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Currently working on my MPhil at Cambridge. They don’t really care about courseload. They do however care about research experience. At Oxbridge in particular, the masters level degree is quite independent and very much research based. Understand this going into one and you’ll love it, but I have friends that are a little disappointed because they thought the masters would be structured like programs in the U.S. Personally, I’ve had an amazing time, but my research interests fit very well with my department’s strengths and I’ve been lucky to have fantastic advisors.

Social life for me has been great. I was in a similar situation to you a year ago, but I was moving from america to the UK. I have a wonderful group of friends in my department that meet once weekly for dinner, and for tea sometimes too depending on our schedules. We are all focusing in different areas so it’s nice to catch up, commiserate during tough times, and celebrate our successes as they come. I also have dinner with college (my university is set up into different colleges) mates on most weeknights where we pretty much do the same thing. I’m also pretty active in societies so I have a great time with friends doing nonacademic stuff too. I honestly didn’t make time for fun as an undergraduate, so I’ve genuinely enjoyed the whole work hard play hard mentality as a grad student. As far as fears, I’ll be heading back to the U.S. for medical school this fall and I’m nervous about being able to establish strong relationships at my future school. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but it’s certainly something I worry about before starting any degree.

Thanks! Some programs require interviews while others do not. HPSM requires an interview! What I recommend (also what worked for me at my first conference) is to seek out small/local conferences in areas you’re interested in and come up with a related research proposal to submit. This will get your foot in the door and give you a taste of what research is like. A good senior thesis is helpful (and even crucial if you have no other work) because it can serve as a summary of your talents. Do keep in mind, however, why you’re doing research in the first place. A good product is always nice, but what you take from your experience and talk about/apply down the road is arguably just as important. Well, it depends. It certaintly could be best to have a Cambridge prof’s LOR but only if they know you just as well as your Florida State equivalent LOR writer. My LORs came from my research advisors at my state school and it didn’t hurt a bit if that’s what your worried about.

Hi MotherofallCorgis. I will be attending Cambridge this Fall for my mphil in history of medicine. I completed my undergraduate degree in the US. I really think L13 did a brilliant job answering your questions so I don’t have much to add beyond echoing the importance of research experience. The majority of my interview consisted of my advisor asking questions about my research background and writing sample (my senior thesis). Because of the GPA cut off for my program (3.70 at Cambridge and 3.75 at Oxford I think) everyone who applies has good grades. Research and LORs are consequently very, very important. I decided not to apply to Oxford because I was not able to find potential advisors working in a similar area to me.

Best of luck to y’all!!!

Congrats!!! I'm fairly certain I'll accept my offer from Cambridge so hit me up if you decide to go!

Received an acceptance from Cambridge this morning! Very excited!

Thanks!!! I’m hoping to work with Salim Al-Gailani.

Hello hello! This will probably be old news to some of you as I’ve already posted a similar intro in the big thread. My interests include the history of medicine, specifically the intersection of poverty, nutrition, disease, and public health. My work thus far is centered around the 20th century U.S. south, but I’m not by any means married to the location. I only applied to Cambridge’s History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine mphil and I just heard back with an interview invite. That’s about it for me! Glad you started this thread @histsci!

Received an interview invite for a spot in the Cambridge HPS and Medicine mphil! I was beginning to lose hope. Y’all have any tips!??

Hi all, it seems this thread is beginning to come unraveled so I'd like to first put in a few words regarding its purpose. I had hoped this thread could serve as a one-stop-shop for everything related to history admissions this year - be it results, reactions, concerns, questions, general commentary, etc. I understand that some of y'all prefer to see posts strictly pertaining to history results and that's totally fine. If starting a new thread where anything even remotely off topic is removed helps to avoid the vitriolic nature of last year's applicants thread, then such offshoots are a win for everyone. Going forward, however, I'd like to make clear that this thread is for anything generally related to the subject of Fall 2018 Applications. Applying to graduate school is an extremely stressful process and as @khigh said, many of us rely on these forums because we have no one else to turn to for subject guidance and support. If it weren't for the history forum, I'd certainly be ignorant to a lot of topics that I honestly take for granted now. Let's continue to support one another through the remainder of this application season and keep this thread a welcoming place.

Hi @ringo, I applied for admission into the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine program. Not exactly history, but closely related nonetheless! I submitted in early January and am currently under review by the degree committee. I think HPS applications skip the department phase (or go through very quickly) and head straight to the under review by degree committee phase, so I'm in essentially the same place as you. Best of luck!

Whether or not it was effective still remains to be seen, but I also was fortunate to earn a number of grants for my research and was selected to present my work at a couple of conferences, so I showcased these awards if you will in my SOP by mentioning that my work had already gained interest from the larger scholarly community. I subsequently listed the grants & sponsors and conferences so the reader(s) would have some idea of what I was talking about. Hopefully I'm interpreting your question correctly. Please let me know if not.

I like to think my reaction will be some mixture of speechlessness, a rush of euphoria, and endless babbling as I try to find the words to tell my parents. All topped off with a cider (or two or three) and a steak at our local fancy restaurant. Let’s hope I haven’t jinxed my chances now!

I'm rooting for you, khigh! Hopefully your acceptance is next.