So here I am — spending my junior spring at Worcester College of Oxford University. Worcester (pronounced “woo-ster”) is one of the oldest of the 38 colleges at Oxford. While I still can’t remember the names of most of the colleges, I’ve been impressed by the strong sense of community within them. Worcester has just over 350 students across three, (or for some majors, four) undergraduate years: fresher, second year and final year. It also houses M.Phil. (master’s) and D.Phil. (Ph.D.) students. A few weeks into the term, I found myself bumping into familiar faces in the dining hall, at tea breaks, during nights out or at novice rowing practices. I was also immediately adopted by an extensive “family” of parents, one sister, several cousins and grandparents. The family system is in place to foster community building; each Oxford fresher and visitor is paired with second-year “parents,” who provide guidance throughout the year; it wasn’t easy to call a girl younger than me “Mom” and a boy the same age “Grandpa.” Upon arrival at Oxford, my “parents” welcomed me with authentic English tea, flapjacks (English oatmeal desserts), crumble, scones and biscuits and, more importantly, great conversations in my favorite accent.
My fondness of the British accent was a big part of my choice of England as a study abroad destination. However, as I set foot on the brick pavement of Oxfordshire and witnessed the jaw-dropping and time-transcending architecture, the unique Oxford education started to unfold. Oxford and Cambridge are the only two universities that run a tutorial system, which pairs every one or two students with a tutor, who is normally a fellow of the College. Compared to the large economics or psychology lectures at Princeton, the tutorial system has been a mind-blowing experience for me. My two tutorials (nicknamed “tute”), include a primary tute on macroeconomics and a secondary one on French impressionism. A tute is a one-on-one dialogue between the tutor and tutored on the written work assigned the week before. For macroeconomics, every week I present my problem sets to my tutor and get critiqued during the hour-long session. These sessions force me on track with readings, as I have to explain my thought processes and apply the concepts in the textbook to understand current news such as those regarding Egypt, Libya and the oil supply shock. The difference between this tutorial and Princeton economics core classes is the level of interaction and the in-depth explanation expected in an Oxford tute. A problem set here requires elaborate explanation for each individual’s method of deriving the answer. At Oxford, I can’t cram problem sets into a few hours anymore.
As a painter myself, I have always dreamed of studying French Impressionism. At Oxford, I have the privilege to study this subject with the chair of the art department, who has taught ART 101: Introduction to the History of Art at Princeton. Studying one-on-one with a world-class scholar was unthinkable before coming to Oxford. By comparison, the smallest class I’ve attended at Princeton was oil painting with six students.
I have found the education at Princeton to be very rigorous, but Oxford seems more intense because it is highly focused and writing-intensive. Students are admitted to Oxford for a specific major within a college and study mostly courses within that subject for all three years. Therefore, it is very hard, and even painful, to switch majors halfway. My “mom” switched from history and English to pure English, and she disappeared for a few weeks to catch up on work. In that sense, I am very thankful for the liberal arts education at Princeton. For most humanities majors at Oxford, students have to produce two papers of 2,000 words every week. No wonder the college libraries, open 24/7, are always packed with tables of stacked books and occupied computers.
The rigor of an Oxford education does not stop at weekly essays: The Collections, three-hour exams at the beginning of each term, ensure that students work plenty during holidays. Although each break is six weeks long, many of my Oxford friends spend a good amount of their break working ahead or catching up on work, as each term is only eight weeks long. The most striking difference from Princeton is the final exams in June, which cover material on every class from the second and third years. The grades from these exams become final grades. This system ensures that students understand all parts of their education before graduation, but it inevitably comes with enormous pressure. That’s why one of my neighbors, an English finalist, just officially announced his abstention from Facebook a full two months before final exams.
Having experienced both Oxford and Princeton, I only wish I could combine the essence of both.
Chenyu Zheng is an economics major from Wuhu, China. She can be reached at czheng@princeton.edu.
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