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Studying in halls, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Cambridge

Cambridge 2016 Postgraduate Entry

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Reply 1780
Avatar for curie
curie
Original post by Indeterminate
The colleges that receive the most applications will want to choose the very best from the pile, and that's all I know :lol:

I think @Josb might be able to shed some more light on this :bigsmile:


Yeah, I guess they can pick and choose whatever they like!

I'm just curious, I'll end up where I'll end up but it would be interesting to know how they choose.
Studying in halls, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Cambridge
Reply 1781
Avatar for Josb
Josb
6
Original post by curie
Yeah, I guess they can pick and choose whatever they like!

I'm just curious, I'll end up where I'll end up but it would be interesting to know how they choose.


Have you made an open application?
Reply 1782
Avatar for curie
curie
Original post by Josb
Have you made an open application?


No, I named two colleges.
Original post by Alexander I
1. Do you have to accept the offer before being allocated to a college or do they do that even though you have not done so?

2. How flexible is Cambridge with the conditions they put forth with the offer? If you are required to obtain 67% overall and instead obtain 65% but you satisfy the admissions team overall (language test, funding etc.), is there still a possibility that you may be offered a place?


1. I did accept my offer as soon as I received the official e-mail. Still haven't been accepted at any of my college choices.
2. Only if the department makes an 'academic case', elaborating to the BoGS the reason they offered you a place.

Hope I helped!
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 1784
Avatar for Josb
Josb
6
Original post by curie
No, I named two colleges.


So your application is processed y the first one, if you're good (being on a scholarship, or shortlisted for some is a proof of that), they will take you. But it seems they also try to "balance" their subjects, so a college will probably not accept five PhDs in Sociology in the same year. In that case, you'll be "moved" to your 2nd choice, then to a random college, until one accepts you.
Original post by ohwello
1. I did accept my offer as soon as I received the official e-mail. Still haven't been accepted at any of my college choices. Was able to meet 3 of my conditions in a day. ^^
2. Only if the department makes an 'academic case', elaborating to the BoGS the reason they offered you a place.

Hope I helped!


Thank you for the response. I am afraid the answer to the first question did not answer my question. My question: is college allocation dependent on your acceptance of the offer or do they allocate you to a college before you have accepted your offer?
Reply 1786
Avatar for tj23
tj23
3
Original post by Alexander I
Thank you for the response. I am afraid the answer to the first question did not answer my question. My question: is college allocation dependent on your acceptance of the offer or do they allocate you to a college before you have accepted your offer?


It doesn't depend on it. I have been accepted by my first choice college within a day but still haven't accepted the camsis offer
Original post by Alexander I
Thank you for the response. I am afraid the answer to the first question did not answer my question. My question: is college allocation dependent on your acceptance of the offer or do they allocate you to a college before you have accepted your offer?


They will allocate you to a college without you having formally accepted the offer.
Original post by tj23
It doesn't depend on it. I have been accepted by my first choice college within a day but still haven't accepted the camsis offer


Original post by gutenberg
They will allocate you to a college without you having formally accepted the offer.


Many thanks for this.

I am still awaiting the outcome of my Oxford application, so I am not sure whether I should accept my Cambridge offer just yet; hence the question.
Reply 1789
Avatar for tj23
tj23
3
Original post by lavaandmosquitos
Hi everyone,

I have applied for a Physics PhD, and I now have an interview at the end of the week with two members from the Doctoral Training Grant, who allocate EPSRC studentships. Does anyone have any idea what I might expect in this interview? I am getting more nervous about it by the minute! :redface:


I had my interview last Friday. I proposed a specific project in my application and it was only about that project, how I intend to go on about it etc. Also the purpose of the interview was solely funding as I already have a conditional offer.

I don't know if this is of any help in case you have applied with a more general proposal about your interest and your interview is for both PhD course in general and funding. I've heard that it's more general in that case, i.e. why do you want to do a PhD etc.
Reply 1790
Avatar for curie
curie
Original post by Josb
So your application is processed y the first one, if you're good (being on a scholarship, or shortlisted for some is a proof of that), they will take you. But it seems they also try to "balance" their subjects, so a college will probably not accept five PhDs in Sociology in the same year. In that case, you'll be "moved" to your 2nd choice, then to a random college, until one accepts you.


Ok! Thanks for clearing that up. :smile:
Original post by Alexander I
Many thanks for this.

I am still awaiting the outcome of my Oxford application, so I am not sure whether I should accept my Cambridge offer just yet; hence the question.


You don't need to accept it right away - in fact, I think Cambridge generally encourage you to wait until you're certain that you're coming before you formally accept. So there's absolutely no harm in waiting for other outcomes, funding decisions etc. before formally accepting. I accepted both my MPhil & PhD offers quite late - months after the offer had been made, since I was waiting for other elements to come in.
Original post by tj23
I had my interview last Friday. I proposed a specific project in my application and it was only about that project, how I intend to go on about it etc. Also the purpose of the interview was solely funding as I already have a conditional offer.

