Since the first inquiries are rolling in, perhaps it is time for a new thread for yet another year of Oxbridge applications. Oxford seems to have kept the stages for 2010-11 admissions similar to those last year. Cambridge has added a couple of interview dates for R3, stretching the interview process to a month-long, compared to the usual week-long process. They are probably expecting a big swell of applications in R3, which could perhaps reflect last year's high demand after R1 dings from other schools were out. This means also thar R4 and R5 dates are pushed forward with about a month. Below is a modified version of Greenoak's information package from last year's thread. Good luck! Last year's Oxbridge applicants thread Oxbridge applicants thread from two years ago Separating Oxford from Cambridge Oxford – Said Business School Requirements : GMAT - average given for reference is 680 TOEFL 109 or IELTS 7.5 (note – this is compulsory, not reference!) Experience: usually 3+ years GPA: usually equivalent of no less than good UK 2.1 degree or 3.5 GPA 2009 Rankings : Financial Times – 16, Business Week non-US MBA - 10 Application cost : 125 GBP Official site: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/mba/ Admissions on Facebook Admissions on Twitter Our Oxford Said information thread R1 Application deadline 8 October 2010 Interview decision by 29 October 2010 Final decision by 10 December 2010 R2 Application deadline 14 January 20101 Interview decision by 4 February 2011 Final decision by 11 March 2011 R3 Application deadline 1 April 2011 Interview decision by 29 April 2011 Final decision by 27 May 2011 Cambridge – Judge Business School Requirements: GMAT – average given for reference is 690 (balanced score is required) TOEFL: *Requirements for entry in 2011:TOEFL 100 with min 25 in writing or IELTS 7.0 *Requirements for entry in 2012 onwards: TOEFL 110 with min 25 in each section or IELTS 7.5 with no element below 7.0 Experience: usually 3+ years GPA: usually equivalent of no less than UK 2.1 degree or 3.3 GPA One recommendation from a supervisor and one from a peer 2009 Rankings : Financial Times – 21, Business Week non-US MBA - second tier Application cost : 100 GBP Official site: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/index.html Admissions on Facebook Unofficial informational tweets by an MBA Coordinator: Twitter Blog . Note that the blog is mainly not about admissions, but about life in Cambridge. R1 Application deadline 4 Oct 2010 Interview day 5 and 8 Nov 2010 Decision 11 Nov 2010 R2 Application deadline 6 Dec 2010 Interview day 14 and 17 Jan 2011 Decision 20 Jan 2011 R3 Application deadline 10 Jan 2011 Interview day 7 Feb, 14 Feb, 21 Feb, and 7 Mar 2011 Decision 24 Feb, 3 Mar or 10 Mar 2011 R4 Application deadline 14 Mar 2010 Interview day 29 or 16 May 2011 Decision 19 May 2011 R5 Application deadline 16 Apr 2011 Interview day 10 Jun and 13 Jun 2011 Decision 16 Jun 2011

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annae

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11 Aug 2010, 00:43

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at JBS the consulting project takes up about 3 weeks in spring, and the summer activities can include an internship. I hope to find an internship which could be prolonged until the fall, or perhaps until the end of the year after the program ends.

Hussain15

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11 Aug 2010, 09:30

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Its great to be a part of this thread. Sat for GMAT just two days back, & now registering for IELTS.

I am applying in R1.

Hussain15

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14 Aug 2010, 12:43

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Hi Guys, I hope you have gone through the application essays for SBS.

1) Explain why you chose your current job. How do you hope to see your career developing over the next five years? How will an MBA assist you in the development of these ambitions? Maximum 1,000 words
2) Which recent development, world event or book has most influenced your thinking and why? Maximum 2,000 words.

Have you guys started working on these??

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16 Aug 2010, 02:34

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Guys,

Couple of questions here.

1) What does this Average college membership fees mean? Why do they mention it separately in the Financial breakdown section?

2) And in of the SBS pages where it mentioned a few college names and was asking us to pick the college. Its a bit confusing? What are these colleges?

https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/degrees/mba/Pages/college.aspx

Thanks in advance folks.....

jon82

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Updated on: 07 Sep 2010, 08:54

Originally posted by jon82 on 16 Aug 2010, 16:10.
Last edited by jon82 on 07 Sep 2010, 08:54, edited 1 time in total.

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Acer,

The college system is indeed a bit complicated and you can find more detail here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/the_colleg ... index.html

Basically, the college is just a place where students eat, sleep (unless you decide to live off campus - FYI - If you decide to live off campus you still pay the college fee, but you pay for your housing/food seperately.), socialize, and which has some administrative authority like degree granting... nothing you need to worry about at this point. You might think Harry Potter here, if you're familiar with the reference (Hogwarts = Oxford; Slytherin/Hufflepuff/Gryffendor/Ravenclaw = your college). In Harry Potter there are four 'colleges', whereas there are nearly 40 at Oxford. Among the most famous at Oxford are Christ Church, Magdalen (pron. Mawdlen), and Balliol.

