Why don’t Unis Treat Postgraduates Better?

Universities do a lot of undergraduate outreach and when they are welcoming undergraduate students they treat them in a very warm and friendly manner as though they were young people that needed guidance. So, why don’t they show this same level of warmth and guidance to postgraduate students?

There aren’t any Oxbridge postgraduate outreach Tiktok channels like there are for undergraduates, for example.

Postgraduates aren’t necessarily even that old, by the way, as some can be only 21 whereas the youngest undergraduates are 18, which isn’t a big difference.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 1

sophieee789

Probably because there are a lot more undergrads than postgrads

Reply 2

beant6464

Original post by sophieee789

Probably because there are a lot more undergrads than postgrads

In the context of OP referring to Oxbridge, while what you say is marginally true for Cambridge (undergrads: 12,940 vs postgrads: 11,330), it is not true for Oxford. As of 1st December, 2023, undergrads make up 46% of Oxford's student numbers (12,470) whereas postgrads make up 52% (13,920). The remaining 2% is all "other students"... I guess the reason for the difference in treatement is that unis probably just assume postgrads are familiar with the uni set up and want them to crack on as opposed to undergrads who will still be finding their feet throughout the course.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Also possibly because frankly, people aiming for postgrad study aren't likely to be getting their information for it from tiktok. They use different media channels suited to the audience. It's not just an age thing, it's more of seeking information from more established sources as a more mature academic.

Consider also that universities are much better placed to advise on postgraduate admissions than schools are placed to advise on university admissions - since universities directly have experience of that process for their own postgraduate courses so there's less likely to be as much bunk out there as for UG applications. So a lot of information and advice may simply be provided through existing internal services (which also can advise on students applying to other unis as a postgrad).