<p>How rigorous is University of Oxford graduate study?
I want to know how great the university of oxford is for graduate study, and how great it is compared to the likes of Harvard,Yale,Stanford,etc? I want to know more about oxford. Is it huge and what u.s. university can you compare it to size wise? How many acres of land does the university of oxford sit on or own?</p>
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I think this is a question to which the answer is unknown. There are lots of rumours, such as you can walk from Oxford to Cambridge on college owned land. Most are probably not true (see discussion on the Cambridge wikipedia page linked below for example), but what is true is that some individual colleges have massive incomes from rent (and also a lot of wine - vineyards are popular land purchases/gifts).</p>
<p>[Trinity</a> College, Cambridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge]Trinity”>Trinity College, Cambridge - Wikipedia)</p>
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<p>As a PhD student at Cambridge I’d say that Oxford and Cambridge both compare very favorably to the schools you mention.</p>
<p>Perhaps I’m biased, but I think the tutorial/supervision systems and the famous Oxbridge exams constitute the most rigorous method of instruction and evaluation in the world. This rigor partly explains why both Oxford and Cambridge remain globally competitive despite their relative financial disadvantage to U.S. institutions of similar stature.</p>
<p>Before someone says, “wait…aren’t tutorials just done at the undergraduate level,” let me offer that the tutorial and exams are actually just part of a tradition of scholarship of a certain kind - one that isn’t confined to the manner in which undergraduates are taught. The “tutorial” culture pervades the way graduate students are taught too.</p>
<p>Remember that education, particularly in graduate school, is an apprenticeship - operating according to traditions of institutional craftsmanship. Such traditions are particularly strong in Oxford and Cambridge.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, several people in my master’s degree course had already completed master’s degrees at the schools you mentioned and had compared favorably the manner of instruction we were taught in Cambridge. I remember one very smart American student (now doing a PhD at Cambridge) saying that the critical thinking and research skills taught at Cambridge was several orders of magnitude more intense than his experience as a master’s student at Yale. Again though, you can’t read too much into such a small and non-random sample.</p>
<p>I’m still convinced that a very rigorous education can be had at any decent school. One doesn’t have to attend the Ivy League or Oxbridge school to receive an excellent education.</p>
<p>Thank you, cupcake, and orangelogic for the information because my son is interested in becoming a doctor, but he wants to have the experience in Oxbridge, and i really could not help him there. I did not know that the tutorials are done with graduate students, which is a remarkable experience. The idea of having a professor to yourself at the undergrad and graduate level is personal, and priceless.</p>
<p>At the graduate level these are typically done with the faculty thesis or dissertation supervisor you are assigned during the admission process. Undergraduate tutorials are conducted within the colleges. They are different in frequency but my point was mainly that the tutorial/supervision culture that drives the undergraduate teaching process at Oxford and Cambridge permeates the rest of the teaching and research culture even at the graduate level. But also remember that your original question had to do with comparing Oxbridge to places like Harvard and Yale. H & Y will also, at the graduate level, assign graduate supervisors so there isn’t any reason to fear getting a poor education at those outstanding institutions. If your son’s choice is betwee Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale, then he truly has little to worry about IMO.</p>
<p>When you say your son wants to become a doctor, do you mean he wants to get a PhD, or do you mean he wants to be a medical doctor? </p>
<p>If the latter, then you need to know that medical degrees are undergraduate degrees in the UK and the number of international students admitted is capped by the UK Government. There is almost no financial aid available. Your son would also need to check if a UK medical degree would qualify him to practice as a doctor in the US.</p>
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It doesn’t. It is necessary to take (and pay for) some extra tests.</p>
<p>The number of overseas students accepted for medicine every year at each of Oxford and Cambridge is 10 or fewer. You have to understand that if you son applies for admsision to this course, even if he is the best student in the world his chances of sucess are very small due to the quota mentioned by Laylah above.</p>
<p>To have the Oxbridge experience your son could apply to do a year abroad with a US school, or pay to join a summer program (many are held in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge but run by private companies and not educationally connected to these unis).</p>
<p>My son wants to be a Medical Doctor. I am not sure, but how long would it take to become a Medical Doctor at Oxbridge and in the U.S.? People have given me many answers, so i am not really sure anymore.</p>