Cambridge one year Mphil

[Oywotchadoin]

One year full time. What’s the reality of this like? What does full time even mean these days? My first degree was full time but was actually 6 hours of lectures a week!
I’d be living at home and commuting. Am I mad to consider?

[JohnHunter]

Is it the research MPhil or the predominantly taught MPhil? And in which subject? I've no direct experience of either, I'm afraid, but these details might help others.

[FraterculaArctica]

Where is 'home' ? I would say full time means full time (at least - expect to work evenings and weekends too). Number of contact hours is really not relevant. There is a huge amount of self study and projects, extended essays, etc. to undertake. I only know the details of the department in which I teach, but would expect most to be similar in terms of workload.

[Oywotchadoin]

It’s a taught MPhil, and Home is about 40 mins by train.
I don’t think I can do it. School run etc

[FraterculaArctica]

I'm afraid the school run would be an impossible commitment - you would need childcare. You would need to be available for classes starting at 9, and going on till 4 or 5. This wouldn't necessarily be every day though, so could you look into getting wraparound childcare to fit the course timetable?

[Oywotchadoin]

It’s possible I suppose if I knew exactly what the course hours were. But then that pushes the cost up hugely. Thanks for posting though.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Just get in touch with the convenors. I taught for one of the Cambridge taught MPhil courses and it's quite normal to receive emails from potential students asking about details of the course. For mine, you were required to attend a seminar at 5.15pm (not the most family-friendly hours IMHO!). But there was some flexibility with other things. I bet it varies a lot from subject to subject, but if you don't ask, you won't know!

[Oywotchadoin]

Thankyou, I’ll ring next week.

[Yazoop]

Hi there! For both undergrad and postgrad, I thought you had to have a residential address within 10 miles of the centre of Cambridge, per the rules? Not sure if this has changed recently though (it is a bit archaic!).

MPhils (taught ones at least) can be pretty intense in terms of class time, evening seminars and written coursework, but the extent of this will depend on the actual course.

[Oywatchadoin]

Yep it’s lookinh too hard to manage logistically. Am now looking at a master of studies.