Official CAMBRIDGE 2017 Postgraduate Applicants thread

It comes in via BoGS who do a sort of gross error check that the application isn't from a GCse student ie that the basics of the application are correct, before sending it to the department. That's why the departments get so grumpy with BoGS if BoGS ever query an offer in the 'application with BoGS' stage at the end, because BoGS should have checked already.

Applications usually go
> BoGS (gross error check)
> Department (tracking and allocating)
> (sub department/subject if there is one)
> potential Supervisor/relevant academic(assessment)
> (sub department/subject if there is one) (consideration within degree programme applicant cohort)
> Department/Degree Committee (consideration within departmental level applicant cohort)
> BoGS (final confirmatory check)

The risky assessment points are primarily the potential Supervisor/relevant academic, then the sub department/subject committee if there is one, and then the Degree Committee.

I'm sure there are soem departmental nuances within this, but without actually being inside the department, there's no real way of knowing.

Also, updates to your tracking are done by the department secretaries, and rate about 157th in their list of priorities. So skipping a step or whizzing through steps very quickly is just as likely to be a function of administrative capacity as any unusual routing of your application.

Hey you
Selwyn, how bout u

Nicee college, Holly!

I've just got Selwyn, haha maybe they're rushing a bit to make as many of us extra happy this Christmas!

Just got to know that personal statements had to be 1 page long. Mine was 2 and a half pages. I've already submitted my application. Should I be worried?

Just got to know that personal statements had to be 1 page long. Mine was 2 and a half pages. I've already submitted my application. Should I be worried?

I am no expert here but how this will be handled is entirely dependent on the department. Some departments may not consider your statement at all, I believe I have seen this actually written under a course's requirements page. If you are lucky then probably the portion of your statement that falls within their word limit will be considered - depending on how engaging this is the very human person on the other side might read the rest, however with about 1. 5 pages overboard this might be a stretch.

If the requirement says one page would suffice, does it also mean the length cannot be more than one page?

Thanks in advance.

@threeportdrift :
Here's a question for continuing students (or PhD applicants coming from master's programmes elsewhere): there's usually a spot to upload the master's transcript, although that document doesn't always say very much except that you completed the course. Is it considered bad form to also upload the memo from the department with all of your marks, and/or your feedback on the dissertation? (History, if that matters.)

I dont think Cambridge would be hurried because you got an offer from LSE. I was in the same scenario a while back during my masters. I dont remember LSE demanding that I make up my mind within a specific period. If I recall well, LSE said I had to accept but that even if the deadline passed, I would still have my place so I kept LSE waiting for 2 months until Cambridge got back to me and then I withdrew from LSE.

Hey,

all those of you who are already lucky offer holders - have you already begun applying for scholarships, awards etc which require a separate application?

I didn't apply for Gates as I thought I wouldn't even stand a chance of getting accepted into Cambridge, but well, here I am and angry at myself anyways, now I started browsing the colleges for funding options (as the funding search doesn't include everything) and some of them do consider applicants who haven't named them as 1st or 2nd choice while "giving preference" to those who did. Most of them want the referees send the references *again*, but I can hardly ask my lecturers to send/upload them another 10 times ... How do you this? Do you even apply for those funding opportunities, given the very small chance to receive funding from a college you haven't named as one of your preferences? And how do you narrow down which to apply for and which not (except by eligibility, of course)?.

And it's a bit frustrating tbh, there are just no specific scholarships for Education students - not even one! I mean there's a lot of us and our subject is important, too! Now, can someone please fund us?

I am no expert here but how this will be handled is entirely dependent on the department. Some departments may not consider your statement at all, I believe I have seen this actually written under a course's requirements page. If you are lucky then probably the portion of your statement that falls within their word limit will be considered - depending on how engaging this is the very human person on the other side might read the rest, however with about 1. 5 pages overboard this might be a stretch.

If your status on camsis is still 'Awaiting Consideration by Dept' I would advise handling your personal statement issue as an error and submitting an adjusted one under the correspondence option when uploading your supporting documents.

I would have advised contacting Graduate Admissions or your Dept. first but seeing as they close tomorrow I really do not know if they will reply to you before the new year.

Perhaps @threeportdrift can shed some more light on this?

Best of luck!

I suspect Cationn94 is correct and this is a departmental issue and much will depend on the individual that reads the application. The might just thing 'FFS another applicant that can't read instructions' and read it nevertheless, or they might just read the first page. I'd be inclined to email the Department directly, indicating your error and submitting a single page summary as requested. They still might read the longer version, but if they don't, you have a proper beginning, middle and end in the short version.

What I can say is that, as a matter of governance and good practice, there is a general trend to become more strict on fulfilling application processes correctly, so that there can be a)no impression of unfairness to advantage to some candidates and b) the limited time available to a very delicate selection process can focus better on making the right decisions, between extremely strong applicant pools, rather than wading through process adjustments, special cases, extra attachments here but not there etc.

Referees/references are often a tricky point here, because applicants, it is understood, often have little or no control over the speed of their Referees, so while a) above applies in principle, on the matter of the timing of references, leeway is generally given.

I will be sending mine off end of January, I think For the ones that are attached to my college I have asked another person to give me a reference, as I didn't really want to ask the same people as before because I felt like I might be pestering! But two of the ones I am applying for require me to send off the full application with reference included, so I assume that means my tutor will have to write the reference and send it to me so that I can attach it to the rest of my scholarship application. One of them explicitly states that I need to nominate him and he will be contacted directly.

Double-check the application forms, and if you require a separate reference then at least you know it might just be the one reference that they need to send you, and then you can attach it to however many scholarships you like without asking them to do it themselves.

As for narrowing down, I don't plan to. I am going to apply to all that I am eligible for (which is not many at all), and hope!

Thanks a lot for your response. I've sent the development studies department an email to this effect already. I'll take your advice and upload an amended version. Just to be precise, the department actually says that a page long statement would be sufficient. To me, this doesn't really specify a limit.

Can't remember what I did as a Cam continuing student- ask your department admin staff, they should know. If you are from other than Cam, they'll want some form of demonstrably formal document that you couldn;t have produced personally.