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/lit/ - Literature


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17966120 No.17966120 [Reply] [Original]

UK University General Thread

Where do you study? What do you study? What are you reading at the moment?

Feel free to discuss deadlines, exams, and other end of stage activities as the end of the academic year comes to a close.

>> No.17966125

Question for non-Oxbridge posters: why bother?

>> No.17966143

>>17966125
Thinking back to Oxford gives me a stomach ache. I'd just assume non-Oxbridge anons get a comfier vibe off these threads.

>> No.17966155

>>17966120
Lads do I do Philosophy and Politics at Durham and hope to change it to PPE once I’m there, or do I just do PPE at Exeter? I already have the grades.

>> No.17966172

>>17966155

By my recollection you still get a functional amount of numeracy out of a politics degree these days (I think at Oxford they learned Q?)

So unless you're seriously after economics maybe stick to Durham?

>> No.17966173

i read english lit at exeter maaaaany years ago

>>17966155
i found exeter dull by the end of my time there, but durham seems worse
exeter has little going on culturally but at least it's set in pretty country (make sure to take a trip to sidmouth, and exmouth is quick to get to on the train)
isn't exeter better, higher in rankings, more prestigious than durham?

>> No.17966183

>>17966172
>I think at Oxford they learned Q?
wait, what? the programming language? that's insane
great (i love q) but insane (it's a fucking crazy language for beginners)
pls someone hire me to write q

>> No.17966202

>>17966183
Oh, no I'm an idiot. Q is a software package I use in market research. Q-Step is what I meant, and it's an initiative to upskill social-science undergrads in quantitative research. So you'll get a decent amount in your politics course.

>> No.17966205

>>17966155
I'd say Durham desu unless you're heavily invested in the econ aspect of your degree. Both are sleepier towns so perhaps not the best fit if you want an extremely active nightlife, but Durham will offer you the more traditional aspects of British universities, plus they are very sporty if that's your bag. I don't know anyone personally who went to Exeter so I suppose I'm biased.

>> No.17966227

>>17966202
ah, ok, that makes more sense. So is the Q you use the arthur whitney/kdb/kx thing? https://code.kx.com/q/ ? Or some other thing called Q? I guess that name is probably kinda overloaded in coding/software tools.

>>17966205
durham seemed a lot uglier when I had a (brief) look at the campus
I don't mean the town, which is probably nice enough, but the campus itself, which iirc is set outside the town and feels like 70s concrete brutalist hell (again, iirc)
at least exeter is on a campus which is actually integrated into its town, and actually has nice buildings
bonus: they might have finished the development they were working on in the centre of campus the entire time i was there

>> No.17966237

>>17966120
>Where do you study?
UKC
>What do you study?
Literature
>What are you reading at the moment?
Hemmingway

>>17966125
Need at least a 2.1 degree for grad schemes init

>> No.17966238
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17966238

>>17966120
Anyone familiar with pic related? I hear he studies at Durham, so I was wondering if any anons have seen this chap before.

>> No.17966249

>>17966155
I don't know what rankings are like for your subject but I think Durham is a nicer place than Exeter.
>>17966173
County Durham is gorgeous mate.

>> No.17966271

>>17966155
I wouldn't rely on being able to change to PPE if you do decide to go to Durham. It really depends on how much you want to study the dismal science.

>> No.17966301

>>17966227
I suppose some of the buildings are shabby, but everything on the bailey is gorgeous. Regardless, the campus architecture seems like quite a specious reason to choose one university over the other.

As I said earlier, I think you'd be well served choosing either of them, but it mostly depends on how badly you want to chase econ.

>>17966237
Which Hem anon?

>> No.17966928

>>17966120
>UK uni general
>8 posters
Oof

>> No.17967451

>>17966120
>Where do you study?
Oxford
>What do you study?
English Literature & Language
>What are you reading at the moment?
The Kalevala

>> No.17967567

>>17967451
tell me about your time at Oxford, please.

>> No.17967575

>>17966237
2.1 is minimum for all internationals applying. Is it different for nationals?

>> No.17967665

>>17966205
>I'd say Durham desu unless you're heavily invested in the econ aspect of your degree
>>17966172
>So unless you're seriously after economics maybe stick to Durham?
I am very interested in economics but not more so than Politics and Philosophy. I’m also thinking PPE is a more employable degree? Since knowledge of Economics is presumably a lot more applicable to a lot of life and jobs etc.
>>17966173
>isn't exeter better, higher in rankings, more prestigious than durham?
No, it’s the opposite lol, which is why I’m having difficulty making a decision.

