Cambridge ICE MSt IR

I don't remember any question about non-academic activities...maybe because I too would not have put anything. There are people who live in or near Cambridge anyway and some that have moved there for the course, so that would apply more to them. You're not obliged or expected to do anything non-academic, but if you want to you have all the options a fulltime student would. One of our classmates has been very involved with her college's rowing team for example.

Okay, I stared at this question for a minute or two and have come to the conclusion this just may have been a spelling error on the part of Cambridge, which changes the meaning. The question as it appears reads:

You may provide details here of our non-academic activities or any special circumstances not evident from other answers in this application that you wish to draw to the attention of the assessors of your application.

I believe this is supposed to read "your", not "our".

Nonetheless, I'm still confused about this question. Other sections ask for professional background or career goals. Should this question be treated as an opportunity to explain issues in one's application materials (e.g. if one had an undergraduate degree in an atypical area like biology, etc.) or should one summarize hobbies and non-curricular interests? Or both? I don't have "special circumstances" that require explanation so I'm inclined to provide information about personal interests so that I don't leave it blank, but I'm also afraid that might make me look like a little bit of a rube if I inject into a graduate school application that I like mountain biking, etc.

I simply put 'please see attached personal statement' in those boxes, which made sense to me.

With regard to references, I provided two academic referees. I also emailed the department regarding the 'permission from work' form, stating I was not keen on discussing the course with work until I had received an offer. This was fine, pasted email contents into a pdf document and uploaded.

I would not be overly concerned with nuances on the site, just follow the advice in the booklet and apply. References are added after you submit by the way, in case that was also confusing.

I had thesis interview last night, so I can assume that my application was at least presented competently :-)

As for typos confusing the meaning, I suggest you actually contact ICE about that. They should embarassedly answer and then fix the problem.

Thanks :--)

How have you found the programme? Presumably you are finishing off your thesis at the moment? Good luck! :--)

There are a lot of problems with grammar and spelling throughout. I was actually quite shocked as I've declined offers from much lesser schools (though I'm starting to reconsider whether they really are all that much lesser) that don't have any spelling/grammar errors. I'm surprised, honestly, that English composition is an issue at this level. It's, frankly, a pretty bad omen when an American, for chrissakes, is critiquing the English language skills of the oldest (?) university in England.

Anyway, I'm holding my tongue for now and just trying to decipher the meanings of these <ahem> creative spellings and word constructions as I'm pretty sure if I actually sent in a list of all of them it would not be received kindly!

Insofar as I can tell, this is not a duplication of an existing thread, if it is, my apologies. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has experience with Cambridge's MSt in International Relations taught via ICE? Specifically, a few questions:

- What is the age range of students? It’s been about ten years since I received my undergraduate degree, would that make me relatively old?
- During the two-week residential sessions, about how many hours per day are devoted to class-work (i.e. lectures and seminars)?
- I haven’t been able to get an entirely clear answer to this question elsewhere, but does anyone know if applications are reviewed after the deadline or on a rolling basis? That is, are my chances improved by applying early?
- What are relative undergraduate grades of successful applicants? I’m in the United States and my final grade point average was 3.74 which, I believe, is equivalent to a UK 2i honors, though I think just at the cut-off point. (In applying to U.S. schools my chances have been improved as I had a Graduate Record Exam [GRE] score in the 95th percentile, unfortunately for me, no one outside the U.S. cares about that, ha.) Also, does Cambridge evaluate heavily the relative prestige of your undergraduate institution? My undergraduate degree is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, would this make me less competitive than someone with a lower undergraduate grade, but from, say, Harvard or Yale?

Thanks very much in advance for any help.

I can't answer 2 as that did not happen to me in the last round. What you should be asked for is upload of a research proposal - did you get that?

Also - re you saying no info on reference topics - (because I knew my referees well ) I can tell you that once you have listed someone as a referee, they get sent a reference request form that lists in some detail the types of things they should address in the reference. I do seem to recall them saying they would prefer at least one academic reference but understandable if some don't have given the target cohort - so I am surprised there isn't anything like this again?

As for typos confusing the meaning, I suggest you actually contact ICE about that. They should embarassedly answer and then fix the problem.

There are a lot of problems with grammar and spelling throughout. I was actually quite shocked as I've declined offers from much lesser schools (though I'm starting to reconsider whether they really are all that much lesser) that don't have any spelling/grammar errors. I'm surprised, honestly, that English composition is an issue at this level. It's, frankly, a pretty bad omen when an American, for chrissakes, is critiquing the English language skills of the oldest (?) university in England.

Anyway, I'm holding my tongue for now and just trying to decipher the meanings of these <ahem> creative spellings and word constructions as I'm pretty sure if I actually sent in a list of all of them it would not be received kindly!

I have a feeling the website was contracted out perhaps, not written by the staff at ICE/Cambridge. Either way, it is still pretty shocking - but the actual handout that explains how to apply is very clear and professionally written as you would expect.

The course itself, when you look it up and compare lecturers etc., is essentially the MPhil taught in a different manner. In fact, other than the timings of lectures etc., it looks exactly the same. It would also appear that MSt graduates have gone onto good PHD programmes, so I cannot see where you can go wrong. In fact, it is more puzzling as to why you would choose the MPhil over the MSt when you factor in lost wages - perhaps if you could get funding for the full time programme and wanted to fully experience living at Cambridge?

The lecturer I was interviewed by commented on how Cambridge was quite 'late to the party' of part-time education, but had started to catch up in the last 15 years. It is a shame Cambridge/Oxford do not provide more part-time degrees, but as I mentioned in another thread, LSE are pretty much the same. They have designated executive programmes, but the part-time element to their general programmes is sadly lacking. I guess perhaps 'part-time' has a certain stigma attached to it.

Not good to have that many errors. Have you tried applying to other places?