Specific to your question, your costs for Oxford will look something like this (with SBS costs separated from college costs because they are two different entities with different staff, costs, endowments, etc):
* Said Business School - 33000 GBP if I recall correctly (EDIT - I see 2011/12 costs are now 36300 GBP... still a bargain compaired with what you'd pay at top US schools)
* Your Specific College - about 3300 GBP (some colleges cost more, some less... this is what they mean by average)
* Food/Housing - Maybe around 13000? GBP
* And then anything else you'll need (Computer, Tux, plane tickets, etc)

As for your second question - pick two colleges (most desired followed by a backup) and have reasons for why you chose them specifically. In my interview I was asked why I chose them. But keep in mind that you will have the ability to change your college choice once you are admitted, so the choice is not as important at this point as is your reason for your choice.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Hussain15

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16 Aug 2010, 20:16

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jon82

Acer,

The college system is indeed a bit complicated and you can find more detail here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/the_colleg ... index.html

Basically, the college is just a place where students eat, sleep (unless you decide to live off campus - FYI - If you decide to live off campus you still pay the college fee, but you pay for your housing/food seperately.), socialize, and which has some administrative authority like degree granting... nothing you need to worry about at this point. You might think Harry Potter here, if you're familiar with the reference (Hogwarts = Oxford; Slytherin/Hufflepuff/Gryffendor/Ravenclaw = your college). In Harry Potter there are four 'colleges', whereas there are nearly 40 at Oxford. Among the most famous at Oxford are Christ Church, Magdalen (pron. Mawdlen), and Balliol.

Specific to your question, your costs for Oxford will look something like this (with SBS costs separated from college costs because they are two different entities with different staff, costs, endowments, etc):
* Said Business School - 33000 GBP if I recall correctly
* Your Specific College - about 3000 GBP (some colleges cost more, some less... this is what they mean by average)
* Food/Housing - Maybe around 13000? GBP
* And then anything else you'll need (Computer, Tux, plane tickets, etc)

As for your second question - pick two colleges (most desired followed by a backup) and have reasons for why you chose them specifically. In my interview I was asked why I chose them. But keep in mind that you will have the ability to change your college choice once you are admitted, so the choice is not as important at this point as is your reason for your choice.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for the input! +1

acer2knight

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16 Aug 2010, 22:06

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jon82

Acer,

The college system is indeed a bit complicated and you can find more detail here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/the_colleg ... index.html

Basically, the college is just a place where students eat, sleep (unless you decide to live off campus - FYI - If you decide to live off campus you still pay the college fee, but you pay for your housing/food seperately.), socialize, and which has some administrative authority like degree granting... nothing you need to worry about at this point. You might think Harry Potter here, if you're familiar with the reference (Hogwarts = Oxford; Slytherin/Hufflepuff/Gryffendor/Ravenclaw = your college). In Harry Potter there are four 'colleges', whereas there are nearly 40 at Oxford. Among the most famous at Oxford are Christ Church, Magdalen (pron. Mawdlen), and Balliol.

Specific to your question, your costs for Oxford will look something like this (with SBS costs separated from college costs because they are two different entities with different staff, costs, endowments, etc):
* Said Business School - 33000 GBP if I recall correctly
* Your Specific College - about 3000 GBP (some colleges cost more, some less... this is what they mean by average)
* Food/Housing - Maybe around 13000? GBP
* And then anything else you'll need (Computer, Tux, plane tickets, etc)

As for your second question - pick two colleges (most desired followed by a backup) and have reasons for why you chose them specifically. In my interview I was asked why I chose them. But keep in mind that you will have the ability to change your college choice once you are admitted, so the choice is not as important at this point as is your reason for your choice.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Nice explanation Jon +1 from my side too.

And any advice how do we choose between different colleges? While cost, distance can be couple of factors, can you please suggest us any other pointers on how to choose between these colleges?

Thanks in advance.

CambridgeMBA

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16 Aug 2010, 23:12

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Just a reminder that the Cambridge MBA essay questions can be found at
https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/apply/submitting.html

The online application form will be go live soon so please check the website regularly.

