Study Abroad: Oxford, England

Oxford is, I would consider it an urban town. It’s super interesting to see how this urban landscape also combines with old cobblestone pathways.

Think churches. Think medieval architecture. Think beautiful golden limestone buildings. What was surprising was, Oxford was bigger than I thought would it be. There are so many nooks and crannies to it, and places to go and get lost.

For me, what was really important was that study abroad brought forth this change of pace, and place and face for a while. We lived in St. Michael’s Hall, which is kind of our own separate dormitory, all of the students in the Middlebury program studied and lived together.

The location was fantastic. Being in the center of the city, you had access to essentially everything.

We could take a bus to pretty much anywhere, and day to day I’d get to explore the city a bit. So I spent a lot of my time outside on mini adventures, and walking around, and eating out, and painting.

Kind of a multitude of things. The program, from my experience, attracted a certain set of students that were there to, first and foremost, work really hard and knew that they were getting into this rigorous atmosphere. You’re going to be writing every day, and I mean, honestly, it’s not really an exaggeration.

You are probably going to be writing every day, but it’s topics that theoretically you really love and pick for yourself, and want to explore and delve deep into and have conversations with your tutors about.

If you’re looking for maybe sometimes a challenging but also fulfilling experience that’s still connected to your academic journey, study abroad is a perfect way to help you broaden your own understanding of what you’re studying within the context of a global society.

If you can and if there’s a support system for you to kind of plan going abroad, then there’s no reason not to. It’s all great experience, studying abroad and exploring new places.

 

The Middlebury-CMRS Oxford Humanities Program (Middlebury-CMRS) offers a semester or year-long opportunity to study abroad in the vibrant and historical city of Oxford, England. Students become associate members of Keble College Oxford and have access to college facilities, as well as the Bodleian Library. [Please see note below.]

The Middlebury-CMRS semester program is an academically rigorous program rooted in the liberal arts tradition.  Courses are offered in the Humanities (Literature, History, Art History, Philosophy, Religion, Politics), though we welcome qualified applicants from all majors. It is also possible to take one tutorial in some disciplines within the social sciences. The aim is to provide each student with challenging course work within the context of a broad and well-balanced cultural and social life. If you have an inquiring mind, a critical approach to knowledge, and, above all, a capacity for creative as well as analytical thought, this is the program for you.

The academic program is carefully devised so that students develop skills in critical reading and writing, while they receive specialized training in medieval, Renaissance, early modern or modern subjects. The course load at Middlebury-CMRS includes a supervised research paper, a small seminar class, and two one-to-one tutorials.  The research paper hones the student’s abilities in critical thinking.  The seminar illuminates new readings through group discussions. The Oxford tutorial system ensures the closest possible cooperation between teachers and students. This combination is not found at any other study abroad program in the UK.

Middlebury-CMRS students are Associate Members of Keble College, but are not enrolled at the University of Oxford, and neither Keble College nor the University of Oxford have any responsibility for academic, pastoral, accommodation or disciplinary matters relating to M-CMRS. Students on the program are housed in St Michael’s Hall, in Oxford city center.

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