I want to get my Masters of Philosophy from Oxbridge.
I have a low First (71%) in philosophy from an ok university, the University of Birmingham.
I want to apply for the 2016-17 accademic year. I suppose I have three questions:
1. Do you think my application will have an advantage given that I will submit it very early (for the 2016-17 year)?
2. How much do the references matter - should I seek out highly qualified professors who I did not have as much as a repoire with, or as high a module mark with, or should I seek out those less qualified lecturers whom I got on well with and achieved high marks with?
3. Does anyone know how flexible admissions are regarding sample essay length. For example, Cambridge asks for two essays between 3000-5000 words. The work I did was generally shorter, with a couple of 7000's. Would it be acceptable to submit, say, one shorter and one longer, with a note explaining why?
Thank you very much.