Cambridge postgraduate applicants 2014/15

It took the music department exactly a week to get back to me.

Good luck!

That's quite a negative view - why would you assume diversity is the reason he got in rather than his academic abilities?

It's not negative at all, if you stop to think about it. The argument is the same as the original point I was trying to make: here is someone admitted to maths part III with full funding paying for international student fees. His academic abilities are not in doubt. But - and my point was - that is pretty much a given for most people admitted to Cambridge, so unless Trinity wants its grad cohort to be entirely homogenous, I assume they are looking for some diversity aspect too, just like most colleges.

Whatever, we clearly have a poster who thinks his academic abilities are superior to most other postgrad applicants, so whether or not he gets accepted to Trinity (and I seem to recall he doesn't even have an offer yet even though offers for that course have already started going out a while ago) we may have a bit of Cambridge down-to-earth kicking in at some stage. By which I mean, it can be quite a shock for someone used to coming top of his/her class/year etc arriving at Cam, only to find there are a whole bunch of other people like that too, especially in the competitive courses, and they are no longer so "special" !!

Day fifteen for me. Will you keep me posted, and I'll do the same?

Sure - when I say day 10, I mean 10 working days. Overall it's day 14 (as in I got my offer two weeks ago today).

Of course not but, as I said before, once they have established that they want a certain percentage of English students, a certain percentage of foreign students and a certain number of mathematicians then the ones they pick have to be stronger than average simply given the number of applicants they have to pick from.

Ok, I hear you. It can sometimes sound a bit cynical, as I'm sure you're aware. As a girl I have been told before by male friends that the main reason I have got certain opportunities is because I'm female and they are trying to positively discriminate or ensure an equal gender ratio - which naturally I find irritating. But I understand that you weren't undermining the guy's academic abilities, rather that the level of academics among applicants is generally outstanding and that diverse backgrounds can be one of the factors in scholarship distribution.


Another poster said you were being "ironic" which I didn't get...

I'm on day 9 for St.Johns....

Does anyone know what the Colleges need in terms of further documentation?

Told myself I won't obsess about my application this year, but ever since I got the offer I've been anxiously checking CamSIS for any news on colleges. Count me in on the John's waiting game.

I don't think colleges ask for any further documentation unless it's something specific for some scholarships (e.g. King's might ask for a writing sample if you applied to their studentship). Or are you talking about the post-offer situation???

His academic abilities are not in doubt. But - and my point was - that is pretty much a given for most people admitted to Cambridge, so unless Trinity wants its grad cohort to be entirely homogenous, I assume they are looking for some diversity aspect too, just like most colleges.

Whatever, we clearly have a poster who thinks his academic abilities are superior to most other postgrad applicants, so whether or not he gets accepted to Trinity

we may have a bit of Cambridge down-to-earth kicking in at some stage. By which I mean, it can be quite a shock for someone used to coming top of his/her class/year etc arriving at Cam, only to find there are a whole bunch of other people like that too, especially in the competitive courses, and they are no longer so "special" !!

The academic ability of people admitted to Cambridge is not in doubt. But there is a difference between someone who came 50th in the year and someone who came top 3 in the year at Cambridge part 2 for math, even though both will be admitted to part 3. And I think the person from South Africa is really really brilliant more likely than not.



It's funny how you figured out so many things about me.
Well, as a start I'm not applying to Trinity as I don't think I am good enough. The only reason why I brought this whole thing up is that Corinna told someone else in this forum who had been turned down by trinity something like "The Tompkins table is only for undergraduates. Why would this even affect your decision." And I think the Tompkins table does have an effect on how postgraduate applicants perceive colleges, or at least it does in America. If I knew I was good enough I would probably apply to Trinity too.



I believe I have had that a long time ago. I am currently at MIT and I'm not even in the top 50% of my year here.

In my experience, someone who came 50th in their year is highly unlikely to be at Cambridge for postgrad.

Well, if you are 50th in the year for part 2 math at Cambridge, your place is assured for part 3.

Being in the top 60% (about top 60 students) at MIT I think I stand a good chance for part 3.

Ah. In that case, likewise. What are you going to be studying?

Hello everyone, does anyone know how many people are usually accepted into the Mphil English - Modern and Contemporary Literature? What's the acceptance rate?

Of those accepted, how many are selected to proceed for a Phd at the end of the year?

Of course it would be helpful to hear any rough idea, I don't expect to find precise statistics on this.


One more thing: how can you apply during your last undergrad year, if the application success is partly based on your grades?

Thank you very much, have a good day .


Posted from TSR Mobile

What confuses me a lot right now that I'm an average-ish (certainly not top 3 of my class) BSc student at a small (and pretty awful compared to Warwick/Oxford/etc.) UK university and have been invited for interview for a PhD at Cambridge, and it's not even in the same discipline as my undergrad. I mean, I found a supervisor there around October and he wants to work with me, apparently, but I'm nowhere near the usual calibre of applicant.

In the end, I would pay the train ticket to have a 20 minute conversation with the guy even without a chance to get a PhD position because his research is really fascinating.

And then a couple of times a day, I start thinking they made some sort of mistake and mixed up my application somehow. This is seriously just confusing, in a good way.

So in conclusion, yay interview?