Welcome to the St. Peter’s Alternative Prospectus!

Here you can find out what life at SPC is like, and take a look at what Peterites get up to when they are not in the library…

Take a glimpse at our photo-album by watching the slideshow.

Or, if you want to meet some Peterites in glorious moving technicolour, watch our video.

Prefer reading? Get some student perspectives on life in Oxford at St. Peter’s by clicking here, and if you’re after the nitty gritty, nose around the most recent Freshers Guide for our up-to-the-minute (or at least, up-to-the-year…) advice, lovingly put together for our newest members.

…And if, after all that, you’re still not sure which college is for you, try our handy quiz, which should point you in the right direction.

Life in Oxford?

So you’ve squandered (or should that be “invested”?) half your student loan in the college bar, spent roughly 72 hours without sleep getting your first essay done, and had everyone from back home on the end of the phone non-stop “making sure you are okay”, and its not even the end of Freshers week yet. You emerge from the lodge, bleary eyed at that old friend daylight. Where do I go? What do I do?

Why not take a left, where you’ll pass the end of St Michaels street housing the Oxford Union, not so ironically positioned across the road from a centre for the homeless. Get to the corner, you have the Odeon on your left (more expensive and less exciting than the Phoenix found in Jericho, and the Ultimate Picture House a bit further afield in Cowley) and are facing Kebab Kid, a nocturnal Peters institution.

Hang a right and you’ve made it to La Croissanterie, the day time equivalent of the KK. (Incidentally, and rather surprisingly, there are a plethora of sandwich shops in Oxford, and you’ll undoubtedly find your favourite by the end of Michaelmas, only to switch allegiance over the break: try Little Clarendon Street in Jericho for a pick of the butty bars.) Plenty of watering holes line George St until you make it the junction with St Giles, where you’ll find a handily placed book shop (Tip no.1: Don’t buy a billion books in your first week; you have a card for the best library in the world. Do, however, shop around when buying – Blackwells further up Broad Street and the Oxfam bookshop north up St. Giles are just two more of the vast array of 1st and 2nd hand establishments.)

Cornmarket will provide the essentials, if the essentials are CDs, Coffee chains, Mobile Phones and Clothes shops, with the Clarendon centre offering more of the same. If you have to go shopping there are two central Sainsburys, and a Tesco up the Cowley road. Different essentials are provided by the variety of places of worship in Oxford, with chapels located in many of the colleges, as well as a synagogue and three mosques.

Pubs are firmly part of the establishment at Oxford (sitting here typing this in Trinity term, I’ve just discovered my new favourite one, Bookbinders, tucked away in Jericho) and don’t limit yourself to the well worn paths-the best are found tucked down side streets more often than not. You want food? As well as Jericho, its criminal not to get down Cowley Road, where you’ll find roughly 200,000 food establishments, from chains (Nandos) to take aways, fancy restaurants (Loch Fyne on St Clements) and even a Polish eatery. Also note Park End street.

The trick is, have a wander (preferably not late at night, unless you enjoy being an extra in a Resident Evil style zombie-fest), explore the other colleges if you have mates there (and if not, make friends in lectures, if only to hang around in that one where they filmed Harry Potter, or the one with its own deer park) and if its a bit much at first, you have (at least) three years to find all the places you’ll like.

Oh yeah. The Headington Shark. A Must-See.

Studying an Arts subject at Peter’s

Having to struggle through the intricacies of the uses of the French gerund, or slog your way through the Venerable Bede’s ecclesiastical history of Britain may be a bit tedious at times, but it is definitely compensation if you can do it sprawling in the sunshine on Chavasse quad, or with cheesecake and coffee at your elbow – and this is exactly what studying an Arts subject at Peter’s allows you to do.

