Cambridge postgraduate admissions and funding are bureaucratic

Cambridge postgraduate admissions and funding are bureaucratic. t's a huge claim - I know. But, let me paint a picture for you:

90% of postgraduate admissions decisions are done 12 weeks following the departmental and university-wide course due date which is on 03 December, 2024.

After non-stop chasing up with the Department of Sociology, I heard back 18 weeks and 3 days later. This is a big difference and I have not even received a college allocation yet, meaning I have, in effect, been largely disadvantaged by my late offer. I basically have missed the initial (and largest pots of funding!) of funding decisions. I might be in a second round - but who knows? These decisions are largely handed out in March, and I received the offer only yesterday for MPhil in Sociology (Marginality and Exclusion).

I know this doesn't mean I'm entirely out of the running especially for needs-based funding (as I am a young adult carer and other eligibility criteria) - it just feels unfair. Life is unfair obviously but I feel shocked a university such as Cambridge can be so bureaucratic and rigid in how they deliver communications, admissions, and when it boils down to fairness.

Merit is starting to feel like luck and chance here.

Hopefully someone agrees with me and I guess I just wanted a little moan and complain.

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by jayshi

Cambridge postgraduate admissions and funding are bureaucratic. t's a huge claim - I know. But, let me paint a picture for you:
90% of postgraduate admissions decisions are done 12 weeks following the departmental and university-wide course due date which is on 03 December, 2024.
After non-stop chasing up with the Department of Sociology, I heard back 18 weeks and 3 days later. This is a big difference and I have not even received a college allocation yet, meaning I have, in effect, been largely disadvantaged by my late offer. I basically have missed the initial (and largest pots of funding!) of funding decisions. I might be in a second round - but who knows? These decisions are largely handed out in March, and I received the offer only yesterday for MPhil in Sociology (Marginality and Exclusion).
I know this doesn't mean I'm entirely out of the running especially for needs-based funding (as I am a young adult carer and other eligibility criteria) - it just feels unfair. Life is unfair obviously but I feel shocked a university such as Cambridge can be so bureaucratic and rigid in how they deliver communications, admissions, and when it boils down to fairness.
Merit is starting to feel like luck and chance here.
Hopefully someone agrees with me and I guess I just wanted a little moan and complain.

Where did you get the 90% figure from?

I'm not quite sure what you expect in terms of process - but maybe you can propose a fair but non-bureaucratic system that deals with a global cohort of applicants all with individual academic and societal records and a minimum 10 to 1 applicant to place rate?

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Quite a lot of the funding decisions take place in April, and continue on till July. For example, the Cambridge Trust awards have just started petering out one by one. I am however sorry about what you went through. I am also waiting on funding. Here's hoping we get through.

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Same here, it's not an easy experience

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

All university administrative processes are bureaucratic, at all universities. Cambridge is even more bureaucratic than most due to the additional complexity created by the sheer number of department and institutes with the autonomous college system overlaid on that.