Arriving at Univ
First, I should explain the collegiate system for those who may be unfamiliar. Oxford University only exists in the loosest sense of the term. Really, Oxford is comprised of 30-odd independent colleges and "Oxford University" is a mere administrative figurehead. The colleges themselves are autonomous and control their own admissions and teaching independently of both each other and the university.
ASE takes a week-long residency at University College, the oldest in the system, being built in 1249. Other colleges include Christ Church, Trinity, St. John's, Magdalen (pronounced like "maudlin") and Queens.
The Great Hall at Christ Church, of Harry Potter fame
While at Oxford, we continue our classes as usual, with the exception of internship and education placements. Since I have an internship, this means I have Thursday off and can finally spend some time blagging.
Students take either four seminar classes or three seminars and one of the aforementioned placements. I have one class a day, Monday through Wednesday, but some people may have two classes on the same day depending on the way ASE constructs the overall schedule. Classes and placements never take place on Friday. Fridays are sacred. The only regular ASE activity on a Friday is study trips, which nearly every class takes. As an example, my course in Gothic literature takes a trip to London to go on the Jack the Ripper tour. ... Although now that I think of it, that may be the one study trip in the whole program that actually takes place on a Saturday. But you get the point.
The quintessential Oxford view
Classes meet once a week for about 2 hours, so you need to be on top of your stuff. Ghosts and the Gothic and Worlds Beyond Oxford are the heaviest in terms of reading, but that doesn't mean other literature classes are light. Many classes assign background reading in addition to the primary reading, which in an English course may well add up to one book per week. Background reading, and sometimes the primary reading, won't be given to you. It's kept in the library and it doesn't leave. Homework is an adventure in pro-activeness.
The classes themselves will vary from professor to professor, or rather from tutor to tutor, as in England the term professor is reserved for the distinguishment of Professor Emeritus. Most literature courses will include some degree of discussion and you may be assigned unmarked 5-minute presentations.
Radcliffe Square--prettiest spot in Oxford
As far as assignments go, we write a diagnostic paper of about 500-1000 words for each class. They are marked to give you an idea of what the professor is looking for, but the diagnostic does not affect your final grade in the class. Rather, your final grade is divided into four sections of 25%--two essays of 1500-2000 words apiece, written in weeks 5 and 10 of class; the final exam, typically a timed essay written in class the final week of courses; and class participation.
This week, our tutors returned our first papers, which we were particularly apprehensive about considering the scare speech the program's director gave during orientation. My grades (and from what I hear, the grades of most everyone else) ran the range of B+ to A-, just as they do at UMW.
Oriel College
So any fellow Eagles aspiring to ASE can rest easy. My academic experience here has been very comparable to my home institution.
