Getting into Oxbridge for Postgraduate Study

Hello all. New member here, and I have been reading through all your posts and sponging as much information as possible. Basically, I'd like your assessment of my odds at getting into Oxbridge (with Oxford being my preferred choice) for a Mst in English (preferably 1700-1830 but I'm flexible).

Relevant Data:

I am an American and am studying at a small, relatively unknown private school in South Carolina (Columbia College for anyone interested). Right now I have a 4.0 and don't foresee bombing my last semester courses (I've had most of the professors before and am pretty confident in what they expect). However, there is a rub to my GPA. When I first attended, I bombed a bunch of courses and ended up leaving school for a few years to work "in the real world." However, when I reapplied and came back I accepted to be part of a program called Academic Renewal. Essentially, any classes below a C are no longer counted as accrued credits and do not contribute to my GPA (hence the 4.0). Having said that, they do still appear on my official transcript.

On one hand, I know it looks bad to have a bunch of F's and D's (granted none of my English courses dipped that far); on the other hand you can clearly see where I took a nosedive and since being readmitted have made A's in every single course I've taken (which after the upcoming semester will be 2.5 years so the majority of my degree). I don't know how much this will affect the way Oxbridge views my transcript but am hoping the fact that I left, got myself sorted, and came back with a visible focus will reflect that I am no longer an academic risk. In addition to this, I have purposely overloaded myself partially because I was interested in a lot of courses and partially to finish up ASAP which shows (I hope) that I can work under pressure and handle a decent load at that level. I also selected courses which were very closely related to my intended focus (almost all British Lit, a smattering of Gothic Lit courses, and as many British history courses as I could fit - plus Shakespeare and Bronte seminars).

Assuming I don't become decapitated next semester I fully expect to graduate with a 4.0 (so summa cum laude), will be graduating with Honors (I joined the Honors Program and completed all my honors credits this past year), will have one of the top 5 GPA's of my graduating class, and feel pretty confident that the English division will award me as overall student.

In addition to this, America has Sigma Tau Delta which is an English Honors society. For my school's chapter I was VP last year and will be President this year. To help increase my grad school chances I have been on the conference circuit for awhile and have presented at three local universities, the University of South Carolina (in their rare books collection hall), and at the Sigma Tau Delta International conference (which is mostly Americans to be fair). In the latter, I actually won an award for my conference paper in the category of Popular Culture (and $600 - sweet!) which is a decently big deal as there were plenty of submissions from Ivy League schools. While I don't expect to win again, I will be submitting another paper for this year's conference and (not to sound like a narcissist) feel my odds are decently well of being accepted.

Finally, I am working on getting some articles published. One has been accepted but not yet published, one has been recently submitted, and I am currently in the process of working on another article with a faculty member from my college as well as a decently well known one from University of Florida (my name will be listed as an author).

So... opinions on my chances? I realize my earlier academic record is nothing to write home about, but I hope I've rectified that. I've also been told that it's not exactly common for undergrads to have a lot of conferences/articles under their belt so I feel like that does give me a bit of a competitive edge? Apologies for the excessively long post - I just wanted to make sure I included all the details.

x.

Hello all.

Thinking of applying to Oxford for an MSt in English, but I'll only be able to attend if I get some sort of funding (I come from what you might euphemistically call "reduced circumstances"). Does anyone have any advice or experience of the funding application process?

More generally, I graduated with a 1st from a Russell Group university in 2010 and have a joint honours degree (English/CompSci, 75/25).

Thanks

Hello all.

Thinking of applying to Oxford for an MSt in English, but I'll only be able to attend if I get some sort of funding (I come from what you might euphemistically call "reduced circumstances"). Does anyone have any advice or experience of the funding application process?

More generally, I graduated with a 1st from a Russell Group university in 2010 and have a joint honours degree (English/CompSci, 75/25).

Thanks

Just a quick question, I hope it hasn't been asked: I know I can apply for multiple postgraduate courses, and indeed in both Oxford and Cambridge, but how about making a parallel application for two different MPhil courses in Cambridge (such as "Modern and Contemporary Literature" in the Faculty of English and "European Literature and Culture" in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, for example)? (Let us say I prefer to do one of them, but I believe I stand a better chance of being accepted for the other?)

I kind of reached a point where I want to do my Master's at Oxbridge quite badly, but I've no idea how to maximise my chances further.

