University of Oxford

Oxford

Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate Study

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Reply 80

roxy potter

Yeah that's what i did. I put in the extra curricular stuff, I have a lot of it so I might as well make use of it.

University of Oxford

Oxford

Reply 81

unknown demon

How much weight does relevant work experience have in applying to Oxford for a political masters programme? I've an internship with parliament and previous work experience with NGOs that are particularly suited to the course I'd like to apply for in the future.

Any ideas?

Reply 82

The Sherminator

Roll-The-Dice-And-Win

ha ha ha ha...wassup alfie? nice name.
I had a goldfish called alfie once.

But seriously, does the university you go to for Undergrad not help your post grad application? I would have thought they would know how good the candidate was and that a 2:1 from Imperial/LSE/UCL would hold in better stead then a 2:1 from Cardiff or others.
That is quite interesting. Its good that it puts everyone on level ground for post grad applications.

Reply 83

Angelil

^^ probably quite a lot. more than extracurricular activities. If you have a choice between filling that space with information about your relevant work experience vs information on why you like running...well, no prizes :p:

Reply 84

unknown demon

I intend hopefully to apply next year for the comparative government course + will be working with NGOs, MPs in Parliament for the next six months, along with other political things. Do oxford or cambridge ask for an example of your work ?

Reply 85

hobnob

unknown demon

Well, you'll be asked to list any relevant work experience, and if you want to go into more detail, I'm sure there'll be a section of the application forms where you could mention this (probably called something like "additional information in support of your application").

Reply 86

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Can't speak for the Cam MPhil Pol, but the MPhil IR does look very positively at work experience, not at specific written work, but it looks to get students with a range of real world experience as well as having academic potential.

Reply 87

Ad-Alta

Oh my goodness, I didn't even realise there was a postgrad forum...
Now do I feel stupid :redface:

hi!

Ad-Alta

Oh my goodness, I didn't even realise there was a postgrad forum...
Now do I feel stupid :redface:

Don't bother - it's only been here for a few days. :wink:

Before then it was tucked away in a remote subforum of General University Discussion.
Anyway: welcome. Feel free to join our bitching about the 14-year-old aspiring accountant on the Cambridge forum. :biggrin:

Edit: Oh, wait, this isn't actually the GOGSoc thread. Never mind...

Reply 90

Ad-Alta

hobnob

Feel free to join our bitching about the 14-year-old aspiring accountant on the Cambridge forum. :biggrin:

Slightly off-topic, but that thread seems to have turned into a little bit of a slanging match... :rolleyes:

Reply 91

hobnob

Ad-Alta

Slightly off-topic, but that thread seems to have turned into a little bit of a slanging match... :rolleyes:

Yes, it's a bit of a shame, really. It was much more ludicrous (and funnier too) before he-who-always-seems-to-prompt-people-to-change-the-topic-to-a-discussion-of-his-glorious-self joined the thread. :frown:

Reply 92

Crisps

Hello,

Im not in here for any advice into applying at Oxbridge for postgrad, but the OP of this thread has been made into a Wiki page here.. If the links in the thread are updated, could they also be updated in the Wiki too, in case myself, RK, or anyone else doesn't spot them?

Ta very much :smile:

Reply 93

hobnob

Crisps

Hmm, to be honest, I think some of those threads aren't really as helpful and authoritative as the wiki format makes them look. This thread, for example, is listed under "subject specific threads", so people reading the wiki article will most likely assume that it will contain specific information about applying for postgraduate degrees in English. But unfortunately it doesn't. It's just a thread in which somebody considering a joint undergraduate degree was asking whether he would have a chance of being accepted for a postgraduate degree in English - and the replies he got were rather woolly and hardly English-specific.

Reply 94

Crisps

hobnob

Well, Warren [RK], wanted the thread wikified, so I've already started by putting the OP on there. It is by no means complete, we are aiming to provide an expanded guide to postgraduate study on the wiki, and that page [which has literally only just been created] has been created as a start. If there are more and better threads out there, then by all means other people can add them ina s they wish. I was only following the format of the OP, and I know there is a long way to go.

Reply 95

hobnob

I know, but wouldn't it be much better (in the long run, anyway) to turn the actually relevant bits of information into a proper coherent wiki article instead of just having a long list of links to threads which may or may not contain useful information? :dontknow:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising you. My point is just that people respond differently to this sort of post when it's a post and when it's been wikified. In a forum thread, I'll put up with a post that's a little meandering and not always to the point, but from a wiki article I tend to expect a lot more in terms of clarity, relevance and accuracy. So I'm not sure whether wikifying threads like this one is really the way forward...

Reply 96

randdom

hobnob

The wiki article is good in the sense that now all those links are there people will at least be able to find the threads that may be relevant. The wiki is always expanding and this includes posts that have been transfered from the forum as well as new articles. If you have any ideas for an article that you feel would add to the post graduate section of the wiki then you could make a start on it yourself. If you don't have time to do that (which would be completely understandable as most people are very busy) then if would be great if you could post your idea for the article and what would be included in it in the about wiki subforum as then hopefully someone else will see it and be inspired and create the article for you :smile:

Reply 97

hobnob

randdom

The wiki article is good in the sense that now all those links are there people will at least be able to find the threads that may be relevant.

Fair enough, but they could have found them through a simple forum search, no?

If you have any ideas for an article that you feel would add to the post graduate section of the wiki then you could make a start on it yourself. If you don't have time to do that (which would be completely understandable as most people are very busy) then if would be great if you could post your idea for the article and what would be included in it in the about wiki subforum as then hopefully someone else will see it and be inspired and create the article for you :smile:

Well, my idea would be to rewrite the article so it actually contains the information you're led to believe it contains by looking at the table of contents...

Reply 98

randdom

hobnob

Fair enough, but they could have found them through a simple forum search, no?

Well, my idea would be to rewrite the article so it actually contains the information you're led to believe it contains by looking at the table of contents...

Not if they wanted to find information on a wide range of topics searching for a thread on each and sorting through the results could take days. You have to remember that this is just a starting point it is going to be added to over time. Eventually hopefully some of the links will link to articles some to comprehensive posts. This particular wiki article is currently working as a kind of index directing people to the relevant information.

If you think that the article contains some links which aren't relevant then please let me know which ones specifically so that I can look into fixing it (which may mean removal or finding another source).

Reply 99

hobnob

randdom

All they'd need to do would be to run a forum search for 'Oxbridge', 'Oxford' and 'Cambridge' and then quickly skim through the results - which is pretty much what ba_mhaith_liom did when he/she compiled the links in the first post of this thread. It might take a few hours to get through all of the results, but certainly not days.

randdom

If you think that the article contains some links which aren't relevant then please let me know which ones specifically so that I can look into fixing it (which may mean removal or finding another source).

Basically all the threads in the 'subject specific' section aren't very specific at all, and they might as well be in the 'general questions' section - or under one of the other subheadings, for that matter (to give you an example, this thread is listed in the 'English' section, because the first post mentions that the OP will be applying for English, but the rest of the thread isn't about English degrees at all). Generally speaking, the problem about pretty much all the threads referred to by the article is that the same questions are being asked over and over again. Often a single thread contains several different questions, and the answers show a varying degree of competence on the part of the people who replied, so they can seem contradictory and confusing.