Postgraduate Applications: Oxford & Cambridge University
For postgraduate study the application process is more straightforward than for undergraduate applications. The proportion of International students at Oxford & Cambridge is much higher at postgraduate level (40 % as apposed to 10% at undergraduate level). You apply direct to the universities and for most courses the deadline is very late in the year (the August before you study). There is no application fee for Oxford, for Cambridge the fee is 25 GBP. For Oxford you MUST specify a college preference but for Cambridge you can leave this ‘open’ (see above in the undergraduate section for an explanation of the college system).
Cambridge operates a ‘Gathered Field’ system. This means applications are considered in batches of about 2 months duration. So if you miss a field by one day you will have to wait 2months before they even start looking at your application. For 2006 entry the field closing dates are:
1. 28 Oct 2. 25 Nov 3. 20 Jan 4. 17 March 5. 19 May 6. 4 Aug
Where there is a deadline for a course it is specified in the course search.
While your application is being processed you may be required to submit a piece of written work (about 2,000 words) but interviews are unlikely. Therefore your application documents are very important. You must be an excellent graduate from one of China’s most prestigious universities and you will probably need grades that put you in the top 1-2 % of your class.
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