[rippedbanana]

hey, just take gre or gmat. if you are applying for courses like financial econ, finance, business econ in business school, doesnt have to be oxford or cambridge, could be any schools in the us or other competitive schools in the uk, you will need it anyway. competitive courses usually ask for gre and gmat. they say all non-uk degree holders are required to do one, but those with the uk degrees are also encouraged to do so. if you submit one, they will take a look at it. just ignore these posts about not needing to do the standarized test. social scientists we all had to do it at some point. just get it over with as soon as you can.

as for your earlier question, the standarized tests are not a substitute for taught modules. the standarized test is like a psychometric test in a job application: you dont want to do badly but you dont have to be the best either. 85 - 90% is what you want. having said that, it depends on what gre you do.

(Original post by Paroma)
Alright, I didn't know that. I assumed they were required for all post grad courses. My subject of study right now is Economics, but I might choose to pursue English or History for my masters.
Again, thanks.

[Insert Name Here]

http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergrad.../requirements/

I found a list of 'black listed subjects' for Cambridge Undergraduate studies. Do these exist at postgraduate level?

[hobnob]

(Original post by Insert Name Here)
http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergrad.../requirements/

I found a list of 'black listed subjects' for Cambridge Undergraduate studies. Do these exist at postgraduate level?

What kind of blacklist would you expect to be applied to graduate admissions, though - a blacklist for undergraduate subjects? A-levels are no longer relevant at that stage, it's your degree results that count.

[Good bloke]

(Original post by Insert Name Here)
http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergrad.../requirements/

I found a list of 'black listed subjects' for Cambridge Undergraduate studies. Do these exist at postgraduate level?

That isn't a blacklist. The word black, despite your misleading use of quotation marks, does not even appear on the page linked. It is advice on what qualifications form a useful preparation for undergraduate study at Cambridge.

Such general advice cannot easily be given for graduate study so you should find out what the university says in relation to the specific course you wish to follow. Clearly, your A levels are almost completely irrelvant and an English degree is unlikely to be considered good preparation to study a postgraduate physics course.

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by Good bloke)
That isn't a blacklist. The word black, despite your misleading use of quotation marks, does not even appear on the page linked. It is advice on what qualifications form a useful preparation for undergraduate study at Cambridge.

Such general advice cannot easily be given for graduate study so you should find out what the university says in relation to the specific course you wish to follow. Clearly, your A levels are almost completely irrelvant and an English degree is unlikely to be considered good preparation to study a postgraduate physics course.

I think from his other posts, the OP is an overseas candidate with a very shaky understanding of UK HE.

[Paroma]

(Original post by rippedbanana)
hey, just take gre or gmat. if you are applying for courses like financial econ, finance, business econ in business school, doesnt have to be oxford or cambridge, could be any schools in the us or other competitive schools in the uk, you will need it anyway. competitive courses usually ask for gre and gmat. they say all non-uk degree holders are required to do one, but those with the uk degrees are also encouraged to do so. if you submit one, they will take a look at it. just ignore these posts about not needing to do the standarized test. social scientists we all had to do it at some point. just get it over with as soon as you can.

as for your earlier question, the standarized tests are not a substitute for taught modules. the standarized test is like a psychometric test in a job application: you dont want to do badly but you dont have to be the best either. 85 - 90% is what you want. having said that, it depends on what gre you do.

I'll most probably be taking the general test. Don't think they have specialized GRE for social sciences. Thanks for the answer, I'm pretty sure you're right because it makes sense and goes with what I've read in their prospectus.

A different question - after my first year I skipped a year of college then came back to finish it. Will the universities I apply to ask for reasons? They weren't medical or anything very serious. I don't think I can explain why I took a year off.
Will it cost me anything with the universities?

Thanks.

[janjanmmm]

(Original post by Paroma)
I'll most probably be taking the general test. Don't think they have specialized GRE for social sciences. Thanks for the answer, I'm pretty sure you're right because it makes sense and goes with what I've read in their prospectus.

