Applied on 4 Jan, Interview on 21 Feb, GAO on 22 Feb, Conditional offer made on 7 Mar. When can we expect to hear from funding?

To the poster below who asked about funding? Do you mean 11 per year funded from the department itself or generally from Cambridge trust and gates ?

To the poster below asking about ESRC/AHRC vs Cambridge Trust funding: I feel I can chime in as I was nominated for and offered full ESRC funding, though a technicality around my country of ordinary residence has meant that offer has now been rescinded. Research council funding is not more difficult to be nominated for, per se, but it does come with more conditions. For example, whereas Cambridge Trust funding is evaluated on raw academic merit, ESRC funding requires the nominating Department to also justify the funding on the grounds of research fit within a pre-defined theme (at Cambridge, I think there are 5 broad themes, though I may be mistaken). Having said that - and with the caveat that I'm not sure how this stacks up against the number of candidates being considered for Cambridge Trust funding in any given year - I know that there were exactly 58 nominations for ESRC funding this year (across 22 departments), of which 33 will be awarded full scholarships. I wouldn't say that nomination for ESRC necessarily makes you any more likely to receive alternative funding, but I do think it should be taken as an indication that you were within roughly the top 2 applicants in your given field, which can in turn provide some indication of your chances. rnrn

To the unimelb poster below, that's great news!! Congratulations :)) Are you hoping to get funding or are you self funding? Yeah fingers crossed it works out for me too. I was told by the department that I've been nominated for funding, so hope that means I'm good enough to get through GAO.

To the Auz post below. Thanks for the information. It's interesting that they require four years for Australian undergrad. But I ringed the department and confirmed that I have had a conditional offer (and the portal switched to that last night). So I think it should be fine since they only care if you've covered enough background you need to take the course.

Informed that I'd be recommended to the GAO for a fully funded position, awaiting an official offer now.

In response to the below: so if everyone is nominated for the Trusts , what is the deal with the research councils? are they more difficult to get nominated for? and if so, would someone nominated for a research council be more likely to get Trusts funding than someone eligible for ESRC/AHRC (UK/EU) but who was not nominated. Department told me wait for CT too, I might add.

Received an offer today - no news on funding. Anyone heard anything?

To the poster below: I emailed the department before and they told me to wait for the results of Cambridge Trusts, so I'll assume I have been put forward for that (though it appears almost everybody is nominated for that- it's their central funding competition if I'm not mistaken).

FINALLY updated from GAO after a phone call. Applied on early December, Interview on Jan 22nd, Under review by degree committee on Feb. 15th, GAO on Feb. 22nd.

Accepted for MPhil is Sociology of Media and Culture Submitted: Dec 6 Interviewed: Jan 26 GAO: Feb 21 Conditional offer: Mar 8

In response to the below: I think there’s no harm in us emailing to find out, other departments let their offer-holders know

To the unimelb poster below, I found that out in the international qualifications for postgraduate degrees page for Cambridge, where it says minimum requirements for an australian degree is a four year honours degree. And I think this is the reason i've been on GAO for more than 3 weeks, since the grad office does not think I have the minimum requirements.

To the POLIS poster below - I don't think the department has told anyone who has been nominated for funding. It hasn't come up on here or the Student Room. Did you speak to the department about it? Do you think they would tell us if we ask whether or not we were nominated?

Submitted Jan. 7, Interviewed Feb. 21, GAO on Feb. 22

To the Australian post below, yes in unimelb we don't have honorr for my major (physics and maths).But some faculty members from my uni told me it should be fine, honors in melbourne is like coursework master in UK. Where did you know the minimum requirements for Australian schools though?

In response to the below: as in their shortlists were. I don’t know if people were notified or not. I emailed in.

Applicant portal says 'Conditional offer made' but haven't received the official email. Has anyone received it already?

To the poster below - do you mean that the department notified people that they nominated them for funding, or that they sent out their shortlists to the Trust and Research Council?