Official Oxford 2024 Postgraduate Applicants Thread

Welcome to everyone, and best of luck with your applications!

Prospective course:
Achieved (or expected) grade:
Nationality:
Current (or last) university:
Current (or last) course:
College preferences:
Other universities you’re applying to:

Disclaimer: Please note, unless stated otherwise, posters on this thread do not work for the Oxford's admissions department, therefore do not take our opinion as being 100% accurate. If you need certainty, contact Oxford directly.

Last year's thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7235099
2022 thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7053424

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 1

babybarista1

9

Perhaps a little too early but I am looking for those applying for the MSt in Practical Ethics, anyone else on here applying for that?

Reply 2

notanotherlawyer

5

Original post by babybarista1

Perhaps a little too early but I am looking for those applying for the MSt in Practical Ethics, anyone else on here applying for that?

Yes me. I'm thinking of applying not sure if I will or should or stand a chance.

Reply 3

babybarista1

9

Original post by notanotherlawyer

Yes me. I'm thinking of applying not sure if I will or should or stand a chance.

Excellent, I have sent you an inbox message it would be good to connect.

Reply 4

clairebergjo

7

Hey everyone, glad to see this thread getting started now. 😊 Just wanted to throw in here that in the 2020/21 application round I managed to get a fully-funded PhD offer to Oxford along with a full Clarendon Scholarship (as well as a DTP PhD offer at Cambridge) after applying three years prior and receiving 10 rejections! This community was really helpful to me back then so now I'm sharing my insights on a thread you might find useful! 😊 Please feel free to check it out, comment, and share your experiences and I'll do my best to respond to any questions here and there too!

I got fully-funded PhD offers to both Oxford & Cambridge - here's my advice!

Reply 5

babybarista1

9

Original post by clairebergjo

Hey everyone, glad to see this thread getting started now. 😊 Just wanted to throw in here that in the 2020/21 application round I managed to get a fully-funded PhD offer to Oxford along with a full Clarendon Scholarship (as well as a DTP PhD offer at Cambridge) after applying three years prior and receiving 10 rejections! This community was really helpful to me back then so now I'm sharing my insights on a thread you might find useful! 😊 Please feel free to check it out, comment, and share your experiences and I'll do my best to respond to any questions here and there too!

I got fully-funded PhD offers to both Oxford & Cambridge - here's my advice!

Mainly I just wanted to say thank you for doing this and giving back in this way it is encouraging and inspiring.

Reply 6

babybarista1

9

Original post by clairebergjo

Hey everyone, glad to see this thread getting started now. 😊 Just wanted to throw in here that in the 2020/21 application round I managed to get a fully-funded PhD offer to Oxford along with a full Clarendon Scholarship (as well as a DTP PhD offer at Cambridge) after applying three years prior and receiving 10 rejections! This community was really helpful to me back then so now I'm sharing my insights on a thread you might find useful! 😊 Please feel free to check it out, comment, and share your experiences and I'll do my best to respond to any questions here and there too!

I got fully-funded PhD offers to both Oxford & Cambridge - here's my advice!

Hi Claire, I trust you are well. I see on the other thread you suggest contacting potential supervisors and indicating your interest in working with them. I wondered if you have some kind of sample on how to phrase such an approach and next steps for example did you call to speak to the supervisors? Thanks

Reply 7

JadeEG

13

Hi everyone!

Prospective course: MPhil Classical Archaeology
Achieved (or expected) grade: First Class Honours (Hons GPA 8.3/9)
Nationality: New Zealand
Current (or last) university: University of Otago
Current (or last) course: BA (Hons) in Classics (It's a separate degree from a BA here :smile:

)
College preferences: Merton
Other universities you’re applying to: Cambridge, Edinburgh, UCL, Cardiff, UBC, and Cincinnati

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 8

clairebergjo

7

Original post by babybarista1

Hi Claire, I trust you are well. I see on the other thread you suggest contacting potential supervisors and indicating your interest in working with them. I wondered if you have some kind of sample on how to phrase such an approach and next steps for example did you call to speak to the supervisors? Thanks

Hey there! Yes, definitely important (mostly for research courses/degrees) to reach out to potential supervisors to have a chat before submitting your application. Here are some general tips from a postdoc at Harvard/Columbia I used for reaching out that worked quite well:

•

Keep it respectful and succinct. These people are BUSY. 😊 They don't have time to read an essay. Be clear, to the point, express your interest and wanting to set up a meeting, and keep it at that. Make it easy for them to reply.

•

Especially for a research degree, make sure you've read 1-2 of their most recent papers. Mention your interest from reading one of those recent papers, including a specific point from it that interested you (to show you've done your research), to segue into your interest in working with them.

•

Send from your most "prestigious" email. Not everyone has this option, of course, but an institutional or company email is always going to be better than a personal one. At the time I applied, I was taking an online master's course at Johns Hopkins, so I sent all of my interest emails to supervisors from that email. They definitely paid more attention to these even compared to my friend who sent from her University of Michigan email! (I recognise this isn't fair at all but is unfortunately the way academia/the world works.)

