Elleanon

Hi Livka, Congratulations on your admission to Cambridge! Thank you for your insight. It's true that it hasn't been very long (week 7), so I'll give it a bit longer before getting worried. I have a friend whose application took about three months to be accepted (June), but they were European. I'm Canadian, so I think I would need to have an answer by early June to have enough time to sort out my visa, secure student loans, to plan departure, etc. I feel a little stressed, but hopefully they take that into consideration for international applicants!

Hi all, I'm trying to understand the admissions process for King's College London. I've applied for a taught MSc. I am most familiar with the North American system where we tend to submit applications by a specific deadline and then all candidates are evaluated and ranked. Schools usually start out sending out acceptance letters according to their list around April/May. If you haven't received a response promptly by June, it's safe to say that you are a fence-sitting candidate, waitlisted or rejected. The UK appears to be a bit different. They have a rather late deadline of March 30th that continues on a rolling basis until late summer. Their FAQ says they try to give a response within 4-6 weeks. So, someone applying in early December would receive admission toward the end of January, even though there are many other applicants to come. Is that correct? Does the UK operate on a first-come, first-served system, as long as the person meets the faculty's criteria? That seems like a strange approach, since extremely strong candidates could apply later in the cycle. What does it suggest if I haven't received a response within the 4-6 week range? Does it mean that they're unsure about my candidacy and want to see what other students apply before deciding whether to offer me an unfilled seat? I did apply in March, so it was quite last minute. COVID is certainly affecting admissions processes right now, but I'm still curious how their process works in general. It's a bit mystifying to me. Thanks.