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Philosophy and Modern Languages |
Philosophy and Modern Languages is an excellent course to do at Oxford for a number of reasons. To begin with, both disciplines are ones which you will probably not have a chance to study in detail in later life, unless you were to take academic study further. The two also complement each other very well, as there is often a large overlap, as any study of literature will reveal. The Prelims course takes a wide sample of key elements from both disciplines which gives you a good idea of the sorts of things you might want to study for your Final Honours course. If you haven’t studied philosophy before, as I hadn’t, the Philosophy side of the Prelims course is a really good introduction to the basic principles. When it comes to the Finals Course, both disciplines have a wide range of options you can choose to study, which means that you can tailor your course very much to your own needs. In Modern Languages, you can choose whether you want to base your course on literature or language, although you will have to do elements of both, and in Philosophy you can choose options from Philosophy of Maths and Logic right through to Ethics and Aesthetics, with detailed studies of philosophers from the Ancient to the Modern periods. As with most joint schools subjects you can also choose whether or not to weight your course more heavily on one subject. The flexibility of the course gives you a great sense of independence, plus you get to meet lots of different people doing two subjects as opposed to one!
Magdalen is a good college to read this combination at because it has a fantastic library at its disposal, particularly as far as these two subjects go, the usefulness of which you realise when you find you don’t have to trek half way across town to get your books from an obscure university library, unlike many at other colleges. Tuition in both subjects is also very strong.
Interviews for this combination are really not a thing to be worried about! I was very nervous about having to interview for two subjects, particularly as I had never studied one of them (Philosophy) before but if you bear in mind that most people applying for single honours will have two interviews anyway, it really doesn’t seem that daunting. You will also have to do a written test for both subjects but again, this is nothing to get scared by. The thing to remember is just to do your best and to have a go at answering every question they answer you. And to enjoy yourself, because if you do, the tutors probably will have done too.
and Modern Languages |
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