Oxbridge 2009 applicants

Hi Gati,

Thanks for your kind words and congrats with your conquering Oxford app (and especially Essay No 2 )! Perhaps you won’t need any more apps to get your admit. And, honestly, I don’t know what to say about R4 for Cambridge: your demographics is working against you here, but they have a really interesting selection criteria and so may invite you if they like your file even instead of a person who may seem much more accomplished applicant to an outsider. But you need to make a decision fast: their deadline is only ten days away.

Anyways, good luck!

Anyone From Said R2 Admits receive their packs(official offers) yet?

I am eagerly awaiting for mine but haven't seen anything in the mail yet.

-sumidi

one more to the batch of 2010 Oxford MBA...

Hi All,



Gati, well done and goodluck for submitting the Oxford app. I hope it goes well for you, although R3/R4 tend to be tough. But I've met a few students at Oxford who got an admit in the later rounds, so it is possible. I hope you keep contributing on the forum!



Sumidi, I am waiting for the admit pack too, although I have managed to pay my deposit without the admit pack. I think the R1 guys had to wait 2 weeks to get theirs.


arjtryarjtry, well done! I hope you join us in Oxford!

cheers,

buff

Hi all,

New to the forum. Admitted to Said. Wishing luck to all

Anyone from India for Said ?

India.. sure...

hey buffdaddy and greenoak... i look fwd to meeting u guys at Ox...

anyone from spain??? i started learning spanish for IE... and am sad if i cannot continue talking..
so anyone out here who will be coming to SAID?

Hi Aceone and Arjtryarjtry,

It will be great to see you in Oxford!

Arjtryarjtry - so, you decided to go to Oxford, not to IE? I'm not from Spain (I studied Spanish in childhood myself but forgot everything except ¿Cómo te llamas? ) Perhaps, you should try Said Intranet forums - there were people prom spanish-speaking countries.

Hello there

Does any one know, what exactly to fill in activity column in section 6 'career overview' of Cambridge application form?

Thanks
Gati

Hi Gati,

I put there short job description - i.e., 'software development', 'strategy planning', 'sat twiddling my thumbs' (now, this is a bad example ) ... Basically, you should let them understand what you did at your corresponding job. Sometimes this just mirrors the official job title, but I guess they included this field for the situations when the job title is too generic.

Good luck for Cambridge!

Thanks v much Greenoak

I am just wondering, any one else there applying in Cambridge R4?

Also have another question regarding Cambridge application. Section 9 and 12 have different questions with different word limts. Contrary to Oxford, word limit here is very less. Is it advisable to exceed the word limit set in application?

For the folks accepted at Said, is anyone applying for the The Vodafone Foundation Oxford MBA Scholarship?

If so, how did you write the scholarship essay, "Candidates must submitt a 500-word essay on why they should be considered for the award".
This is really really difficult, even more so than the MBA essay. I mean I want to just say, I want & need money just like every other student in the course, but why me......this is hard!

-sumidi (scratching his head)

Hi Gati,

In short – no. I know that it is universally believed +/- 10% words is acceptable, but somebody told me that Oxbridge schools may penalise you for even extra 2-3 words (don’t know how true it was). Of course, they won’t stop reading your essay and may as well send you an invite – but it’s better not to risk and keep the word count within the limit. Besides, setting so small a limit was certainly done intentionally: they perhaps want to check your ability to laconically express your thoughts and ideas.

Hi Sumidi,

I haven’t applied for this scholarship myself, but I'd suggest that you stick to the generic scholarship-essay scheme here (works good if in doubt). In short, you should pay attention to what qualities they seek in an applicant - in this case, it’s a proven interest in technology - and write your essay aiming to persuade them that you indeed possess these qualities. In other words, it’s a version of background/goals essay, only with the focus shifted to your interest in technology and your achievements in this field. The ‘I’m so poor, I need some money please’- theme may be present, but only as brief mentioning, and definitely not as the main idea.

For Cambridge, I think you can't exceed their word limit even if you want, because they have some weird application form. Basicly, it is Word document but such formated that you cannot enter a single word above the limit in the answer space. Try on your own, you can download that form on their site.

I wrote my essays in the regular Word document and when I tried to copy them in the app form, I managed to copy just 400 words, not a single one more. Furthermore, it can count the space between the words - if you have double-space between two words somewhere, it will erase your last word. So, it is very easy - you have extremely strict limit: 400 words + 399 space in between. That's it.

Hello pathfinder

You may be right for section 12 -- essays section. But in section 9A, I can type more than the limt of 300 words. And in section 11, form doesn't let me type more than 72 words, though limit was set to 100. I must say wierd application

Any way, I would take safer approach, and won't exceed a word beyond the limit, even if I am allowed to type

BTW, are you going to join Cambridge?

Cheers
Gati