As Alice might say, curiouser and curiouser.

First it was 69% not including the '0%' modules, not it is 65. Edinburgh, who first gave you a 'Pass', has now changed your grade to a Merit, with Imperial Admission insisting that you still have a Pass, and they are discussing this internally. I would like to know how Imperial can affect grades given out by Edinburgh. Either you have a Merit, or a Pass. It is Edinburgh's decision. Imperial has no say in this.

Furthermore, Your proposal is better than a 'perfect-scored' student, according to an Imperial academic, and he wants you to be his student so much that he is challenging Admission.

Finally, Technical University of Munich is 'equally better'.

Nice trolling![/quote]

Ok, if you read from start, 69% was from the online tool (gradehub), 65% percent is what was told to me from Edinburgh after I asked them to clarify my overall percentage specifically regarding the two modules that only have a pass.

Now for point #2, imperial academic challenging admission .. firstly I never mentioned he challenged admissions directly. He insisted that I investigate the issue of rejection further.

now for TUM, ... well I was not just going to apply for Imperial and hope for acceptance right ?, So, I applied to around 5-8 Universities for similar projects (my field is big-data systems).
Yes, after rejection from Imperial i got demotivated and started thinking that maybe I should do a second MS and then go for a PhD. Which is why I opened up this thread.

take care.
bye bye

Hi Guys,

sorry for late response, I got in contact with my University (University of Edinburgh), My tobe Supervisor @ Imperial and of course the admissions committee @ Imperial.

So long story short,
Edinburgh confirmed that my avg is 65 which is calculated excluding these two modules. Imperial admissions said no its 54, so now they are discussing internally.

I would not have followed up with my university if it wasn't for the supervisor I was in contact with @ Imperial.
He basically forced me to investigate this issue as he wanted me as his student (@TreeOfLife, he is btw a from MIT, and according to him my research statement was way better than the "perfect-scored" students he interviewed... be a little less judgemental in your comments from now on. ;-) )

@tru, pm, bewildered : I didnt resit or fail any modules, infact my larger credit modules (Thesis, other 20Credit modules) were all > 75%. I am a bit of a "risk-taker" so I also took some management modules which I ended up hating and barely passed :-D .. which in turn affected my avg overall.

Anyways, I got into the Technical University of Munich, which is equally better.

As an advice, i should probably post this somewhere for MS students. Check the modules you take and make sure they are "graded", if you are planning for a Ph.D

Thanks everyone..
case closed :D

Hi ,

No idea. I asked my university to clarify how the overall result is being calculated, didnt get any response from them. I asked the professor who was teaching these modules and his response was that these two modules will not be calculated towards overall average , they are just pass or fail.

Then I used
https://gradehub.io/

i input my courses and their results, If i skip these 40 credit courses i get 2:1 (69%), if i put 0% for these 40 credits I get 2:2 (54%). even If i put the bare-pass for these 40 credits (i.e. 45% for each course), my overall from this online tool is 63%.

Until now I couldnt exactly figure out the relation between the weight of the module towards the overall average.

Should back to my initial question :) , should I consider a Second MS or is my grade good enough for a phd ?
Should I perhaps aim for lower ranked universities ? (also how lower ? ) ..

It was a pass

Greetings,

I need some advice regarding my recent application for PhD which has given me a little bit of a shock.
So, here is the background, I did my MS in Computer Science from University of Edinburgh , achieved distinction in 3 modules including Final Dissertation (60 credits).
My overall percentage was coming to around 69%. (using https://gradehub.io/)
Then i worked in industry in database technologies for around 7 years now.
I now decided to pursue PhD so started applying.

My research statement (according to 3 professors I was in contact with) was pretty good, they really liked it and were looking forward for my application. (one prof was from Imperial, other from Warwick).

When I applied, I got rejected from BOTH universities.. the reason for BOTH of them was that my grades are low !.

After digging details ( for which I am still in contact with Uni of Edinburgh) . I found out that 2 of the modules I took (research proposal, research review) have only PASS or FAIL (no percentage). and somehow even though I have passed both modules, my overall percentage being calculated is taking into account 0% for both of them. these were 20 credit modules so 40 credits out of 180.

taking 0% of these two modules in my overall percentage is bringing it down to 54%.. I ofcourse had no idea that if I take such modules 0% will be counted towards my overall grade.

Now I am confused and a little upset as well. Since I cant change the grades or modules any more... I am thinking if or not I should perhaps stop my pursuit of PhD overall and just continue working .. Or ... do a Second MS , achieve better grades and then go for PhD ...

any advice / suggestions ?

Thank you for advice :) ,
Will definitely aim for Europe.
Do universities where I do PhD actually affect career outcomes ? (as in top 100 vs top 50) ?

Hi Tru,
Thank you for your response, I am thinking along the same lines to consider a PhD in Germany. Haven't gone through universities in New Zealand.. Any thing you recommend me looking into?

Greetings dear advisors
I need some advise :)
I am MSc student in Computer science from university of Edinburgh. I have over 10 yr experience now in IT. I was looking to shift my field a little, I applied for a CDT in sensor and technologies from Glasgow University. I have been offered a position but funding is covered for home eu rate with stipend. I will have to cover the difference which is roughly 15k pounds per year.. I am confused as what to do. Being an overseas student, should I possibly aim for Europe?