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Cambridge Graduate Applicants 2010/2011

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Reply 20

verticalforce

Craghyrax

Well its not like you're throwing away an application with that record :p:

, but Finance may well be fairly competitive, so I shan't comment. Perhaps you can look at the admissions stats on the department page.

Well the data is not on their website but from what I've heard only 5% of applicants get admitted.

That is very discouraging. :frown:

There will always be people with two masters already or a PhD in Maths from Harvard or something equally fantastical... :s-smilie:

University of Cambridge

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Reply 21

Craghyrax

verticalforce

That is very discouraging. :frown:

There will always be people with two masters already or a PhD in Maths from Harvard or something equally fantastical... :s-smilie:

Hmpf. Nobody would get in if people didn't give it a shot despite all the discouraging signs. This is the basis on which I applied the first time round, and is the logic by which I'll go for it again :biggrin:

Not sure I'm going to bother asking my department for their admissions records. Its not like I'd find the information useful or anything.

Conversely I've just been looking at Gates Scholarships and trying to figure out the plausibility of a) my getting a first next year (b) that first being better than all the firsts everybody else are getting (c) convincing the trust that they should still fund me based on being a South African citizen even though I'm also a UK citizen :flute:

Reply 22

DerPumuckl

Conversely I've just been looking at Gates Scholarships and trying to figure out the plausibility of a) my getting a first next year (b) that first being better than all the firsts everybody else are getting (c) convincing the trust that they should still fund me based on being a South African citizen even though I'm also a UK citizen

How will you do that with the dual nationality? I'm UK/German and would like to get Gates scholarship assuming the unlikely case i get in in the first place.

Reply 23

Craghyrax

Rob L

How will you do that with the dual nationality? I'm UK/German and would like to get Gates scholarship assuming the unlikely case i get in in the first place.

Well that's the point - I don't know :wink:

But when I've gotten to the stage of applying I'll email the Trust and I'll ask them about it. It looked like they automatically get sent a list of all the international applicants to all the departments, ordered by how good they are. So I'm assuming that if we applied as home students (in order not to pay the international fees) then we automatically wouldn't appear on that list.

But before I go annoying admin staff I want to organise my referees and work out what predicted grade I'm going to apply with so that I know whether selection is even likely. And also I want to work out how likely it is for me to get studentships or 1+3 funding. If the odds are about the same for these in Gates then there seems little point in bothering them.

Reply 24

DerPumuckl

Ah fair enough. I have the advantage that i could sneak below the radar with German citizenship, pay home rates (EU) and gain Gates. But that is theoretical, i won't try to hide my UK citizenship so i'll probably mail them too.

Speaking of references what do you think is more important:

1) someone who did research with me

or

2) someone who was a visiting professor at cambridge/oxford?

Reply 25

Craghyrax

Rob L

Yeh that's lucky.
The only thing I've got going for me is that South African citizenship and my career ambitions (to research for an NGO/think tank/advocacy group) cohere quite well with the sorts of things they said they prioritised in funding. But yeh, the EU thing is jolly handy.

Rob L

Speaking of references what do you think is more important:

1) someone who did research with me

or

2) someone who was a visiting professor at cambridge/oxford?

My department told me that the most important thing was for the person to be familiar with your work and also to be personally enthusiastic about writing about you. So I'd go for 1) in your case, unless 2) happens to also know your work and like you well enough to say detailed positive things about you.

I've got a similar dilemma on a smaller scale here :frown:

I have to choose between my Director of Studies who knows me very well, but is a Psychologist not a Sociologist (I'm the latter) and can write alot of positive stuff about my work ethic/suitability for postgraduate study, and she's read all of my supervision reports for the last two years.

Or there's the head of the department who supervised me thrice last year for an assessed essay in which I got a high first. He's also now supervising me for my dissertation, but I've only met with him once and giving that I'm making an early application he won't have spent much time with me/seen much of my dissertation by the time I approach him and ask for a reference.

Very tricky :frown:

Reply 26

DerPumuckl

I'm assuming that means you have another referee set up for sure? Since if not you can take both surely? I believe it is possible to include three referees if you really want to though. :smile:

Reply 27

Craghyrax

Rob L

I'm assuming that means you have another referee set up for sure? Since if not you can take both surely? I believe it is possible to include three referees if you really want to though. :smile:

Oh yeh, I've already asked one of my supervisors from last year. But I'm waiting to hear from her, and I know she probably doesn't check her University emails outside of term time. At the same time I think texting her would be a bit too invasive *sigh*
Maybe I should ask three people just in case one of them takes ages to decide/reply :s-smilie:

Reply 28

Craghyrax

By the way, what course are you going for? This year I lived in the same house as a visiting History student from Munich who's just returned to complete his Magister :cool:

Reply 29

DerPumuckl

MPhil in Economics, taught

For taught programme like Mphil Finance would low coursework/essay marks work against me?

That is because all of my coursework are mostly very low. For example in one of my module I got 58% in the coursework and scored like 90% in the exam, which averages out at about 81% for the final grade.

I didn't put much work in coursework because I knew I'm better at exam... :s-smilie:

Reply 32

Craghyrax

Does that information go on your transcript? I presume they look at everything on your transcript which contributed towards your yearly results - or overall result (however it works at your Uni)
And whether that works against you depends on what the other applicants' academic records look like when compared to yours :p:

Reply 33

arod

I have looked on the website, and some dept sites to see if there is any such thing as an "open day" or sorts for grad studies.
I haven't found anything in science - just wondered if anyone knows if something like this exists? I have been trolling the web sites looking at the work of different researchers etc. but thought it would be really nice 'one stop shopping' so to speak if the dept had an event to inform prospective students about the key areas of research etc.

Reply 34

Craghyrax

I'm afraid that the general University Open days are the relevant events. I had a look at the list of Open Days on the site and it seems that both University Open Days were right at the start of this month, and I distinctly remember that last year's University Open day included the board of graduates opening up and having loads of people to hand to answer questions and hand out prospectuses. A friend was visiting at the time and was considering applying, so we went in and visited the relevant department. (department open days are all over too) So yeh - too late.

Nonetheless you can very easily craft your own open day by simply contacting the department and asking when they would be willing to have you visit, and also contact the colleges you're thinking of selecting. For grads I'd say contacting the college isn't really necessary as they'll all let you in if you explain you're checking it out as a prospective applicant, and the porters can tell you how to find the grad accommodation if you want to see it. Knowing which day to come so as to meet appropriate department members is far more useful obviously.

Reply 35

Craghyrax

arod

I have been trolling the web sites looking at the work of different researchers etc.

Does 'trolling' have a different meaning in the US than it does here? You're the second American/Canadian :confused:

) user who I've seen using the word that way. Here it means intentionally causing trouble :p:

Reply 36

rckaisler

Craghyrax

Does 'trolling' have a different meaning in the US than it does here? You're the second American/Canadian :confused:

) user who I've seen using the word that way. Here it means intentionally causing trouble :p:

Ooh, I've also been using it on here and was completely unaware that it had a different connotation in the UK. Trolling is often used in the US to mean 'searching'.

Reply 37

Craghyrax

rckaisler

Ooh, I've also been using it on here and was completely unaware that it had a different connotation in the UK. Trolling is often used in the US to mean 'searching'.