Making an application
Prospective students are encouraged to contact potential supervisors directly to discuss the details of projects. It may first prove helpful to browse the Department’s Research Interests and Supervisors as this will give you an indication of the range of research activities of the Department.
The Department also participates in the Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD Programme in Infection & Immunity and the Wellcome Trust/MRC 4-year PhD Programme in Stem Cell Biology. For details of application to this programme please contact the Teaching Office via telephone (01223 333872) or email gradoffice@path.cam.ac.uk
Potential students with personal funding should contact potential supervisors directly.
Funding
Only citizens of the UK and EU are eligible for Research Council Studentships – UK citizens are funded in full and EU citizens have only their fees paid, support for maintenance must be found elsewhere. There are several sources of funding for EU citizens and also for overseas students who will require both fees and maintenance. Additionally there are sources of funds provided by the University and other bodies that are available to Home, EU and Overseas students. Details of all these can be found through the following links:
| Financial aid | http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/fees/funding/index.htm |
| Sources of funding | www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/funding/sources.html |
| Reporter: Awards, Funds Studentships & Prizes | www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2008-09/special/06/ |
How to apply
Graduate admissions in the Department of Pathology
Admission to the University requires completion of the University’s online GRADSAF (Graduate Admission and Scholarship Application Form).
If you wish to apply for a Department of Pathology studentship you will need to enter a preliminary competition before completing the GRADSAF and should follow the instructions in A below.
If you intend to apply for other funding (eg Gates, Cambridge Overseas & Commonwealth Trusts, Cambridge Home and EU Scholarships or apply for an award from the Department’s Doctoral training grant) you should proceed directly to Section B.
A: Applying for specific studentships advertised by the Department of Pathology
Examples: a Wellcome Trust or MRC MRes+PhD 4-year doctoral training programme, or a CRUK, or BBSRC, studentship with a named supervisor.
- Refer to the programme for details of the studentship, eligibility criteria, deadlines and how to apply.
- If you are successful, you will then be required to apply for admission to the University (see section B below).
- You will not be able to take up the award unless you are also successful in securing admission to the University and you will not be able to apply for a visa (if needed) until you hold an unconditional offer from the University.
B: Admission to the University
You should apply for admission to the University using the University’s online GRADSAF (Graduate Admission and Scholarship Application Form) if you:
- wish to apply for University-wide funding competitions (eg Gates, Cambridge Overseas & Commonwealth Trusts, Cambridge Home and EU Scholarships etc – NB these funding competitions all
have very early deadlines
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/ - wish to be considered for an award from the Department’s doctoral training grant
- have been awarded a specific studentship / programme position in competition (see Section A)
- wish to apply for a College studentship
- have an external scholarship; or
- have your own funding.
BEFORE YOU COMPLETE A GRADSAF, READ THE FOLLOWING:
N.B. each application made using a GRADSAF will cost you £50 (if you cannot apply online, you may apply on paper, but the fee is £100)
B1: Are you eligible to apply for admission to our programmes?
Competition for admission to the University of Cambridge graduate programme is intense. Like all departments in the Graduate School, we require all our graduate entrants to have:
- at least a 2.1 in an Honours degree or equivalent (eg CGPA 3.5/4.0) in a relevant subject
- in some circumstances an MSc plus an Honours degree 2.2 class will be a satisfactory qualification
- two outstanding references from senior University staff at your most recent University
- fluency in the English language – recent IELTS test with an overall band score of at least 7.0 with not less than 7.0 in speaking, listening and writing, and 6.5 in reading.
For more details of the University’s academic requirements see the University’s Graduate Prospectus – http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/
B2: Which qualification do you want to apply for?
- MPhil BLPAM1 (full-time only)
- MSc by research BLPA42 (full-time only)
- PhD BLPA22 (full-time or part-time)
B3: What topic do you want to study and which supervisor do you want to work with ? (MPhil by research or PhD only)
The first question on the GRADSAF application form requires you to choose a course – for research applicants this means specifying which department or institute in which you wish to work.
To choose a department, you need to identify a topic and one or more supervisors in that department with whom you wish to work.
If you have not already decided, you should:
- Browse our PIs and visit their personal/group page to check details of their research - http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/research/
- Check if they have any vacancies this year by looking them up in the Graduate School’s searchable database - http://www.biomed.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/research.html
- If there is a possible vacancy, you can explore the possibility that your plans are of interest to them – get in contact with them.
- If you are interested in more than one supervisor within THIS department, you can name them as first and second choice in your application, but if you want to apply to supervisors in different departments, you will have to make separate applications (one to each department).
- N.B. Many research topics are also available in other departments of the Graduate School of Life Sciences – browse the Graduate School’s searchable database http://www.biomed.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/research.html
B4: How to apply to the University
Go to http://www.biomed.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/apply/student/online.html for full instructions on how to apply online.
C: General postgraduate admissions enquiries
For any enquiries please contact
Teaching Office
Department of Pathology
University of Cambridge
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge CB2 1QP
E-mail: gradoffice@path.cam.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)1223 765064