For my fourth academic term, I took an adventure to study in one of the most prestigious universities in the world: University of Oxford. When I came here, there were about fifteen more GMU students from Fairfax campus. We went to London altogether as part of the exchange program, so it was a great opportunity to make some great friends even before going to Fairfax in my Junior year. Although I am an Economics major, since I am here in Great Britain, I am taking 19th to 20th Century British Novels and Philosophy on Ethics as my elective courses. Before the term starts, you can search the lecture schedule for the upcoming term and according to your needs, you can choose to go to as many lectures as you want by checking the time and the location. Not just the lectures but the weekly tutorial system with each professor in Oxford helps students keep in track of the materials covered within that week.
At the beginning of the 2017 Fall semester, I received an email from the Global Education Office (GEO) at George Mason. It was a brochure of studying abroad opportunities for GMU students. When I checked the website, there were a lot of different institutions I could apply for. There, I found ‘Semester in Oxford,’ and it said I could apply for the upcoming Spring semester. Two things to check: G.P.A. requirement and whether it is your semester to go to Fairfax. I was only done with my third semester, so I was eligible to apply. I followed what the website asked me to prepare: two recommendation letters from professors, two papers and a petition form with a personal statement and which subjects you are intending to study there. Two of my professors, Professor Lamba and Professor Cho, and my advisor Ms. Kim helped me a lot for this to happen, so I am very grateful.
Then, I came here in the first week of January for my journey to begin. In the University of Oxford, it has a trimester system, each of them for nine weeks. Each term is transferred back as 12 credits in GMU, so in order to make up for the missing 3 credits as a full-time student, all GMU students took an anthropology course as a Mason Core requirement to make it 15. The anthropology course professor came to Oxford in January as a supervisor so that students could adapt to the new environment well. The Hilary term ends in April and Trinity term ends in June, so as taking a Summer course, I extended my stay until the end of June.
So, what is so great about studying in Oxford? Oxford is a beautiful city that has 32 different colleges all tied into a single University of Oxford. All the university buildings are scattered around the city, which sometimes makes your legs too tired, but the coherence of the city makes it marvelously beautiful. It is also the oldest university in the English-speaking world. For that reason, it is full of academic resources! There are 99 different libraries, (you cannot enter all of them, unfortunately) but out of these libraries, you will definitely find the book that you need. The university museum is the world’s oldest museum. Plus, museums not just in Oxford, but also in London, are open free for everyone. With your European Union (EU) student card, museums in Paris are also free! During my six-month stay in England, I had the chance to embrace many cultural experiences. You can enjoy the privilege of entering all the reading rooms in the Bodleian Libraries, that all the tourists can only see from outside. I cannot wait to go back to GMUK in the upcoming Fall semester to share all the details I have experienced here at Oxford.
Yeon Ah Kim |Student Contributor
ykim67@masonlive.gmu.edu
Comments