This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Admission chance to Cambridge PhD

What is the chance to secure an admission to Cambridge PhD in engineering/science with the following profile?

1) 2:2 EE degree from top uni
2) 3-year VERY related R&D working experience
3) MBA from top uni, expecting distinction or good pass

Do they even consider anything below 1st class? Will the working experience help?

Reply 1

CamSPSer

2:2 I would think forget it, you need a high 2i at the very least...

Reply 2

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

20

Try asking in the Grad forum where you are more likely to get a response from someone doing an Eng PhD.

http://www.gradunion.cam.ac.uk/forum

A 2.2 is not an absolute bar, I got selected with one, on the other hand I had 15+ years of relevant work experience. I'm not sure that the MBA would help, but someone in the Grad forum is likely to have more accurate advice.

Reply 3

FadeToBlackout

15

As far as i know, you may well find it very hard to get funding for your PhD with less than a first at undergrad level. I can't see the work experience being a bar, but like people say, yes you probably will find it hard to be accepted with a II.2.

Reply 4

musicbloke

17

FadeToBlackout

As far as i know, you may well find it very hard to get funding for your PhD with less than a first at undergrad level. I can't see the work experience being a bar, but like people say, yes you probably will find it hard to be accepted with a II.2.

Depends on subjects. Yes, if you do arts/humanities then you'll struggle to get funding from AHRB, but if you're a scientist it could be a lot easier.

MB

Reply 5

lhwjud

OP

FadeToBlackout

As far as i know, you may well find it very hard to get funding for your PhD with less than a first at undergrad level. I can't see the work experience being a bar, but like people say, yes you probably will find it hard to be accepted with a II.2.

yah probably I won't get any funding even I got an admission, but I'm hoping to get industrial funding if there is any. But the first and foremost problem is to secure an admission. Wish me luck! :redface:

Reply 6

MadNatSci

12

The work experience is the thing you'll need to play on I think. The 2.ii will not be enough (it won't be enough to do a PhD at any decent university) and I don't think they'll consider an MBA relevant enough to make up for the 2ii. But emphasise the lab experience.

(A point of general interest: funding for a scientific PhD, as musicbloke says, is easier to come by: the BBSRC and the MRC generally allocate universities a number of studentships - worth about £12k - and it's up to the universities then to dish out projects that will be funded by these. For science you need a 2i to do a PhD, usually - and yes, a 2i is enough to get you onto a PhD at Cambridge!)

Reply 7

$Avatar for sTe\/o$

sTe\/o

16

My DoS keeps telling us that if you don't get a 2.i in your final year it's very difficult to enter research. He might be exaggerating to make us work hard, but I think it's broadly true.

Reply 8

lhwjud

OP

sbailey

My DoS keeps telling us that if you don't get a 2.i in your final year it's very difficult to enter research. He might be exaggerating to make us work hard, but I think it's broadly true.

If counting final year alone, I've got 2:1 but overall it was bad cos the first 3-year scores were not good. FYI my uni has equally weighted 4 years scores, i.e the scores in first year is as important as the last year.

Reply 9

gamecube999

is there a higher chance to do a PhD at Cambridge if you got your 2:2 at Cambridge as well?

Reply 10

musicbloke

17

gamecube999

is there a higher chance to do a PhD at Cambridge if you got your 2:2 at Cambridge as well?

Loads and loads of people get 2.is. Why would they give places to people who have 2.iis?

MB

Reply 11

AlphaNumeric

10

gamecube999

is there a higher chance to do a PhD at Cambridge if you got your 2:2 at Cambridge as well?

It'll vary from subject to subject, but almost certainly no.

With maths PhDs they aren't bothered about what you got in your degree, it all rests on your Part III result (though you need a 2.i from Cam or a 1st from elsewhere to get onto Part III at least). If you get a distinction in Part III it's completely irrelevant what you got in Part II.

I got a 2i and have applied to other unis which say "You require a 1st to apply" without any replies of "You haven't met our minimum requirement" but I'm almost certain it's due to the fact I'm doing Part III maths, which covers material that no undergrad courses do, so looks appealing to many places. Several unis do 4 year PhDs in theoretical physics instead of 3 to cover Part III material too, and me doing Part III might save them a lot of work (at least I'm hoping they think about it like that :p:

)

Reply 12

MadNatSci

12

As previously stated you can't do a PhD at Cambridge with a 2ii from here - just assume you can't, full stop! You won't tend to get funding with a 2ii either but if you're willing and able to fund yourself and if you have someone to back your application to the Board of Graduate Studies you can sometimes do a Master's. I know of a scientist and a lawyer who each did this. It's a *trifle* expensive though...

Reply 13

lhwjud

OP

musicbloke

Loads and loads of people get 2.is. Why would they give places to people who have 2.iis?

MB

This is very true. Thanks everyone for your opinion.

If there is a chance to do a PhD in the future, I'll get everyone posted. In my opinion, the bachelor degree might or might not be true reflection of academic ability, but it takes a lot of efforts (like go for a master first) to prove otherwise.

Thanks again!

Reply 14

JustaGuy

1

My humble opinion is that if you have a really stellar recommendation letter from a respectable academic, getting in with a 2:ii is not at all a hopeless case.

The recommendation letter would have to explain why you didn't get a 2:i though (although you are really of 2:i or 1:1 material)

I know of people with firsts getting rejected for PhD (at Cambridge and elsewhere), presumably because of less-than-desirable recommendation letters.

Admission chance to Cambridge PhD

Related discussions

Articles for you