Politics Mphil Cambridge, Oxford, LSE

Graduate School
1

<p>So I am graduating in a few weeks, and I'm thinking about applying to grad schools in the UK for the 2012-13 term. Specifically, I want to apply to the Mphil politics programs at Oxbridge, and European political economy or Political Science/Political Economy at LSE. </p>

<p>I'm graduating from a somewhat reputable UC with a degree in Politics and a UC GPA of 3.98, plus a major gpa of 4.0. In other words, I'm graduating summa (top 2%) with highest honors in the major, which as far as I can tell seems to matter at UK universities. In addition, I can get excellent letters of recommendation, both academic and personal (Cambridge requires a personal reference for funding opportunities). </p>

<p>However, I'm worried because I went to community college for the first two years of college, and when factoring my CC GPA my cumulative GPA drops to 3.81 (I got a D my freshmen year:(. Overall, I did the majority of my coursework and all of my major coursework at the UC, if that matters at all. </p>

<p>I'm just wondering if anyone knows whether more weight will be put on my work at the UC as it is where I received my degree, and it is an actual university. Do I even have a shot at any of those schools with that low of a cumulative GPA? I mean will the honors stuff, good letters, pattern of improvement help at all?</p>

2

<p>Hi,
I’m not an expert on admission to Oxford/ Cambridge, but I am British so I thought I’d just mention this: there is no comparable transfer system in Britain. In the vast majority of cases, the university you begin at is the one you get your degree from and it isn’t usually possible to transfer between universities and take credit with you. It might therefore be worth contacting the admissions offices and explaining the situation to get their opinion on community colleges first.</p>

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<p>Ok I will definitely do that. Thanks for the suggestion. </p>

<p>Yeah the California community college system is a bit of an oddity, even in the United States.</p>

4

<p>Well, all UC’s are respectable with the exception or Riverside, poor Merced, and perhaps Santa Cruz. I don’t think it would pose any problems that you spent your first two years at a community college, admissions will most probably look where you graduated.</p>

5

<p>Haha…well I went to Santa Cruz, hence the “somewhat”</p>