Cambridge 2016 Postgraduate Entry

Has anyone heard of Trust funding for MPhil? I guess nominations went out for PhD only.

Hi RobsErica I have applied for the same course and was just wondering how your application was going?

Hi jgeelong,
Unfortunately I am still in the 'under consideration stage', so losing hope now really. I know you shouldn't think like that, but feel my application was a long shot anyway.

How about you? What stage are you at?

Same! I kind of just expect not to get in now. It was so long that I applied I'm not sure I'm even bothered anymore.

I still haven't had the official email, but I'm hoping it comes by the end of the day! Good luck, I'm sure your offer is on the way!

Hey guys,
I sent in my application for an MPhil in physics at the start of December which has been stuck at the under consideration by department stage. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar or whether I should begin to get seriously anxious/worried.


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Thank you so much. Good news is I have just received the offer today on Camsis. However, I have gotten the official email yet. What about you ?

Congrats! I'll need more information to be helpful though. What were you planning on doing after Part III, and what area of physics are you interested in? To an extent it doesn't matter what you pick as there is overlap between the two courses.

Beautiful College! Have fun

Will the fact that I submitted later mean there is effectively a lower chance of getting in? In other words, will I be near the bottom of a pile, and its possible that by the time they get there most places have been given?

Thanks are you going there too?

No. They take and read applications as they come in, but apart from a few high flyers who get early offers (and there are more of them in high volume course and more in applicant pools where the entry standards are very conventional and well known), they make the bulk of applications in Feb or March once they have a good idea of the size and quality of the applicant pool.

The smaller the course, and the more diverse the sources of applicants (eg IR and politics courses, environmental courses etc that will take applicants with professional experience or a wide range of degrees) the longer it takes to judge the quality of applicants, and make the bulk of decisions.

When they say that decisions are made on a rolling basis, they do not mean 'every 4 weeks we make a decision on all the applications we have received in that time period'. What they mean is 'We read all applications as they come in and every 4 weeks we make offers to the top 2% and say no to the bottom 10% until we get more brutal in Feb/Mar when we have fuller visibility of the quality and size of the applicant pool' - All numbers totally invented for example purposes!!

If they don't have a deadline, they may also make offers much later than that.

All you can deduce from your application taking ages to be decided is that you aren't an absolute unquestionable superstar, but you are competitive.

Thank you so much for such a good explanation! It's hard not to go a little crazy when you're waiting for news, but it's good to know that in some way no news can be good news. It is interesting that smaller courses take longer to deliver decisions, the course I have applied for rarely gets 100 applicants, but I had always just assumed that would make the process quicker.

Thank you again anyway, I'l just go back to merrily refreshing the self service account like a lunatic now