『The Open Secret Podcast: How People Really Get Into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's Top Universities for Postgraduate Study』のカバーアート

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

著者： Dr Claire Bergstrom Johnson
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Getting into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's top universities for postgraduate study can feel like there's a secret code that everyone else was handed and you weren't.


There is. It's just that almost no one says it out loud! The Open Secret is the show that says it out loud.


Hosted by Dr Claire Bergstrom Johnson, a Clarendon Scholar, Oxford DPhil graduate and clinical research fellow, this podcast pulls back the curtain on how people actually win places and full funding at the world's most competitive universities. And Claire knows both sides of it intimately, because before the two fully funded Oxbridge offers, she received 19 graduate rejections in total. When she finally got in, she was the same person with the same grades - just a completely different rebuilt approach.


Since then, she's helped thousands of applicants across more than eighty countries, and she's read the real successful postgraduate applications almost no one else gets to see, which means the guidance here isn't guesswork. It's the patterns behind what actually works!


Each episode gives you the honest, insider version of postgraduate admissions: the seven factors that decide how competitive you really are, why fit beats prestige, how funding actually works (and why it's half the battle), what a winning personal statement and reference letter look like, how to approach supervisors, and the mindset shifts that separate the people who get in from the people who talk themselves out of applying.


Whether you're already drafting your application or you're still wondering whether someone like you could ever get in, this is the resource Claire wishes she'd had before her own rejections.


Because the real question isn't whether it's possible. It's *why not you?*


New episodes weekly. For the full self-assessment and the resources mentioned in the show, head to oxbridgeadmissionsclub.com.

© 2026 The Open Secret Podcast: How People Really Get Into Oxford, Cambridge, and the UK's Top Universities for Postgraduate Study
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  • The Personal Statement That Got Me Rejected 11 Times vs The One That Got Me Into Cambridge | Masters and PhD

    The Personal Statement That Got Me Rejected 11 Times vs The One That Got Me Into Cambridge | Masters and PhD
    2026/08/25

    In today's episode, I read out my rejected personal statement - the one from the round where I applied 11 times and got 11 rejections - and then I read the application that got me in to a Cambridge PhD with full funding. I go through the rejected one paragraph by paragraph and point out what I'd flag if I were the person assessing it. There's quite a lot to flag. It's not the writing quality, which surprises most people!

    Then I read the Cambridge boxes (which are a bit different than a traditional personal statement) and talk through what I did differently. There's one sentence in there I got in despite rather than because of, and another that was a big part of why I won funding. I'll tell you which is which. Enjoy! ☺️

    🗺️ 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/...
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    34 分
  • Your Grades Are Not Why Oxbridge Rejected You | Master's and PhD

    Your Grades Are Not Why Oxbridge Rejected You | Master's and PhD
    2026/08/04

    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 the first time around, then three Oxbridge offers and two fully funded scholarships the second, with the same degree and the same grades.

    We also cover why you have to argue your fit rather than assert it, how to get someone in the department to know your name before you submit, why a scattered research direction sinks applications that look strong on paper, and how my student Vy went from 10 rejections without an interview to four years of Oxford funding with a CV that didn't change!

    Plus, I read out the personal statement that got me rejected alongside the Cambridge statement that won me full funding, so you can hear the difference for yourself. Enjoy! ☺️

    🗺️ 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/...
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    18 分
  • How I Got Into Oxford and Cambridge, Both Fully Funded, After 19 Rejections

    How I Got Into Oxford and Cambridge, Both Fully Funded, After 19 Rejections
    2026/07/24

    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/...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
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