How I Got Into Oxford and Cambridge, Both Fully Funded, After 19 Rejections

In my first application cycle I sent off 11 applications and got 11 rejections, without a single interview, and I thought that was my answer.

Then in the very next round, the same cycle where I collected eight more nos, Oxford and Cambridge both said yes, and both fully funded.

This is the first ever episode of The Open Secret, and I wanted to open the show with the story I usually only tell in pieces. Not the tidy version where it all worked out, but the whole thing: the rejections stacking up one after another, the year I spent convinced someone like me was never going to be competitive, my twin sister Maegan and why she is the reason I do any of this at all, and the one shift in approach that changed everything between the round that rejected me and the round that funded me.

Same grades, same imperfect profile, a completely rebuilt approach.

If you have already decided that Oxford or Cambridge is for you, but somewhere between that certainty and the blank application everything starts to feel impossible, this episode is for you. My whole thesis is that how you apply matters more than the profile you walk in with, and that the game is far more winnable than the myth of the perfect applicant would have you believe.

🗺️ The Oxbridge Postgraduate Roadmap: Start here to find out how competitive you really are for a UK Master's/PhD compared to previously accepted applicants → http://oxbridgeadmissionsclub.thrivecart.com/roadmap/?el=podcast

MY OTHER COURSES & GUIDES

🛠️ Oxbridge Application Accelerator Toolkit: Comprehensive, all-discipline application guide for top UK Master’s & PhD programmes (54.4% accepted) → https://oxbridgeadmissionsclub.com/application-accelerator/?el=podcast

🎙️ Oxbridge Interview Mastery Programme: Comprehensive interview prep guide for Master’s & PhD admissions → https://oxbridgeadmissionsclub.thrivecart.com/interview/?el=podcast

💰 Oxbridge Scholarship Success Course: How to fund your postgraduate offer (£2M+ secured so far) → https://oxbridgeadmissionsclub.com/ossc-eg/interview/...

