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MA - chances from lower tier uni

If you're attempting to get onto an MA course for English or History at somewhere like, say, York, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL or Sussex, how much does the 'prestige factor' of your undergraduate course university matter? & how likely is it that you will get postgraduate funding with a 2:1?

Say you went to a lower tier university such as UEA or Cardiff, what are your chances of getting onto an MA with a higher tier university if you get a 1st or a 2:1?

Thanks a lot :-)

Reply 1

DJDJ

1

how you can say UEA and Cardiff are in the same league is beyond me.

Reply 2

illusion_of_casablanca

OP

DJDJ

how you can say UEA and Cardiff are in the same league is beyond me.

Which would you say was higher? :confused:

Reply 3

poltroon

I'd guess UEA. Anyway, have a look at the individual university requirements as for grade requirements, but it is well known that it is possible to make a jump from a lower tier university to a higher one in the course of starting postgraduate education. Oh and if you got a First, that would help, loads.

Reply 4

illusion_of_casablanca

OP

poltroon

I'd guess UEA. Anyway, have a look at the individual university requirements as for grade requirements, but it is well known that it is possible to make a jump from a lower tier university to a higher one in the course of starting postgraduate education. Oh and if you got a First, that would help, loads.

Ah ok, thanks. Well am hoping to get a First as I absolutely love my subject and have always excelled at it in the past. Just hoping my newly acquired university (I ended up having to use Clearing) won't disadvantage me :smile:

Reply 5

DJDJ

1

university of east anglia better than cardiff? no way, cardiff is the best uni in wales and one of the best in the uk.

Reply 6

Alan Smithee

Look at UEA in the ratings.

And to the OP, it depends on your references, your performance compared to other students, and for Oxbridge, your written work.

Reply 7

Turdburger

16

cardiff -- it may be the best in wales, but it sure isnt the best in the uk. Although UEA and Cardiff are both fairly good.

English at Cardiff is quite good though i admit, though any of:

Durham,
Oxbridge,
UCL,
York (in that order) are way better, Warwick and Nottingham too are better, and there may be more....

Reply 8

DJDJ

1

^ no **** sherlock, who said it was the best in the uk? i said it was one of the best.

UEA is crap.

Reply 9

Alan Smithee

UEA is 23rd in the Times Table, Cardiff is 16th.
UEA is 19th in the Sunday Times Table, Cardiff is 22nd.

So obviously, there is barely any difference if you go by that.

Reply 10

Roll-The-Dice-And-Win

1

Heartbreaker

cardiff -- it may be the best in wales, but it sure isnt the best in the uk. Although UEA and Cardiff are both fairly good.

English at Cardiff is quite good though i admit, though any of:

Durham,
Oxbridge,
UCL,
York (in that order) are way better, Warwick and Nottingham too are better, and there may be more....

Umm....I think you are biased there, if you look at the rankings it ussualy is:

Oxbridge > LSE/Imperial > Warwick/UCL > Durham/York/Nottingham :smile:

Reply 11

The Boosh

17

any uk uni in the top 30 is fine

Reply 12

Pink Lady

1

Cardiff is seriously not "lower tier." As has been pointed out, it averages around top 20, which is higher than Sussex (though that's good too), and places higher than universities such as Exeter- apparently full of 'Oxbridge rejects,' according to rumour. It's not in the most prestigious league of top 8-Ox/LSE etc as named above, but it is not exactly bad either.

It annoys me when people who go to equivalent universities, such as Newcastle (mid teens to top 20 placing in league table) say it's only 'fairly good', yet their university is no better, and often worse-placed. Is it because it is in Wales that people think it's worse than it is? It annoys me. If it were number 88 in the tables I'd be fine with it, but it's misplaced criticism- Cardiff's in the Russell group, along with all the usual suspects...to me it's like saying Birmingham's a rubbish uni, which obviously isn't the case.

Sorry, rant over.

Reply 13

The Boosh

17

well said pink lady.

in defence of my uni though, exeter is 18th, cardiff is 22nd in the sunday times (not that it means anything). i dont know about cardiff, but exeter is generally a straight A grade uni. also, the russell group is a group of big universities rather than being an elite list. york, st andrews, durham, exeter, sussex, bath, lancaster, loughborough and plenty others are not in the russell group but in the 1994 group. being in the russell group doesnt mean a university is automatically better than others. which you probably know anway.

Reply 14

arkbar

12

Exeter, Cardiff and UEA are much of a muchness in academic rankings.
(and before you say anything, Durham's not a whole lot better)

Reply 15

Phranky

2

Of course there's a chance, but you have to be bloody good to get into the top Universities. I plan on applying for entry into [the new] MSt Film Aesthetics in 2008 at Oxford (the poor saps couldn't even bring themselves to call it Film Studies, which I guess is too working class for them), and I have an excellent history of success in Media and Film courses which will help me in the future. However, I view a first class degree as the minimum entry requirement into the top 10 Uni's; I'm trying to fit in as much volunteer work and work experience into my remaining 2 years as I can. It'll look better on the application form than just a first class degree.

I still can't get over the fact they actually have a Film related degree at Oxford... I hope the fact that it's a new course will play into my hands, Oxford have such a relative lack of experience in the subject area compared to other lower tier universities (who seem to excel in it).

Reply 16

Jerby

Perhaps that's because they're the only ones that do it? Just an idea.

Reply 17

Pink Lady

1

The Boosh- sorry, I wasn't slagging off Exeter at all, I was trying to say that it was roughly the same as Cardiff but had a better reputation among people. In one league it was higher than Ex., that was where I got that from, but saying that, I am aware that on many other league tables it is higher than Cardiff!

Reply 18

Turdburger

16

Umm....I think you are biased there, if you look at the rankings it ussualy is:

Oxbridge > LSE/Imperial > Warwick/UCL > Durham/York/Nottingham

Um yes I am biased :smile:

, but you seem to have forgot that this is english that we are talking about, not LSE nor Imperial do an english course... Durham or Oxbridge is the place to go for english, and that isnt just me saying that.

A bit OT, but Phranky, I really hope you get into Oxford!

Reply 19

ChemistBoy

16

Phranky

I still can't get over the fact they actually have a Film related degree at Oxford... I hope the fact that it's a new course will play into my hands, Oxford have such a relative lack of experience in the subject area compared to other lower tier universities (who seem to excel in it).

I thought this would be a very big disincentive to study at Oxford in this case. I hope you are prepared for the inevitable raft of problems that students encounter when they are embarking on a new course.

MA - chances from lower tier uni

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