Thomas Moore (1st year, Philosophy & Spanish)
What does a typical day studying Philosophy and Spanish at Keble look like?
For philosophy, there are three parts to the first year. In the first term, you study moral philosophy, with a focus on utilitarianism, and also an introduction to logic. For logic, we work off a book split into 8 sections, and read one per week, do exercises on what we’ve learnt, and meet for a logic class. For moral philosophy, we have 5 essays over the 8 weeks, and 5 tutorials where we discuss what we have learnt. In the second term, we study general philosophy (topics like knowledge, free will, mind and body), and this is also split into 5 essays and tutorials over the term.
For Spanish, every week we have a translation to do from Spanish to English, and a class where we discuss our different responses and problems that we may have found. We also have weekly grammar and prose classes, where we study aspects of Spanish grammar, and in which we’re also set 3 English to Spanish translations over a term, and oral classes, where we discuss general topics in Spanish. In terms of the literature aspect of the course, we have 4 essays (and accompanying tutorials) per term, and on the weeks in between, we have seminars, where we usually prepare a presentation on an aspect of the text that we’re studying and notes on smaller questions. There’s also the chance to learn Catalan and/or Galician with the university, and I have a Catalan class each week- it’s very low commitment and very fun!
A typical day would involve watching a lecture in the morning and making a start on reading a philosophy article, which I would finish after lunch. In the afternoon, I usually do some reading for an essay that I have coming up, and if I need to I’ll prepare for the classes that I have in the coming days. Different classes are spread across the week, so I usually have some contact teaching each day. I always try to get out and about for a bit during the day (especially during winter), and I usually switch off and relax in the evening (depending on deadlines!) However, as quite a lot of the work requires independent reading and thinking, you can cater your daily structure around your classes to whatever works for you.
Why do you like studying Philosophy and Spanish at Keble?
There are relatively few people who do Philosophy and Modern Languages at Keble (and Oxford in general), but Keble admits lots of different ML combinations, so there are always people to share ideas with. The tutors for philosophy and Spanish are really lovely, and Keble shares its first year Spanish teaching with Exeter college, so there’s a great opportunity to meet other people! Both the Taylorian and the Philosophy and Theology libraries are also under a 5 minute walk away, and both are great places to work. In fact, Keble is perfectly placed for lots of different needs; you can get to the city centre within 5 minutes, and also big open fields in 10!
Personal statement advice
The best advice I would give is to read and talk about stuff that you actually enjoy! When looking at applications, one of the things that tutors are keeping an eye out for is whether the person seems like they actually have an interest in what they’re applying for. Don’t think you have to read big long philosophical papers or tricky Spanish texts (unless you want to); instead do things that you think might be interesting and would show how you were motivated to further explore a certain aspect of Spanish or philosophy. For example, I wrote about a Spanish band that I liked, a Spanish movie and novel that I had enjoyed, and a podcast on philosophy that I listened to. Tutors aren’t expecting you to know everything, just for you to be interested in your subject and willing to learn!
Admissions test advice
The main bit of advice for the MLAT I have is not to stress (very helpful, I know)! Don’t bother revising for ages and ages and don’t try to learn lots of new things for it, instead just focus on looking at questions from past papers and thinking of a plan of how you might answer them. For the Spanish element, if you look at the recent past papers, you can gain a general idea of the types of questions and the topics of grammar that they’re testing candidates on. Most of them are ones you have already probably encountered in A Level (or its equivalent). For the philosophy element, they’re not looking for groundbreaking ideas or extensive knowledge, just that you can write a structured argument, so in terms of preparation for this, maybe talk with somebody about a question that you’ve seen on a past paper, and what points you would include in your argument.
Interview advice
In terms of preparation, revision isn’t really that useful, as often the tutors will ask you something that you won’t have prepared. I made sure I was confident with the plots of the books and movies that I had mentioned in my personal statement, but even so my interviewers didn’t really ask about them (though others might).
Interviews are meant to reflect what tutorials will be like, so they’re not super formal, and more resemble a conversation about a subject in which both you and the interviewer(s) have an interest. Don’t be afraid to take some time to compose yourself and have a think before answering a question, and also don’t be afraid to change your mind or disagree with the tutor, as long as you show why you’re doing so!
For the Spanish interview, you might have to read a poem or extract beforehand and make notes. I found this quite challenging and thought I had done badly when I looked up the poem afterwards, but getting something ‘wrong’ is just part of the reasoning process that tutors are interested in. There was a section in spoken Spanish, and this can be a bit daunting, but just remember to relax and treat it like an ordinary conversation. One of my philosophy interviews was based around different meanings of an ordinary word, and what implications these different meanings had- obviously you can’t really prepare for this, so try to keep calm and offer an argument that you can justify.
Sometimes it can feel like an interview has ‘gone wrong’, but this often isn’t the case. The interviews are designed to be challenging, and take you away from what you’re comfortable with in order to see how you can form an argument. In any case, it’s always difficult to judge your own performance, so try not to feel too stressed afterwards!
Last (but definitely not least), enjoy yourself! Interviews can be stressful, but if you try to relax a bit during your time in Oxford (more astounding advice), they can be really fun! Try and make use of the communal spaces to meet other people, talk to student helpers to gain a better understanding of the course and the college (remember that interviews are just as much about seeing if the university and course would be good for you as the other way round), and have a look around the city (I recommend the Christmas market).
Check out the Keble Outreach YouTube channel for more interview advice.