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University of Oxford, Pawel-Sytniewski
University of Oxford
Oxford

Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate Study

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Hey, thank you Shiny, that's solid advice.
University of Oxford, Pawel-Sytniewski
University of Oxford
Oxford
Original post by shiny
snerpp


One other thing - do you think putting down "no college preference" would work against you, or maybe even slightly increase one's chances of getting in?
Original post by PrimateJ
One other thing - do you think putting down "no college preference" would work against you, or maybe even slightly increase one's chances of getting in?


No. It will have no impact. At postgrad level, you apply to the department, no the college. The department will consider your application and, if they want to, offer you a place. Your application will then be sent to colleges. Once you have a departmental place you are guaranteed a place at a college. Your college choice has no impact on whether or not you get a place.
Original post by Little Jules
No. It will have no impact. At postgrad level, you apply to the department, no the college. The department will consider your application and, if they want to, offer you a place. Your application will then be sent to colleges. Once you have a departmental place you are guaranteed a place at a college. Your college choice has no impact on whether or not you get a place.


Ok, thank you.

My main concern is that, if I don't state a preference, and I was lucky enough to get an offer, they might fling me into some ridiculously expensive college.

So perhaps I should stick down a college that isn't too expensive, e.g. St Hugh's (from what I can tell)
Original post by PrimateJ
Ok, thank you.

My main concern is that, if I don't state a preference, and I was lucky enough to get an offer, they might fling me into some ridiculously expensive college.

So perhaps I should stick down a college that isn't too expensive, e.g. St Hugh's (from what I can tell)


What do you mean by an expensive college?
Original post by Little Jules
What do you mean by an expensive college?


I don't know .... I suppose I meant a college where the nearby accommodation is unusually expensive. Though private renting is the way to go, probably.
Reply 1026
Original post by PrimateJ
One other thing - do you think putting down "no college preference" would work against you, or maybe even slightly increase one's chances of getting in?

It doesn't have any impact on probability of admission. However, I would always put a college down even if you use no other criteria, location is normally a good default. A centrally located college is always handy for checking mail and popping in for lunch/dinner.
Original post by shiny
It doesn't have any impact on probability of admission. However, I would always put a college down even if you use no other criteria, location is normally a good default. A centrally located college is always handy for checking mail and popping in for lunch/dinner.


Cool. Thank you. Of the following colleges, would you recommend any of them?

Campion Hall
Kellogg
Linacre
Magdalen
Pembroke
St Catherine's
St Cross
St Hugh's
Trinity
Wolfson
Original post by PrimateJ
I don't know .... I suppose I meant a college where the nearby accommodation is unusually expensive. Though private renting is the way to go, probably.


All the colleges are so close together that it wont affect where you might rent privately. If you are really not bothered about college choice, go for an open application. From experience, you are likely to be placed in one of the larger grad colleges. If there are things that are important to you, use those to choose a college. Those might be:

-Cost of grad accomodation in terms of monthly rent, or, for example, I think that Univ allows grads to just pay for term time rent, so if you're going to go home for the holidays that saves money, other colleges make you pay for the whole year, or length of your course

-Funding available at the college

-Whether or not you are guaranteed a room for the duration of the course

-Traditions in the college (e.g. formal halls)

-Old/new buildings

-Size of MCR

-Location of the college
Interesting. I don't mind at all about the colleges, except for practical matters like funding, costs, etc. And I don't have the patience for the tedium of researching all of this, when in all likelihood if I am offered a place I probably won't get my first choice anyway.

Edit: I phrased this badly...ignore post. My brain is frazzled. Just finished a research proposal which I worked on solidly for weeks...blehh
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 1030
Original post by PrimateJ
Interesting. I don't mind at all about the colleges, except for practical matters like funding, costs, etc. And I don't have the patience for the tedium of researching all of this, when in all likelihood if I am offered a place I probably won't get my first choice anyway.