>> No.17967683

>>17967567
What would you like to know?

>> No.17968188

>>17967683
everything desu

>> No.17968343

>>17966120
I've heard tales of Americans going from an unrelated bachelor to a masters, such as from english lit to accountancy (taking a few prereq courses beforehand naturally), anyone aware if that's equally feasible in the UK? My bachelor is useless desu (psychology), literally any masters would be better than a psych one

>> No.17968477

>>17968343
how so? Why don't you like it.

>> No.17968649

>>17968477
Mostly because it's only really good for clinical work - and I no longer have any intention of dealing with the mentally ill under the guise of therapy (my views on treatment don't exactly align with what's regarded as best practice). That and a significant chunk of the field is just bullshit, leaving little prospect for good jobs outside clinical work the way I see it. Worst case scenario I can do an Industrial-Organisational Psychology masters and get a job as a low-tier managenent consultancy wagie. Either way, I'm interested in other options in the UK since I've been living abroad for my entire life and would like to settle somewhere English speaking

>> No.17968665

I read English Literature at the University of Sussex. was a nightmare full of woke radlib pink haired theythems.

>> No.17968687

>>17966120
Birmingham
Business Management
The Fountainhead - Rand

I have a shit ton of deadlines coming up but I'm gonna get through it.


>>17966238
no clue who that guy is

>> No.17968732

oh i'm reading The Gods Will Have Blood - Anatole France

>> No.17968880

>>17966301
Farewell to Arms. Thought I'd included it in my post but had entirely neglected to lol. I've been meaning to read it for time, kinda embarrassing that it's taken me so long to get round to it. I'm enjoying it.

>>17968343
In the UK it's defo possible. Especially if you're going to one of those ginny unis that are only after your £11k master's loan (think >60 on the league tables)

>>17967451
college?

>>17968665
I got an offer from Sussex. I remember they were playing Caribbean steel drums at the open day. Was just about the only memorable thing about it.

>> No.17969141

>>17968649
I see, I see. I wish you the best of luck then! I know that in Oxford you can transfer but only with good reason for the most part, you have to hammer it down why you did this and how maybe your work so far can lend itself to the field you apply to.

>> No.17969389

>>17966120
>Where do you study?
Nottingham
>What do you study?
English
>What are you reading at the moment?
The Waste Land

>> No.17969539

>>17969141
Thanks anon, I'm quite confident I could give a solid explanation for why I'm transferring with good evidence from work I do in other hobbies - back to the personal statement drawing table
>>17968880
As far as I've seen the masters grade requirements for top unis are quite lenient that it isn't necessary to study somewhere grim, but a good point that it would probably be easier in lower ranking places

>> No.17970386

>>17966125
Bcs im not a fag t. Durham

>> No.17970405

>>17968188
hes a larper

>> No.17970426

>>17968687
That's Lewis Howeth, he's doing a DPhil whilst running a channel called Perspective Philosophy on youtube

>> No.17970831

>>17970405
So it seems

>> No.17970862

>>17966120
That's my uni. Studying English and Film. Got the highest scored essay in undergrad Film this year. english essays are going well. Am writing about Mccarthy right now. Great uni.

>> No.17970948
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17970948

>>17966125
because I don't give a fuck about my degree

>> No.17970960

>>17970862
which is it?

>> No.17970969

>>17970960
Queen's University Belfast

>> No.17970983

>>17970862
In my optional philosophy module we have studied Kant, Plato and Nietzsche which is good for undergrad.

>> No.17971041

You will NEVER EVER dine at Balliol College, Oxford before quietly sneaking off with your privately educated (£36,000 per year plus expenses and netball tour fees) English rose girlfriend. Every night for 8 weeks per term, 3 terms an academic year, for 3 to 4 years of your intensive, 3 essay a week, tutorial (maximum of 3 people, including you and a world leading expert who probably wrote the textbook ("Ignore that part Anon, just padding for the slower students at inferior universities! Now lets enjoy the weather and spend the hour outside, discussing my conception of Neoplatonism through the lens of Rawls."), 3 of them a week) filled life changing, world class experience.