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

For this first episode, I was going to record a solo episode and I actually spent a couple hours yesterday trying to figure out a script. But I actually just did something for the first time and had a live call with members of my Oxford postgraduate roadmap who all got it within the first three days that I launched it a couple weeks ago. And it was supposed to only go an hour. It went over two. And I thought this is what the first podcast episode should be about because there are so many juicy bits and pieces in there that aren't even in the roadmap or even in my more in-depth courses and guides like the Oxford Application Accelerator Toolkit. Hello and welcome to the Open Secret. I am your host, Dr. Claire Burksham-Johnson. I am a clinical research fellow and Oxford EFIL graduate, a Clarendon scholar at Oxford, and I'm also the founder of Oxford Admissions Club. I am starting this podcast, The Open Secret, to talk about the Open Secret and how people are actually getting into Oxford, Cambridge, and other top UK universities. So without further ado, let's get into it. So I grew up in a small town called Holland in the state of Michigan in the United States. I don't know if anyone's heard of Michigan before. I never expect people to have heard of it. So I've got an older sister, two and a half years older, and then I've also got a fraternal twin sister. So we're not identical. We're as genetically similar as two just like normal sisters, I guess. My twin sister Megan, who is here on the left, and that's Rachel in the middle, and that's me on the right. So when we were seven years old, Megan and I were on the playground at recess at school, and the bell rang to go back inside, and to go queue up and go back inside. So as everyone else went running to go back inside, Megan fell down and she could not get up. And it sounds incredibly dramatic, but it really was. Really, in the course of a day, she went from being able to walk to her legs essentially being paralyzed. And that was obviously really, really scary for all of us. My parents and her spent a ton of time going around for months trying to get a diagnosis for her, lots of misdiagnosis problems, no one really knowing what was going on. And then she got to the point where she was tetraplegic, meaning her legs were certainly paralyzed and her arms were so weak that she couldn't even turn herself over in bed. Um, they had to get to the Mayo clinic in the United States, and she was diagnosed with something called, and I will only say this name once because the actual technicality of the name doesn't matter. Um it's chronic inflammatory demyelinating, polyredicular neuropathy, or CIDP, because that's a mouthful. So um she was the youngest person in the world at that point to be diagnosed with that. But basically, um she's the reason that I do what I do and how I got on this journey to begin with. I know exactly what it feels like to be in a situation where it feels like everyone around you kind of knows what's going on, has some sort of insider secret, but they're not telling you it. And I know what it feels like to have uh very complex things going on that feel very inaccessible. And so that's kind of the through line for my research and how I ended up at Oxford, but also ultimately why I started out Oxbridge Admissions Club, because it's the same sort of thing, right? It's this information that is so inaccessible to so many of us from the outside, and I don't believe it should be that way. So I went to undergrad, I studied neuroscience for my bachelor's degree after getting rejected to every single Ivy League that I applied to for my bachelor's degree. Um, that's finishing up my degree in Copenhagen. And then I got convinced to go buy for elite schools again, this time for PhDs, because I decided if I want to cure my twin sister's disease, I'm gonna have to get a PhD in that. So I applied to 11 master's and PhD programs. And I was once again kind of had everything that I would need to be a competitive applicant. I had you know strong grades, I was set to graduate Magna Coon Laudi from a global top 30 university. I had done lots of extracurriculars, I had the student leadership experiences, I had done internships, I had all these things that people around you tell you that you need, including my dad who did a PhD himself, as well as my boyfriend at the time who's finishing his own PhD. So I had also been given like a lot of hope that this was possible for me. And then, as I'm sure all of you know, I got rejected to every single program I applied to, and I did not even get a single interview. No one wanted me. My boyfriend at that time was finishing his PhD and he was about to um start a really prestigious post at Harvard Medical School. And then at the same time, all of his friends were asking me, like, you know, what are you doing next? And I just kind of felt like a fraud and a failure. Like I had just kind of tricked everyone into thinking I was going somewhere and I had no answer for them. And it was really because I was fortunate enough to have somebody I worked with who happened to get into top PhD programs, but in the United States, and I had no idea even at that time how different that process even is from the UK and Europe. But it was the first time I really had access to somebody who had just applied and gotten into top programs, and she allowed me to see some of her application materials. And this is what started changing everything for me. I could compare her personal statement to mine and say, oh, that's where I really screwed up, or oh, this is what a CV is actually supposed to look like. Um, and so kind of completely changed my application approach based on what I could kind of infer from what her application materials had, and then basically trying to talk to as many people as I could, some academic contacts I had, um, and piece the information bit by bit. And then this time around, I secured seven interviews