There are four steps you must take if you wish to apply for graduate study in the Astrophysics Group at the Cavendish:

1. Consideration of the projects on offer to establish which are likely to be of interest to you,

2. The request and subsequent submission of an application form to the Board of Graduate Studies. This "Graduate Application" form can be downloaded directly from the Board of Graduate Studies (see BOGS Graduate Application Form ).

3. Submission of our own internal Astrophysics Group application form,

4. Attendance at interview (for UK candidates).

Each of these is explained in more detail below.

Available Projects

Each year the Group defines a number of PhD and MPhil projects, some technical, some observational and some theoretical, in the various areas of research we cover. These are agreed upon in late November, and information on each will subsequently be available on our web site on our graduate projects page.

To find our more about these you may wish to attend the Astrophysics Group Open Day. This will give you a chance to hear more about the projects on offer, talk to supervisors and students, and generally get a feel of the Group and the research going on here. All interested students are encouraged to attend since it is the best way to find out about us!

The Open Day will be held on Wednesday January 28th 2004 at the Cavendish Laboratory and begins at 2pm. If you wish to attend and are not based in Cambridge, please contact us at admissions@mrao.cam.ac.uk so that you can be given appropriate instructions/directions. Students based in Cambridge will be given details of the Open Day through announcements at lectures and all are welcome to attend without contacting us beforehand.

Please note that if you do choose to make an application to us the projects listed on our graduate projects page will be the only ones available for the coming year. When we select students, the match of a given student's skills and interests to these projects (and the supervisors) is thus given substantial weight.

Application forms

If you are interested in applying to us there are two forms you will need to submit: the first to the University of Cambridge and the second to the Astrophysics Group itself.

• The University form, the Board of Graduate Studies "Graduate Application Form" (GAF), should be requested from the Board of Graduate Studies at their How to Apply ) page. This form must be completed and returned to the Board of Graduate Studies as soon as possible; students who are applying for admission in October 2004 should make sure it arrives no later than Wednesday March 31st 2004. The closing date for overseas applicants hoping to apply for funding through the University is 31st December 2003. Please note that you will be asked to send testimonials provided by two academic referees with your completed form.

  If you need any assistance in procuring or completing the form, please feel free to contact the Graduate Admissions Office at the Department of Physics. The point of contact there is the Graduate Admissions Secretary (Alison Dann) who can be contacted at (44)-(0)1223-337420, or by email at admissions@phy.cam.ac.uk.

• The internal Astrophysics Group application form is a downloadable text form that needs to be completed and returned to us by post as soon as possible so that we can start processing your application immediately. The deadline for receipt of this application form is Monday 23rd February 2004.

  Please note that amongst other things you will need to provide the names, addresses and e-mail details of the same two academic referees as you will be using for your BOGS application. We also ask that you ensure that they each send a copy of their references directly to us too. Although our form asks you to specify which particular project areas you are interested in working in, your preferences are not binding at this stage.

Interviews

Almost all UK candidates will be asked to come for an interview day during the period 2nd - 12th March 2004. During the day you will have a formal interview lasting for about half an hour in which you will be asked about your undergraduate courses, any experience of astrophysics, perhaps through coursework or other activities, and your specific interests in pursuing graduate research in our group. Although the interview is a core part of the admissions process, it does not take the form of a technical question and answer session. You are not expected to give a presentation, and you do not need to bring project reports/experimental write-ups etc. with you.

The rest of your visit will be used to meet with the staff members, post-docs and current research students involved in the project areas in which you are interested. This allows you to learn more about the individual projects, and you should allocate at least a few hours for this. At the end of this exercise, we will ask you to submit a prioritised list of projects for which you wish to be considered.

Since our policy is to allocate students to particular projects, the discussions with project supervisors and your subsequent identification of the projects that appeal to you are an essential part of the selection process. As indicated above, the whole exercise may well take a good fraction of a day and you are advised to allow for this when arranging your visit here.

Please note that UK-based students attending interviews will be reimbursed for their reasonable travel expenses.

If you are an overseas student you will not be asked to interview and your application will be assessed on the basis of your academic record and references. Ensuring that these are as informative as possible and that they arrive on time is thus important. Any offer of a place will of course be dependent upon your obtaining the necessary funding.

Back to:

• 2004 Admissions Home Page
• 2004 Admissions timetable
• 2004 Astrophysics Group admission form
• 2004 Funding
• 2004 List of projects available

Last Modified 1st December 2003
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