Undergrad vs postgrad

Is admission to oxbridge more competitive at undergrad or postgrad level?

Also, does oxbridge place alot of emphasis on which undergrad uni you attended?

Reply 1

rottcodd

mike9999

Is admission to oxbridge more competitive at undergrad or postgrad level?

It depends what course you want to do. I would imagine undergrad is problably more competitive, but that doesn't necessairily mean that postgrad is easier to get into either.

Also, does oxbridge place alot of emphasis on which undergrad uni you attended?

For postgraduate study, they are not bothered at all by which institution you studied at. This is currently being debated here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=561303

Reply 2

generalebriety

Undergraduate, I think. And I don't think which uni you attended really counts for much. They don't really care, as long as you're good.

Reply 3

camstudent123

It depends. Plenty of good people get rejected by oxbridge at undergrad and then come for postgrad or in some cases the opposite.

Postgrad applications are very different to undergraduate; there is very little reason to apply to oxbridge for postgrad if the research interests you have don't mesh with a supervisor. At PhD level you will spend a lot of time being advised one on one rather than classes. Whilst the quality of the department and the postgrads and other profeeoss is important it is far more important to go somewhere where your research interests fit. Certainly within my own subject there are research areas where it would be excellent to stay in the department but others where LSE or even 'lower tier' universitis such as Lancaster, Essex and Goldsmiths would be far better.

The odds are that excellent candidates may be rejected at some universities but get into oxbridge. The universities are not going to take candidates who don't fit the research interests of the deparment, no matter how strong their application