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Postgraduate Study

Expected Academic Standard

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK First class Honours Degree.

If your degree is not from the UK, please check International Qualifications to find the equivalent in your country.

MCL enrolment is restricted to approximately 25 students, meaning competition for places is intense.  The normal minimum academic entry requirement for law graduates seeking admission to the Cambridge MCL is a top 5-10% ranking in their class.  In a UK university, this may equate to a First Class degree.  Extra weight may be given to the performance in courses related to corporate law.  Applicants will normally have a law degree, but those qualified to practise law who have a degree in another subject are welcome to apply.

Students who are currently undertaking legal studies who will graduate soon can apply before completing their degree.  Successful applicants in this category are likely to have academic conditions attached to their offer.  If an offer is subject to academic conditions, to join the MCL in October 2025 the Postgraduate Admissions Office (PAO) must receive final evidence of the applicant having met the academic condition by 31 July 2025.  If potentially relevant academic results only become available after that date, it will not be possible for the applicant to be admitted to the MCL programme.

English Language Requirements

All applicants to the MCL programme who are not nationals of a country on the Postgraduate Admissions Office's ‘List A’ are required to take either the Academic IELTS English language proficiency test or the TOEFL English language proficiency test.  The only exception is if an applicant has successfully completed a three-year full-time bachelor's degree within the last two years in a country on List A, or is in the final year of study for a three-year full-time bachelor's degree in a country on List A.

All MCL applicants who need to take an English language proficiency test must submit their test results with their course application or as soon as possible afterwards and by 1 April 2025 at the latest.   

Applicants must obtain all of the required Academic IELTS or TOEFL scores in the same test sitting; multiple test results cannot be combined to meet the language requirement.  Please note that we do not accept TOEFL MyBest™ scores.

Language test scores must be less than two years old by the start of the MCL course in October 2025 in order to be valid.  

Please note that referrals to the University of Cambridge’s Language Centre for assessment are not available for the MCL course, and it is not possible to obtain a waiver of the language requirement.

University Minimum Academic Requirements


Language Requirement

IELTS (Academic)

Element Score
Listening 7.0
Writing 7.0
Reading 7.0
Speaking 7.0
Total 7.5

TOEFL Internet Score

Element Score
Listening 25
Writing 25
Reading 25
Speaking 25
Total 110

Visa Information

No ATAS required

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Key Information


9 months full-time

Study Mode : Taught

Master of Corporate Law

Faculty of Law

Course - related enquiries

Application - related enquiries

Course on Department Website

Dates and deadlines:

Michaelmas 2025

Applications open
Sept. 4, 2024
Application deadline
Jan. 7, 2025
Course Starts
Oct. 1, 2025

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Course Funding Deadline
Jan. 7, 2025
Gates Cambridge US round only
Oct. 16, 2024

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2025, Lent 2026 and Easter 2026.


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