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…

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