Oxford
in Autumn
10 - 29 September, 2023
"The university-style tutorials and lectures really gave me a chance during my gap year to do something relevant to my subject. The course was exactly what I'd been looking for: an academic experience that supported my university application and my interest in history."
– Katy Bennett
Where Your
Adventure Begins
This is a tutorial-based course to explore your chosen subjects in-depth and details, with the benefit of the close attention of senior academics. The course consists of tutorials (2:1) and precepts (6:1), chosen from a list of available options, plus compulsory seminars in three core subjects, and optional small-group workshops and one-on-one training for students preparing to make an application to Oxford or Cambridge. We also have two London days and one trip to Warwickshire.
Places are limited to just eighteen students. If you would like to be part of this very special experience, please apply now.
INDIVIDUAL TUTORIALS
The two or three tutorials each week form the centrepiece of the learning experience. Students choose up to three topics to explore in a connected series of tutorials. For each of the three tutorial topics there are either two or three tutorials, giving students a chance to go into considerable depth and detail. Tutorials normally have two students and one tutor, but occasionally they will be one-on-one or three-on-one. Before each tutorial students submit a piece of written work, either an essay of 1200 - 1500 words, or a completed problem set. This written work will provide the material on which to base the tutorial.
WHAT IS A PRECEPT?
Each student chooses up to three topics from the list below, which will be studied in a series of small, interactive 'precepts', typically with no more than five or six students in the group. Each series will consist of three, four or five precepts. Students will be expected to do some pre-reading before most precepts, and sometimes to submit a short piece of written work.
A BROAD CURRICULUM
We believe in a programme of study that is both rigorous and highly detailed while at the same time flexible and choice driven. Below are the subjects that a student will have to chance to study with us in Oxford:
​TUTORIALS
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Metaethics: J.L. Mackie & Error Theory
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Epistemology: Truth, Knowledge & Belief
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Philosophy of Religion: God, Faith, Reason & Miracles
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Comparative Politics: UK and USA
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History of British Politics: C19th & C20th
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History of Political Thought: Ancient & Modern
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Macroeoconomics: Fiscal & Monetary Policy in a crisis
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Economic Growth: Endogenous & Exogenous Theories
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COMMON PRECEPTS
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The Rules of Logic: How to Argue Well
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Game Theory: Strategic Decision-Making
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Political Economy: What everyone needs to know about how the world works
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ELECTIVE PRECEPTS
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Ethics: Character, Duty & Effects [5]
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Philosophy of Language: Frege, Russell & Wittgenstein [3]
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Theory of Politics: Liberty, Authority & Legitimacy [4]
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Mathematical Microeconomics: Economic Models, Optimisation & Price Theory [5]
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History of Oxford: 900 - 1900 [3]
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Historiography: Analysing Sources [3]
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English Civil War Political History: the Rise and Fall of the Levellers [3]
Meetings with Experts
During your three weeks in Oxford you will have the opportunity to meet with experts in London and in Oxford from at least five of the following organisations:
OXFORD​
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The Ashmolean Museum
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Opportunity International
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Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
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Pitt-Rivers & Natural History Museums
LONDON
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Adam Smith Institute
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Institute of Economic Affairs
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HM Treasury
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Foreign & Commonwealth Office
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Amnesty International
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Royal Institute of International Affairs ('Chatham House')
LEARN EVERYWHERE
We go to London one day in Week I and again in Week III. During the middle of the course, in Week II, we will travel up to Warwickshire to visit Stratford-upon-Avon (birthplace of William Shakespeare) and Warwick Castle (built in 1068 by William the Conqueror and rebuilt in the 12th century), stopping off en route at Blenheim Palace (birthplace of Winston Churchill and now the home of the 12th Duke of Marlborough) and the Rollright Stones (a neolithic monument 2,000 years older than Stonehenge).
Students of history and students of political theory will visit Burford, a beautiful Cotswold town a short distance from Oxford, for a very special precept on a group of English pioneers of democracy, equality, and religious tolerance.
University Admissions Preparation
Some of our students are preparing to submit an application to competitive universities in Britain and/or America. For those students we offer intensive training in the relevant admissions tests, including the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA), the History Aptitude Test (HAT), and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
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We also offer editorial advice and critical feedback on UCAS personal statements and US admissions essays. We advise students on which degree courses and which colleges and universities to apply to, and make introductions to students, alumni and faculty from several colleges and universities. For students applying for Oxford or Cambridge we provide a series of mock interviews, followed in each case by detailed expert critical feedback; our interviewers have conducted admissions interviews for Oxford and Cambridge in recent years, so you will have an experience very similar to the interviews you will face in early December.