DPhil Genomic Medicine and Statistics

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Academic Requirements

Proven and potential academic excellence

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in a relevant biological science or quantitative subject.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.5 out of 4.0.

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent.

Substantial professional experience or a graduate qualification may be a substitute for a lower grade at undergraduate level.

Other appropriate indicators will include:

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application, including references and an official transcript. See 'How to apply' for instructions on the documents you will need and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview(s)

Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process.  

Applications are reviewed by a panel of academics associated with the programme. A shortlist of applicants is confirmed, based on assessment of achieved or predicted undergraduate degree grade, academic references, personal statement and CV. It is expected that the ratio of interviewed applicants to places will be approx. 3:1.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend interviews in Oxford. The interview panel will include at least three academics. The interview will be approximately 30 minutes and you will be required to give a ten-minute presentation on a research project that you have recently carried out as an undergraduate or as part of a research job. The presentation should be made using an overhead projector, whiteboard or PowerPoint presentation.

You will usually have the opportunity to meet current students.

Publications

Whilst not required, publications demonstrating previous research success in a relevant field is likely to advantage a candidate’s application.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

Research or working experience in a relevant field may be an advantage.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

You must supply suitable evidence that you meet the English language requirement for your course (or, if eligible, you can request a waiver of the requirement), if:

• your first language is not English, or 
• your first language is English, but you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country recognised by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).

Score requirements
The University applies either a standard or a higher level of required ability in English depending on the course. The level you will need is shown on each course page.

The University only accepts certain standardised tests, with results at or above the following scores:

IELTS Academic 
Institution code: 0713

• Standard level scores 7.0 Minimum,6.5 per component 
• Higher level scores 7.5 Minimum,7.0 per component 

TOEFL iBT 
Institution code: 0490

• Standard level scores - 100 Minimum component scores Listening: 22,Reading: 24,Speaking: 25,Writing: 24
• Higher level scores - 110 Minimum component scores Listening: 22,Reading: 24,Speaking: 25,Writing: 24

Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

• Standard level scores - 185 Minimum 176 per component
• Higher level scores - 191 Minimum 185 per component

Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE)

• Standard level scores - 185 Minimum 176 per component
• Higher level scores - 191 Minimum 185 per component

All of these tests are accepted for both admissions and visa purposes; you will not be required to provide additional evidence of your English language ability in your visa application. Whilst UKVI may accept lower minimum scores for visa purposes, the University still requires you to meet these minimum scores.

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course.

You do not need to submit an English language test result at the same time as your application if you have not yet taken a test or received your results; your application will still be considered by the academic department, provided that all other required documents have been submitted. Any offer of a place will be conditional on you submitting English language test results at the required level by a deadline set by the department in their offer letter. 

The University will verify all IELTS and TOEFL results directly with the test provider. If you have uploaded a CPE or CAE, you will be asked to supply the original document if you are admitted to the course. 

Asking for a waiver of the requirement
At the discretion of the academic department, the requirement to provide English language scores may be waived if you have completed, or are currently completing, a degree-level course that is:

• full-time
• at least nine months long
• undertaken at a recognised institution where the medium of instruction and assessment throughout the course is entirely in English.

To request a waiver, you need to write a letter or statement giving the reasons for your request and upload it to your application. If successful, you will not be required to supply English language test results as a condition of any offer made.

If you are still completing your course and you are offered a place and a waiver of the requirement, you will usually need to provide evidence that you have successfully completed your course as a condition of your offer by a date set by your department in your offer letter (no later than 31 August and generally earlier). If you are due to complete your course after this deadline, you will usually be expected to submit results of an English language test meeting the University's usual requirements.

Check further details on University website

Complementing this, large-scale population biobanks are bringing together extensive genomic and phenotypic information on millions of individuals, while new genome editing and single cell genomics techniques are offering novel and powerful approaches to understanding biology.

This four-year DPhil programme trains future scientific leaders who will work at the cutting edge of genomic technologies in biomedical research and who will help develop the sophisticated analytical methods to fully exploit the potential of the next generation of genomic technologies and apply these in diverse settings.

Characteristic of this are state-of-the-art experiments generating large and complex data sets, and students on this programme will undertake comprehensive training to gain familiarity with both the challenges, vagaries, and artefacts of the complicated experiments which generate the data, as well as with the strengths and weaknesses of routine tools used for data analysis. Students will use and learn approaches leveraging next generation sequencing and other technologies, including application in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics, all of which are critical to the growing understanding of basic biology in normal and disease tissues. 

The programme is hosted in the interdisciplinary environment of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (WTCHG), which hosts world-leading research groups in statistics, bioinformatics, genomic analysis, protein structure, and functional biology, to complement disease-focussed research. United by common interests in understanding the molecular basis of disease, researchers come from clinical and pure science backgrounds. The co-location of the WTCHG with the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides unique opportunities for translation of research into clinical practice, enhanced by having the Oxford NIHR BRC Genomics Theme based within the WTCHG and the Centre for Personalised Medicine. 

Students joining the programme are drawn from very diverse backgrounds, ranging from genetics to pure maths but united by a track record of academic excellence and enthusiasm for this field. The first year of the DPhil course contains a series of taught modules covering fundamental topics within genomics, statistics, bioinformatics and epidemiology that combine theoretical and practical classes.

First-year students will also undertake a number of laboratory visits, will attend additional training and teaching sessions tailored to the needs of individual students, carry out a literature review and will undertake two short research projects. These will inform the choice of a DPhil project for the subsequent years of the programme. Students will benefit from the outstanding environment for graduate studies provided within the University of Oxford.

Applicants are advised to visit the course webpage for further information about supervisors connected to this programme.  

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SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

The following documents are compulsory for all applications:

• three references (letters of recommendation)
• official transcript(s) of previous university-level degrees
• CV/résumé
• statement of purpose and/or research proposal (upto 2 pages)

You may also need to submit one or more of the following, depending on the course:

• academic written work
• portfolio (eg of artwork, performance recordings)
• GRE results
• mathematics admissions exercise
• evidence of proficiency in a language essential to the course, eg Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)

The set of documents you should send with your application to this course comprises the following:

• Official transcript(s)
• CV/résumé
• Statement of purpose/personal statement:Up to one page
• References/letters of recommendation:Three overall, generally academic

All your documents must be in PDF, JPG or PNG format

• Files must not be sent as Word documents. If you are not sure how to convert your files to PDF format no larger than 4MB (for upload to your application form)
• Documents larger than 4MB are acceptable, but they are larger than the capacity of the upload facility in the application form itself. Instead, create a PDF with the following statement and upload it to the relevant document slot in your application:"My document is over 4MB and will be sent separately."
• After you submit your application, send the document via ouroversize document form by the deadline you are applying to.in English (unless otherwise permitted by the department)
• Documents you have written yourself, such as a personal statement, research proposal or written work, must be written in English unless otherwise permitted by the department. An English translation by a third party is not acceptable unless explicitly permitted by the department. These documents must be entirely your own work, except where clearly indicated, and may be checked using plagiarism detection software as part of the admissions process. Further information on this requirement is available in our guidance on plagiarism.
• Official transcripts which are not issued in English should be translated by either a professional translator, the relevant issuing body of the original document, or an authorised notary. 
• accessible, clear and legible
• easily identifiable
• Please clearly indicate your name as well as the type of document, eg research proposal, on the document.
• You should not upload documents which are not required for your course, eg degree certificates.
• Please do not send original and/or paper documents unless specifically requested. If you are offered a place, you will later be asked to send the original(s) of any official documents sent as a digital file in your initial application.

Check further details on University website