Oxford 2015/16 Postgraduate Applicants

Hey,

So far I thought "Overseas" was rather referring to the US/AUS/..., but from what I have learned today (got my exact interview date & time), being from an EU-state, I also just have a Skype interview.

The "problem" is, that I have already booked flights, accommodation etc. Doing a Skype interview would allow me to prepare for 3 additional days, would save me several 100€s (I am not exactly broke but that's about how much I am making in 1 1/2 months at the moment, being only part-time employed while writing applications).

Going there in person would maybe show a little additional commitment.

What's your take on this. Are there many EU-applicants going there?

Hey I just attended a Skype interview day before yesterday and yesterday I received an informal mail stating that I have been accepted to a DPhil study in the Clinical Neurosciences department at Oxford. I am now quite worried about funding as I am an international student. I was told that I will get my offer letter ( along with every other details) next week. Can someone please tell me usually around what date the Claredon fund is allocated and what are my chances of getting it?

I got an offer from Oxford (Applied Linguistics) and from Cambridge (Mphil in Education in Second Language Education). I haven't decided where to go. I got an offer from Queens', Cambridge, but rejected Worcester, Oxford, still waiting for college. I know the Cambridge course focuses on research whereas Oxford on lectures. I'm attracted to both courses, but haven't made up my mind. Any advice?

I have a Clarendon Scholarship. I think most people hear around early to mid April. I can't say anything about your personal chances, but I can tell you that Clarendon takes about 150 new people every year, and all from very different fields.

Several college scholarships are given in conjunction with the Clarendon fund. Do you know if they are counted in the 150 Clarendon scholarships? and which body decides its attribution (colleges or Clarendon)?

They are counted within that, yeah. As far as I understand it, Clarendon administrators work in conjunction with the college in order to place people where they would prefer to be or where the scholarships on offer best suit them. My own award is in conjunction with a college scholarship from the college I applied to. I know the Clarendon people and the people in college talked about awarding it to me because I had an informal offer (from my college) many weeks before I had a formal one & since my college offers two scholarships in conjunction with Clarendon, for a while it wasn't clear which one I would get or whether I would get one at all.

I'm not sure how it works for other people, but I definitely had an offer from Clarendon first. They let me know that I had the award, and that there was a possibility that it would be a joint award, but that regardless of whether I got one of the partnership scholarships I was still guaranteed the full amount. They only got back to me weeks later with the exact breakdown of my funding.

Does that make sense?

Yes thanks. So the Clarendon scholarships are in fact given by the colleges? or is there a general pool?

When did you receive your informal offer?

Nope, I would think the opposite. I had my informal offer from the college (in Mid-April) weeks after I had my formal one from Clarendon (early April). The college probably didn't look at my application for scholarship purposes until after, or so I would guess.

I think Clarendon has every reason to be the primary decision maker as far as this goes. Most of the college partnership awards do not even cover living expenses. Clarendon funds the bulk of it. Plus, I think as one of the university-wide scholarships they probably get the selected & ranked applicants from the departments at an earlier stage than colleges would. I mean, obviously I didn't get it, but I was interviewed (by my faculty) in mid-February last year for an Ertegun scholarship also, so I know at that point they were already well into the process of departmental ranking.

Hey,

So far I thought "Overseas" was rather referring to the US/AUS/..., but from what I have learned today (got my exact interview date & time), being from an EU-state, I also just have a Skype interview.

The "problem" is, that I have already booked flights, accommodation etc. Doing a Skype interview would allow me to prepare for 3 additional days, would save me several 100€s (I am not exactly broke but that's about how much I am making in 1 1/2 months at the moment, being only part-time employed while writing applications).

Going there in person would maybe show a little additional commitment.

What's your take on this. Are there many EU-applicants going there?

I got an offer from Oxford (Applied Linguistics) and from Cambridge (Mphil in Education in Second Language Education). I haven't decided where to go. I got an offer from Queens', Cambridge, but rejected Worcester, Oxford, still waiting for college. I know the Cambridge course focuses on research whereas Oxford on lectures. I'm attracted to both courses, but haven't made up my mind. Any advice?

What I've seen of Queens', Cam is nice -- I've done some work with some of their special collections and they seem like a cool outfit.

But to be honest, I'd recommend mostly basing your decision on which course you feel suits you best, since in the long term is going to be more important than your college, and it sounds like those are two quite different courses. If you can't decide on that, perhaps you could try talking it over with any academic mentors you have?

I'm doing ALSLA.

I just screened through Cambridge's page and I think the two courses are very similar. I cannot see how Cambridge's more research-focused except that they seem to have a lesser workload overall, with around only half of the modular output load required; Oxford's also has a handful of catered research workshops and they have asked us to also take on the quantitative research module. There's also the optional module to get on to get an additional certificate in English language teaching.

And speaking of research, Oxford outperformed Cambridge big time in the field of education. 65% of all research output were graded 4, 27% 3; Cambridge's 54% 4s and 24% 3s. Oxford obtained better scores in all categories with the most notable advantage in research environment - 100% 4 versus Cambridge's 87.5%. This is despite Oxford putting more staff members into the review (Oxford puts every researcher into it, don't know if Cambridge does that).

In terms of employment, Oxford's has a 100% employment rate whilst Cambridge's has 5.3% unemployed and looking; Oxford also has a lower acceptance rate, with c18% compared to Cambridge's 35.1%. Though on these two I could only find older and all-routes data from Cambridge.

It may also be important to note that the titles of the course alone determine your future as well. From my experience, many job advertisements specifically ask for a master's in applied linguistics but not the other one; other universities may like the sound of an 'MPhil' better, though if they look into it, they'll know Oxford doesn't offer MPhils, and if they are that superficial, they are equally likely to assume an MPhil to be a failed PhD.

They are counted within that, yeah. As far as I understand it, Clarendon administrators work in conjunction with the college in order to place people where they would prefer to be or where the scholarships on offer best suit them. My own award is in conjunction with a college scholarship from the college I applied to. I know the Clarendon people and the people in college talked about awarding it to me because I had an informal offer (from my college) many weeks before I had a formal one & since my college offers two scholarships in conjunction with Clarendon, for a while it wasn't clear which one I would get or whether I would get one at all.

I'm not sure how it works for other people, but I definitely had an offer from Clarendon first. They let me know that I had the award, and that there was a possibility that it would be a joint award, but that regardless of whether I got one of the partnership scholarships I was still guaranteed the full amount. They only got back to me weeks later with the exact breakdown of my funding.

Does that make sense?

The offer is for the NDM studentship which covers all university and college fees and includes a stipend, which was specified in the offer letter from the department. So.. yes? The application for DPhil Clinical Medicine is a little different because instead of just the Dphil application most people apply for the studentship as it's fully funded.

Hope that answers your question! Seems like we are lucky in science, funding in Arts almost seems equally if not more difficult than securing the position

Thank you for your advice.
I'm glad I've found someone who's doing ALSLA. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

I'm still waiting for college. I'm wondering about what percentage of your course mates are allocated to Kellogg? It seems that this course is strongly connected to Kellogg. Do you think if someone's rejected by the first choice college, he/she is likely to be offered by Kellogg or other graduate colleges?

Also, I'd like to know how demanding the course is, and how much you're satisfied with your course.

Thanks!

I just read online that applicants will be contacted one week before interviews commence... so it seems we will not be contacted about this program until next week! Good luck! I'll keep you posted if I hear anything else about it.

Fun fact: The President's father worked with Dr Alan Turing during the war to break the code, though unfortunately his character didn't make the cut to the historically inaccurate The Imitation Game,

Fun rumour: The President's son waits on your table.