No need for job interviews. The finest employers in the Western hemisphere come from London to advertise. Though that doesn't adequately convey the personalised nature of it. No presentations to halls filled with 300+ people followed by awkward business card shuffling. Personalised dinners with your college's alumni. Dinner with Amal Clooney, where she discusses her international human rights work in the Hague on Monday, prosecuting the last of the Eastern European holdouts, and then her work in the backwaters of Mugazumbabwete where she represented a blind, deaf, and disabled, 88 year old in a meeting with a tribal chief. Extremely rewarding, I trust you guys not to publicise it.

Brunch with Tony Blair and other members of the Lacrosse team, including your rival for your English rose, Uppingham-Mannheim III, who you have come to a frosty respect. Tony was dreadfully gauche but he did raise some chuckles when he talked about the calibre of the current Labour leadership. To this we day we still discuss whether Birckbeck and Brunel on a resume are more embarrassing than 2 failed A levels. Aah.. The high-minded discussions of the men of Oxford...

>> No.17971052

I've been reading all these recent Oxbridge topics, along with that Oxford copypasta, with some bemusement. I went to Oxford and did a PPE degree. I have also read a lot of bitter posts about poshness but I did see a grain of truth: that the public school upbringing shielded you from feeling offence. It's true. It's always jarring when I come across a /lit/ type in real life, one of those fiercely attempting to climb the class ladder through erudition and intellect alone. It is embarrassing on both sides.

On the one hand, this person, so used to being the towering intellect in their Durham-LSE-UCL (oh spare me about English Literature rankings!)-Warwick social circle (Bristol, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews seem to produce only jolly clowns, not these types), is visibly mortified while realising how much the Oxbridge natural brilliance shines through. What's funny is that they are invariably better read than me. Tolstoy's lesser known works and so on. But they are still visibly insecure, in many cases shaking. Sometimes I use my 3-to-1 tutorial hewn bullshitting technique to pretend that I have read as much as them but I always reveal that I am joking and this terrifies them, as if realising I have been boxing with both hands behind my back. Please, you guys, DON'T come across so try hard.

I now float in and out of fashionable South Kensington, Russel Square, and, when I feel like knobbing that hipsterish girl you cooed over in your 30 person English tutorials as a Chinese teaching assistant failed to draw ANY original thoughts from the class, Camden mileus on these autumnal and winter Friday and Saturday nights. It's quite funny really, my friends and I were academically brilliant, on many occasions being invited for individual wine sessions with multiple tutors from Economics, Law, and English Literature, and being begged to continue on with further study- on one occasion my tutor postponed his meeting with the Presidents of the World Bank and IMF where he would advise them of the Venezuela situation, in order to plead with me to develop a Hegelian line of attack on the similarities of English common law and Constantinople law that I had mentioned in a throwaway comment- and yet, in these fashionable parties, the most easily brilliant and witty people were the Oxbridge colleagues among us who had done so academically badly. Lowly Atillas, lazy Desmonds, narcoleptic Douglases: who knew they were so brilliant? But I guess that's Oxbridge for you!

>> No.17971071

>>17971041
would be a lot better if it wasnt extremely poorly written. what a boring pasta

>> No.17971074

You will never do a PPE degree at Oxford.

You will never study with the world's future elite in small and lively tutorial sessions led by world renowned intellectuals.

You will never ever do a degree that gives such huge scope for the hardworking or lazy, intellectual or practical, idealist or realist.

You will never do a degree where the only exams that matter for your grade are 8 3 hour exams at the end of a three year degree. Pop quizzes are for proles. The elite are expected to synthesise information.

You will never do a degree that gives you so much free time, allowing you to choose between deep and intense study or taking part in student politics (in Oxford, all voters are part of the intellectual elite; it is like democracy in Athens when compared to grubby real world politics, which all Oxford graduates consider to be a joke) or the Oxford Union, the most famous debating society in the world.

You will always be considered an intellectual inferior, a bit of a joke.

You will never have the access to the highest echelons of publishing, academia, media, high finance, politics, and NGOs.

You will never see your past classmates on TV or on the covers of magazines.

You will never go to a formal dinner in a full suit and gown and walk back to your room after a raucous champagne drinking session with that qt Cheltenham Ladies College alumnus brown haired lacrosse playing English Literature studying girl, who was originally stuck up, and always is towards non-Oxbridgers and the poor, and most of all to try hard Oxbridge rejects, but who was taken in by your deep and witty knowledge of Keats and Yeats and Byron.

