Maths and Philosophy click here

Mathematics

As far as I was aware when I was applying to universities, the maths course, unlike other courses, seemed fairly similar everywhere.  The main difference between Oxford and most other universities is the teaching method and this is what you should consider when deciding whether Oxford’s right for you.

In the 1st year there are about 10 lectures per week with the rest of the 1st year mathematicians in the University.  The lecturers set problem sheets that closely follow their lectures and you usually have to do them to hand in to the tutors in college weekly.  The sheets vary in difficulty but if you’ve attended the lectures and use the college library well you should be able to make a fair attempt at them.  The tutors mark your work and go through it with you in tutorials.  You will have between 2 and 4 hours of tutes per week and will usually be in groups of 2 or 3 with your tutor.  This means that you can focus on what you, personally, find difficult.  The tutors at Magdalen are great and very good teachers.  They each specialise in different areas of maths and will give you extra help and encouragement whenever you need it.  You will have a lot of your teaching in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years in college but some may be organised centrally at the Maths Institute.  There is a wide choice of options for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years and the possibility to change to some joint honour schools, e.g. Maths and Stats, at the beginning of the 2nd year.

Exams are set and taken centrally with the rest of the mathematicians in the University.  At the end of the 1st year there are MODS exams which you need to pass to stay on at Oxford but do not count towards your finals.  There are finals exams at the end of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years which does mean that the pressure is evenly distributed throughout the years.

Mathematicians at Oxford are encouraged to think through things themselves and are certainly not spoon-fed.  You have to have the motivation to be able to work through theorems and proofs, sometimes for a long time, in order to fully understand every detail.  University maths is very different to school maths.  You are not taught ‘just to accept’ anything; everything must be proven.  In this sense it is a very satisfying subject to study.

I would suggest visiting Oxford on one of the Open days in order to try and meet the tutors at your chosen college because they’re the ones who will inevitably interview and possibly teach you.