A different question - after my first year I skipped a year of college then came back to finish it. Will the universities I apply to ask for reasons? They weren't medical or anything very serious. I don't think I can explain why I took a year off.
Will it cost me anything with the universities?

Thanks.

First of all, they are not going "to ask" you anything (unless there is an interview, but in social sciences it is very rare). They have an application and you write a brief personal statement. Whether or not you want to explain your gap year on the personal statement is up to you, it is only two pages and you have to squeeze a lot of things. Personally, I would not even mention it, they will look at the grades and courses you took, gap or no gap is unlikely to be even noticed. But if it effected your grades - then you may want to mention it.

[Paroma]

(Original post by janjanmmm)
First of all, they are not going "to ask" you anything (unless there is an interview, but in social sciences it is very rare). They have an application and you write a brief personal statement. Whether or not you want to explain your gap year on the personal statement is up to you, it is only two pages and you have to squeeze a lot of things. Personally, I would not even mention it, they will look at the grades and courses you took, gap or no gap is unlikely to be even noticed. But if it effected your grades - then you may want to mention it.

thanks, you guys are very helpful. This takes a load off me. =)

[Insert Name Here]

(Original post by hobnob)
What kind of blacklist would you expect to be applied to graduate admissions, though - a blacklist for undergraduate subjects? A-levels are no longer relevant at that stage, it's your degree results that count.

Thanks, so any class I pick is ok?

[Insert Name Here]

(Original post by nulli tertius)
I think from his other posts, the OP is an overseas candidate with a very shaky understanding of UK HE.

nulli tertius

This is true thanks!

I thought that there was a blacklist of classes for graduate admissions.

[hobnob]

(Original post by Insert Name Here)
Thanks, so any class I pick is ok?

Pretty much. I mean, obviously it helps if your subjects are related to your undergraduate course, but if your undergraduate university is happy with your subject combination and you achieve a good degree result at the end, Cambridge (or any other university, for that matter) won't care if one of your A-levels was in Blancmange Studies.

[cyberpoet]

(Original post by hobnob)
Pretty much. I mean, obviously it helps if your subjects are related to your undergraduate course, but if your undergraduate university is happy with your subject combination and you achieve a good degree result at the end, Cambridge (or any other university, for that matter) won't care if one of your A-levels was in Blancmange Studies.

Would that be the pudding or the band?

[hobnob]

(Original post by cyberpoet)
Would that be the pudding or the band?

Both. It's an interdisciplinary A-level.

[misterwhy]

I'm from the US and strongly interested in applying to Oxford for a DPhil in Education, specifically in the Teaching and Teacher Education group. Looking at US unis as well, but Oxford appeals for a number of reasons. I'm wondering how my basic credentials sound to those of you who are more familiar with admissions and the system. I recognize that being an international student changes things, but thoughts/advice would be appreciated. I'm not trying to troll for compliments, but rather get a sense of where I might fall in an applicant pool.

I'm 30 yrs old and have taught for the last seven years, focused on developing innovative curricula. I've also held leadership positions in the school in curriculum development, teacher leadership, and the school-wide community service program. I just (last week! ) finished my M.Ed in Teacher Leadership. The course was 2yrs, first year was taught and second was research (w/thesis). I was asked to be a co-author on a book designed to translate educational policy into practice; it is contracted and due in December-- we're writing now. I was the sole presenter at a two-week seminar in Germany last year for pre-service teachers. It was on designing curricula to emphasize student engagement. I've presented at one national and one local conference.

I have four mentors willing to write strong letters of recommendation for me: my graduate advisor, the program director from my M.Ed, the professor with whom I'm writing the book, and my supervisor at the school where I teach. They have said they'd emphasize my "teachability," the strength of my writing, and my ability to engage with high-level research.

