Cambridge 2016 Postgraduate Entry

Ok guys, I got all my documents and my application in a couple of days before Christmas last year. Ever since then I've been "Awaiting consideration by Department". So that brings us to just a little over 3 months now - still in that status. I've applied for Mphil Development Studies and I've seen and heard of people here and in other places getting both acceptances and rejections for the same course. The deadline for applications is the 31st of March - which is in a few days. Thoughts on emailing the department if they don't get back to me within the first couple of weeks in April? I don't want to be rude or anything and I understand it's a super busy period for them but it's weighing on my mind having my future so hung up in the air, I kind of just want to know - and I certaintly don't want to be waiting until July if all these rumours are true!

Advice? Would be appreciated from you all

Out of interest, if I don't get into one of my two preferred colleges, is there an equal chance that I'll get into any of the remaining colleges, or is there certain colleges that are more commonly where people who don't get one of their preferences typically end up, i.e. one of the newer colleges like Churchill?

Their algorithm for allocating colleges isn't based on what's popularly perceived as the "less popular" or newer colleges - there are certain attributes (which they seem incredibly vague about), which colleges look for, and I suppose they identify a sequence of an additional 3 colleges who each get the chance to review your candidacy. If the first one picks you, you're sorted, if not, it'll go to the next one, and so on. The algorithm matches you with colleges where you are most likely to fit in - now what they based that on, I don't know. xD

I put down King's as my 1st and St. John's as my 2nd, but ended up getting Pembroke, which is by no means "newer" or less popular.

Fingers crossed you'll get in somewhere you'll be pleased to go

I've been accepted to an MPhil in Chemistry at Pembroke (open applicant) as a USA student. After wading through some of the previous pages, I still can't tell what this consensus is (if there is one), regarding if the degree cost is worth it. $35,000 US dollars (~20K pounds) is a lot of money, especially, since for this degree I would simply be doing research in a lab, so I'm not sure what that money is even paying for... Also, it looks like there are about 6,500 offers, of which 3,500 confirmed, but there are only 500 Cambridge Trust awards (120 already have been dispatched). How are all these other students paying for their degree? I've heard that the conditional offer without funding is the more polite way of rejecting people--is there any truth to that? I'm really not sure what to make of my acceptance at this point.

Does anyone know if the part III maths will be covered by the new postgraduate loans?

Cannot find anything online about it.

I too have just been offered a place!

The graduate board of admissions and the Cambridge trust, gates trust, etc. are not related, and so it's not a "polite way of rejecting you". Typically your academic department will nominate candidates for a variety of different scholarships, and it is then up to the separate scholarship trusts to make an assessment. If you want to find a peace of mind, it might be worth calling up your department and finding out if you've been nominating for any of the scholarships, and then calling up the relevant scholarship trusts to find if about the status of your application. (remember, funding decisions are given out by e.g. Cambridge trust from mid-March to June)

As to whether it's worth it, I suppose that's an individual matter. That's always the thing with elite institutions - figuring out how much of it you're paying for the name and how much you're getting out of the degree in real terms (and whether the former makes a huge difference in the grand scheme of your particular career prospects).

Thank you for your response. I wonder, how many people take up study without funding? Would I be crazy to take out 35K in loans?

Also, if I'm understanding correctly, it is possible to receive departmental funding that is entirely separate from the Cambridge Trust? For some reason, I thought the only funding schemes available were through the Trust, which had many funding sources (department and colleges) but was centralized for efficiency. If that is not the case, I guess that would explain why there are 3,500 grad student but only 500 awards.

Also, I applied to a few external funding schemes (Gates - rejected outright; Fulbright - final rounds "alternate", boohoo) and in an email to the Cambridge Trust regarding these schemes, they offhandedly offered the following information: "The majority of awards administered by the Trust are usually offered by June". So just for everyone's information on the board, it could be another 2 months of purgatory before our fates are decided. (However, it is possible that they told me this knowing I was a non-EU MPhil candidate.)

Hi! My experience with the department is that they are super helpful and friendly about everything, shoot an email to [email protected].

I got my offer of admission for Dev Studies on February 3rd, and as far as I can see from the various posts here, they seem to be sending out offers in 2 or 3 different batches. You might have ended up in the second batch, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were to hear back in the next week or two. A few of my friends who are current students did hear back from the same course, in June last year, but they had literally applied a few days before the end of March deadline, so I can't imagine you would hear back THAT late, as you don't fall within that category.


Good luck! fingers crossed

How long can I expect to be "Under consideration by college" before hearing back? - Is it actually 8-10 weeks?

Thank you so much for your reply! Appreciate the help - I guess it just concerned me because it seems stuck at the "awaiting consideration" but I know some departments jump from one stage to the final stages. Thanks for reassuring me - if I don't hear back by mid April I'll feel more comfortable emailing the department.

I depends on which colleges you chose as your preferences I believe. My 1st college choice wasn't a super popular one, and got back to me within <1 week, but I'd assume the bigger colleges take longer due to the larger number of applicants

I contacted the Trust about the status of my applications (both MPhil, two distinct departments). They told me that they are now reviewing both of them and that I can expect to hear about the outcome by June.
Does that mean that both departments shortlisted me, or does the Trust also consider applicants who weren't put forward by their department??

Does anyone know if, having already got an offer, you automatically get the same college when you get a second offer for a different course? Or does it make the rounds again?

How did they phrase the email? I was told something very similar, but was told "the majority of decisions will be made in June". So my understanding is that June is simply when you would hear one way or the other (rejection or acceptance). I'm thinking, maybe if they phrased it a certain way, it might be indicative. However, I think it it's most likely does not have any prognostic value.