>> No.17971085
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17971085

Wow... 41 people who will go straight to the top of their chosen life path: medicine, academia, law, broadcasting, politics. How inspiring.

Imagine if they didn't go to Oxbridge. What a huge turning point in their lives that would be. One path is the way to fame, riches, academic excellence. The many others are paths to depressing, grey, dreary, pitiful mediocrity: "I didn't really care about Oxbridge... They can't see my intelligence... At least this university has only 8 essays a term, it'll give me more time to study independently... These parties are fun, much better than studying, I mean, talking about Plato at 2 am, that's a real education, not some stuffy 1 to 1 tutorial... That job application process was rigged, I never really wanted to be an investment banker, being an accountant in Bristol is fine... I could do that politician's job... I'm smarter than that TV presenter, how does she get paid £400 k... Heh look, they're reporting on the A level results. I did mine 16 years ago. I was so excited to get an offer to go to the University of Brischestfield. Haha, that girl gets a news story about her acceptance for Feminist Studies at Cambridge? Wow, standards must be slipping."

>30 mediocre years later

"Maybe tomorrow I'll finally quit my middle management job. I only have 10 years until retirement age. Maybe I'll get round to reading all of Plato's dialogues. What's that news story? She's the new Prime Minister and she plans to take England in to the Eurasian Union? *looks at her Wikipedia page* Feminist studies at Cambridge..."

>> No.17971098

I literally can't express how much better my life has been since I attended Oxford. I went to a state school and gradually became the stereotypical moody, withdrawn sensitive type who both despises the quality of his immediate culture and feels a weird pride for having been raised in a sort of anti-intellectual and brutal environment. I was all set to take my Russell Group humanities BA and spend my life working as an anonymous, insecure wageslave forever thankful of being offered a job and forever too insecure to pursue my creative ambitions. The chip on my shoulder had become something of a wedge, and I felt too out of place regardless of my environment, too resentful and bitter to even attempt to make it in the artistic world. Then I finally applied for Oxford and got in to study an English MA, with reassurance that should I work hard enough a career in academia or within one of Oxford's affiliated companies would be almost guaranteed. I turned up as apprehensive as usual, and the first few days were spent regretting my decision and desperately feigning a cultured personality. But then I realized that the people there were just interesting and that the snobbery and exclusivity I had anticipated was just a myth borne out of my working class upbringing. I've since graduated, having spend the year dining in grand halls with groups of interesting people, dating several girls (one of whom, a petite Russian whose family traces back to the aristocracy, is now my fiancee). I work four days a week at a publishing company and earn £38k a year. I regularly meet up with friends from my college and visit Oxford for nights out and for meetings with my professors. The Martin Eden-esque novel I have been writing for two years has been selected for publication at a major British publishing house and, honestly, I could not have imagined a few years ago how great life could be. I come on /lit/ and see how pathetic you all are and just shake my head and chuckle. If I saw you guys on the street I would of course throw you a penny or discuss Bukowski or whatever "realist" writers you enjoy, but ultimately I would be able to tell within ten seconds if you're an Oxbridge grad and would dismiss you as a potential source of good company if you are not. I never thought I'd know what it was like to be objectively better than somebody else, for the value of my existence to be superior to the value of a stranger's, but now I do and I've never been happier. People are awed by power and prestige. All I need to do is mention the university I attended (if only for a year) and they immediately begin to hunch and look at their feet because they know they are in the presence of greatness.

>> No.17971120

As soon as I hear about some famous figure and I check their Wikipedia page, I look at their "Education" section. Almost always the undergraduate degree of the famous or infamous person is from the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. This is because I am British but if you're American you may have experienced the same phenomenon but with a few more colleges.

What strikes me about all these famous people, who work across all fields of accomplishment, is the sheer depth to their character and speech. They don't rest on their CV or current job title (Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor, Young Novelist of the Year etc.). It is easy for even the layman to notice the confidence, wit, and originality of Old Oxbridgians.

Sadly this brilliance must have its shadow. This is in the form of the famous people who managed to sneak in to the limelight after their degrees at much less prestigious universities. These names roll off the tongue like mouldy liquorice. Durham. Warwick. Edinburgh. Glasgow. University College, London. (Strangely, almost nobody famous went to Imperial College, London. You're more likely to find an Oxon Modern History alumnus in charge of a technology company. Do these Imperial alumni disappear in to dull but reasonably well remunerated wageslaves? This must be the subject of another essay.). The impression they leave is one of strained personalities suffering under the limelight. The shear stress of having to keep up with Old Oxbridgians is palpable. One feels a pity for them.