for PhDs around the UK and in Europe, to the point that I was turning down interview offers because I couldn't handle them all and I didn't need them all, which was such a surreal position to be in. So I did seven PhD interviews in the span of 10 days, and then I was ultimately able to secure two fully funded offers to both Oxford and Cambridge. So as I was doing my PhD, I kept thinking about how much, even once I was here, I was learning. Oh my gosh, no one tells you this. Like, for example, once I got to Oxford, I didn't know that there was a thousand pounds set aside for PhD students in my department to go to conferences. Because, well, what they say is, how didn't you know that? We buried it on page 432 of your graduate student handbook. Like, there's just so many things that you have at your disposal that no one really tells you about. And most people on the inside assume that you know it and they take it for granted. So I wanted to create Oxbridge Admissions Club because you if you want to go make an impact in the world in whatever way you want to do, whether that's staying in academia or moving completely from it, being at places like Oxford and Cambridge allow you into the rooms and to create the connections that allow you to accelerate that impact, give you the launch pad to have that impact. And I have learned that that is just as precious, if not even more precious, than the degree itself that you get from these places. And that's why I'm so passionate about doing what I do and um speaking to you all and teaching you these secrets because they shouldn't be secrets, I don't think. And um, most of them are not actually that complicated. You just don't know it because you weren't taught it before. The whole point that I want to make with that story is that really there were a couple differences on my CV. Like I had a little bit more experience when I applied that second time versus the first time, but I was pretty, I was the same person. I had the same bachelor's degree grades, I had the same number of publications, which was, by the way, only one. I had one, and I was first co-author on a systematic review. So it wasn't even an original piece of research, and it was in a low impact journal outside my field. It was in like cognitive neuroscience, it was very different than neuroimmunology that I do now. So all these things were the same. I didn't win any more awards or anything. I just completely changed my approach. And so the through line of that is the world is gonna limit you anyway. So don't limit yourself. The world's gonna do that anyways. And I've always really said, and once I got my eyes opened up to how this was a possibility for me that I could do this, it really becomes clear that you should continually ask yourself the question, why not you? Especially if it's difficult for you to believe that this is possible for you. Why not you? Plenty of people who are probably far less qualified than you are, but maybe grew up in one of these systems and have just learned that this is possible for them, have gotten in and you have to give yourself a shot first to get here, right? So why not you? And I want to want you to like keep that in the back of your mind as you work on this. Happen to get into top PhD programs, but in the United States, and I had no idea even at that time how different that process even is from the UK and Europe. But it was the first time I really had access to somebody who had just applied and gotten into top programs, and she allowed me to see some of her application materials. And this is what started changing everything for me. I could compare her personal statement to mine and say, oh, that's where I really screwed up, or oh, this is what a CV is actually supposed to look like. And so kind of completely changed my application approach based on what I could kind of infer her application materials had, and then basically trying to talk to as many people as I could, some academic contacts I had and pieced the information bit by bit. And then this time around, I secured seven interviews for PhDs around the UK and in Europe, to the point that I was turning down interview offers because I couldn't handle them all and I didn't need them all, which was such a surreal position to be in. So I did seven PhD interviews in the span of 10 days. Um, and then as you know, as the story goes, I was ultimately able to secure two fully funded offers to both Oxford and Cambridge. So as I was doing my PhD, I kept thinking about how much, even once I was here, I was learning. Oh my gosh, no one tells you this. Like, for example, even once I got to Oxford, I didn't know that there was a thousand pounds set aside for PhD students in my department to go to conferences. Because, well, what they say is, how didn't you know that? We buried it on page 432 of your graduate student handbook. Like, there's just so many things that you have at your disposal that no one really tells you about. And most people on the inside assume that you know it and they take it for granted. So I wanted to create Oxbridge Admissions Club because you if you want to go make an impact in the world in whatever way you want to do, whether that's staying in academia or removing completely from it, being at places like Oxford and Cambridge allow you into the rooms and to create the connections that allow you to accelerate that impact, give you the launch pad to have that impact. And I have learned that that is just as precious, if not even more precious, than the degree itself that you get to these places or that you from these places. And that's why I'm so passionate about doing what I do and um speaking to you and teaching you these secrets because they shouldn't be secrets, I don't think. And um most of them are pretty are not actually that complicated. Um, you just don't it because you weren't taught it before. Anyways, the whole point that I want to make with that story is that really there were a couple differences on my CV. Like I had