Oxford, Msc Social science of the Internet, Internet Institute

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Reply 60

hannah_b_7

Hey guys, just found this thread - congrats to everyone with places :smile:

I’ve been offered a place on the SSI course, at Mansfield college!!

I was wondering if anyone’s heard anything about scholarships or funding? My offer letter didn’t mention anything so I’m not hopeful but on the off chance has anyone got any idea how it works?

Thanks

University of Oxford

Oxford

Reply 61

Pantalaimon139

Oh congrats!

I haven't heard anything about scholarships either. I read somewhere that we will hear back by the 12 April, so that's the date I have in mind.

Original post by hannah_b_7

Hey guys, just found this thread - congrats to everyone with places :smile:

Reply 62

alex2089

Got rejected from round 1 without an interview - honestly it was quite surprising to me. I thought I'd at least get an interview, especially after talking to current students who said I had a strong profile. I'm thinking of reapplying, and I'd love some advice.

My background: ~6 Years working in startups, most as a UI/UX designer. Started my own healthcare startup to aggregate scientific health research & got into a competitive accelerator and raised (small) funds. Most recently - lead designer for a multi-million ARR online dating startup. Part of my job was to lead user experience research. Undergrad was years ago but my grades were good, I graduated from a top 25 US university with distinction. My proposed research was on online dating.

Thought the majority of this demonstrated: 1. Research skill and experience. 2. Tech industry experience 3. An interest in my proposed research

There were only a few perceived weak spots in my application that potentially had an impact, but without feedback I have no idea. The first is that my boss submitted his recommendation late, and I personally think It was kind of weak. Second, none of my recommendations were academic in nature. Not sure how important this was. Third, I was editing my writing sample until the last minute, and knowing myself I might have injected a preponderance of typos. Fourth - my proposed research was very narrow, I wanted to study online dating trends, and this was reinforced by my writing sample (on the same topic) and work experience (in online dating). I thought this could either be good or bad; good since I proved interest and domain knowledge, however potentially deleterious as I know the Oii recently published research on the subject and it's possible the potential supervisors were no longer interested. Finally, I had no undergraduate research experience despite a psychology degree. My hope was to prove research experience through my startup (which required an understanding of advanced scientific research modalities), and through my work in UX research.

I have guesses as to how important these factors were, but even If I'm honest with myself I have no idea of their relative demerits, if any.

I'm seriously thinking about re-applying. For me Oxford was an opportunity to explore a life-long love of learning in the most historic and inspiring place in the world, and examine a topic I'm keenly passionate about. However, without feedback I have no idea where I could improve my application.

Some of my ideas:
1. Get social science research experience. Get a part time job as a research assistant at the university in my current city? Also allows me to have an ACADEMIC reference, which I couldn't get otherwise (since I've been out of undergrad for over 7 years)
2. Get a senior role at a FAANG company? (I can do this with relative ease, I just never had the desire before.) I feel like the Oii looks preferably on FAANG employees, but maybe that's just an assumption
3. Broaden the scope of my research proposals.

Anybody else thinking they are going to reapply? Any advice for me on what will make the biggest impact if I do reapply? Maybe I'm missing something glaring there. The biggest question - Is it even possible to be successful when reapplying?

Oxford, Msc Social science of the Internet, Internet Institute

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