Decisions, decisions, decisions...

After receiving offers to study in the UK, and realising that my ambition was actually achievable, I first had to choose where I was going to go, and figure out how the hell I was going to afford it. I read the fine print of the offers and discovered that even if I accepted an offer, I wasn't liable to pay it until I actually enrolled in the course (I hope this is the corrrect interpretation, otherwise I'm in a lot of trouble). So I continued my acceptance at Edinburgh, while also accepting Cambridge and Oxford. The latter two universities also require graduates to be a member of one of their colleges. I got offered a place in Jesus College at Cambridge, and Wolfson College at Oxford.

The offer to study through Wolfson College at Oxford basically made my decision for me regarding that institution as the college had no significant scholarships which applied to me, and I was very doubtful about my chances for the Oxford Australia scholarship I applied for with my Oxford application (a doubt that was later confirmed). I applied for a few scholarships which were not institution-specific (eg, the Chevening Scholarship offered by the Birtish Council), but decided that if I got one of those I would use it to go to Cambridge. I was much more enamoured with the M.Phil offered by Cambridge, and the opportunity to study through their Institute of Criminology. The MSc I got into at Oxford required an additional year of study to turn it into an MPhil, and only then did it roll into a PhD. I also preferred the course structure offered by the MPhil in Criminological Research at Cambridge.

In 2011, the Times Higher Education supplement, which I had first used to help me decide where to apply, published its ranking of the the top 50 universities by reputation. On this list, Cambridge came in third, Oxford came in sixth, and Edinburgh came in at 45th (putting it equal with University of Melbourne, the only Australian institution to make the top 50). So, I refused my offer at Oxford, and focussed my attention on Cambridge.

A condition of my offer at Cambridge was proof that I could fund my college, university and living fees. In total, my financial liability comes to a total of approximately AUD41,000:



That's a lot of money! Particularly when you consider that Cambridge does not allow its Masters students to have jobs.

At this stage, I was also considering my options for Edinburgh. I had been told numerous times what a great city Edinburgh was to live in, and I was excited by the prospect of living and working in a city home to the Edinburgh Festival, the Fringe Festival, the Tattoo and countless other cultural events. In contrast to Cambridge, I would also have the opportunity to pick up some casual work in Edinburgh and hoped I could get some work experience at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood. This was all dependent on a fantastic scholarship offered by the Scots Australia Council in conjunction with the Royal Bank of Scotland which covered airfares, university fees and a monthly stipend. However, despite feeling like I aced the interview, they chose another candidate with better life goals. Unfortunately, while I know I'm going to do bigger and better things once I finish studying, I don't really know what they are yet (and don't want to know either - I want new and exciting opportunities to come my way, not to be stuck on a path set in stone). I mean, I didn't say that to the scholarship people, but there's only so much you can say about a theoretical criminology degree changing the world...

So, while Cambridge was always number one on my list, it seemed that everything else just fell away to make room for it. I'm now waiting on two scholarships offered at Cambridge: the David M. Livingstone (Australia) Scholarship offered to Australian members of Jesus College, and the Wakefield Scholarship offered to Australians studying at the Institute of Criminology. If neither of these two come through, then I'll have to consider whether I should still go. Some days I'm of the mind that I should earn my place at Cambridge through a scholarship, and other days I'm determined to go into debt for the rest of my life just to go over there. I'll be going on 12 months leave without pay while I'm over there, so will be returning to the Public Service and could pay off any debt I accrued. But $40,000 is a lot of money...

Anyway, my number one tip for both uni and scholarship applications is to make sure you have great relationships with a number of lecturers at your university and can get them to write multiple references. Most applications require three academic references, and much to my dismay, most of them need to be confidentially submitted by your lecturer using private log-ins. The majority of the last six months have been filled with co-ordinating references and reminding people to please submit before looming deadlines. The Cambridge application needed three copies of each reference, printed on institution letter-head, sealed in an envelope, with a signature by the referee over the seal, and a piece of clear tape over the signature - and then sent hardcopy to Cambridge. Even then, I had to resubmit one of my references because while she had signed the back of the envelope in pen, her signature in the reference was an image (rather than pen). Sigh.

Any advice on funding is very welcome. If I don't get a scholarship, should I get a personal loan to fund my studies? Or, should I take the money I've already saved and travel the world a bit and take the lack of scholarship as a sign that I shouldn't study?