a little bit more experience when I applied that second time versus the first time, but I was pretty, I was the same person. I had the same bachelor's degree grades, I had the same number of publications, which was, by the way, only one. I had one uh and I was first co-author on a systematic review. So it wasn't even um an original research, and it was in a low impact journal outside my field. It was in like cognitive neuroscience, which was very different than neuroimmunology that I do now. Um, so all things were the same. I didn't win any more awards or anything. I just completely changed my approach. And so the through line of that is, and one of um one of the students, um, part of the Spirit Admissions Club community that I was speaking with the other week said something. So his name is Albert, um, and he said something I really liked. It was a quote from somewhere else, but essentially the world is gonna limit you anyway. So don't limit yourself. The world's gonna do that anyways. And I've always really said, and once I got my eyes opened up to how this was a possibility for me that I could do this, it really becomes clear that you should continually ask yourself the question, why not you? Especially if it's difficult for you to believe that this is possible for you. Why not you? Plenty of people who are probably far less qualified than you are, but maybe grew up in one of these systems and have just learned that this is possible for them, have gotten in and you have to give yourself a shot first to get here, right? So why not you? And I want to want you to like keep that in the back of your mind as you work on this, or that you're from these places. And that's why I'm so passionate about doing my do and speaking to you and teaching you these secrets because they shouldn't be secrets, I don't think. And most of them are pretty are not actually that complicated. You just don't because you weren't taught it before. Anyways, the whole point that I want to make with that story is that really there were a couple differences on my CV. Like I had a little bit more experience when I applied that second time versus the first time, but I was pretty, I was the same person. I had the same bachelor's degree grades, I had the same number of publications, which was, by the way, only one. I had one uh and I was first co-author on a systematic review. So it wasn't even an original, it was in a low impact journal outside my field. It was in like cognitive neuroscience, different than neuroimmunology that I do now. So all the same, I didn't win any more awards or anything. I just completely changed my approach. And so the through line of that is, and one of students of the admissions club community that I was speaking with the other week said something. So his hurt and he was a quote from somewhere else, but essentially the world is gonna limit you anyway. So don't limit yourself. The world's gonna do that anyways. And I've always really said, and once I got my eyes opened up to how this was a possibility for me that I could do this, it really becomes clear that you should continually ask yourself the question, why not you? Especially if it's difficult for you to believe that this is possible for you. Why not you? Plenty of people who are probably far less qualified than you are, but maybe grew up in one of these systems and have just learned that this is possible for them, have gotten in and you have to give yourself a shot first to get here, right? So why not you? And I want to want you to like keep that in the back of your mind as you work on this. This is gonna be a weekly installment of this podcast. And so if you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to my channel. I'm really, really excited to build that up. And also, if you're listening to this, wherever you listen to podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, please rate this podcast and ideally five stars because it helps get it out to more people to make this admissions advice more accessible. Okay, so the two things that I want to go over before we go into the seven uh seven factors is one, this is a fit assessment, especially at the postgraduate level. Yes, as a baseline, your grades are a factor. We'll go over that in the seven factors, but one of the most important things you can do in your application, and grades are not enough alone, right? I will go into when we go into the factors like what my grades were. They were good when I applied the first time, but they were not enough. You need to be able to demonstrate why you are the right fit for this program. How do you demonstrate that through the degree you got, the experience you have? That fit is so incredibly important, arguably more important than just like what your raw stats are on a piece of paper. So this I hope is comforting because this is actually something that you can control right now. And if your specific profile experiences you have are not exactly telling that fit story yet, it's something that you have time to control. The other thing that I want to say is funding. So most people, including myself, when they go through this application process, don't realize that funding is half the problem. So most people, including myself when I went through it, say, okay, well, first I need to get accepted before I'm gonna worry about paying for this. So let me not get ahead of myself. I also made the mistake of um, in an American context, PhD programs, most PhD programs are funded automatically. You know, it was something I think I heard Oxford and Cambridge talking about, like, hey, you need to, you need to get funding. And it breaks my heart how many people every single year do reach out to me and say, I got accepted, but I'm gonna have to turn down my offer because I didn't secure any funding because I didn't know how this works. And it's not your fault that you don't know how this works. No one taught you, but that's what I want to do right now is to tell you funding is very important