<p>Hoping someone can provide a little insight for me. I want to attend Cambridge for a part time PH.d program in International Relations. I'm a non-traditional student and that's why I'm not sure of my chances. </p>
<p>First a little background:</p>
<p>I am an Army veteran who received my undergrad degree from an online university while on active duty. my UGPA was 3.9+</p>
<p>I also received a M.A. from a flagship state school in International Relations with 4.0 GPA</p>
<p>Scored in the top 5 percentile on the LSAT.</p>
<p>I'm currently attending Harvard Law School and we don't have GPA's (Like Yale, Stanford and Berkeley we use high pass, pass and low pass) but I'd guess I'm around median.</p>
<p>I'll be working at a firm in London after graduation, thus the need for a part-time program.</p>
<p>So my question is do I have a decent shot at acceptance since </p>
<p>1) I went to an online undergrad institution.
2) My M.A. degree was from a state school.
3) The only elite school on my transcript (HLS), I'm only median at.</p>
<p>Also does Cambridge take "softs" into account such as veteran status, being the first in your family to go to college or underrepresented minority status. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>1) Depends on what kind of online university. If it was the online program of a brick and mortar campus - like Embry-Riddle or Vaughn College - then that’s better. If it’s a for profit like Kaplan or Walden, then thats a huge ding against you. Those schools are more concerned with their bottom line than with student learning and success, and any PhD program (but especially one at a top school) will wonder about your preparation and ability to successfully complete their PhD.</p>
<p>2) State schools vary wildly. There are places like Michigan and UC-Berkeley and then there are places like Cal State-Northridge, and then there are places like Augusta State. I’m assuming you went to a CSU-type school or lower since you’re worried, but that won’t matter.</p>
<p>3) If you are currently attending Harvard Law I’m confused about why you still want a PhD, but okay. I’m not really sure how your performance in law school would affect your admission to a PhD program, because we typically don’t get JDs who apply to PhD programs (typically, it’s the other way around, lol).</p>
<p>I doubt that Cambridge will care that you are a veteran of the US Army. In the US, PhD programs like it if you are a first-generation or minority student, but it won’t get unqualified applicants in - nor is it a significant factor in your favor. It’s just like “wow, that’s nice.” I’m not sure how they do it at Cambridge, but it’s probably about the same.</p>
<p>Anyway, we can’t predict your chances. Aside from the normal problems that has (not knowing who you are competing with, or what your research interests are vs. the interests of the faculty, or what they are looking for this year), this is a non-US program and a part-time program at that. Perhaps you’ll get lucky and someone who goes there will comment.</p>
<p>The British PhD is very different from the American: there is no coursework component and you proceed directly to writing a dissertation under the supervision of a small group of faculty, usually in 2-3 years. That is hard to do part-time - I would be very surprised if Cambridge would admit you knowing that you plan to work on a dissertation part time. And you won’t get admitted without a clear statement of a dissertation topic and evidence that you have the coursework preparation to write such a dissertation. Those factors (which might be addressed by your MA) and not the issues you raise strike me as the salient concerns for your admission.</p>
<p>Lot’s of misinformation above (well intended to be sure - so not a criticism). I’m a PhD student at Cambridge and am familiar with the specifics on your question. Why don’t you PM me and we can discuss.</p>
<p>Thanks orange I’ll PM you now. I was confused by the answers above as they contradicted many things I’ve heard both from Cambridge and Cambridge students currently at HLS. Hopefully you can shed some light on the topic for me.</p>
<p>2) State schools vary wildly. There are places like Michigan and UC-Berkeley and then there are places like Cal State-Northridge, and then there are places like Augusta State. I’m assuming you went to a CSU-type school or lower since you’re worried, but that won’t matter.</p>
<p>That’s why I said Flagship state school. CSU Northridge or August State aren’t Flagship. I went to U. of Massachusetts.</p>