STOP PRESS

[fox]

update: so i'm looking through an e-mail, with a chain of replies, between self and the secretary of the Lx department at oxford -- and i see where she told me, on december 4, that the MPhil (which is what i've been accepted for) is a two-year degree, the one-year version of which (MSt, Master of Studies?) has a lower pass mark and no thesis. (my feeling is, with all apologies to mr. jefferson's university, i have that degree already.)

Comments

[fafou.livejournal.com]

So wait-you've been accepted to get a degree that you already have?

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

no, no. well -- not exactly.

what i have already is an MA. this involved some (not especially strenuous) coursework and a comprehensive exam with an oral component. i didn't have to do a thesis, and i finished it in a year and a half.

at oxford, they offer an MSt, which i believe stands for Master of Studies; this is a one-year master's involving coursework and exams, no thesis, with a particular grade you have to achieve in order to pass the exams and get the degree. they also offer an MPhil, Master of Philosophy, which involves the same coursework and the same exams, plus a thesis, and you have to get a higher grade to pass the exams and get the degree.

it's the MPhil i've been accepted for, and that's just as well, because my MA being what it is, i feel like i've already sort of done the MSt.

[fafou.livejournal.com]

Okay I get it now. So it's good you've been accepted for the more difficult program. Go you!

But then I already thought that.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

The M.St. is generally a scam to bring in foreign students/rich slackers and their tuition $$$. It has no actual purpose and won't be recognized as counting towards grown-up graduate education later. So, yes, it's the M.Phil. you want.