Enquiries

• The 2026–2027 application deadline is 23 April 2026. No applications will be considered after this date.
• If you are a US citizen and wish to be considered for Kanders Churchill or Gates funding the application deadline is 15 October 2025.
• To be considered for all other centrally managed funding, the application deadline is 2 December 2025.

• If you do not have the required academic grades it is unlikely that you will be offered a place on the course. In exceptional circumstances an ‘academic case’ can be made for an outstanding applicant who has not quite met the academic requirements, but can demonstrate excellence in all other areas.
• If you do not achieve the required English Language scores you will not be admitted.

As this course is aimed at young career professionals, we are looking for candidates with at least two years of professional experience. For exceptional applicants, we will consider less than this, however, we are unlikely to admit applicants who have not yet completed their undergraduate degree. If your professional experience exceeds five years, you will still be considered.

The University of Cambridge is a ‘collegiate’ university, and each College offers an extra dimension to student life. Colleges are not associated with particular academic disciplines. All teaching for graduate students is provided by the Department or Faculty, and not by the Colleges. All students are required to be members of a College and you can apply to any College your choose – see guidance here. When completing the application form you can indicate two preferences for College membership or you can make an open application. The academic decision on whether to recommend you for a place on your chosen course is made by the Department to which you apply, not the College. Your application will only be sent to the Colleges only after a formal academic offer of admission has been made by the Postgraduate Admissions Office.

Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to give tours of the Bennett School, and academics are not available for individual consultation with applicants. If you wish to visit the University, you can find opportunities here: Visiting the University | University of Cambridge

The Department does not conduct interviews for any of the courses, unless an Academic Case is required by the Postgraduate Admissions Office; in this situation an online interview will be arranged. Initially, your application will be considered solely on the materials which you have supplied.

It is possible to apply to more than one of the MPhil courses that the University offers, however, you will need to submit a separate set of application materials for each course that you apply for.

Can I work while studying?

The University does not allow taught postgraduate students to undertake paid work during term time while they are studying full-time. You should not expect to accrue additional income in this way.

If your application is successful we will search for an appropriate Supervisor based on your broad interests, please do not approach potential supervisors yourself.

You are asked not to contact potential supervisors themselves – supervisors will be allocated by the Department once you have met all your offer conditions. You are not guaranteed your first choice of supervisor, and individual supervisors may be unavailable during a given year due to research leave or lack of capacity.

The MDP course is expected to grow during the first few years, aiming for a steady cohort size of 30–35 by 2030.

• If you have a dependents or a partner you can bring them with you to Cambridge. However, this could have implications on finding suitable accommodation, schools; and you would also be asked by the University to provide evidence that you could financially support you and your family during your time at the University. For further details please click here. Another point to consider is applying for visas for all family members coming with you – you can find information about visas for dependants and partners here: Dependant visas | International Students

If you are accepted for full-time graduate study at the University, you will be required to live in or close to Cambridge for at least the minimum period of study. This is known as ‘keeping term’, and for those taking most graduate courses involves living within ten miles of the city centre.

• The University year consists of three terms (Michaelmas runs October to December; Lent runs January to March; Easter runs April to June). Term dates are published on the University’s website.
• No full-time student can be a candidate for a Cambridge degree unless they have spent at least three terms resident in Cambridge; for a term to be ‘kept’ a student has to reside in Cambridge for a minimum number of nights (59 for the Michaelmas and Lent Terms and 56 for the Easter Term).
• During each term students will be required to be in Cambridge, apart from permitted, short absences.

The Colleges can house many of their full-time graduate students, either in the Colleges themselves or in graduate hostels or purpose-built flats. However, few Colleges can house all their student members. You may prefer to find your own living accommodation independently of the College or may have to do so; this can be the case if you come to Cambridge with a partner or children as there is only limited college accommodation for couples and families.