Colleges, Degree Programs, Oh My!

As I've mentioned before, I thought that once the Rhodes interview process was over, voila! Everything else would fall into place and I'd return to real life, ready to go to Oxford in the not-so-distant future. Sure, I'd need to get a visa at some point, plus arrange interpreters and some academic details and things like that, but what else could there be?

Magdalen college's quad (of course, you can't walk on the impeccable grass)

This exposes, once again, the extent to which I focused on getting the scholarship while sparing little thought for what would happen afterward. Now, as it turns out, I (and all the other Rhodes scholars) need to prepare and submit an actual application to Oxford, as well as pick an Oxford college to attend/be affiliated with. Some of my previous Rhodes application materials will suffice for the Oxford application, but I need to prepare a whole new statement of purpose while verifying to myself that what I told the Rhodes scholarship committee I wanted to study is, indeed, what I want to study. The committee gives you full permission to change your plans as much or as little as you want, as long as not after you've landed a spot in a program at Oxford. (I had no idea - what, I can switch now? I can study astrophysics and not English? I mean, not literally in that case...)

As the initial shock of getting the scholarship wears off, I've spent some time over the last few days thinking about all things Oxford. The university doesn't function in the same way as public and private universities in the U.S.; instead, it's a collection of independent and unique colleges that cluster together in the city of Oxford and look to the University for some general administrative things but, mostly, operate as separate entities with separate facilities, buildings, programs, accommodations, extracurriculars, traditions, cultures, etc. Colleges in Oxford vary widely - as I found during my last time in Oxford, some are large and others small, some ancient and others more recently founded (though "recent" in Oxford-speak is different than "recent" in U.S.-speak; "New" College was founded in 1379, University College in 1249). Some are richer than others, grander than others, or have different intellectual reputations. Some host only graduate students; most are home to both graduate and undergraduate students. The notorious All Souls college has neither, but offers only a select number of fellowships each year. But all share a high standard of academics and a tight-knit community; it doesn't seem to matter, in the grand scheme of things, which college a Rhodes scholar attends. The Oxford experience will be unique and enriching anyway. My program in English lit, which seems to be offered by most if not all colleges at Oxford, won't limit my choices, and graduate programs seem to be administered at the overall university level anyway (whereas individual colleges are much more responsible for the tutorial system that composes an Oxford undergrad education).

Christ Church quad; Christ Church is one of the more "aristocratic" colleges

At least, this is what I gathered after talking to the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust this past Friday. All the newly elected Rhodes scholars need to converse with him to discuss academic plans and college choice sometime within the first two or three weeks; I was thrilled I made a Skype call work instead of IMing/emailing/using an interpreter. My college plans remain up in the air (there are 30 of them! what!), but right now it's looking like a M.Sc. in English literature from 1900-present is in my future for my first year at Oxford. (Side note: I looked up the prospectus for this program and was stunned by how much reading is involved in an Oxford graduate program. Up to seven or eight hefty books per week! No wonder they give students six weeks off between terms to recover/get ahead on the next term's reading.) I don't need to set my plans yet beyond the first year of study, and as I'm currently feeling a little iffy on my proposed second program in comparative social policy, I may put off making that decision until this time next year. A M.Sc. in English could lead into the longer D.Phil program, which would mean I'd walk out of Oxford with a Ph.D. sometime in the next three or four years, or I may decide to study something completely different. At least that's only one personal statement to write and one Oxford application to prepare in the next few weeks, as I'm also writing final papers...

The gate to the very selective All Souls College

The last thing that came up while talking to the American Rhodes secretary this past week was sign language interpreters. I'm rather happy to say that the Rhodes Trust is being far more proactive about interpreters than my Stanford office ever was when I decided to study abroad; I know I'll be taken care of one way or another. Though having the UK's rather limited supply of ASL interpreters work out long-distance commutes to Oxford from London like last time might not be my preference... Also, I was told that I am quite possibly the first deaf person to get a Rhodes scholarship, at least from the U.S. In the last 15 to 20 years, the Rhodes secretary can remember one or two people with mild or moderate hearing loss getting a Rhodes, but no one with a profound hearing loss - and certainly no one with sign language interpreters. I've long grown used to being "the first deaf person to do X" or "the first deaf person to do Y," and long accepted that part of that is the fact that the population of deaf people out there is so small; of course I would find myself being a "first" at something. But this instance puts my current Rhodes opportunity into new perspective. I feel beyond lucky, beyond blessed to have gotten to this point in my academic and personal career. The fact that perhaps no one else has done exactly what I've done thus far makes me more determined to succeed - and, hopefully, to assure that I will not be the last.

This thing gets more humbling and overwhelming the more I think about it - but here's to the future.