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Official Oxford University 2017 Entry Postgraduate Thread!

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Reply 1380

Etoile

Original post by Voi

Do you have other EC activities and work experience; if so, what?!

I've been to a few grad research seminars but nothing else that's relevant to my extremely niche course :wink:

I obviously have done plenty of activities during my undergrad years and I've also done a bunch of internships, but none of it would have affected my admission. However, as part of the application I had to send two writing samples and three references, and I imagine those are the things that swung it. I like to think the samples I sent were really good, and two of my references were professors who are famous in the field and have good opinions of me from having supervised me this year :smile:

Original post by Camilli

That may vary by department, but at Cambridge that generally means > or = 67.

I'm a little annoyed at myself for not picking Lincoln, now that I find that actual humans sometimes get in. Not that St Antony's is going to be a bad thing at all.

I definitely made the offer, but I kind of appreciate the vagueness in case I hadn't got as high grades because it seems like they might have had a bit of flexibility! Does Lincoln have a reputation for accepting robots? :wink:

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Reply 1381

Camilli

Original post by Etoile

Does Lincoln have a reputation for accepting robots? :wink:

I was thinking more about the supermen (and -women) who pushed me out of the queue at Merton.

Reply 1382

Etoile

Original post by Camilli

I was thinking more about the supermen (and -women) who pushed me out of the queue at Merton.

Ah I see! What course are you doing?

History,

Original post by Camilli

History,

What kind? :smile:

Reply 1385

Camilli

US. Early 19c (the kind nobody cares about).

Reply 1386

Etoile

Original post by Camilli

US. Early 19c (the kind nobody cares about).

Well, I do medieval French literature, so I know the feeling :tongue:

Reply 1387

Voi

Original post by Etoile

Well, I do medieval French literature, so I know the feeling :tongue:

Hi, as you're at Oxbridge, wonder if you can help me structure my essays...

I have been using this structure for my A levels/undergraduate course so far, but wonder if you might add to it/improve upon it from your experiences/preferences. thanks. ;P

Essay 1.jpg

Reply 1388

Etoile

Original post by Voi

Yeah, that structure looks pretty good to me. I have to admit my essays follow a fairly loose structure! But I do always make sure to relate each point back to the question at the end of each paragraph.

I've just looked back over one of my essays from this year, and it's semi-structured like this:
intro: define scope of essay (what will be discussed and what will be left out and why), introduce thesis
body paragraphs: open paragraph with a point, develop it and support it with quotes from primary & secondary sources, maybe add extra analysis from a specific school of thought (I tend to follow feminist and psychoanalytic criticism). Occasionally consider an alternative reading, but usually conclude mine is more convincing. Relate point back to question.
conclusion: sum up arguments.

I don't really rigidly structure, I just loosely try to get my body paragraphs to around 200 words with the last sentence of each relating to the question. It's a bit more stream of consciousness haha. But I got a first in all my literature papers and both dissertations so it must be ok :wink:

Reply 1389

Voi

Original post by Etoile

I like how you talk about what you won't discuss and why in your intros.

Would you have an old essay I could have a look at - just to see how you structure it /langauge etc you use? This would really help .

Reply 1390

Isambardkingdom

Hi guys, are any of you still waiting for a college place?

Reply 1391

frightenedeyes

yep, it's getting frustrating now! I've been waiting 9 weeks since my offer, and 4 months since my initial application.

Original post by Isambardkingdom

Hi guys, are any of you still waiting for a college place?

Reply 1392

Isambardkingdom

Original post by frightenedeyes

yep, it's getting frustrating now! I've been waiting 9 weeks since my offer, and 4 months since my initial application.

Yeah my offer was made in March lol and three months later nothing! This is beginning to become a joke, is this normal and are we going to find out in September? I'm beginning to lose hope!

Reply 1393

gradhistor

Original post by Isambardkingdom

Yeah my offer was made in March lol and three months later nothing! This is beginning to become a joke, is this normal and are we going to find out in September? I'm beginning to lose hope!

See my earlier post. I think there's an unusually high number of accepted postgrad places this year (probably due to the introduction of Masters loans?) and the University are having difficulty placing people in Colleges.

Reply 1394

deventhusiast

Hi Guys! Has anyone reapplied to Oxford and received a scholarship?

Reply 1395

ksjogo

My would the master loans change the number of places the departments are offering? Wasn't that number fixed before counting applicants?

Reply 1396

Isambardkingdom

Original post by gradhistor

But masters loans have been around since 2015 or 16 so this is not the first year, also I thought there was a cap on the number of places available, hence the competitive nature of the courses.

Reply 1397

Isambardkingdom

Original post by ksjogo

My would the master loans change the number of places the departments are offering? Wasn't that number fixed before counting applicants?

Exactly! And the masters loan is only £10,000, you need a lot more than that.

Reply 1398

ksjogo

I am hoping that the pound continues to fall/keeps low compared to the €. More beer for my same € loan.
I only got my department offer late May, but Catz was relatively fast for the college place. Maybe due to only 51 compsci people needing to be placed. What's your master?