Oxford DPIR Graduate Applicants 2021

Original post by s.zar

Got rejection at 2am this morning. Still waiting for the MPhil in Political Theory.

So sorry to hear this, it’s brutal sending them out at 2AM, really heartless in my opinion... Thank you for sharing with us all though and keeping us informed. Keeping my fingers crossed for you with regard to the MPhil Politics (Political Theory)!

Reply 42

Original post by Baobao8

Thanks for sharing and sorry about the outcome. I imagine that they don't share any feedback on the application?

No, they just say that they have carefully considered my application but due to the high competition, they decided that my applicatioin can't be accepted.

But in the application portal, I can't see my profile updated. I mean that when I'm looking my application for the MPhil in Comparative Government, it's like I have not been rejected.

Reply 43

Original post by josephdroberts98

So sorry to hear this, it’s brutal sending them out at 2AM, really heartless in my opinion... Thank you for sharing with us all though and keeping us informed. Keeping my fingers crossed for you with regard to the MPhil Politics (Political Theory)!

Thank you so much. Yes, it's really strange and sad to receive decision at 2am. Now, I'm going to look at my emails every night at 2am...Really hope for all of us that we are going to be accepted for the MPhil in Political Theory.

Reply 44

The most part of the applications accepted are at the end of March or beginning of April.

Reply 45

batpad

3

Hey everyone,
Just my understanding of the 2am thing : rejections aren’t sent directly from the department, they’re sent automatically from Oxford’s graduate admissions. From what I understand, what happens is that when a department marks an application down as rejected, admissions sends all the rejections of the day with identical emails at 2am. So basically that email is coming from graduate admissions not from the department’s email.

Offers on the other hand are sent directly from the department hence why they come during business hours/early afternoons. Those emails will also have a pdf attached (the offer) so that might make it easier to distinguish them as well.

Obviously this isn’t official info but it’s what I’ve gathered from applying last year and getting rejected and then applying this year and getting into a different department and from all the gradcafe entries.
I’m still waiting on the Political Theory MPhil tho so here’s hoping for us all!!

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 46

Original post by batpad

Hey everyone,
Just my understanding of the 2am thing : rejections aren’t sent directly from the department, they’re sent automatically from Oxford’s graduate admissions. From what I understand, what happens is that when a department marks an application down as rejected, admissions sends all the rejections of the day with identical emails at 2am. So basically that email is coming from graduate admissions not from the department’s email.

Offers on the other hand are sent directly from the department hence why they come during business hours/early afternoons. Those emails will also have a pdf attached (the offer) so that might make it easier to distinguish them as well.

Obviously this isn’t official info but it’s what I’ve gathered from applying last year and getting rejected and then applying this year and getting into a different department and from all the gradcafe entries.
I’m still waiting on the Political Theory MPhil tho so here’s hoping for us all!!

Thanks for explaning, I think that you are right because my email was from the admissions and not from the department.

I think that offers will be sent during the day and in late March.

Reply 47

jonnyiw

OP

Original post by batpad

Hey everyone,
Just my understanding of the 2am thing : rejections aren’t sent directly from the department, they’re sent automatically from Oxford’s graduate admissions. From what I understand, what happens is that when a department marks an application down as rejected, admissions sends all the rejections of the day with identical emails at 2am. So basically that email is coming from graduate admissions not from the department’s email.

Offers on the other hand are sent directly from the department hence why they come during business hours/early afternoons. Those emails will also have a pdf attached (the offer) so that might make it easier to distinguish them as well.

Obviously this isn’t official info but it’s what I’ve gathered from applying last year and getting rejected and then applying this year and getting into a different department and from all the gradcafe entries.
I’m still waiting on the Political Theory MPhil tho so here’s hoping for us all!!

Thanks for the clarification - definitely makes sense.

Reply 48

HopefulPhilGrad

Hi all! I'm from the U.S. and applying for the DPhil in Politics (I'm primarily interested in political theory). FWIW I emailed my (potential) supervisor about when decisions would be made because some U.S./U.K. programs to which I've been admitted have deadlines that are rolling around. My potential supervisor said that decisions would be made either at the end of this week or early next. Not super helpful as that's within the timeline we were given, but I thought the info might be appreciated. Oh, and I'm applying Nuffield as well.

Reply 49

widowmesh

3

Hello all! I am very happy to see a thread dedicated to DPIR. It has been a little cumbersome, at times, to sift through general post-graduate thread for department-specific updates. I am still waiting to hear on my application for the MPihil International Relations. I currently have offers from LSE and Sciences Po. LSE's deadline for me to accept or decline my offer is approaching within the next week or two so I am hoping to hear back from Oxford soon!

