Oxford Graduate Application 2012/13

Very cheeky! You had the same deadline as me eh? Normally I'd try to encourage you by saying they're still considering your application, but after my recent experiences I'm inclined to think they leave rejectees to last... You might want to get a bit firmer with admissions. In any case, fingers crossed for you!

I sort of wanted to move away, given I did my undergrad in London and had enough of it. Hence all my others are US unis. (Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon... not exactly ones likely to accept me!) So I'm mainly prepared to get zero offers.

You can do that ?

Thanks for the kind words.

I truly don't expect an offer of any sort (didn't from the start), but if any of these universities accept me, I'd be pretty chuffed/amazed.

I didn't look at my programme on The Grad Cafe website. In fact, I hadn't even heard of it before, but thanks for drawing it to my attention! I just signed up and posted on the "2012 applicants & results" forum thread. I couldn't find anything specific for computer science.

Also, I wasn't aware any US universities even interviewed?! Unless you mean Oxford here. Anyway, I agree... just the process of waiting is a little painful, knowing my chances of acceptance reduce with every day (one presumes).

T'was merely an observation

How can we read reference letter?

I checked the results page. Someone was (apparently) admitted to M&FoCS during the interview.

Sorry to hear that things haven't worked out for you as hoped. Even if you doubt it, I'm sure something will come up in the US for you.

For anyone playing along at home and trying to guess whether they'll get an offer, I thought I should add that last year it seemed as though the BCL rejections were sent out before the offers. Don't lose hope yet - it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

Grrrr so last night I found out that I have an interview at Durham (yay because I made the shortlist!), and then shortly after this email there was another asking if I would mind switching dates... because some people have an INTERVIEW FOR OXFORD that clashes. Jeez Oxford, can you at the very least not just tell me I've been rejected before you go handing out interviews to other people. So annoyed right now. Not even so much as a mumur from them sine December (and that was an automatic email) - they could at least say 'hey look, you're not our first choice, but we might still interview you at a later date', if there was still a chance.

I didn't think you could. Noldorin might be able to shed some light on this

I know how you feel...
Did you search in the results page? http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=computer+science
I don't know for your program, but it classics and archaeology, american schools usually fly people over for a week-end interview, all expanses paid. The lucky 5-10 ones are usually notified in mid-February. Sometimes there's a second wave of interviews in March. (I only know all of this because of being in contact with one of the profs at Brown and because of the Grad Café; it's not written anywhere on the websites or on the application forms.) I don't know how it works for computer science though! Maybe you should try to send them an email?
Don't loose hope, something will come up.

I wish I could share your optimism, but thanks!

What's BCL? That's actually slightly reassuring... it seems pretty arbitrary whether individual unis send out acceptances or rejections first, so I probably shouldn't read into it too early, as you say.

Yeah that's pretty awful. I really understand where you're coming from (with regards to Oxford and the US unis in my case). If they're going to send out interviews to lots of people, surely they've at least looked at yours and made some sort of decision? But no... they just like to keep us in the dark. And then the horribly minced rejection comes along, a month later, which has the outrageous pretext of sympathy and consolation. (Yeah, if you cared so much about us, our anxiety and feelings, why didn't you keep us updated along the way?) The whole thing comes off as very phoney.

Nonetheless, hang in there (to echo the platitude)! You may still have some luck in the end, and I certainly hope you do, because unlike these admissions people I can actually empathise with your situation.

Oh wow, I'm not sure how I missed that. Thanks for the link!

I had no idea about the expenses-paid visits to these universities. Is this for PhD? I'm applying to a mixture of Masters/PhD and Masters programs. I'd fancy getting one of those, just for a free trip ha!

That list seems to have a multitude of MIT rejections! (Not a single acceptance on the first few pages from what I can tell.) And there looked to be some really good applicants too...amazing. Carnegie Mellon has also rejected everyone from what I can tell on there.

In better news, I noticed at least half a dozen Columbia PhD applicants already rejected... and I haven't been yet, so who knows! One or two Stanford rejections too, though I think they were for PhD and I only applied for Masters.

What's your own situation currently? :-)

Don't be too impressed by people's stats, a lot of American schools have an inflated grade policy, which makes the average around 3.3 or 3.5...

This is not true. If any school did that, it would lose an accreditation.
However, if the class average is low grades can be scaled down to that average, i.e. C in Harvard is generally harder to get than C in middle-of-nowhere-state-school. But "the average" in terms of GPA will be the same pretty much everywhere and 3.5 GPA will still mean "above average".

This is not true. If any school did that, it would lose an accreditation.
However, if the class average is low grades can be scaled down to that average, i.e. C in Harvard is generally harder to get than C in middle-of-nowhere-state-school. But "the average" in terms of GPA will be the same pretty much everywhere and 3.5 GPA will still mean "above average".

Thanks I've emailed them, because I was sick of being kept in the dark.. just pointing out that I haven't heard anything in about 2.5 months and asking when they're likely to tell us what's going on. Needless to say they haven't responded yet.It's really unfair to have to deduce your sad fate from other people's successes. Ah well, at least I'll probably be able to say I've been rejected by Oxford AND Cambridge (undergrad) now haha. Not many people can say that.
Let us know when you hear from your US universities!! I'm predicting.. hmmm.. *thoughtful pose*.. you shall go to Stanford



just noticed I quoted you upside down.. oh well.

It has become common for some schools to include with transcripts their policy on grade deflation (i.e. they curve the grades to get the average they want) so as not to disadvantage students when they are compared to schools that don't enforce a similar policy.
By grade inflation, I don't mean that they are forcing profs to give everyone an A, of course! I was just saying that a higher proportion of people are given As in easier schools, for lower quality work - exactly as you said, it's harder to get a good grade at Harvard than at some random school.

You're very welcome! You might very well be on the shortlist if you haven't heard from them yet, so congrats for that!
I'm also applying for joint masters and PhD programs in the states, but from what I've seen most people who get in already have a masters, so I am not very hopeful. Don't be too impressed by people's stats, a lot of American schools have an inflated grade policy, which makes the average around 3.3 or 3.5... At McGill, where I am currently studying, only 10% of students graduate with 3.45 and above because of grade deflation - GPAs are really relative, so don't let that bring you down!
I'll probably end up doing an MA in the UK and then go wherever I can get funding for a PhD; I have an offer from Durham and one from Edinburgh, but my first choice is definitely Oxford. I haven't heard from anywhere in the US yet!