Postgraduate
Postgraduate admissions coaching from working researchers
Help with MSc, MPhil, DPhil and PhD applications and graduate-entry medicine, one-to-one online from £85 an hour. Our tutors are current PhD researchers and Oxford graduates who read and redraft statements and research proposals with you, and run mock interviews.
The facts
- Oxford
- Apply by your course's December or January deadline and you're automatically considered for Clarendon and most scholarships.
- Cambridge
- Funding deadlines of 8 December or 6 January depending on the course, references included.
- You'll need
- A statement, a research proposal for research degrees, transcripts, and two or three references.
- When to start
- Now. Referees need four weeks, and supervisors like an email first.
The deadline that matters is the funding one
The date to worry about isn't the last day the course accepts applications. It's the day after which the money's gone. At Oxford that's your course's December or January deadline. Apply by it and you're considered for Clarendon and most other scholarships automatically. At Cambridge it's 8 December or 6 January depending on the course, with references in by midnight.
Work backwards from there. Referees need four weeks and a copy of your proposal. Departments often want a supervisor to have agreed in principle. A proposal takes several drafts. So for 2027 the realistic start is September, with the first emails to supervisors in October.
What a proposal has to do
Convince a department that you can frame a question, place it in what's already been written, and plan the work in the time you've got, usually in one to two thousand words. Our tutors are PhD researchers at UCL, the Max Planck Institute, the Warburg Institute and Edinburgh, and they read your proposal the way a committee does. Can the question be answered? Is the reading current? Do you know what the supervisor actually works on?
Statements for taught master's courses, graduate-entry medicine and MFA portfolios follow the same logic of fit and evidence. For research degrees we run mock interviews with a researcher in your field, including the funding and supervision questions that catch people out.
The deadline that matters is the funding one
The date to worry about isn't the last day the course accepts applications. It's the day after which the money's gone. At Oxford that's your course's December or January deadline. Apply by it and you're considered for Clarendon and most other scholarships automatically. At Cambridge it's 8 December or 6 January depending on the course, with references in by midnight.
Work backwards from there. Referees need four weeks and a copy of your proposal. Departments often want a supervisor to have agreed in principle. A proposal takes several drafts. So for 2027 the realistic start is September, with the first emails to supervisors in October.
What a proposal has to do
Convince a department that you can frame a question, place it in what's already been written, and plan the work in the time you've got, usually in one to two thousand words. Our tutors are PhD researchers at UCL, the Max Planck Institute, the Warburg Institute and Edinburgh, and they read your proposal the way a committee does. Can the question be answered? Is the reading current? Do you know what the supervisor actually works on?
Statements for taught master's courses, graduate-entry medicine and MFA portfolios follow the same logic of fit and evidence. For research degrees we run mock interviews with a researcher in your field, including the funding and supervision questions that catch people out.
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Questions
- Which programmes?
- MSc, MPhil, DPhil and PhD, graduate-entry medicine, and MFA and other practice-based degrees, in the UK and at similar programmes in Europe and North America.
- Can you help me choose a supervisor?
- Yes, and it usually comes first. Reading a department's recent work, drafting that first email and judging whether the fit is real takes the first session or two. A proposal aimed at the wrong department is the most common rejection we see.
- How many hours does a proposal take?
- Four to eight, spread over a few weeks so you can read and redraft in between. A statement for a taught master's is usually two to four. From £85 an hour.
- I'm applying from abroad.
- That's fine. Lessons are online, around your time zone. Check the English language requirements and visa timings early, because they run alongside the academic deadlines, not after them.
- What about funding applications?
- Most Oxford scholarships don't need a separate application, just the December or January deadline. Cambridge funding is a tick-box on the course application by the funding deadline. External schemes have their own dates and essays, and the method is the same: work out what the funder is assessing, then make the case in their terms.
Which programmes?
MSc, MPhil, DPhil and PhD, graduate-entry medicine, and MFA and other practice-based degrees, in the UK and at similar programmes in Europe and North America.
Can you help me choose a supervisor?
Yes, and it usually comes first. Reading a department's recent work, drafting that first email and judging whether the fit is real takes the first session or two. A proposal aimed at the wrong department is the most common rejection we see.
How many hours does a proposal take?
Four to eight, spread over a few weeks so you can read and redraft in between. A statement for a taught master's is usually two to four. From £85 an hour.
I'm applying from abroad.
That's fine. Lessons are online, around your time zone. Check the English language requirements and visa timings early, because they run alongside the academic deadlines, not after them.
What about funding applications?
Most Oxford scholarships don't need a separate application, just the December or January deadline. Cambridge funding is a tick-box on the course application by the funding deadline. External schemes have their own dates and essays, and the method is the same: work out what the funder is assessing, then make the case in their terms.
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