Cambridge Personal Statement for Master's Applicants

Cambridge describes the personal statement (which some courses call a statement of interest) as covering your relevant skills, experience, academic achievements and motivation for the course. Most research courses also ask for a research proposal, and some courses ask for a sample of written work. The document that suits a taught MPhil is not the one that suits a research application, so check your course page for what applies.

Read the requirements on the course page and on the department's own website, and note which document is asked for and how long it should be. If you are applying for a course that expects a research proposal, treat that as a separate piece of writing, and see our G5 writing strategy guide for how the two documents relate.

• A defined academic interest: a topic, question or problem, not a broad field.
• Evidence that you have already worked at the edge of what you were taught, through a dissertation, a project or independent reading.
• A reason to be in this department: staff research interests, facilities, or the structure of the course that connect to your plans.
• Realistic expectations of what the degree involves, including its pace and independence.

For research-oriented courses, fit with potential supervisors is often central. Read recent publications by the academics whose interests match yours and refer to them accurately, in a sentence rather than a paragraph. Accuracy matters more than the number of names.

Do not contact or name staff as a formality. If you mention someone, it should be because a specific piece of their work changes how you would approach your own question. If you cannot say that in a sentence, leave the name out and describe the research area instead.

1. The question you want to work on, stated concretely.
2. The work that prepared you: what you did, what you found, and what it left unresolved.
3. The methods or knowledge you need to develop, and why this course provides them.
4. The department or research area that fits, described in specific terms.
5. What you plan to do next, consistent with the rest of your application.

Both examples are illustrative.

Weak: "I have always admired Cambridge's tradition of scientific excellence."

Stronger: "My undergraduate thesis modelled grain-boundary diffusion with a finite-element approach, but I could not validate it experimentally; the MPhil's laboratory component would give me that experience."

The stronger version admits a limit, links it to the course, and stays specific enough for a specialist to judge.

• Proposing a project far outside what the department works on. Fit is judged against real research strengths.
• Name-dropping academics without engaging with their work.
• Using the statement to summarise your CV. Assume the reader has your transcript and CV open beside it.
• Overpromising a research programme that a one-year course cannot deliver.

Some Cambridge courses are a route into a doctorate, and the statement is read partly as a preview of how you think as a researcher. In that case, say what you would investigate next and why the question is tractable, but avoid sounding as if the project is finished before you have started.

A good test is to imagine the reader asking two follow-up questions: what would count as evidence, and what could go wrong? If your statement already hints at both, it reads as the work of someone who understands research. If you are applying for a course that separately requires a research proposal, keep the two documents consistent: the statement gives the reason, and the proposal gives the plan.

• You have used the document type and length the course requires.
• Your central question is stated in the first third of the statement.
• Every named academic or module is checked against the current course page.
• The statement, sample of written work and references support each other.