The MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology is a taught course offering a range of options for graduates seeking a higher academic qualification in language studies and wishing to specialise in general linguistics (including phonetics but not applied linguistics), in historical and comparative linguistics, or in the linguistics of a specific language. After the MPhil, students who are readmitted to continue as confirmed DPhil students may submit a DPhil thesis for examination after one or two further years of work, and the MPhil thesis may be revised and included as part of the DPhil thesis. In this way, a pathway to the DPhil in little more than three years can be offered. In addition to a compulsory paper in linguistic theory, you will specialise in general linguistics (B), Indo-European historical and comparative philology and linguistics (C) or in the linguistics of one or two selected languages (D). A 25,000-word thesis is compulsory for all options. Some MPhil students proceed to doctoral work at Oxford; others continue academic study at other institutions. Other career destinations include publishing, secondary and further education, finance, and IT.