How to get into Oxford after rejection?
Hi guys,
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
Reply 1
Original post by Anonymous
Hi guys,
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
Hi! When did you receive the rejection email?
Reply 2
Original post by Anonymous
Hi guys,
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
I recently applied for a DPhil in Population Health at Oxford but wasn’t successful. While the rejection stings, I'm determined to improve and reapply. I know some of you faced the same but eventually got in, and I’d love to hear how you strengthened your application.
- What specific steps did you take to enhance your application?
- How did you refine your research proposal or statement of purpose?
- Did you gain more research experience or publications?
- How important were publications in your successful reapplication?
- Did you approach potential supervisors differently?
My undergraduate (medical degree) and MSc GPAs met their 2.1 requirements but weren’t outstanding, and I’m currently working on a few first-author publications as I prepare to reapply.
I’d be truly grateful for any advice or insights you’re willing to share.
Thank you so much in advance!
The first thing you can do is find out what the evaluators actually thought about you. To do this, you can submit a subject access request by sending an email to: data [dot] protection [at] admin [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
•
Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) related to the application.
•
Any evaluation materials used in the assessment process, such as evaluation forms, review notes, or scoring sheets.
•
Records of any meetings or discussions where the application was reviewed or considered.
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
•
Name:
•
Program Applied For:
•
Application Reference Details:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
Reply 3
Original post by Anonymous
Hi! When did you receive the rejection email?
I actually haven’t received the official email. But I didn’t receive any interview invitation. Today, the upload button disappeared and the source code showed Rejection Scan = 1. So… I know my result for sure.
Reply 4
Original post by Anonymous
The first thing you can do is find out what the evaluators actually thought about you. To do this, you can submit a subject access request by sending an email to: data [dot] protection [at] admin [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
•
Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) related to the application.
•
Any evaluation materials used in the assessment process, such as evaluation forms, review notes, or scoring sheets.
•
Records of any meetings or discussions where the application was reviewed or considered.
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
•
Name:
•
Program Applied For:
•
Application Reference Details:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
Oh, wow! This is an incredibly useful insight!! Thank you so much!
Reply 5
Original post by Anonymous
Hi! When did you receive the rejection email?
Just received the rejection email (at 4.15pm UK Time)
Reply 6
Original post by Anonymous
The first thing you can do is find out what the evaluators actually thought about you. To do this, you can submit a subject access request by sending an email to: data [dot] protection [at] admin [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
•
Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) related to the application.
•
Any evaluation materials used in the assessment process, such as evaluation forms, review notes, or scoring sheets.
•
Records of any meetings or discussions where the application was reviewed or considered.
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
•
Name:
•
Program Applied For:
•
Application Reference Details:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
Original post by Anonymous
Oh, wow! This is an incredibly useful insight!! Thank you so much!
Original post by Anonymous
thanks for this! do you think i can do the same for a masters appliaction?
It is your legal right to do this, but your name is very much more likely to be remembered, for the wrong reasons.
Reply 8
Original post by threeportdrift
It is your legal right to do this, but your name is very much more likely to be remembered, for the wrong reasons.
What do you mean by the wrong reasons? Will it affect my future application?
Reply 9
Original post by Anonymous
What do you mean by the wrong reasons? Will it affect my future application?
I don’t think I completely agree with this. One of my former colleagues submitted this for Oxford to understand why he was unable to secure funding. He applied the subsequent year and got admission once again
Original post by Anonymous
What do you mean by the wrong reasons? Will it affect my future application?
The route suggested above is a legal process called a Subject Access Request. It is entirely your right to take this approach, but it puts the university under a set of legal obligations and processes. When you feel like complaining about either the fees, or the lack of scholarships, consider that, across the university, there are probably the equivalent of 20FTE staff entirely occupied with answering these sorts of questions, most of which can be more easily answered by a polite email to the relevant administrator asking for feedback, or by a little more personal reflection and common sense.
Reply 11
Agree with the above.
Dealing with FOI requests is time consuming.
Moreover, often the time taken up is that of academic staff (ie the professors who graded the application to start with), who have to comply within a set time frame and fill out a set of paperwork and show they have gone through all their records and identified everything related to you and your application. That is time that they could have been spending reading their own students’ work, replying to emails from prospective doctoral candidates, or indeed doing their research. They will do it because they have a legal duty to, but they will not do it gladly (when they might be perfectly happy about responding to an informal request about feedback on an application) and it sets you up in a legalistic and adversarial relationship with them.
