<p>I will start my undergraduate degree this fall, a 4 year B.S. Computer Science , but I'm considering graduate school for a M.S. Computer Science or Software Engineering (not research, but taught)</p>
<p>Is graduate school easier to get into at Oxford or Cambridge than undergraduate?</p>
<p>What kind of stats should I have in my undergrad degree to get into these UK universities?</p>
<p>Are you an American student? Be aware that many UK universities do not offer financial support to international graduate students.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m an American student and very aware of this… but I’m asking just about admissions. 
I want to know what I need to do/have to get in?
What kind of GPA, GRE scores?
Will an internship suffice or is it necessary to have research, when I’m not going into a research degree?</p>
<p>Please tell me about Oxbridge and successful graduate admissions expectations</p>
<p>In the Cambridge case, at least, they have substantially expanded their M.Phil programs to accommodate international students. Cambridge looks for a 4.0 undergrad transcript.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s completely accurate. If you get a B+ in Spanish and a B in some random class you had to take to graduate, and this lowers your GPA to a 3.9, Cambridge is not going to disqualify you from the pool for a CS masters/doctorate. </p>
<p>They want a high GPA in what you’re studying and “honors” in your major, which generally requires a research project/thesis your senior year. I’m sure that most competitive applicants have a 3.9+ GPA, but this is not why they are admitted. As in the colonies, research experience and strong recommendations from relevant professors go a long way. </p>
<p>MIT doesn’t remove you from contention if you’re below a 4.0 major GPA. I see no reason why Cambridge would have such rigid numerical requirements, especially when graduate school is devoted to research and not grades. </p>
<p>If I’m wrong about this, and you actually do need a 4.0 just to be considered, there’s no need to worry. There are plenty of exceptional programs in the states without such ridiculous requirements.</p>
<p>I believe that what you need in the way of a GPA is one considered to be the equivalent of an undergraduate “first” at Oxbridge. I think that is around a 3.7 or so. I am sure you can find that out. My son is in a graduate program at Cambridge, and that is what he says. I also believe that GREs are not required or even considered, although I imagine that would vary from program to program. Extracurriculars do not count at all.</p>
<p>I believe Ivyalum is correct. My son was just admitted to Cambridge to work on an MPhil degree. His admission was conditional on his achieving a first at University College London. Fortunately he got his ‘first’.</p>
<p>Perhaps we should explain what a ‘first’ is. It is a ‘First Class Honours’ degree, the equivalent of graduating Summa Cum Laude.</p>
<p>The next highest level is an ‘upper second’, commonly abbreviated '2:1". I suspect that it is possible to get into some Oxbridge graduate programs with a 2:1, but I don’t know what the American equivalent would be.</p>
<p>Next is the ‘lower second’ or 2:2. Again, I don’t know what the equivalent would be, perhaps a 3.0 gpa.</p>
<p>Next is a ‘third’. Hugh Laurie got a third at Cambridge, I suspect because he was already launched upon a career in entertainment.</p>
<p>In my senior year in college I had friends who got into Oxford and Cambridge for grad school. They had GPAs bordering the 3.6-3.8 range. Definitely not a 3.9 lol. People from Ivies and really top schoolsif lucky can get in with a 3.5+.</p>
<p>What sefago says can be true in some cases, namely, that people with a BA from a top notch institution can get into Oxbridge with lower GPA (not with a “low” GPA, just lower). On the contrary, I heard about a guy from some Baltic state who applied to Oxford and, as he was studying at an almost unknown university, his condition was to achieve the highest marks in everything all over his course. Needless to say, he got a few good but not excellent grades, and despite his GPA was around 4.95 or something, he was not granted entry. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, try to do your best and with some luck, you can get into an Oxbridge masters programme - most obviously, it’s a way easier to do a masters at Oxbridge than a PhD, but the same goes for every university around the globe. Neither Cambridge or Oxford demands the most idiot test in the world (GRE), although some faculties requires some other tests.</p>
<p>You could always get a Rhodes scholarship!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not quite… [Warning</a> over ‘grade inflation’ as first-class degrees double - Telegraph](<a href=“Warning over 'grade inflation' as first-class degrees double”>Warning over 'grade inflation' as first-class degrees double)</p>
<p>At leading British universities, it appears that up to one-quarter of graduates receive “First Class Honours.”</p>
<p>cf. Harvard College, which limits the annual number of summa recipients to less than 5 percent.</p>
<p>[Summa</a> What? | News | Commencement 2011 | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/26/honors-latin-students-system/]Summa”>Summa What? | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>Preliminary research shows that Oxford’s standards are not high:</p>
<p>“For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA we seek is 3.55 out of 4.0. We do not require a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or a GMAT score However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a GPA of at least 3.65.”</p>
<p>[Admissions</a> - MSc in Computer Science at Oxford](<a href=“http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/grad/Admissions]Admissions”>http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/grad/Admissions)</p>
<p>For taught master programs, aka MSc programs, you only need “reasonable” GPA (~3.5) if your BS is from a good US school. </p>
<p>You will need higher GPA and maybe some research experience to get into MPhil programs.</p>
<p>For my master’s program at Cambridge a 3.7 was required in order to be considered, but most of the folks who were accepted had higher GPAs. The PhD requires a 3.85 minimum, which amounts to first class honors. But this is just my experience in one program. To be honest, having done a master’s and now in a doctoral program at Cambridge, I find it difficult to believe a 3.5-3.6 would be accepted.</p>
<p>However, and this is the main point I want to make, Cambridge looks at the “whole person” not just one factor. I can easily imagine if someone had some particularly attractive quality about them this might override a weak GPA. I would say that if you’re worried about your GPA you should make other areas of your application counterbalance that weakness. Your personal statement might also be a good place to explain why your GPA was low.</p>
<p>Once again, I want to emphasize that 3.5 GPA from a “good” US school is for MSc programs, not for MPhil/PhD programs. I have several former students who went on to Oxbridge’s graduate programs (MSc, PhD) with such GPAs.</p>
<p>Hey, is there anyway you can check if it is in fact 3.7? My gpa is on the border so I was wondering and there is no reliable online converter.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>Your friends who got accepted for programs were from ivy leagues or equivalents? And were they applying for an mphil or an msc? There’s no reliable information about gpa requirements so I guess personal experience is the best way.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Reread my post.</p>
<p>I believe someone said in an earlier post that extra curriculars do not count for admission to Cambridge? </p>
<p>How can this be true? Your GPA, thesis mark or honours grade, and personal motivation letter can’t be the only means of of testing whether the candidate would be suitable, otherwise the admission rate would be much higher surely?</p>
<p>Also, does age, or rather the fact that you took a gap year before beginning undergraduate and a year out after undergraduate (for an internship) count against you? For example applying for an mphil in history of art and architecture…</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>ECs don’t really count for ANY grad schools. When you get past undergrad, they are looking for how well you can succeed in the field, not how well-rounded they are. Nice ECs aren’t going to make you a good researcher, for example.
Do admissions in the UK have letters of recommendation? That can play a significant role in admissions in the US.</p>