Older colleges are more likely to fund you. You've said elsewhere that this is an important criteria for you. So maybe you should have the patience/be bothered.

ALL the information you want is here. Stop asking other people to look for you and just spend 30 mins doing it yourself!
http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/college_guide/index.html
Original post by PrimateJ
Interesting. I don't mind at all about the colleges, except for practical matters like funding, costs, etc. And I don't have the patience for the tedium of researching all of this, when in all likelihood if I am offered a place I probably won't get my first choice anyway.


You seem to have a very odd attitude to the application process, given that you cant be bothered to look anything up or work anything out. Colleges can be useful for funding as each offers different types of funding. Look it up. Or don't. Your loss!
Original post by Little Jules
You seem to have a very odd attitude to the application process, given that you cant be bothered to look anything up or work anything out. Colleges can be useful for funding as each offers different types of funding. Look it up. Or don't. Your loss!


Don't get me wrong - I've spent probably 60 + hours researching scholarships, researching places, writing applications etc - there are NO funding-specific colleges in Oxford available to me. All I'm saying is that perhaps there is a uni that offers some benefit that I've overlooked, such as cheaper accommodation, but the consensus is that averages and whatnot are unreliable guides, and I'm too burnt out to go through the unrewarding task of further research on this.
There is one college that offers a thin sliver off possibly getting some funding, so I'll go for that. Thank you for the help
(edited 13 years ago)
How does studying for a phd at oxford differ from other unis? is doing a phd at oxford harder compared to other unis? do you get sufficient support or are you left on your own?
Reply 1034
Original post by grimreefer
How does studying for a phd at oxford differ from other unis? is doing a phd at oxford harder compared to other unis? do you get sufficient support or are you left on your own?

its a dphil not a phd for one thing :tongue:
Reply 1035
Original post by PrimateJ
Cool. Thank you. Of the following colleges, would you recommend any of them?

Campion Hall
Kellogg
Linacre
Magdalen
Pembroke
St Catherine's
St Cross
St Hugh's
Trinity
Wolfson

Go for Magdalen. I like the deer.
Reply 1036
Original post by grimreefer
How does studying for a phd at oxford differ from other unis? is doing a phd at oxford harder compared to other unis?

How would anyone be able to tell without having done multiple PhDs at several different universities?:confused:
do you get sufficient support or are you left on your own?

That'll depend on your subject and your supervisor. Some people are lucky in that respect, others are less so. And some people perhaps start out with unrealistic expectations regarding academic and/or pastoral support at PhD-level and end up being disappointed because of that. Oxford is probably no different from anywhere else in that respect, though.
I asked this earlier but didn't really get an answer. I've been reading up on this kind of thing as much as I can and I get the impression that the answer to the former is "not very much" and the second is "quite a bit", but I figured it couldn't hurt to try and get some clarity?

How much do pre-university grades and work experience/extra curriculars factor in to your application?

I don't even have any idea of where to look for work experience for linguistics, heh.

EDIT: this is literally in the FAQ. i'm an idiot. soz guys. but the work experience thing still stands!
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 1038
Pre-university grades pale in significance next to your degree grade. Extra curriculars play no role at all (unless you want to do graduate medicine). As for work experience... that really depends on the course. I imagine for linguistics they'd realise it's difficult to come by. Perhaps you could volunteer to help out with some linguistics experiments at your university? That's one way to gain some awareness of what linguistics research entails.
Original post by grimreefer
How does studying for a phd at oxford differ from other unis? is doing a phd at oxford harder compared to other unis? do you get sufficient support or are you left on your own?


A PhD is a PhD - in Humanities subjects at least, PhDs have the same basic requirements nationwide. If you write a mediocre PhD at Oxford you're just as sunk as you would be anywhere else.

As Hobnob said, the amount of support you depends on your supervisor and, to an extent, yourself. Some PhD students like to be left alone to get on with things (myself included), while others ask for more support and feedback. It's all down to the individual.

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