I don't know if this is of any help in case you have applied with a more general proposal about your interest and your interview is for both PhD course in general and funding. I've heard that it's more general in that case, i.e. why do you want to do a PhD etc.


Thanks for that. :smile: Was that for physics? I contacted the supervisor I'm interested in working with really early, and worked the projects I'm interested in into my application, so it should be interesting!

May I ask, did you have an interview with your supervisor before getting your conditional offer? Thanks. :redface:
Original post by Alexander I
1. Do you have to accept the offer before being allocated to a college or do they do that even though you have not done so?

2. How flexible is Cambridge with the conditions they put forth with the offer? If you are required to obtain 67% overall and instead obtain 65% but you satisfy the admissions team overall (language test, funding etc.), is there still a possibility that you may be offered a place?


1. The 'Your Offer + its Conditions' document isn't super clear about this. It says "All those receiving conditional offers from the University will in due course receive such membership." This is after saying that all students at Cambridge will be allocated a college yada yada yada.

Edit: loads of people have answered this so yay! Sorry for the repetition, all the other replies only loaded just now.

2. See quoted text below

"3.4.5 Academic Condition not met
If you do not achieve the grade required in your academic condition please still provide us with an original or certified copy of your final transcript/certificate. We will ask your department to consider your final results and they will make a recommendation to the Graduate Admissions Office (Board of Graduate Studies). The outcome of this recommendation will be presented in your self-service account."

This is all from the document I linked in my last post!
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Alexander I
Thank you for the response. I am afraid the answer to the first question did not answer my question. My question: is college allocation dependent on your acceptance of the offer or do they allocate you to a college before you have accepted your offer?


Oh sorry, I believe college allocation is not dependent on your offer acceptance. Never heard/read that before. ^^
Edit: Sorry for double posting - just saw that many people actually answered your question. It's getting hard to follow around here :biggrin:
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 1795
Avatar for tj23
tj23
3
Original post by lavaandmosquitos
Thanks for that. :smile: Was that for physics? I contacted the supervisor I'm interested in working with really early, and worked the projects I'm interested in into my application, so it should be interesting!

May I ask, did you have an interview with your supervisor before getting your conditional offer? Thanks. :redface:


yes, it was for an EPSRC award for a PhD in Physics (but I'm not really hopeful for that). I did an MPhil at the Cavendish last year and already worked with my potential supervisor. We discussed the PhD project and I guess that counts as official interview (but it wasn't advertised as one). The EPSRC interview was with two other members of the DTG, so my potential supervisor wasn't involved in this.

Good luck for the interview, I'm sure you'll be fine!
Reply 1796
Avatar for tj23
tj23
3
Original post by biologynerd95
I am really confused when it comes to physics funding. Were you interviewed for the EPSRC DTG funding and was it a panel or was it with your supervisor? Do you know how many of these they offer?


just saw this, see my other post. I don't quite understand what you want to know. I thought you already have a funding offer from physics?
Original post by tj23
just saw this, see my other post. I don't quite understand what you want to know. I thought you already have a funding offer from physics?


Sorry, I should've made my post a bit clearer earlier! I have funding for a PhD in Biology, I'm asking all these questions about physics in regards to my partner. As far as we were aware no interviews have been offered for the EPSRC DTGs that the physics department offer? So I wondered if it was the DTG you had an interview for or a different funding body just to put our minds at ease :-)
Just read your above post, are you an internal candidate? It seems the process is just taking so long that we are getting quite anxious!
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 1798
Avatar for tj23
tj23
3
Original post by biologynerd95
Sorry, I should've made my post a bit clearer earlier! I have funding for a PhD in Biology, I'm asking all these questions about physics in regards to my partner. As far as we were aware no interviews have been offered for the EPSRC DTGs that the physics department offer? So I wondered if it was the DTG you had an interview for or a different funding body just to put our minds at ease :-)


I've been contacted by the graduate admission of the department on the 8th but I think lavaandmosquitos said s/he had been contacted by the potential supervisor so I'm not sure about the time line or formalities of this process. The interview was for an EPSRC award and with two members of the Doctoral Training Grant. They said they want to interview as many applicants as possible but will probably make their decision towards the end of February.

According to this website physics has around 15 awards to offer: http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/news/epsrc-doctoral-training-opportunities
Good luck to your partner!

Edit: this interview did not relate to any of the CDTs, they have their own round of interviews afaik (in case your partner applied to one of these)
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by tj23
I've been contacted by the graduate admission of the department on the 8th but I think lavaandmosquitos said s/he had been contacted by the potential supervisor so I'm not sure about the time line or formalities of this process. The interview was for an EPSRC award and with two members of the Doctoral Training Grant. They said they want to interview as many applicants as possible but will probably make their decision towards the end of February.

According to this website physics has around 15 awards to offer: http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/news/epsrc-doctoral-training-opportunities
Good luck to your partner!


Thank you for the info! It's put our minds at rest that they're interviewing as many people as possible! Hopefully we'll hear something soon :-)
Good luck to you too

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