What We Expect from You

• What we expect from you
  • Vocation
  • Qualifications
  • Funding
  • Topic
  • Written Work
  • When you arrive
• What you can expect from us
• What you cannot expect from us

Vocation

The most important qualification for becoming a graduate student is a sense of vocation. Finishing a dissertation is hard work; it is also a test of determination. In deciding if graduate work is for you it is valuable to consider which elements in your undergraduate course you most enjoyed. It is not enough to have relished the excitement of reading new material each week and cleverly concealing what you did not know in your essays or coursework - although an enthusiasm for reading is one vital qualification for graduate work. If you felt frustrated about the limits of your knowledge when you were an undergraduate, and enjoyed the more extended forms of study which were required for a dissertation or extended essay, then it is likely that you will get satisfaction from graduate work. All graduate students are assigned an individual supervisor, but a very high level of self-motivation is expected of all graduate students, including those on one year M.Phil. courses.

Qualifications

Most of our graduate students have a first class undergraduate degree or equivalent. If you are a home student and you do not have a first class degree or a strong expectation of achieving one then it is unfortunately quite unlikely that you will be awarded a maintenance grant from the AHRC. The Faculty is willing in principle to accept candidates with 2.1s, or mature students who have not pursued an orthodox pattern of higher education, provided that such applicants have strong backing from their referees, have a feasible topic, and are well qualified for their proposed course of research. We recognise both that things sometimes do not go candidates’ way in examinations and that a sparkling examination style is not always the best qualification for graduate work.

Funding

Funding for graduate work in the humanities is increasingly difficult to obtain. For home students a first class degree is no longer a guarantee of winning a maintenance grant from the AHRC. You may need either a high first or to put in a very strong performance in the area of your proposed research. If you are considering supporting yourself through your graduate career you should be aware of the costs. Up to date details of fees and charges can be found in the Graudate Prospectus. The Board of Graduate Studies (the body which administers graduate study in the University) requires you to provide evidence that you will be able to support yourself through your course before you are finally admitted. If the money runs out during your course there are a very limited number of scholarships and bursaries available from the University and Colleges. The Faculty also has a number of prizes and awards for graduate students. However none of these supplementary sources of funding can be relied upon as a means of support, so it is essential to ensure that you have reliable sources of funding before you arrive.

Topic

All of our graduate courses require you to give a detailed description of the proposed topic of your dissertation. This enables us to be sure that we have a suitable supervisor for you, and enables us to judge the level of your present knowledge of your field. About 500 words is a suitable length for a research proposal. The space provided on the standard application form is not adequate. What you propose should be manageable within the period of your course, it should be coherent, and have potential to be a contribution to knowledge. We attach considerable weight to the research proposal when we are selecting candidates for admission. It is therefore worth seeking advice from those who are teaching you at present about how to formulate your topic. It is also worth attempting to locate what you propose to do in relation to existing secondary material in the subject area. You should ask yourself how your work might change the present state of scholarship in your field, and whether the topic is well suited to the resources provided at Cambridge. Even for M.Phil. courses we generally aim to admit not just those who propose a sensible topic, but those who are aware of and who have the potential to modify the present paradigms of research in their field. Most students, though, refine their proposed research topics after they arrive in the light of what they discover or of advice they may be given by their supervisor, so you need not feel that you are inscribing your future in tablets of stone as you compose your proposal.

Written Work

We require all applicants to submit a recent sample of written work of 5,000 to 7,500 words in support of their application. Normally applications will not be considered unless this is included. Our assessment of the critical flair, scholarly integrity, and originality of the written work carries great weight in the admission procedure, although we assess the work in conjunction with your references, your proposed topic, and your academic record to date. It is sensible to choose a piece of work which is at least roughly in the subject area in which you plan to do research. We are always impressed by high standards of presentation, but you should aim to submit your most imaginative and original work, even if it does not contain detailed footnotes or scholarly apparatus.

When you arrive

There are some technical requirements for research degrees in Cambridge of which you should be aware. Graduate students are required to reside in Cambridge for the duration of their course (three terms for M.Phil. students, six terms for M.Litt. students, and nine terms for Ph.D. students). Students also have to be accepted by one of the Colleges before they can come into residence. Your choice of College will have a major effect on the kind of accommodation that you are offered while you are here, and the kinds of sporting, computing and social facilities which you will be able to enjoy. These vary a great deal from College to College, so it is well worth spending an hour or so familiarising yourself with a number of prospectuses. These can be obtained directly from the Colleges concerned, or via the colleges' websites.

We expect a very high level of achievement and application from our students. They are expected regularly to produce written work of a high standard, to respond positively to suggestions from their supervisor, and to work well on their own. Students who are working towards a Ph.D. are usually expected to produce at least one substantial piece of written work each term (and it is always in the student’s interest that chapters or drafts of chapters should be steadily accumulating throughout the nine terms of study for the degree). M.Phil. students usually are required by their course to produce at least one piece of written work each term. We expect the highest standards of accuracy and presentation, even at the early stages of a graduate student’s work.

Cambridge provides everything necessary to make your time as a graduate student the most enjoyably educational period of your life. It does require you to contribute actively, however, in driving your work along, seeking out friends through College and University Societies, and in acknowledging and actively seeking to rectify any gaps in your knowledge or research skills. Everything is here: you need to have the energy to find it, and above all a commitment to your subject.