Arcadia England

It is hard to believe that this time last year Will was only beginning his study abroad experience in Oxford. Now, Will studies at Hunter College and is completing his senior year with a view towards graduating in May 2015. He attended both spring terms (Hilary and Trinity) of Arcadia’s associate student programme in the spring of 2014. The Oxford programme is small and enables me, as the programme manager, to give the students individual attention. I was really eager to take advantage of my trip to New York to reconnect with him and see how he was getting on after Oxford.

In the programme, Will studied Old English and generally took advantage of the exceptional medieval studies resources available at the university. While reminiscing about his time abroad we talked mostly of the academic opportunities the programme affords. Will especially notes that the freedom to study is a unique attribute: tutors offer students a lot of ‘free reign’ when it comes to selecting subject matter and even which essay topics to write about; On top of that students have an unparalleled amount of ‘free time’ in the week to study. This can be a challenge and Will rightly recommends students prepare for it, including mentally preparing in advance of joining the programme.

When pressed for one tip for current and future students, Will said: ‘Rise to the occasion’. He continued on to say that students ‘probably applied to the program planning to study intensively’ and so it is important that when they arrive they ‘get to work and do that’.

That advice might sound a bit grim. Is Oxford really all work and no play? In my experience Will is spot on – the students who enjoy the Oxford programme the most are those who also enjoy their studies the most.

For his part, Will has noticed benefits to his current studies from skills picked up abroad. For example, instead of a typical five class course load this past term he took 6 and one of them at a graduate level. Having studied in the tutorial system has given him two types of benefits. For one, he feels his time management skills are now well-developed and that he can maximize his own productivity much more easily. For another, Will finds that he is producing work of a higher quality in less time. In short he studies more efficiently and to a higher standard than he did before visiting Oxford.

Now that Will is graduating and applying to graduate programmes in medieval studies, I could not be more pleased that he fondly looks back at his time in Oxford as an important step in his academic progress. It was great to be able to get to know him in Oxford, and really enjoyable to catch up a year on. I wish him the best!