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University of Oxford, Pawel-Sytniewski
University of Oxford
Oxford

Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate Study

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Original post by poi12
The point of my comment was this: your application may be considered if you meet the minimum requirements, but rarely is that standard sufficient in itself to warrant an offer. There's always going to be someone 'better' than you. Offers that require a 3.8 or, equivalently, a first/high 2.1, are not unheard of.

I can say that should I get any conditional offers from the top schools, they'd probably require me to graduate with a 110/110. Now, doesn't this sound extremely high? Yet, as Little Jules says, it's but fair. We're talking about some of the best universities in the world.

Anyway, the data on the embark website refer to the average GPA of the ADMITTED students. For instance, the average LSE student has a 3.6 GPA, whereas minimum requirements ask for a 3.5.
University of Oxford, Pawel-Sytniewski
University of Oxford
Oxford
Reply 1001
Original post by TheSocialScientist

Anyway, the data on the embark website refer to the average GPA of the ADMITTED students. For instance, the average LSE student has a 3.6 GPA, whereas minimum requirements ask for a 3.5.


Statistics can say whatever and many institutions use this to their advantage to prop themselves up. Without any sort of indication of how such data are collected or, in this case, what 'admitted' means (e.g. those with simply an offer, those who met their (academic) offer, or those who met their offer and matriculate), it's all rubbish.
Reply 1002
Original post by poi12
Statistics can say whatever and many institutions use this to their advantage to prop themselves up. Without any sort of indication of how such data are collected or, in this case, what 'admitted' means (e.g. those with simply an offer, those who met their (academic) offer, or those who met their offer and matriculate), it's all rubbish.

Surely 'admitted' is unambiguous, though, and always refers to those people who actually matriculate at the beginning of the academic year?:confused:
Original post by poi12
Statistics can say whatever and many institutions use this to their advantage to prop themselves up. Without any sort of indication of how such data are collected or, in this case, what 'admitted' means (e.g. those with simply an offer, those who met their (academic) offer, or those who met their offer and matriculate), it's all rubbish.

I'd say that admitted refers to students who enrol in the course, as hobnob says. I don't think it would have much sense to publish an average GPA for the offers made or whatever else.
Reply 1004
Original post by hobnob
Surely 'admitted' is unambiguous, though, and always refers to those people who actually matriculate at the beginning of the academic year?:confused:


It's only unambiguous if it's well-defined. Again, there's no methodology listed.

You have to put this into context, though. This is an American company dealing mainly with American universities. In the US, there are no such thing as conditional offers. An offer would constitute an admission. Whether said admission constitutes matriculation would be captured by 'yield rates'.
Reply 1005
Original post by poi12
It's only unambiguous if it's well-defined. Again, there's no methodology listed.

You have to put this into context, though. This is an American company dealing mainly with American universities. In the US, there are no such thing as conditional offers. An offer would constitute an admission. Whether said admission constitutes matriculation would be captured by 'yield rates'.

Ah, OK, sorry. I thought we were only talking about UK universities there, and in a UK context I'm pretty sure 'admitted' always means 'joined the university', i.e. matriculated.
Okay, anyway my intent was to make eventual US students feel better. Not everybody graduates with a 3.8+ GPA.
Reply 1007
Is it a fair assumption to make that those degree programmes asking for at least a 2:1 are less competitive than those asking for an outright 1st? Perhaps different departments simply differ in their admissions strategies (want to assess even people with lower grades with the hope of finding the unpolished jewel).

By competitiveness I don't mean applicants : offers but rather the probability of someone getting an offer based on their qualifications, not necessarily in relation to how many applications there are (more applicants =/= higher quality).
Original post by RamlakU
Is it a fair assumption to make that those degree programmes asking for at least a 2:1 are less competitive than those asking for an outright 1st? Perhaps different departments simply differ in their admissions strategies (want to assess even people with lower grades with the hope of finding the unpolished jewel).

By competitiveness I don't mean applicants : offers but rather the probability of someone getting an offer based on their qualifications, not necessarily in relation to how many applications there are (more applicants =/= higher quality).



Courses asking for a 2.1 are no less competitive, thy are simply more open to applications from students with good rather than excellent results, if they have something else to offer. So for example, you will find the 2.1 offer in a subject like IR, where practical experience is highly valued, and getting a range of people with government, NGO, UN, WHO, military, legal, banking, journalistic, business etc experience adds to the richness and learning value of the course.
Do they take your GCSE/A-Level Grades into account very much?

I did pretty terribly at GCSE, then got my ass into gear for A-Levels. Got BBB, but I narrowly missed an A in all 3 of them.

Got my ass into gear again at Uni. Doing Linguistics, second year, at Newcastle University. Presuming I get a first, what can I do to up my chances of getting in when the time comes? I know I should have relevant experience, but I really have NO idea where on earth I'd get relevant experience for the kind of stuff we do...

