Reply All

On whether or not you should do graduate school in the UK

St Salvator’s, Chapel of University of St Andrews

Dear Friends,

Happy Saturday.

This week, I thought I’d do something slightly different with my Saturday missive. I get a lot of emails requesting advice on whether or not one should do graduate school in the UK. I was once sending similar emails, and I was really thankful for the helpful responses I received, so I try to answer these emails. But it becomes a bit onerous when there’s so many of them. This week alone, for instance, I’ve gotten three. So I thought in this week’s letter I would give some thoughts on how to think about if you should do grad school in the UK.

You should note that I say “In the UK” since I really can’t speak to the US grad school experience. Broadly speaking, UK postgraduate studies (as they’re called here) have a different style than graduate schools in the states: shorter degree programs (masters are usually 1 year, and PhD’s 3 vs. 2-3 year masters in the US with 5+ year PhD’s), a system here much more focused around one to one feedback and forming you as a scholar with less emphases on taught components (I think this is true even in “taught masters”, and you’re (much much) less likely to be funded to do your graduate studies here than you are if you do them in the US. Everything I say in the following letter pertains to my experience in the UK— which is also not typical of all universities in the UK! So keep that caveat in mind.

I am putting this post behind the paywall. My reason for doing this is that while this is information that I’m more happy to share and want to make available, but I don’t really want it to be in the form of a public post that could be shared more widely. The following post is based on my very personal and particular experience and may not be applicable for everyone. If you want to pay for a subscription, I’d be very thankful and take it as a sense that you value my time and professional expertise. Equally, if you would like to read this post but do not want to pay for a subscription, just reply to this email and I will give you access to it for a week.