Hussain15

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17 Aug 2010, 00:39

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CambridgeMBA

Thanks for the update!

jon82

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17 Aug 2010, 10:23

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Acer,

Colleges offer many of the same services, including lodging, food, chapel, MCR, social activities, sports, etc. but these often vary widely; so you should research and choose based on the things which are important to you. For instance, Queen's college doesn't offer accomodation, Magdalen offers only one place for an MBA (but gives a full room/board scholarship for that individual), some colleges have great food (Corpus Christi?), some have decent food at a great price, some have 500 year old rooms (that is often more of a minus than a plus), some have newly renovated rooms (Exeter - site of fictional Jordan College in The Golden Compass), some have scholarships for books and travel (Jesus College), some have huge endowments (St John's - which owns the Eagle and Child Pub, the site of meetings between Oxford's CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and other writers), some are located close to the SBS building (Worchester) while others are far away (St Catherine's), some colleges are small, big, pastoral, or reputed to be lively, or quiet, some have great sports teams (the New College rowing team won an olympic gold medal) while others have small teams and you might have a better chance of landing on their varsity squad, some are tourist attractions (Christ Church - which has its own cathedral and was used in filming of Harry Potter), some have famous grads (Bill Clinton - University College, Adam Smith - Balliol College, Lawrence of Arabia, Benezir Bhutto, Stephen Hawking, Andrew Lloyd Weber, John Locke, Kings, Saints, Popes, Nobel Prize winners, etc), some are predominantly for older graduates with families, or have great grad housing (Brasenose has grad housing right across from SBS), or focus on the MBA community (Green Templeton), etc etc...

When you get a job, your employer likley won't care which college you went to (your CV will say Oxford MBA), so research and choose based on what is important for you and your experience.

Here are a couple links to get you started:
https://push.co.uk/Uni-profiles/s.htm (scroll through for Oxford)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleges_o ... _of_Oxford

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31 Aug 2010, 12:06

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Is the application for 2011 for Oxford available online yet?

DrSatisfaction

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01 Sep 2010, 08:53

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shaselai

is 2.92 too low for Said? does the school view gpa at top of the list?

i would say they focus more on your overall profile and the reason why you want to do an mba. there's no real hard cut off for anything - gpa, gmat, yrs of work experience, etc.

MYCambridge

How does Oxbridge compare to T16 US programs like Cornell or Yale in terms of chances of getting into IB in HK?
Does anyone have any idea?

i'd say it does well for IB in HK. you have to understand the oxford brand name is huge in HK, being british occupied and all. i'd say maybe yale can rival its brand name, but not cornell.

now regarding getting into IB without a summer internship...i'd say it's possible but you'll have to work hard and network like crazy. also depends on if you have any relevant background.

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01 Sep 2010, 10:25

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Dr Satisfaction,

I agree that the Oxford brand is huge in Asia. One point - Cornell is actually pretty well known in Greater China... three term Taiwanese president Lee went to Cornell, which bolstered the school's reputation considerably. I would bet many in HK would value this degree highly.

J

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02 Sep 2010, 08:54

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Hi everyone,

Applications for both Cambridge and Oxford are now open:

https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/degrees/mba/Pages/process.aspx

https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/apply/index.html

acer2knight

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02 Sep 2010, 10:18

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There seems to be a discrepancy in the essays posted at https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/apply/completing.html and the essays mentioned in the online application. Does any one know the exact set of the essays.

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02 Sep 2010, 11:06

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Does anybody know anything about Oxford's reputation in social entrepreneurship, CSR, or renewable energy firms? Any help appreciated.

DrSatisfaction

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02 Sep 2010, 21:11

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skahuh

Does anybody know anything about Oxford's reputation in social entrepreneurship, CSR, or renewable energy firms? Any help appreciated.

not sure about the other 2, but oxford is extremely strong in social entrepreneurship from what i understand. one of the top outside of the US, if not the top.

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02 Sep 2010, 21:53

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DrSatisfaction

not sure about the other 2, but oxford is extremely strong in social entrepreneurship from what i understand. one of the top outside of the US, if not the top.

I've heard and read the same and the Skoll scholarship sounds great. I'm seriously considering adding Oxford to my list...

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02 Sep 2010, 23:10

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acer2knight

Strange.
I have some problems logging in. Can you please post the essay topics mentioned in the application.

Thanks
KC

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02 Sep 2010, 23:22

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chaitu69

acer2knight

Strange.
I have some problems logging in. Can you please post the essay topics mentioned in the application.

Thanks
KC

This is the mail that I sent across :

I am not able to login with my Cambridge login id and password. I tried to create another id on the online application page but it doesn't allow me to create one. The problem is that in case of Date Of Birth, DD, as in Date, is also set a similar limit of 1-12 as it is set for Month, so it doesn't accept any date beyond 12 as the date of birth. This check should be changed to 1-31 in case of date.

Essays mentioned here https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/apply/completing.html seems to be different from the essays mentioned in the online application page. Please confirm the right set.

And my friend was able to login and these are essays mentioned in the application :

What are the key issues facing organisations in your sector over the next three years? What course of action would you recommend to such organisations? (up to 300 words)

What did you learn from your most spectacular failure? (up to 200 words)

Please provide a personal statement. It should not exceed 500 words and must include the following: *
What are your short and long term career objectives?
What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them?
What do you hope to gain from the degree programme and how do you feel it will help you achieve the career objectives you have?