to be thinking about already once you are applying. It is not presumptuous, it is smart. There are many different approaches to that, um, which is why I dive deeper into that in some of my courses and guides, like the Oxford Scholarship Success course, for example, but I talk about it in the roadmap here already because you should be aware of it, and it should be empowering to know that rather than intimidating, I hope. Another important thing to say, I guess, about funding is there are funding deadlines that align with your program deadlines that you'll be automatically considered for, especially at places like Oxford and Cambridge, but there are also funding sources that move on completely different timelines, and some of the biggest scholarships actually open far before your course deadline, and that's especially going to go for the very prestigious ones like Gates Cambridge and Rhodes, for example. Now, most people are not winning those funding sources, right? So they're not your only funding sources, but it just demonstrates the point that it is something potentially completely separate that you do need to think about and be very proactive about if you are serious about not just getting funded, but or not just getting accepted, but also getting funded. So when I graduated with my bachelor's degree and I applied for the first time, so I applied I got my bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, which is generally regarded as a good university. I believe it's in the global top 30. So this is another thing I assumed, like, oh, I went to a university that's well known in the world. Um, and I am graduating Magnikum Laudi, which um is between like a 3.6 and a 3.85 GPA um in the US. So that's kind of a low first about. Um I thought that that was enough to get in. Nope, absolutely not. A good recommender, especially at the postgraduate level, will let you read your recommendation letter before you are submitting it to a program. This is very different than a bachelor's degree. Typically, when you apply for a bachelor's, um, you waive your right to see your recommendation letter. That is expected and it looks bad if you don't waive your right because it can often be looked at by the universities as, oh, what are they so concerned about? Why do they want to look at that? Why do they not trust the recommender? It works the opposite way in higher academia. If, in my experience, if your recommender is giving you a good recommendation and you've got nothing to worry about, they will at the very least let you see that recommendation letter if you ask. And in most cases, they should be volunteering it to you. That is the standard in my experience over and over and over again because they know that you can help them write it. They're not going to have all the details. They know how important that reference letter is. I had a referee my second time applying, that um, she was the only person who didn't let me see her letter of recommendation and all of the programs that I used or that I use her recommendation letter to apply. I added it on to three others that I had, every single one rejected me. Which is that a coincidence? I don't know, but I find it a very interesting data point. So that was something that I learned the hard way. Um, I made friends with somebody who he did his D fill at Oxford and now he works in admissions with the Internet Institute at Oxford. And he said actually that recommendation letters besides your grades are one of the biggest factors for determining who wins funding. Because at the point that everybody's gotten accepted, everyone's pretty much like on the same level, right? Like everyone's pretty great and amazing and qualified. So how do you differentiate between people to then win funding? Because then you need to be like at the top percent of the top percent, is recommendation letters. He said that's a huge tiebreaker, and I really do believe that's one of the biggest factors that allowed me to win a Clarendon scholarship. So it's another reason why you don't want to underestimate the power that a good reference letter has and how important that is as a factor. These are the patterns that I've seen again and again across the um the applications that have actually gotten accepted that I've gotten to see. So I've collected over 30 of these um so far from Oxford, Cambridge and other top UK universities. So wasn't that so fun? I loved having that call. I love meeting students. That is my most favorite part of running Oxford Admissions Club. So during that call, you heard about seven competitiveness factors that I have distilled from over 30 successful postgraduate applications I have collected and analyzed over the years. So that full self-assessment and exactly where you score, what pathway you belong in, and exactly what to do back to fill any gaps is inside my Oxford Postgraduate Roadmap. If you would like to get that and start that diagnostic today to know where you stand so that you can get on your way to applying and getting accepted to universities like Oxford in Cambridge, you can click the link below this video or look in the show notes if you're listening to the audio for this and get that too. And I want to leave you with one final thought. I know confronting whether or not you're competitive right now and if you've got any gaps can be really, really scary. And taking this step, I commend you for it. It's very easy to try and ignore these things because it is scary and it can affect your ego a little bit and maybe even your self-worth. But this is the very first step that you need to take if you want to maximize your chances of getting accepted. And I just wanted to encourage you from what you heard from the beginning of that call, continue to ask yourself why not you. The world is already going to limit you for you if you don't need to do it to yourself and you cannot get accepted if you do not even try. So with that, thank you for listening to the very first episode of The Open Secret.