Least competitive oxbridge postgraduate degrees?

Amelia488

Well, what are they in your opinion? Looking to get into oxbridge the easiest was possible lol!

Reply 1

username47781

Original post by Amelia488

Well, what are they in your opinion? Looking to get into oxbridge the easiest was possible lol!

Moved to the postgraduate section.

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Reply 2

Noodlzzz

The subject you're best in.

Reply 3

jasper1208

search "most useless majors" or "most useless 10 majors" on youtube.

No offense to the people studying those majors,

but the admission scores are quite lower than the other majors.

Reply 4

Tcannon

For undergraduate, Classics has the highest acceptance rate with 40%. Of course the degree is self selective as most schools don't teach Classics in curriculum. It is a tough subject.

Reply 5

returnmigrant

PGCE : http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/courses/pgce/
But I suggest you have a genuine interest in teaching, a relevant degree for your intended teaching subject, and get some school experience first ....

Reply 6

username2228735

Both institutions publish the applications and number of places. Apply to the subject you're interested in the most.

Reply 7

cambio wechsel

Original post by Aceadria

Both institutions publish the applications and number of places.

But this is an unreliable proxy. The Great North Run is not more competitive than the Olympic Marathon.

Much the most heavily applied for subjects are typically those seemingly conferring employability. At the undergraduate level at Oxford this is Economics and Management but the PS readers here on TSR will tell you that this is the only Oxford degree for which intended Personal Statements are commonly risible, "I will be best pride of all Uttar Pradesh if admitted to famous university of Oxfrods est 1288".

Original post by Aceadria

Apply to the subject you're interested in the most.

is very good advice.

Reply 8

username2228735

Original post by cambio wechsel

But this is an unreliable proxy. The Great North Run is not more competitive than the Olympic Marathon.

The OP wants to know where he/she will face the least competition and application statistics are a good way of knowing that.

Reply 9

cambio wechsel

Original post by Aceadria

The OP wants to know where he/she will face the least competition and application statistics are a good way of knowing that.

if you understand that 'competed for' means 'competitive'. I consider that it does not and that the students applying for e.g. the MSt in Roman Literature will be **** hot, for all that there will be only half a dozen.

Reply 10

Percypig17

How much will an Oxbridge masters really help you in terms of things like actually getting a job , when it's in 1) a subject you aren't good at and 2) a subject that isn't particularly employable?

Unless you just want the experience of an Oxbridge education etc

Reply 11

macromicro

Original post by Aceadria

The OP wants to know where he/she will face the least competition and application statistics are a good way of knowing that.

Though the applicants to offers ratios say nothing of the competitiveness of each individual applicant. Courses like classics, period-based English and ancient philosophy have a small number of high-calibre and specialised applicants. The problem for the OP - despite the fact that this is a rather silly, expensive and unfruitful means to a dead end - is that she will be severely limited by her undergraduate subject. Applying for, say, MSt Ancient Philosophy without competence in reading Ancient Greek, a first class BA thesis on one of the ancients, and evidence of sophisticated knowledge of that period, will result in a swift rejection - even if she was the only applicant. Very few can tick those boxes so the number of applicants to that course is small despite being extremely competitive (they all want to work with Terence Irwin I suppose).

The least competitive course is the one for which your application is strongest with respect to subject specialisation and relative to the quality (not quantity) of competing applications. In other words, the OP has little choice in the matter; it has already been determined by her academic record to date.