An undergraduate degree at Oxbridge doesn't just confer a world class formal education squeezed in to stressfully compressed 8 week terms with intimate tutorials with world leading academics. The extracurricular experience could reasonably be argued to contribute just as much to an alumni's success. Due to the collegiate nature of the universities, there are many more opportunities to become involved in extracurriculars both casual and world famous. The Machiavellian education gained in electing leaders of the Junior Common Rooms has gone down in history as the baptism of many British politicians. The Oxford Union is, of course, peerless.

>> No.17971126

>>17970969
thanks

>> No.17971408

>>17970862
Same, got a 1st class masters and a PhD. Fuck that place, it's sinking.

>> No.17971468

>>17966120
any LSEfags?

>> No.17971481

>>17971408
why would you get a PhD there?

>> No.17971591

>>17971408
Couple questions from a current student. Did you study English and Film? What did you get a PHD in? What do you do now? And why do you think it's sinking?

>> No.17971691

>>17971085
>Imagine if they didn't go to Oxbridge. What a huge turning point in their lives that would be. One path is the way to fame, riches, academic excellence. The many others are paths to depressing, grey, dreary, pitiful mediocrity: "I didn't really care about Oxbridge...
I got rejected for PPE after interview stage earlier this year and this is unironically how I feel. Give it to me straight bros, am I ever gonna make it? Am I doomed to mediocrity because of some arbitrary admissions process that I failed to live up to?

>> No.17971703

>>17971591
I wonder too

>> No.17971709

>>17971691
just apply for Graduate studies, anon. Do an MPhil or MSt or something.

>> No.17971713
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17971713

>>17971085
Lol this is so true

>> No.17971720

Should I go to Birmingham or Warwick for English, lads? Got offers from both. Which would give me a better shot at Oxbridge for PhD?

>> No.17971722

>>17971074
PPE is the biggest meme degree. "Piss poor at everything" is an understatement. It's essentially a degree in bullshitting, in pretending you know what you're talking about when you haven't got a single clue. Doing a dual degree is bad enough, but with PPE you will only engage with the most superficial aspects of any of those three fields of study.

>> No.17971732

>>17971713
wasn't she fired or something.

>> No.17971735

>>17971713
That painting had a smile before she showed up

>> No.17971970

>>17971722
I can only tell you that I had a terrible time at Warwick. I attribute much of that to mediocre teaching and an alummi exclusively consisting of stuck up bougie international students.

But in truth it was probably just because I was an autistic loser who failed in my efforts at networking and projected my self hate onto my surroundings.

So whichever university you pick dont be that.

>> No.17971984

>>17971098
MA at oxbridge isn't the same as BA

>> No.17972000

>>17971984
Doesn't really matter that it switches between BA and MA when its a copypasta.

>> No.17972001

>>17971722
kek, good description, easily proven with a quick glance at the political elite. You can basically get that exact same skillset of "good at bullshitting" for free from doing debating for a few years, with diligent reading - what a scam

>> No.17972039

>>17971098
Did you write this specifically to cause me pain anon? Because you suceeded

t.Bitter Oxbridge reject and failure

>> No.17972069

>>17972039
you can always apply again

>> No.17972103
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17972103

Australian posters welcome? I feel like the top unis here have the same bant as the oxbridge shitposting in here

>> No.17972140

>>17972069
That ship has long since passed friend.
Im a redbrick grad in a soul crushing civil service job.
I pray for collapse so that I can die.

Dont be like me

>> No.17972203

>>17971720
Bump for advice on this. It's for a 1 year taught MA if that matters.

>> No.17972211

>>17972140
I desperately want a civil service job. Really gunning for fast stream this September. Why don't you like it? Civic duty and participation in government is held to be one of the loftiest goals and a sure way to eudaimonia by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, etc.

>> No.17972480

>>17972203
what's the difference between 1 and 2 years when it comes to the British Masters

>> No.17972623

>>17972480
Usually the 2 year masters programmes are for people who don't have the required skillset to do the 1 year masters. For example, if you have little quantitative background from your undergrad, but want to pursue a masters that requires a lot of quantitative skills, you would have to do the 2 year masters usually

>> No.17972634

>>17972623
Hmm I see, good to know. Thanks!