends on your personal effort.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Very good. I was able to get two blood tests through my college system quickly and conveniently. I was also able to restock on my medication through Boots, a pharmacy chain in the UK.

I felt like Oxford was very safe, as a young woman I never had any qualms about walking to places alone, even when it got dark (and it gets dark quite early during the winter months there). This was largely because there were always people outside doing something, especially groups of students getting late-night kebabs, going out to the club/bar, etc.

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

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Diversity of unique Oxford experiences - formal halls, gowns, tutorials, rowing team, etc.
• Tight-knit college and visiting student community
• Convenience of daily life - Public transportation, walkability

• Accessibility to academic support outside tutorial sessions
• More structured social integration with Oxford students