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Do the same people read undergrad and masters degree applications?

Long story short, but I'm interested in skipping doing an undergraduate degree in creative writing and going straight onto a masters. I know the courses I'm interested in can sometimes accept people on the basis of publications alone and my background of competition wins in writing (over the 4 years since I've left school as well as during my school years) is consistently good, so this year I'm trying to get some larger amounts of work out in the world. If I was successful, I'm hoping some universities might accept me on that basis.*

I was thinking of applying to undergraduate degrees as a back up plan and then contacting masters courses in summer if I was successful to ask if they'd be interested (the undergrad application would be for 2021 entry, but if I knew universities would consider me for a postgraduate degree then I'd aim to start my masters in 2022 and take an OU module in the meantime/try to publish some more to strengthen my hand). However, I don't know if the same people would read my masters enquiry emails/applications as would have read my undergraduate emails/applications... and if so, I'm worried this could negatively impact my chances of getting on a masters?

Any information would be much appreciated! Thank you
Original post by Clodia7
I was thinking of applying to undergraduate degrees as a back up plan and then contacting masters courses in summer if I was successful to ask if they'd be interested (the undergrad application would be for 2021 entry, but if I knew universities would consider me for a postgraduate degree then I'd aim to start my masters in 2022 and take an OU module in the meantime/try to publish some more to strengthen my hand). However, I don't know if the same people would read my masters enquiry emails/applications as would have read my undergraduate emails/applications... and if so, I'm worried this could negatively impact my chances of getting on a masters?

In the vast majority of cases the PG and UG teams will be separate. The assessment criteria for both is completely different and it is a pain in the backside to change your mindset from one to other on a regular basis.

Source: I've worked in both UG & PG admissions :smile:

I don't know that it would weaken your Masters app even if they were aware. It's an unusual route to get straight onto a Masters and is very sensible to have a backup plan.
Reply 2
Original post by Admit-One
In the vast majority of cases the PG and UG teams will be separate. The assessment criteria for both is completely different and it is a pain in the backside to change your mindset from one to other on a regular basis.

Source: I've worked in both UG & PG admissions :smile:

I don't know that it would weaken your Masters app even if they were aware. It's an unusual route to get straight onto a Masters and is very sensible to have a backup plan.

Thank you! I'm very aware it isn't the most conventional route so the last thing I want is to end up stranded without either course option. (And I'm glad to know that it hopefully wouldn't weaken my hand too much.) Thanks for your help!
Original post by Admit-One
In the vast majority of cases the PG and UG teams will be separate. The assessment criteria for both is completely different and it is a pain in the backside to change your mindset from one to other on a regular basis.


Yup, I agree with that, the MSc admissions team will very likely be experienced in UG admissions as well, though probably not doing both jobs at the same time - there is only so much "fun admin" that an individual academic can stand in one go before going postal :smile:.

However - I would be surprised if the Registry system did not spit out an automatic warning flag for a single student making two applications to the university for different courses, so it may well be that the UG team gets sent the PG paperwork as an "extra" bit of context and visa versa. I am pretty sure that's what would happen in my institution. As Admit-One says, they will be looking at quite different things for UG and PG entry, but may well end up discussing the overall case together just to check that everyone knows what is going on and that it's not an error to see two bits of paperwork.

BTW - Institution dependent, it's a highly correlated function of the quality or otherwise of your central admin dept. and its IT systems.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Mr Wednesday
However - I would be surprised if the Registry system did not spit out an automatic warning flag for a single student making two applications to the university for different courses, so it may well be that the UG team gets sent the PG paperwork as an "extra" bit of context and visa versa.

Dual applicants do get flagged at my current uni but I don't think they cross reference PG and UG. It's such an unlikely event I think they're just silo'd apart from each other.
Reply 5
Original post by Mr Wednesday
Yup, I agree with that, the MSc admissions team will very likely be experienced in UG admissions as well, though probably not doing both jobs at the same time - there is only so much "fun admin" that an individual academic can stand in one go before going postal :smile:.

However - I would be surprised if the Registry system did not spit out an automatic warning flag for a single student making two applications to the university for different courses, so it may well be that the UG team gets sent the PG paperwork as an "extra" bit of context and visa versa. I am pretty sure that's what would happen in my institution. As Admit-One says, they will be looking at quite different things for UG and PG entry, but may well end up discussing the overall case together just to check that everyone knows what is going on and that it's not an error to see two bits of paperwork.

BTW - Institution dependent, it's a highly correlated function of the quality or otherwise of your central admin dept. and its IT systems.

Thanks for your response! I wouldn't actually be applying to the masters in the same year... I'd apply for the undergrad, then if I'd made my writing successes strong enough by summer 2021 I'd want to talk to some of the universities I was interested in to see if they would consider me, and if so *then* pull out of my undergrad application and put together a masters application not for September 2021 but for September 2022... by which time I could have done more to strengthen my application. So I'm hoping that would largely avoid the problem of it being flagged up, due to not applying for both courses at the same time?

I think for me it probably matters more who is dealing with the email enquiries etc. I'm considering either leaving some of my writing achievements out of my undergrad application, where they are not really necessary to get onto the course, or maybe only applying for one uni for undergrad and not applying to the ones where I'm most interested in doing a masters, to avoid people seeing similar applications twice?
Original post by Clodia7
I wouldn't actually be applying to the masters in the same year... I'd apply for the undergrad, then if I'd made my writing successes strong enough by summer 2021 I'd want to talk to some of the universities I was interested in to see if they would consider me, and if so *then* pull out of my undergrad application

I think for me it probably matters more who is dealing with the email enquiries etc.

In that case I would just make the strongest UG application you can right away. No reason not to then "re use" some of your previous achievements again if you go on to apply for a masters.

If you do this over a couple of years then the same person might end up seeing them both as people do cycle through different admin jobs over time, but I really don't see any problem here.
Reply 7
Original post by Mr Wednesday
In that case I would just make the strongest UG application you can right away. No reason not to then "re use" some of your previous achievements again if you go on to apply for a masters.

If you do this over a couple of years then the same person might end up seeing them both as people do cycle through different admin jobs over time, but I really don't see any problem here.

Thank you!

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