Hi there! My previous post was all about exploring new places and well, studying. And at the end of that post, I mentioned something that is still connected to what I talked about recently. Today, I'll be sharing with you guys my interview with Jamie Mills, a graduate of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Magdalen College, Oxford! I contacted him for a school newspaper article, but it got cut because of space and publication. Nevertheless, I still want to share this with all of you because it seems extremely interesting to me!
So for a little "background-check" about the education system in England...
1) I've heard
that there are 13 years of schooling in England after Kindergarten... How does
the division go? (For example, four years in primary school, two in middle
school, etc)
Broadly
speaking, we have a three-tiered schooling system, with nursery, what we call
kindergarten, being the zeroth tier that you enter when you around 3 or 4 years
old. You spend six years in primary school and then move onto secondary school,
which takes up a further five years. The final tier of our compulsory education
system is known as sixth form, which is where you go to study your A-levels.
This adds a further two years.
In
sum, you start your journey at 3 and you finish when you’re 18. Then you have
the choice of applying to university or pursuing work.
2) How many
lecture hours do high school students usually get?
We
do not have lectures, per se, at secondary school. We have classes. The
majority of secondary schools have schedules that repeat every fortnight, with
a minimum of five hours worth of classes everyday. Each subject has a
prescribed number of hours, for instance, the fortnightly schedule must include
at least 3 hours worth of physical education. On top of this schedule, exceptional
student or those with certain interests, such as music, can enrol in enrichment
classes. These are additional classes that take place before or after school.
3) Are there
English high schools that are Research-based?
There
are roughly three different types of secondary school in England:
comprehensive, grammar, and private. Comprehensive schools take students
regardless of their aptitude, while grammar school have an entrance exam.
Unlike the other two, private school charge tuition fees, and can have entrance
exams. As private schools are privately funded, they have far more control over
their curriculum. Should it be of interest, I attended a comprehensive school.
With
the above in mind, some secondary schools certainly exist whereby students
would conduct research; however, it would only really be the private schools,
and a few of the top grammar schools, that would do this. This is down to a larger
amount of funding and having greater control over the curriculum.
For university...
4) How does the
college/department system work? Is this unique to Cambridge and Oxford?
The
collegiate system is not unique to Oxford and Cambridge, but it is certainly
best known because of these universities. Another notable university with this
structure is Durham. Your college is similar to your house in Harry Potter. The
difference being there are around 30 colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge
instead of just four houses.
Your
sleep, eat, and socialise at your college with the other roughly 300 students.
Every college has tutors who will take you for your classes and tutorials, but
as you progress through your degree you’ll find yourself venturing out to other
colleges to learn from the specialists in your field.
The
university mainly features in your life for departmental activities and exams.
If you are a physicist, you will go to the physics department for your lectures
and experiments, but return to your college for your tutorials, that is, your
one-to-one sessions with your tutor.
5) Can students
apply for two courses simultaneously?
No,
you can only apply for one course or a course with multiple honours. For
instance, I read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford.
6) Can post-graduates
directly do a PhD without completing a Masters degree?
Unfortunately,
this question is not clear. If you are a post-graduate you, by definition, must
have at least a Masters, which makes the question unnecessary. The other
interpretation is ‘Can you do a PhD at Oxford or Cambridge without having done
a Masters at either university?’. Should this be the question, the answer is
yes.
7) How many
contact hours/lecture hours do students get?
Undergraduate
degrees are said to take up 40 hours of time per week. The number of lectures
you attend depends on your subject. For the sciences, there are around 10 hours
of lectures per week, while arts subjects are technically not required to
attend any lectures. As a member of the university, you can attend as many
lectures for as many subjects as you like, which is a big challenge when you
want to learn everything!
8) How much
workload does an Oxford student normally get (essays, projects, etc)
An
arts student, such as History, must complete two essays per week. You have
around three days to read and write the essay, which must be around 2000 words.
When you finish writing the essay, you then have a one-hour tutorial to talk
through your essay with your tutor.
There
are also opportunities to complete research projects, write a thesis, or take
additional papers if you are incredibly keen. To my knowledge, the workload is
the most intense of any university; however, being in such an academic pressure
cooker also makes it incredibly rewarding.
9) What do you
do with your free time?
For
me university was just as much about nurturing my spirit to become a better
version of myself as it was developing myself as an academic. My free time
consisted of sports, such as martial arts and ice hockey, socialising, over
board games or at birthday parties, and working on projects I thought were
meaningful, such as my YouTube channel.
Not
to let some traditional Oxford experiences pass, I also acted as the Vice-President
of Magdalen College’s student body, and visited CERN with the Oxford Physics
society.
On a deeper note...
10) What is the
most precious thing that you've learned in Oxford?
I
learned how to juggle my life. The clearest example of this is my first year,
which I spent doing a huge range of activites on top of my degree, which was to
the detriment of my sleep. In my second year, I set the challenge of still
having a broad range of rich experiences and getting a healthy amount of sleep.
It turns out it is possible, but you need to ensure you are present at every
moment to appreciate the experiences you are living. As Annie Dillard said, ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our
lives’.
The
fruits of my efforts were clear: my friendships became deeper, my work more
managable, and I learned to make time for spontaneous events that would crop
up. After doing all of that, the working world has become incredibly easy, so
I’ve decided to work on my own things on the side, otherwise, I’d become
extremely bored.
The
final point to add is that you should not worry about dropping any of the balls
you are juggling. Instead, you should focus on dropping the right balls that
improve your well-being. If you do this, things will work out smoothly.
11) What is your
message to Filipinos who aspire to apply for Oxbridge or other top-notch
Universities globally?
Persistence
beats raw talent in the vast majority of cases. The top universities are
incredibly competitive, and you may think your background means you cannot get
in; however, be the outlier. Applying to university is a tickbox exercise.
Learn the boxes that you need to tick, and you can achieve brilliant things
without killing yourself in the process.
This
is counter-intuitive. If you are at all like I was at your age, you believe that
if you put in more hours you will have a larger reward at the end. From
experience, this is wrong. The better way to approach a goal is to spend your
time on the areas that will have the greatest impact. This is far more
efficient, and take more skill as you need to discern what those areas are.
That's it for the interview! Jamie actually has his own website dedicated in helping students study efficiently, with podcasts about managing time, studying, exams, and everything else. Sign up HERE!
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