I'm working on refining a research proposal over the next few weeks. I went to a small school in the US called St. John's College, modeled on the Oxford approach to learning. We had a tutorial model, studied independently, called our teachers tutors (), and took a four-year required curriculum with math, ancient Greek, lab science, philosophy, religion, and music. I left with a 3.54 GPA. I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I will once I finish summer teaching obligations in a few weeks.

I plan to submit my Oxford application in the first gathered field (November deadline). I'm refining my list of potential advisors and am considering contacting them by the end of July to connect and hopefully build a stronger candidacy.

I've got loads of questions about funding, but I'm mostly curious at this point how my basic info looks in terms of competitiveness.

Thanks!

[threeportdrift]

(Original post by misterwhy)
.........

I can't speak in detail about Oxford, or Education, but I can tell you from my first hand experience of Cambridge and mature students with professional experience, that your profile seems very competitive. I'm not sure if there would be differences in US v UK educational assumptions, methods etc that might need to be taken into consideration, you have to find a Tutor prepared to supervise your thesis, but I'd say give it a go.

[misterwhy]

(Original post by threeportdrift)
I'm not sure if there would be differences in US v UK educational assumptions, methods etc that might need to be taken into consideration, you have to find a Tutor prepared to supervise your thesis

Thanks for your thoughts! The particular strand of research I'm interested in (ethnographies/case studies) tends to be somewhat universal in methods/approach, but investigating differences is a good idea.

Looking at thesis titles from current and former doctoral students, it seems similar work is/has been done in the department/research group. The tutor who would be most relevant to my intended research is a big deal, so I feel like I may need to approach a few different potential advisors in case he's unwilling or it's not a good fit. In your experience reaching out to tutors at Cambridge, was it considered inappropriate to contact multiple faculty members in the same department/research group?

[threeportdrift]

(Original post by misterwhy)
Thanks for your thoughts! The particular strand of research I'm interested in (ethnographies/case studies) tends to be somewhat universal in methods/approach, but investigating differences is a good idea.

Looking at thesis titles from current and former doctoral students, it seems similar work is/has been done in the department/research group. The tutor who would be most relevant to my intended research is a big deal, so I feel like I may need to approach a few different potential advisors in case he's unwilling or it's not a good fit. In your experience reaching out to tutors at Cambridge, was it considered inappropriate to contact multiple faculty members in the same department/research group?

Again, I can only speak for Cambridge but I know there are very different ideas on applicant contact. Some people and departments think it is fine, more accurately some people think it is fine, some departments haven't thought about it. However, some people and some departments refuse point-blank to consider it, believing it could be seen to confer some advantage on applicants who have made the right contacts and asked the right questions.

I think what is universal though, is that it won't hurt your application to send the email and ask the questions. Just be aware that zero response may be because your academic is forgetful and can barely open an email anyway, or it might be a policy of not engaging with applicant questions. Whichever, the silence can be annoyingly deafening, but shouldn't be taken personally.

[kittyb99]

Hi! I apologise for another generic panic post about grades!

Basically I want to apply to both Oxford and Cambridge to do Medieval History, specifically economic history. I'm slightly worried that my first year grades might let me down because though I did get a 2:1 in History, my Philosophy and Creative Writing grades were 2:2 I've just finished second year and hopefully my grades should be around the 2:1/1st mark (I no longer do Philip or CW). I also should have some strong references from good academics- people who know that I have an unhealthy love of medieval economics! Do you think my first year grades will be a problem? I mean, Philosophy and Creative Writing aren't the sort of subjects that fit well in the mind of someone who likes economic history, one would think?

Thank you for your help! I am literally a bag of nerves over this! Can you please quote me in a reply?

[aquacapella]

Does doing 5 AS's hold an advantage as opposed to those doing 4?

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by aquacapella)
Does doing 5 AS's hold an advantage as opposed to those doing 4?

For postgrad?

No more than having passed your cycling proficiency test.