University of Oxford, Magdalen College Summer

CHART Your Course
Visit CHART, our easy-to-use tool to review tutorials recently taken by IFSA students.

To view available classes, visit the Magdalen College summer catalog. Choose one of three academic options: English Literature, Medieval Studies, or Environmental Studies.

English Literature & Medieval Studies

A full class load at Magdalen is one class for 6 U.S. semester credit hours. All students join the Wales Field Excursion at no additional cost: Wales Field Excursion: The Development of British Landscapes. However, students enrolling in English Literature or Medieval Studies can earn an additional 2 U.S. semester credit hours if they opt to write a 2,000-word paper on a subject of their choice relating to the excursion and approved by Magdalen College.

Previously offered English Literature summer classes have included:

• Rediscovering Shakespeare
• Jane Austen in Text and Context
• The Inklings in Oxford (J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis et al.)
• Prison Literature: the Freedom of Imprisonment

Previously offered Medieval Studies summer classes have included:

• Conquest & Colonisation: England and Her Neighbours 1016-1296
• Death, Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Literature
• The Arthurian Traditions of King Arthur and the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table.

Environmental Studies

Students enrolling in Environmental Studies will earn 8 U.S. semester credit hours which requires the four-day Wales Field Excursion: The Development of British Landscapes. Previously offered Environmental Studies summer classes have included:

• Climate Change in the Anthropocene: Global Catastrophic Risk & Resilience.
• Environmental Change & British Landscape Development 11,500 BP – 1700 AD/CE.

Tutorial System
The hallmark of the University of Oxford academics is the tutorial system. The tutorial is typically a one-hour meeting between one or two students and the tutor. Tutorials usually meet once a week or every other week, and at the center of the tutorial is an essay on a topic the tutor previously assigned. The tutor will lead a discussion about the essay topic in an effort to provide new insights. At the end of the tutorial, the tutor will assign a new topic and may offer recommended reading. Tutorials are individually arranged, taking into account the subject to be studied and the tutor’s area of expertise. They are similar to independent study courses, but Oxford students bear even more responsibility for conducting independent research and maintaining good academic progress. The University of Oxford organizes weekly lectures on myriad academic subjects, and all students at the University, regardless of college, are welcome to attend. Lectures are not usually mandatory except for some science subjects, but tutors often recommend them as good supplements to tutorials and research.

Lab & Field Trip Fees
Please review syllabi and class materials when registering for direct-enroll classes. Certain classes may have a one-off lab or field trip fee disclosed in the syllabus or during the first meeting of the class. These fees are not included in your IFSA program fee. You will be responsible for these fees, whether they are billed and paid by IFSA or billed to you.

As an IFSA student, you are entitled to enroll in undergraduate courses for which you are qualified and in which space is available. Class descriptions in the online class catalog include prerequisites you must fulfill in order to enroll in each class when applicable. You can only enroll in one program and will take only one class within that program.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years of age. Students under 18 may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
• You must be currently attending or recently graduated from a U.S. or Canadian community college, technical college, two-year college, four-year college, or four-year university.
• Admission to Oxford colleges is highly competitive. Students typically study abroad at Oxford their junior year, having completed two (2) full-time years of study at their home institution before the start of the Oxford term. Oxford colleges may consider an applicant with just one (1) full-time year of completed study, but those students will be competing with students who have completed greater study in their specific subject area. A student with less than two years of completed study may be limited to first- and second-year classes.
• Eligibility requirements can vary among host institutions. Please ask your IFSA Enrollment Counselor for specific information.

Recommendation Letters
Your application to this program will require one (1) academic letter of recommendation on home institution letterhead.

TRANSCRIPT
Upon completion of your program, IFSA will send an official Butler University transcript to your home university with your coursework converted to the U.S. semester credit hour system. You will also have access to an unofficial transcript in your IFSA Student Portal. The transcript reflects classes taken, credits attempted, and grades earned during your term abroad. This service is included in your study abroad program at no additional cost. See our Transcripts page for more information.