Hi, I am an American student who is about to start an MA in the fall.
I really want to go to Oxford for a doctorate (or master’s) degree at some point, but I had a very low GPA in college, like 2.6 (for a lot of reasons–undiagnosed learning disability, severely uninflated grades, my father was sick & then died, etc.).
I’m wondering if I get a high enough GPA for my MA I’ll be able to apply for an MSc or MPhil at Oxford?
I’ve had multiple friends go there & they said to be smart about choosing programs that have low competition for applicants.
Any thoughts or experience with this?
Thank you!!!
For a PhD, Oxford wants a strong Masters and a strong undergrad. With a strong MA you might be able to squeeze the GPA a little- but not from a 3.75CGPA/3.85MGPA to a 2.6.
Getting a 2nd Masters is not a typical thing to do, and your reason for doing it would have to be strong.
As for being “smart about choosing programs that have low competition for applicants.”, there is no Oxford graduate degree that is so short of applicants that they need to massively bend their standards. The one thing that might do that is a serious level of achievement in the field- something that would be internationally recognized.
Lower grades in gen ed courses would be less of a concern than in your major. What is your subject, and do you have an idea of a dissertation subject for a PhD?
Even if you could get in (which I agree with @collegemom3717 is extremely unlikely), do you realize that the funding situation for doctorates in the UK is completely different to the US?
You generally only get PhD funding as part of an ultra competitive scholarship or research grant, there aren’t the TA positions that fund graduate students with stipends and tuition waivers as in the US. Grad students are not required to do any teaching and if they choose to do some (only a few hours a week in term time, so a few thousand dollars a year), then they are paid for it separately, but they would still be liable for their course fees and living expenses. That’s why you generally finish a PhD in three years, because that’s when the scholarship money runs out. A few highly dedicated (some would say crazy) people with rich parents self-fund, but that is rare.
Virtually all graduate programs at Oxford have minimum grade requirements in your BA. A 2.6 does not meet that, and they will likely refuse to examine your application.
You can email the department and ask — UK universities have very strict GPA requirements that are posted on their website. E.g. Most graduate programs requires a minimum 3.7 GPA to even be considered.