Reply 50

Original post by widowmesh

Hello all! I am very happy to see a thread dedicated to DPIR. It has been a little cumbersome, at times, to sift through general post-graduate thread for department-specific updates. I am still waiting to hear on my application for the MPihil International Relations. I currently have offers from LSE and Sciences Po. LSE's deadline for me to accept or decline my offer is approaching within the next week or two so I am hoping to hear back from Oxford soon!

That's really stressful. Hope you will hear from Oxford soon for accepting (or not) your offer at LSE.

Reply 51

Original post by HopefulPhilGrad

Hi all! I'm from the U.S. and applying for the DPhil in Politics (I'm primarily interested in political theory). FWIW I emailed my (potential) supervisor about when decisions would be made because some U.S./U.K. programs to which I've been admitted have deadlines that are rolling around. My potential supervisor said that decisions would be made either at the end of this week or early next. Not super helpful as that's within the timeline we were given, but I thought the info might be appreciated. Oh, and I'm applying Nuffield as well.

Thanks for letting us now. Hope we will be accepted

Reply 52

Any news this night? I hope none of you have been rejected.

Reply 53

camusa

Original post by HopefulPhilGrad

Hi all! I'm from the U.S. and applying for the DPhil in Politics (I'm primarily interested in political theory). FWIW I emailed my (potential) supervisor about when decisions would be made because some U.S./U.K. programs to which I've been admitted have deadlines that are rolling around. My potential supervisor said that decisions would be made either at the end of this week or early next. Not super helpful as that's within the timeline we were given, but I thought the info might be appreciated. Oh, and I'm applying Nuffield as well.

Ah that's fascinating, thanks for sharing. I'm applying to the dphil too. Do you think that means we'll find out end of this week/early next, or that there's some extra layers of bureaucracy before they actually inform us?

Reply 54

jonnyiw

OP

Original post by HopefulPhilGrad

Hi all! I'm from the U.S. and applying for the DPhil in Politics (I'm primarily interested in political theory). FWIW I emailed my (potential) supervisor about when decisions would be made because some U.S./U.K. programs to which I've been admitted have deadlines that are rolling around. My potential supervisor said that decisions would be made either at the end of this week or early next. Not super helpful as that's within the timeline we were given, but I thought the info might be appreciated. Oh, and I'm applying Nuffield as well.

This is very useful, thanks. Someone in the main Oxford thread said that the DPIR had told them to expect a decision on or before 19th March. I hope it is soon!

Original post by widowmesh

Hello all! I am very happy to see a thread dedicated to DPIR. It has been a little cumbersome, at times, to sift through general post-graduate thread for department-specific updates. I am still waiting to hear on my application for the MPihil International Relations. I currently have offers from LSE and Sciences Po. LSE's deadline for me to accept or decline my offer is approaching within the next week or two so I am hoping to hear back from Oxford soon!

Welcome! I have an offer from LSE - is there actually a date by which we have to accept/reject? I am really hesitant to outright reject it (even though it is unlikely I will take up the place), it just seems so extreme.

Reply 55

HopefulPhilGrad

Original post by camusa

Ah that's fascinating, thanks for sharing. I'm applying to the dphil too. Do you think that means we'll find out end of this week/early next, or that there's some extra layers of bureaucracy before they actually inform us?

That's a super good question and frankly I just don't know. The supervisor actually just sent me a follow-up email which confirms that the decisions on admission and at least some funding opportunities will be finalized next week. (This suggests no news for DPhils this week :frown:

). And I know the department is getting back to me about these things because I have deadlines from other programs which are pressuring me to make a decision sooner rather than later. But I have no idea if there will be a general release of news next week. I think it's definitely possible that news will come to everyone next week because it's within the official timeline they gave us and, as another poster pointed out, someone else heard that decisions were being released by March 19.

Reply 56

camusa

Original post by HopefulPhilGrad

That's a super good question and frankly I just don't know. The supervisor actually just sent me a follow-up email which confirms that the decisions on admission and at least some funding opportunities will be finalized next week. (This suggests no news for DPhils this week :frown:

). And I know the department is getting back to me about these things because I have deadlines from other programs which are pressuring me to make a decision sooner rather than later. But I have no idea if there will be a general release of news next week. I think it's definitely possible that news will come to everyone next week because it's within the official timeline they gave us and, as another poster pointed out, someone else heard that decisions were being released by March 19.

Damn, ah well. At least if they managed to send most emails out next week that would still be fairly fast by historical standards, if gradcafe is anything to go by (which it shouldn't really be, I know).

Reply 57

soupdish

Hi all!

I applied to the MPhil Comparative Government and haven't heard anything yet -- fingers crossed and best of luck to those applying to any of the DPIR programs!

Reply 58