•

Queue up the email to send at noon. This is often going to be their lunchtime so they therefore have downtime to check their emails. This was such a clever hack I got from a postdoc at Columbia and it really worked!

The general approach in the email would go as follows:

•

Polite greeting: "Dear Dr/Professor [x],"

•

Refer directly to their work: "I've been following your research on... [define research area in general terms]"

•

Point out your interest in the field and that you found a particular study of theirs interesting (max. published within last 5 years)

•

Tell them you're applying to [y] programme

•

Ask if they're able to supervise you: "Would you be able to supervise me?"

•

Tell them your specific interest: "I would be interested in working on [define project in general terms] and would like to discuss possibilities if you're [willing/able] to supervise me."

•

Attach your CV: "I've attached my CV for your reference."

•

Polite sign-off + your first & last name

Since it's pretty early to be reaching out to potential supervisors, you don't need to stress about this yet. I'd say starting mid-October at the earliest is appropriate, or even necessary, since the term will have died down a little by this point and they may be less likely to respond if you reach out earlier. For reference, I didn't reach out to my current supervisor at Oxford until early November or so, so you have more than enough time at this point (late September).

I'll actually be making and releasing some articles/videos on application tips, including how to reach out to potential supervisors, in mid-October. I can keep you in the loop if you want!

(Anyone else who sees this, feel free to let me know on this thread, my advice thread, or DM if you'd like to be kept apprised as well. 😊)

Best wishes,
Claire

Reply 9

AnyaFromFL

6

Prospective course: Mst World Literatures in English
Achieved grade: United States 3.9/4 (equivalent to a First)
Nationality: American
Current (or last) university: Converse University, South Carolina
Current (or last) course: BFA Creative and Professional Writing
College preferences: St. Hildas, Wadham, Balliol
Other universities you’re applying to: MA Black British Literature at Goldsmiths, MA Comparative Literature at SOAS

Reply 10

Super73

1

Prospective course: MSc Mathematical Sciences
Achieved (or expected) grade: First Class
Nationality: British
Current (or last) university: Loughborough University
Current (or last) course: BSc Mathematics
College preferences: St John's
Other universities you’re applying to: Cambridge, Warwick

Reply 11

notanotherlawyer

5

Also for Mst, is that true that oxford have more scholarships than Cambridge?

Reply 12

clairebergjo

7

Original post by notanotherlawyer

Also for Mst, is that true that oxford have more scholarships than Cambridge?

I'm not aware of that being true, where did you hear that?

Reply 13

notanotherlawyer

5

Original post by clairebergjo

I'm not aware of that being true, where did you hear that?

My high school said so but I don't trust them so.
Will need to confirm.

When I go to cambridge site and see the Mst I wanna do I don't see that there are scholarships available.

Reply 14

amaaljuffry

1

Prospective course: MPhil in Islamic Art and Architecture
Achieved (or expected) grade: 3.50
Nationality: Malaysian
Current (or last) university: University Science of Malaysia
Current (or last) course: Bsc (H) Interior Design
College preferences: Balliol
Other universities you’re applying to: University of Edinburgh

Reply 15

babybarista1

9

Original post by notanotherlawyer

My high school said so but I don't trust them so.
Will need to confirm.

When I go to cambridge site and see the Mst I wanna do I don't see that there are scholarships available.

Out of curiosity which MSt is it you want to do at Cambridge?

Reply 16

jjlange

6

Prospective course: MSc in Advanced Computer Science
Achieved (or expected) grade: First-Class Honours
Nationality: German (settled status)
Current (or last) university: Goldsmiths, University of London
Current (or last) course: BSc in Computer Science
College preferences: Unsure
Other universities you’re applying to: Warwick (Unconditional offer received), UCL, Manchester, KCL

Reply 17

Suha_93

6

Prospective course: MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition
Achieved (or expected) grade: 93.8% (excellent with honors)
Nationality: Jordanian
Current (or last) university: Philadelphia University
Current (or last) course: English Language and Literature
College preferences: Wolfson, St Anne's, St Anthony's
Other universities you’re applying to: Cambridge (maybe)

I got an offer for 2022, but was unable to find funding, so I withdrew from the course. hoping for better luck this time.

(edited 6 months ago)

Reply 18

farmerbee88

4

Prospective course: English DPhil
Achieved (or expected) grade: First (Undergraduate) and Distinction (Master's)
Nationality: British
Current (or last) university: University of Edinburgh
Current (or last) course: Literature and Modernity MSc
College preferences: Queens, Exeter, New
Other universities you’re applying to: Cambridge, King's, Bristol, potentially Durham

(edited 6 months ago)

Reply 19

Scary

14

Prospective course: PGCE Mathematics
Achieved (or expected) grade: 2.1
Nationality: British
Current (or last) university: UCLAN
Current (or last) course: Mathematics
College preferences: Not had a look yet
Other universities you’re applying to: UCL, Cambridge, Manchester

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