[sm2012]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
I just took the references I could get. There is nothing else you can do really.

So you took one reference from Oxford, and two from your previous institution?

How confident were you in obtaining strong references from your new supervisors? Did you feel you got to know them well during the two/three months you had?

[Little Jules]

(Original post by emarrisw)
Just wondered how important people think living in college accommodation is at postgraduate? I am finding it difficult to decide between living in private rented accommodation with my boyfriend and living in a postgrad room (owned by college but not in the actual college complex).

The major advantage of living in college accommodation as a grad is the social side of things. It's easier to get to know people and you'll be around when things are going on.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[HoVis]

(Original post by emarrisw)
Just wondered how important people think living in college accommodation is at postgraduate? I am finding it difficult to decide between living in private rented accommodation with my boyfriend and living in a postgrad room (owned by college but not in the actual college complex).

The above response (about socialising) is very valid and worth thinking about, but I don't think it would be impossible to make friends and socialise when living 'out'. It just takes a bit more effort. I lived out in the third year of my undergraduate degree (when everyone else was living in college) and I managed to see people, though I admit that I was more isolated than I would have been on mainsite. That said, it suited me, as third year was pretty busy, and I enjoyed being able to have quality time with a few good friends regularly whilst also having lots of time and space to work.

I'm living out in Cambridge for my Master's year and am once again faced by the conundrum of socialising, which is a bit more of an issue in a new place where I don't know anyone yet. But then again my course involves a lot of classes in the first term, so I'm bound to meet new people (including plenty from outside my college) through those, and I plan on making a real effort to be around during Freshers' Week.

I also have the sense that MCRs tend to have a lot of 'organised time' - i.e., film nights, bops, clubs, etc, which I definitely plan to be around for. I think if you didn't take part in these you could be just as isolated living in college accommodation as you would living out.

I guess my take on it, having thought about this myself, is that really the only thing you'd be missing (as long as you made a deliberate effort to spend time in the MCR) would be the spontaneous socialising that you get in college accommodation. But I think as long as you plan it well, you won't be lonely!

From an academic POV, I would recommend living out every time -- you have far more privacy, less likelihood of being randomly distracted by people knocking on your door, and are less subject to the random mood changes that sometimes afflict big group spaces (college mainsites in Trinity term just exude a sense of stress and panic...).

Hope that helps! Those are just my thoughts on the matter.

[*Corinna*]

(Original post by sm2012)
So you took one reference from Oxford, and two from your previous institution?

How confident were you in obtaining strong references from your new supervisors? Did you feel you got to know them well during the two/three months you had?

Yes, basically. Obviously I would have gotten better references if I got them now but don't forget that many people are in a similar position to yours and the admissions people are aware of this.

[Spairos]

(Original post by sm2012)
Hi,

I applied to the department's most competitive Master's course and was admitted without interview. I think this is largely in part due to my research background being a strong match with a very well established professor in the department. They are also a professorial fellow of St John's, so I chose that as my college.

I wasn't admitted into St John's, and what's more, I am currently without accommodation.

I am wondering why St John's didn't admit me. Given my 'easy' admission into the course, I would have thought they'd make a case to admit me into the college. I keep thinking that their reason was they weren't convinced that I could meet the financial conditions (at the time of application I had a substantial amount to cover).

What do you think?

Which is the most competitive Mster's course?

[QHF]

(Original post by sm2012)
So you took one reference from Oxford, and two from your previous institution?

How confident were you in obtaining strong references from your new supervisors? Did you feel you got to know them well during the two/three months you had?

I hope you don't mind me supplementing Corinna's answer with my experience, which was that I didn't really feel I knew the people who'd been teaching me that well after just three months, but as Corinna says you have to make the best of it and the admissions people know the situation you're in.

Fortunately the course I was doing had its first assessment at the end of Michaelmas, and this was marked in time for my referee to look it up and say nice things about it in her reference early in January. It was a slightly weird situation, in that I didn't find out how good or bad the essay in question was until well into Hilary term, so I had to arrange the reference and submit the application without knowing whether the work I'd done was good enough to be persuasive. But it worked out. So if the course you're doing has any assessed elements early enough for stuff like that to work, that's worth considering.

[sm2012]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
Yes, basically. Obviously I would have gotten better references if I got them now but don't forget that many people are in a similar position to yours and the admissions people are aware of this.

I see, thanks for your input

[sm2012]

(Original post by QHF)
I hope you don't mind me supplementing Corinna's answer with my experience, which was that I didn't really feel I knew the people who'd been teaching me that well after just three months, but as Corinna says you have to make the best of it and the admissions people know the situation you're in.

Fortunately the course I was doing had its first assessment at the end of Michaelmas, and this was marked in time for my referee to look it up and say nice things about it in her reference early in January. It was a slightly weird situation, in that I didn't find out how good or bad the essay in question was until well into Hilary term, so I had to arrange the reference and submit the application without knowing whether the work I'd done was good enough to be persuasive. But it worked out. So if the course you're doing has any assessed elements early enough for stuff like that to work, that's worth considering.

Thanks for sharing, that is definitely an approach worth considering!

[HoVis]

(Original post by sm2012)
Thanks for sharing, that is definitely an approach worth considering!

To add my two-penneth, my plan for applying for the PhD was to ask my thesis supervisor to provide the 'current' voice, even if they won't know me that well, and to ask one of the people who wrote a reference for the Master's, even if they haven't taught me for a while to provide the hopefully-enthusiastic reference. Especially as you get further along in academic I think it's not unusual to just learn from experience which referees write the best references, and then stick with them for years to come - even if they aren't people who you've recently worked with. I think it's definitely worth trying to see if you can figure out if any of your referees for the Master's wrote you a particularly good reference - for example, I've been told by someone who's seen my application that one reference was just completely awesome in terms of selling me (that sounds bad, doesn't it?!), so regardless of the fact that this person taught my in the second year of my undergad, I think I want to stick with him for one of my referees, if he agrees.

