Official CAMBRIDGE 2019 Postgraduate Applicants thread

Any Earth science applicants heard anything?

I can't believe I send my application only 13 days ago. I mean... I read of you guys waiting for about two months. How do you do this?

Very anxiously 😂 I’ve been waiting since nov 20

I submitted three months ago. Still waiting to hear results, but I am expecting a response in early February.

Thank you! Same to you! ☺️

Does anyone know if your application status changes to Unsuccessful, are you notified with an email immediately? Would like to figure out if no news is good news without refreshing the page constantly...

You are not immediately emailed when you are successful, I’d assume you will not be emailed immediately.

I can't believe I send my application only 13 days ago. I mean... I read of you guys waiting for about two months. How do you do this?

I applied since November 22, for a PhD, though. My application is still under review with the Department. My supervisor has agreed and submitted a report to the Department on my behalf. But application is still under review with the Department.

Any Earth science applicants heard anything?

For the MASt, nothing.

One applicant heard they were unsucessful in their MPhil application this week.

Very anxiously 😂 I’ve been waiting since nov 20

Does anyone know if your application status changes to Unsuccessful, are you notified with an email immediately? Would like to figure out if no news is good news without refreshing the page constantly...

I can't believe I send my application only 13 days ago. I mean... I read of you guys waiting for about two months. How do you do this?

Some people even wait for up to 6 months. Waiting game is crazy.

So I will explain the admissions challenge once again, to try and allay fears and reduce cases of 'refreshers wrist'. The example below has hypothetical numbers and is the general approach most Masters courses take, and PhDs unless directed otherwise by DTPs, funders etc.

Your course wants to recruit the 30 best applicants (above a very high benchmark, if it doesn't get 30, it will not lower the baseiine, it will offer places to a course that has more deserving borderline cases).

It will get about 300 applications submitted in an approximate bell curve (numbers, not quality) from September to April, peaking around January.

With the target of 'best 30' and an applicant to place ratio of 10:1 and no pattern to timing of the quality of applications, the only effective response it to be cautious about making early decisions until the peak of applications in January is passed, and you have a good view of the overall quality of the applicant pool this year.

So, they reject people who have no hope of making the cut immediately. They make offers to people who would make the top 30 whatever the rest of the applicant pool looked like - but there are very few of these ( I have to say, I'm ignoring the over-offer rate, they make offers to about 60 to get 30, because of people taking up other offers or not finding funding, the ratio varies by course, but they know it to about 3 decimal places).

So if you applied in November and haven't heard anything, it's because you weren't too dreadful to reject immediately, but you weren't so amazing they'd make an offer regardless of the future applications. You are in the mix.

Then in becomes an iterative process, if you are at the department stage, then the academic who read your file and advised to keep hold of it is constantly comparing and contrasting your application with new applications, you'll either get a rejection if you sink down their rating, or eventually if you keep bobbing at the top and they think your application is going to be in the 'best 30', you'll get advanced to the Degree Committee.

The Degree Committee only usually holds on to applications for as long as it takes to meet, ie it batches and empties, batches and empties. At the Degree Committee they generally follow the department's recommendations of an offer, but they also benchmark across the degree programmes they manage. So if one programme says it's getting an excellent pool of applications and wants to make 32 offers, and another says theirs is so-so and they could fill with 28 and not lose anything, they might vire across some places and that will cause a few more offers to be made on the stronger course, and fewer on the weaker course.

So the time it takes to progress between stages and the overall timing is relatively meaningless. It's primarily a function of the rate of application, the availability and 'mulling over skills of the academic your file is sent to, the timing of the degree committee and the quality of applicants in that pool for that year.

Does anyone know if your application status changes to Unsuccessful, are you notified with an email immediately? Would like to figure out if no news is good news without refreshing the page constantly...

Hello once again. Did your status change to Unsuccessful? I'm still at "under review by the department".

I'm sorry once again. I sent you a private message.

Hi! Nope, mine is also still at under review by department. What are your stats if I may ask?

I hope things are going well for you all. I had my interview today; didn't do too well but hoping for the best. The interviewer said "we will let you know in a few weeks." X'D
-Cambridge MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation (ISO)

Regarding the degree committee, I think I read that some departments refer straight to it and that the application does not necessarily go through the department first. Is that correct?

I am fairly certain that my application went straight from submitted to under review by committee, where it has remained for almost 2 months now. Either that, or the change happened literally overnight. However I think I would have noticed considering how often I refresh the page :P