And yes they are only human - if the same person is asked to assess your application next year and the first thing they think is “oh, the person who made a SAR and made me take a day out of my week to go through all my files when I had an urgent deadline”, they are unlikely to remember your name with joy and enthusiasm.
Dealing with FOI requests is time consuming.
Moreover, often the time taken up is that of academic staff (ie the professors who graded the application to start with), who have to comply within a set time frame and fill out a set of paperwork and show they have gone through all their records and identified everything related to you and your application. That is time that they could have been spending reading their own students’ work, replying to emails from prospective doctoral candidates, or indeed doing their research. They will do it because they have a legal duty to, but they will not do it gladly (when they might be perfectly happy about responding to an informal request about feedback on an application) and it sets you up in a legalistic and adversarial relationship with them.
And yes they are only human - if the same person is asked to assess your application next year and the first thing they think is “oh, the person who made a SAR and made me take a day out of my week to go through all my files when I had an urgent deadline”, they are unlikely to remember your name with joy and enthusiasm.
Reply 12
Original post by Anonymous
The first thing you can do is find out what the evaluators actually thought about you. To do this, you can submit a subject access request by sending an email to: data [dot] protection [at] admin [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
•
Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) related to the application.
•
Any evaluation materials used in the assessment process, such as evaluation forms, review notes, or scoring sheets.
•
Records of any meetings or discussions where the application was reviewed or considered.
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
•
Name:
•
Program Applied For:
•
Application Reference Details:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
Can this also be done for an undergraduate degree?
Original post by Deepthinker14
Can this also be done for an undergraduate degree?
Yes, but you are much better served by just asking for feedback rather than a formal subject access request.
Reply 14
Original post by Admit-One
Yes, but you are much better served by just asking for feedback rather than a formal subject access request.
I already asked the university multiple times they gave me a vague response and then finally told me only my score but no explanation for why I received it.
Original post by Deepthinker14
I already asked the university multiple times they gave me a vague response and then finally told me only my score but no explanation for why I received it.
Fair enough. My concern with submitting an SAR request, (other than as above, being extremely laborious and not ingratiating yourself with the admissions team that you may be reapplying to), is that info you get back may not be that enlightening.
I work in admissions and if I sent you every note on your application it wouldn't tell you were you were lacking as compared to other candidates.
Reply 16
Hi guys, I just received the Subject Access Request result. It only has my shortlisting ranking out of total number of application they received this year. I guess that our ranking should be in the top 50 to be invited to the interview (for Nuffield Population Health department). So back to my original question, can you guys share how to strengthen the application and increase my ranking? Would a few first author publication in Q1 help? Or anything else?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Original post by Anonymous
The first thing you can do is find out what the evaluators actually thought about you. To do this, you can submit a subject access request by sending an email to: data [dot] protection [at] admin [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
At Oxford, PhD evaluation is done using a form which gives you an overall score out of 50 (I think). This is also contains comments based on your transcript and recommendations etc. Under data protection laws, you can easily get a copy of the form. You can use the following email template to email them
I am requesting access to all personal data held by the University of Oxford in relation to a DPhil application. This includes, but is not limited to:
•
Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) related to the application.
•
Any evaluation materials used in the assessment process, such as evaluation forms, review notes, or scoring sheets.
•
Records of any meetings or discussions where the application was reviewed or considered.
To assist in locating the relevant information, the application details are as follows:
•
Name:
•
Program Applied For:
•
Application Reference Details:
I would appreciate receiving the requested information in electronic format, if possible. Additionally, I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeline for a response. If any further details are required to process this request, please let me know.
Once you have this information, you will have a better idea on how you can improve your score and chances. All the best!
Hi, can you do this for a masters? I got rejected for a masters in criminal justice and criminology and am also determined to reapply!
Reply 18
Original post by Rainpink9
Hi, can you do this for a masters? I got rejected for a masters in criminal justice and criminology and am also determined to reapply!
Technically you can do this for anything but i’m not sure if they have a similar scoring format as DPhil applications
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