Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate Study
Taking the next step in your studies? Here's where to talk about postgraduate study and courses.
| Announcements | Posted on | |
|---|---|---|
| Important: please read these guidelines before posting about exams on The Student Room | 28-04-2013 | |
-
- Reputation:
- Full Member
- Location: London
- Posts: 147
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?You are wrong about the "small place to write a couple of paragraphs". Most courses require you to attach a seperate sheet outlining your reasons for applying. You are also wrong about the interviews. For most MScs at Cam you are called for an interview. Lastly, getting in usually has to do with the standard of the rest of the people applying with you. Oxbridge attracts a large ammount of US students(ivy league) and usually they are preferred.(Original post by LBC213)
For postgrad applications to Oxbridge, and Camb in particular, they don't give a monkeys about extra-curriculars and there is no PS, just a small space to write a couple of paragraphs on why you want to do that particular course. I've talked to a few course admissions people at Cambridge and if you have 1) A high 1st (2.1s are rare) and 2) Excellent recommendations 3) Well written and thought out reasons for doing the course then you stand a very good chance of getting the offer.
Almost all of the courses do not interview either, though may invite you for a "chat" after being given the offer. Being from Liverpool university won't that much of a hold back, you help yourself by being at other top unis but it certainly won't hold you back as much as some people here think it will. My personal tutor at Cambridge did her undergraduate at Cambridge's other university, Anglia Polytechnic University (APU), which is known for all the opposite reasons to Cambridge University. She got admitted to do a PhD and is now director of studies for her course at the college. Another person I knew came from UEA. Liverpool isn't that bad, and has a decent reputation in engineering/computing anyway.
When i applied to Cam the "requirement" was only a 2:1 degree. Apparently most of the people in my year have a couple of masters on top of BScs and some of them also hold a PhD and they claim they do it to change their career path.
As for whether the uni matters, i think that what matters more is how good the applicant is. Even if you are from the lowest ranking uni, having excellent marks and references that say you've accomplished a lot throughout your degree(and also have a very good final year project) makes you a very attractive candidate. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: Oxford
- Posts: 348
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?You're right, they do want more than a couple of paragraphs: I wrote a whole three paragraphs of personal statement to get into my DPhil place at Oxford
.
Incidentally, there was a large press furore a few years back about some postgraduate courses (graduate entry medicine being the main one) at Oxford having a list of which universities should always get an interview and which only for exceptional candidates, so it clearly does matter to an extent.
edit: I'm fairly sure Liverpool was very much the upper half of the list though - I'd imagine google will know.Last edited by Derek_The_Hamster; 02-08-2006 at 14:49. -
- Reputation:
- TSR Royalty
- Location: BOSH............ Posts: 1,000,000,000,000,000
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?It's weird I always though that Liverpool was a good university. To hear people on this thread you would think that it was some crappy ex-poly. Don't worry too much if you don't get into Oxbridge, their reputations at postgraduate level are not as massive as at undergraduate level there are other very good places to go.
-
- Reputation:
- Banned
- Location: UK
- Posts: 3,865
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?Lest you forget, this is TSR. Unless you're at Oxbridge, 99% of posters think your uni is worthless.(Original post by ChemistBoy)
It's weird I always though that Liverpool was a good university. To hear people on this thread you would think that it was some crappy ex-poly. Don't worry too much if you don't get into Oxbridge, their reputations at postgraduate level are not as massive as at undergraduate level there are other very good places to go. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: Oxford
- Posts: 348
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?Well quite, so did I. My A-level physics teacher went there, as did someone fantastically good on my MSc course.(Original post by ChemistBoy)
It's weird I always though that Liverpool was a good university. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: United Kingdom
- Posts: 293
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?Correction:(Original post by Platocrates)
Lest you forget, this is TSR. Unless you're at Oxbridge, 99% of posters think your uni is worthless.
Lest you forget, this is TSR. Unless you're at Oxbridge or LSE, 99% of posters think your uni is worthless. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: United Kingdom
- Posts: 293
Re: chances of getting onto an MSc at oxbridge?It's a 'good' but not a 'great' uni.(Original post by ChemistBoy)
It's weird I always though that Liverpool was a good university. To hear people on this thread you would think that it was some crappy ex-poly. Don't worry too much if you don't get into Oxbridge, their reputations at postgraduate level are not as massive as at undergraduate level there are other very good places to go. -
- Reputation:
- Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
- Location: York
- Posts: 4,866
Re: Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate StudyExcellent thread ba_mhaith_liom!
But who decided to move it to the Oxbridge forum? The reason we decided we needed this thread was that we'd get asked endlessly about it ini the POSTGRAD forum. This question pops up on the Oxbridge forum sometimes, as it did recently, but it's more or less a permanent feature in the postgrad section.
Maybe you could change the name of the thread? Instead of Oxbridge put 'top universities'? This really should be in the postgrad forum. It won't serve its purpose otherwise. -
- Reputation:
- Thread Starter
- Full Member
- Location: Ireland
- Posts: 106
Re: Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate StudyThanks, I hope that it will be of use. I have made my case to the relevant authorities. I think the title of the thread, as you suggest, was a misnomer and I should also have phrased my request a little more exactly when I asked for it to be made a sticky.
I'm waiting to see whether the mods can move it back to the postgrad forum. -
- Reputation:
- Thread Starter
- Full Member
- Location: Ireland
- Posts: 106
Re: Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate StudyThanks, it's not comprehensive at all as I simply stopped collecting threads once I got bored(Original post by The Boosh)
cor blimey - very thorough!!!
but it should be helpful to a certain degree.
-
- Reputation:
- Section Moderator
- PS Helper
- I care for nobody, no not I
- Location: my room
- Posts: 28,746
Re: Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate StudyOh, so you mean this isn't a list of all posts ever written on that subject? I'm appalled!(Original post by ba_mhaith_liom)
Thanks, it's not comprehensive at all as I simply stopped collecting threads once I got bored but it should be helpful to a certain degree.
.