Also, I don't know if this would help, or if I would even be allowed to mention it, but I asked (read: begged) my lecturers to let me take a 4th module rather than the usual 3 in the second semester, for various reasons. Might try and repeat in the semesters to come. Does that count for much in their eyes?

The Oxford Linguistics MPhil literally couldn't be more perfect. :frown: IT'S LIKE IT'S TAUNTING ME.
What I'm curious about is, is having a good standing in your MSc more important than your undergraduate grades for a PhD application? I'm currently in Warwick doing a masters, but I don't know if I even have a chance at Oxbridge later on because of my preceding poor undergrad GPA.
^ There was a post about that elsewhere on the site, I can't remember which thread (graduate in Oxford, maybe?), and I think the answer was the undergraduate grades aren't the be-all-and-end all; if you have great MSc grades that will make up for poor undergrad ones. But don't hold me to it.
Question about Embark and uploading written samples: can you upload PDFs etc, or do you have to copy & paste the text into a window?

This makes a BIG difference to me, because it would destroy some very careful formatting and graphics.
Reply 1013
Original post by PrimateJ
Question about Embark and uploading written samples: can you upload PDFs etc, or do you have to copy & paste the text into a window?

This makes a BIG difference to me, because it would destroy some very careful formatting and graphics.



Before people get annoyed by your incessant questioning (again!), why don't you actually stop, think and read directions before you allow TSR to be host to your stream of (uninteresting) consciousness?
Reply 1014
Original post by PrimateJ
Question about Embark and uploading written samples: can you upload PDFs etc, or do you have to copy & paste the text into a window?

This makes a BIG difference to me, because it would destroy some very careful formatting and graphics.

Have you had a proper look at the instructions yet? Chances are, most of your questions about filling in the application form will be answered there.
The answer to this question is
You can upload electronic or scanned copies of your documents directly to the online application form. You can also type the text of the written work or statement of purpose/research proposal directly into the relevant pages of the form.

I'm pretty sure it said so on the application form as well, actually...
Original post by hobnob
Have you had a proper look at the instructions yet? Chances are, most of your questions about filling in the application form will be answered there.
The answer to this question is

I'm pretty sure it said so on the application form as well, actually...

It does. It does indeed.
Quicker to type out a question here :colondollar:
Ok, the instructions should have been my first port of call. I did a google search "embark and uploading documents" and got nothing.


Not sure if anyone will answer this, but have any of ye any general thoughts on these colleges - perhaps a pithy one-sentence summary :cool:


Campion Hall
Kellogg
Linacre
Magdalen
Pembroke
St Catherine's
St Cross
St Hugh's
Trinity
Wolfson
Reply 1017
Campion Hall - didn't think they took women
Kellogg - there's a miserable Kellogg grad on here
Linacre - hot water polo players
Magdalen - lots of money, good but pricey grad accommodation, very popular
Pembroke - poor
St Catherine's - has various obscure funding sources
St Cross - apparently full of PGCE students
St Hugh's - pretty grounds
Trinity - rich, small, insular
Wolfson - right next to the river, formal hall expensive but once in a blue moon
Original post by Athena
Campion Hall - didn't think they took women
Kellogg - there's a miserable Kellogg grad on here
Linacre - hot water polo players
Magdalen - lots of money, good but pricey grad accommodation, very popular
Pembroke - poor
St Catherine's - has various obscure funding sources
St Cross - apparently full of PGCE students
St Hugh's - pretty grounds
Trinity - rich, small, insular
Wolfson - right next to the river, formal hall expensive but once in a blue moon


You know your stuff. Off the top of your head, which should I choose, if I want relatively affordable accommodation above all else?

(I was going to put down "no preference", but I have a naggling feeling that could work against me, despite them saying it wouldn't)
Reply 1019
Original post by PrimateJ
You know your stuff. Off the top of your head, which should I choose, if I want relatively affordable accommodation above all else?

(I was going to put down "no preference", but I have a naggling feeling that could work against me, despite them saying it wouldn't)

If you google "{college name} rents university oxford" you should normally find internal documents describing current rents for those colleges. It is worth checking because the old rules of thumb, e.g. rich colleges have cheaper accommodation, often no longer generally apply.

Also, if you get a place do check out the private rents (http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk)! Sadly, I think that college accommodation is often worse value for money than private rents these days (especially in a depressed rental market). You are looking at around £400-500 per month at many colleges and whilst you can dip below £400 those rooms are not necessarily great. Oxford graduate students are housed all over the place these days so there is not necessarily any advantage (in terms of social life) to living in college accommodation (which might be in a random house with a few other people in some random location in Oxford rather than on the main college site) so it is definitely worth checking out the private rental market if you are on a budget.
(edited 13 years ago)

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