I've finished my 2nd year of Computer Science at a Russell Group university with an overall mark slightly over 77%. Right now I'm doing my placement year, so I'll be back to uni only next year. Thing is that I feel a bit helpless over here, and not sure how to get that conditional offer in the bag. I'm aiming for 80s in my 3rd year, but then again, I can easily be rejected before I get to prove I'm not overestimating myself. So what am I to do for the time being? Is crossing my fingers and praying the way to go?

Hi,

It's very kind of you guys to help anonymous Oxbridge hopefuls out with our questions.

I am thinking about applying to Oxford for an MA in English Literature (1830-1914).

I live in New Zealand and have a BA in English Lit with an 84.5% average (.5% off an A average in the NZ system). I plan to complete my Honours year (in NZ it's a different system to the UK) and bring the degree up to a first.

The problem is this: I did an exchange in my final year of university to the University of Exeter. As I knew it 'didn't count' towards my final GPA (is listed on my transcript as 'EXCH' paper and grades left blank) I suppose I made the most of being overseas and didn't work very hard, getting an average of 65% (B average in the UK system). It will negatively skew my application if I include the transcript.

Could I theoretically just omit the transcript in my application?

Thanks very much for any advice.

One more question (and many thanks for answering the previous one): so, I want to apply for an MPhil course at Cambridge and an MSt course at Oxford after my BA in Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge, and I'm wondering what my chances of getting the CHESS award or the Emmanuel College-bound Derek Brewer MPhil Studentship for Cambridge or the AHRC award for Oxford are.

To be specific: I assume that the factors that determine whether I get one of these or not are 1) my undergraduate grades to date; 2) the quality of my research proposal? (If there is something else, too, do let me know. Please note that for the awards I named, the application is automatic - you are considered as long as you apply for your course by the deadline - so there is no chance to impress anyone with "evidence of outstanding leadership skills," as is the case with the Cambridge Gates award... which I don't believe I could get because of my lack of such evidence.)

(I know that the fact it's a humanities subject also plays a role, but I obviously can't and won't switch to science.)

If this is correct, what are the proportions between the significance of these factors? I had 2.i's in my first two years of study , so I'm obviously aiming higher this year, but even if I get a 1 with distinction (yes, let us hypothetically assume I do), this surely will not be taken into account for the awards as the results are announced long before I SIT my 2014/15 exams in the first place? So, the question is: do I stand a realistic chance of getting an award just by crafting a brilliant research proposal? Or do the 2.i's undermine it completely?

You can omit it theoretically, but if you omit it practically, then your application will be classified as incomplete and won't even been considered. If the grades are left blank on your transcript, and don't count towards your final degree, I don't really see the problem. There are plenty of people (me included) who have 2.1s on their transcripts (I know a funded DPhil at Oxford who got 57% in one year of his undergrad! ) so as long as you can show that you will get a 1st in your final exams (or whatever the NZ equivalent is) and your referees back this up, then you have as much of a shot as anyone.

@ellie.rew, you've saved me from an automatic rejection. And it's very heartening to hear about the 2.1 students and the funded DPhil! You've made my day, thank you

I think it would also be considered academically dishonest to omit it when the forms ask for full transcripts of university study.

have you got any chance to get in with a 2:1 degree or only first degrees are considered?

Hi everyone,

I know this has been done about a thousand times so I'm sorry to throw another one into the mix. It's just my undergraduate application being dismissed by Cambridge has knocked my confidence a bit. I will be graduating with a 1st class in MSci Physics and Astrophysics from University of Birmingham next year (if I pass all my courses next year I will already have over 70%). My marks thus far for my course have been 1st year: 80.3%, 2nd year: 83.4%, 3rd year: 85.4% with all 32 modules at a 1st (courses specific to my PhD I have >90%). As well as this I have been on a society committee for all years of my undergrad, currently the chair during my 3rd -> 4th year. I have also done 2 summers worth of research in the area I want to study. I think my application is quite a strong one to do a PhD Astronomy at IoA in Cambridge or PhD Astrophysics at Oxford but does anyone who have any experience in this area know what quality of candidates are usually successful with Physics specific PhD applications (I can imagine they all have quite high qualifications).

Cheers

I'm afraid I can't help much when it comes to physics specifically, but I just wanted to say that my undergrad application to Oxford was very much dismissed- and though I can understand the knock to your confidence, this certainly doesn't mean you're not in a good position to apply for a PhD. Your marks look amazing (though other physicists can put it into context more than I can) and your research experience will definitely put you in good stead. So good luck!