Gone are the days of timetables and bells – unless you count the tolling of Old Tom, who will see you through the night of the odd essay crisis. Instead, the week stretches out blissfully unregulated in front of you. There are pluses and minuses to this freedom. Whilst you may smile smugly at the thought that you are still lounging in bed when the medics dutifully trot to lectures at 9am, they might have the last laugh at 1 the next morning, when they’re living it up in The Bridge whilst you’re in the library reading Voltaire. Still, it’s certainly pleasant to be able to shape your week yourself, and the flexibility of studying an Arts subject gives you plenty of opportunity to get involved in societies, sports and clubs, even if you do have to make up the lost daylight hours in the library at night. Speaking of which, the library is a convivial place for arts students at Peter’s – there are always plenty of us in there, ploughing through the weekly reading lists. If you find it that little bit too convivial, though, and end up spending most of your time there chatting, SPC is just a short walk from a wide choice of alternatives, including the world-class Bodleian Library1, the Taylorian Institute, the Oxford Union or, if you’re one of those people who thinks better fuelled on caffeine or with a little sugary encouragement, a whole host of cafés.

Contrary to the belief of most of the scientists, we Arts students do occasionally grace the lecture theatre with our presence; and thankfully St. Peter’s is located close enough to most of them not to result in too much damage to your morning’s sleep. Lectures are not normally compulsory for Arts students, and some people find that they get more out of independent reading than they do from attempting to scribble down the words of wisdom issuing from a bearded tutor at the front of the hall; but even if that’s the case for you, if there’s a lecture series you think looks relevant or interesting, it’s worth going along to the first one and trying it out. Tutorials will be arranged with your tutors at the start of each term and you will usually have them with one or two other students. Some subjects have classes too, which will be in a larger group. The tutorial system can seem daunting at first and we all feel a bit clumsy at times – attempting to muddle our way through some complicated theory in front of the person who wrote the textbook – but you’ll be surprised by how much you improve in the first term alone. It also gives you a chance to ask questions about what you find difficult and really come to grips with what you’re learning. The St. Peter’s tutors are a friendly bunch on the whole, too, who are always willing to offer a bit of extra support if and when you need it.

So if you are one of those people who prefers analysing feminist perspectives on Milton or puzzling over theories of knowledge to spending your precious hours peering at cells through microscopes and smelling of chloroform, St. Peter’s is a pretty good college to pick. You’ll find plenty of friendly Arts students to talk to, all marvellously skilled in the art of procrastination, a motivated and welcoming JCR, very much engaged in university life, and a college which is genuinely supportive of its students. St. Peter’s is also wonderfully free of pomposity and snobbery, and whilst Peterites are passionate about what they study, and full of interesting conversation, no one’s desperate to show off, and we’re all pretty down to earth. Which is surely a good thing.
So, with all that in mind, you surely can’t resist scribbling us down on your list of possible colleges, even if, lacking a deer park, we come below Magdalen. Come on. You know you want to…

Studying a Science subject at Peter's

First, let me congratulate you on choosing to study a proper subject.

Unlike the Arts students, lectures are important in the Sciences. We tend to have about twelve to fifteen a week. Although not compulsory, it is definitely an advantage to attend, no matter how horrendous the hangover.

Practicals form a large part of the course. They vary in their usefulness but all are compulsory and are a good way of meeting students from other colleges. Despite the stereotype, not all wear jam jar glasses and ankle swingers. Most are incredibly normal, have no fear; you will not be surrounded by a whole bunch of geeks. Some are even good looking. The downside to the practicals is that they often require a write-up to be handed in at the end or the following day. However, college parents can be particularly helpful in such situations. Most scientists have about a day’s worth of practicals each week. These commitments make the course more organised than the Arts, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your personality.

The third component of a science course is the tutorial system (how can the Arts students claim that they work as hard when we do these as well?!). Tutes provide the opportunity to study the subject in greater depth and consist of the tutor, yourself and two to three other students. Initially, these can be an intimidating experience but as you get to know the other students and tutor; they become more relaxed and can even be amusing. In general, each tute will require an essay or problem sheet. Unlike some other colleges, students doing the same subject at Peters, will be incredibly friendly and will help you if you find a particular sheet/ problem difficult.

Though work is an important part of the Oxford experience, you certainly miss out if you don’t join other extracurricular activities. Scientists are just as involved as the Artists and St Peters is a really friendly college, where there is a lot to do, whether you want take it seriously or just have fun. There was even a physicist in the rugby team this year.

Medics tend to have slightly more work than the other science subjects but their social life does not suffer. One learns to achieve more in the same amount of time because we are simply in a class of our own. Obviously.