Home Podcasts The Open Secret Podcast: How People Really Get Into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's Top Universities for Postgraduate Study

The Open Secret Podcast: How People Really Get Into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's Top Universities for Postgraduate Study

Dr Claire Bergstrom Johnson 1 Episodes Aug 4, 2026

This podcast reveals the unspoken strategies behind gaining admission to Oxford, Cambridge, and other elite UK universities for postgraduate study. Host Dr Claire Bergstrom Johnson, an Oxford DPhil graduate and Clarendon Scholar, shares insider knowledge from her own journey of overcoming numerous rejections to securing fully funded offers. Drawing on her experience reading successful applications and helping thousands of applicants worldwide, she breaks down the patterns that lead to acceptance and funding. Each episode offers honest, practical guidance for prospective postgraduate students.

Episodes

Your Grades Are Not Why Oxbridge Rejected You | Master's and PhD Aug 4, 2026 1101 In today's episode, I explain why your grades are almost certainly not the reason Oxford or Cambridge rejected you, we go through the four things that actually decide a postgraduate outcome, and I debunk the idea that you need insider connections or a famous undergraduate degree to be competitive. I use my own record as the proof: 11 applications and 11 rejections without a single interview t

How I Got Into Oxford and Cambridge, Both Fully Funded, After 19 Rejections Jul 24, 2026 1317 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 piec

The Open Secret Podcast: How People Really Get Into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's Top Universities for Postgraduate Study

Episodes

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