When you get to postdoctoral applications it seems to be quite normal to write to someone (even someone who you don't know very well) and say: "here's a sample of my work, will you write a reference for me?". So a good compromise, given that the people teaching your Master's won't know you that well, would either be to show them a sample of your best piece of undergraduate work / any articles you might have written to help them get a more qualified view of you, or contact someone you knew well from your undergraduate and send them some recent work so they can have an up-to-date view of you. If that makes sense!

Obviously take this all with a pinch of salt, as the above is mostly just what I've been thinking about for myself on this issue, combined with knowledge gleaned from my soon-to-be-postdoctoral-husband.

[The Lyceum]

With references remember the three year rule in academia, e.g if they've taught you within three years its all good. Don't forget also that at OxBridge your work samples play a big part, this is what I've been told by people interviewing afterwards.

Post-Doc is different slightly in the sense that your thesis will sort of also speak for itself to some degree. It is always worth briefing your referees before they write btw, especially if your work quality has improved since they last saw it. In my case I sent my old tutor a revised version of a thesis chapter.

[L1ght5Camera4cti0n]

Just wondering, has anyone had any experience of being put on the 'reserve list' for a course at Oxford due to it being full or know any information about it? Does it essentially mean you are offered a place and can you ask to get deferred entry? Some help on this would be appreciated

[ColinClout]

Any ideas how important it is to be in Oxford for Freshers week? Trying to fix a holiday with my wife before term starts and it's proving difficult!!

[Little Jules]

(Original post by ColinClout)
Any ideas how important it is to be in Oxford for Freshers week? Trying to fix a holiday with my wife before term starts and it's proving difficult!!

It is likely to be very necessary - and possibly compulsory. You will have intro sessions in your college and your department, which are either important not to miss, or compulsory. You might be able to get away for a few days, but I wouldn't recommend booking anything until you have a timetable.

[QMHistoryguy]

Hi, has anybody who is going up to Oxford for a masters in october received any further info yet? I have sent in my transcript confirming that I met the academic requirements of my offer and have paid all of my college and course fees outright already... yet still no word. I think we are supposed to receive a 'student contract' to sign and return, I assue that will happen soon and hopefully that will have some information. My main concern is that I need library access for the summer, I was hoping that the college and the history faculty would give me a library card for summer access and also gym access at the college facilities does anybody know if this is possible?

Thanks!

[Dubie]

(Original post by QMHistoryguy)
Hi, has anybody who is going up to Oxford for a masters in october received any further info yet? I have sent in my transcript confirming that I met the academic requirements of my offer and have paid all of my college and course fees outright already... yet still no word. I think we are supposed to receive a 'student contract' to sign and return, I assue that will happen soon and hopefully that will have some information. My main concern is that I need library access for the summer, I was hoping that the college and the history faculty would give me a library card for summer access and also gym access at the college facilities does anybody know if this is possible?

Thanks!

I received my contract about 3 days after fulfilling my conditions, they sent it by email, and I printed it out, attached a photo, and sent it back. About 2 weeks after that they sent me the login details. The contract didn't really have any useful information, actually, but you should receive yours soon. Mine came from my department, not the college, so maybe follow up with them if you're concerned.

How did you pay your fees? I want to pay mine ASAP, but I don't have any instructions on how to pay yet

[Knisper]

(Original post by sll1)
For those of you who are interested, also for prospective applicants, i made a blog about my forthcoming studies at Oxford

http://theclerkstale.wordpress.com/

That's nice, I like to read different point of views on life as a student in Oxford. Are other people here also planning to write blogs?

[ColinClout]

(Original post by Little Jules)
It is likely to be very necessary - and possibly compulsory. You will have intro sessions in your college and your department, which are either important not to miss, or compulsory. You might be able to get away for a few days, but I wouldn't recommend booking anything until you have a timetable.

Thanks!

[Little Jules]

(Original post by QMHistoryguy)
Hi, has anybody who is going up to Oxford for a masters in october received any further info yet? I have sent in my transcript confirming that I met the academic requirements of my offer and have paid all of my college and course fees outright already... yet still no word. I think we are supposed to receive a 'student contract' to sign and return, I assue that will happen soon and hopefully that will have some information. My main concern is that I need library access for the summer, I was hoping that the college and the history faculty would give me a library card for summer access and also gym access at the college facilities does anybody know if this is possible?

Thanks!

You should contact your college to discuss this, as usually students are not given access before the start of the semester (or once their course has finished). Normally, you would not be able to use the library the summer before your course (and you wouldn't be expected to), and you can't access the library or gym before you get your Bod card (student card) which is quite late on.

[janjanmmm]

(Original post by Dubie)
Mine came from my department, not the college, so maybe follow up with them if you're concerned.

First you get University contract from Department, then College contract from College. Two different things.

[sll1]

(Original post by QMHistoryguy)
Hi, has anybody who is going up to Oxford for a masters in october received any further info yet? I have sent in my transcript confirming that I met the academic requirements of my offer and have paid all of my college and course fees outright already... yet still no word. I think we are supposed to receive a 'student contract' to sign and return, I assue that will happen soon and hopefully that will have some information. My main concern is that I need library access for the summer, I was hoping that the college and the history faculty would give me a library card for summer access and also gym access at the college facilities does anybody know if this is possible?

Thanks!

One day after meeting my conditions from the college I was sent my Student Contract, a week later I received my log-in details. My college said that the college contract is part of a freshers pack which they send out in August.