The Three Degrees

I checked my account at the online admin thing we have here at Columbia (which keeps track of grades, registration, fees etc) and learned that my Master's Degree was officially awarded on the 14th of February. I didn't actually notice until now, because they don't seem to reckon on telling you by e-mail or anything, and in any case I won't be taking it until the main Commencement ceremony happens in May. Still, I suppose it's the culmination of a year and a half of hard work; on the other hand, I'm still only just getting started with the PhD, relatively speaking. But either way, I am now Robert J. Tuck, BA (Oxon), MA (Columbia).

It won't be long now until I get a second MA to go with the one I actually earned. Some of my British readers, particularly the Oxbridge ones, will know all about this, but for those who don't, 21 terms (that's 7 years) after you matriculate at Oxford, you become eligible to take an MA degree simply by sending the University ￡20 (you don't even have to turn up at the ceremony if you don't want to). You do not have to have done any work, academic or otherwise, in the meantime - so you could quite happily sit on your arse for three to four years after graduating and still collect the MA. All that is required is that you send them the money. Needless to say, the qualification is almost totally worthless in real terms, and causes a considerable degree of resentment amongst other universities that award real MAs (a taught 1-2 year MA at Oxbridge is known as an MPhil, confusingly enough). For a fuller explanation, try here.

Anyway, I've paid my dues, and will be collecting my MA in July back home in England. It's mainly in order to keep my Mum happy - I took my BA in absentia because I was in Japan, and so she never got a graduation ceremony. Between that and Commencement in May, I think she should have a couple of good photos to stick on the mantlepiece. The qualification is actually not totally worthless, since it does entitle me to reciprocal alumni privileges at Cambridge (and, bizarrely, Trinity College Dublin) - so I can use Cambridge's libraries and facilities as if I were an alumnus of that university. Which, given that my parents live in Cambridgeshire, is actually quite handy.

One other typically eccentric Oxbridge point is that it is very much not the done thing to actually put this on your CV as if it were a real Master's degree, but to assume it replaces the BA (so I'd be MA (Oxon), MA (Columbia), not BA (Oxon) MA (Oxon) MA (Columbia). No doubt for reasons of space as much as anything else.

And finally, speaking of degrees and the like, I'm delighted to report that my good friend Arunabh was accepted to do a PhD in Chinese History at Columbia after having been on the MA program, just like what happened to me. You can't underestimate what it means to have someone else around who understands cricket. A hearty congrats from here, and a beer or four when he gets back.