Expected Academic Standard

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK High II.i Honours Degree.

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

Although admissions interviews are generally not held, an interview may be held prior to recommending an offer of admission in some cases.

By 'literature and thought', we do not mean studying any or all literatures in English translation. Applicants must show evidence of advanced reading competency in the language of the material proposed for the student's dissertation research, which must fall within the purview of one of the language sections of MMLL. (Prospective students are encouraged to look at the profiles of the Faculty members in the different language sections who might supervise their work.) In cases where one is not a native speaker of the target language, competency ordinarily must be demonstrated by a degree in the related field from a university where instruction was conducted in the language in question or by an undergraduate degree from another university where the student has taken advanced (i.e., final-year) coursework in a relevant field using the material in the target language. If such coursework is not indicated on the student's academic record, the student should submit the results of a formal language assessment of reading proficiency at the time of application (Common European Framework, C1 or higher, or American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Advanced High or Higher).  

Students sometimes have this competency in more than one MMLL language, but many students use the MPhil to work solely on primary material from one particular language (e.g., working on Russian primary material alone for all of their written work here). It is sometimes possible to develop the knowledge of one of the dissertation MMLL languages whilst the student is at Cambridge  (e.g., via the University Language Centre), though it is not plausible to do so from scratch, as the student will be busy with the core work of the MPhil.  

In addition to writing on the MPhil about the material in the languages covered by MMLL, the student can also write about English language material (e.g., someone working on 19th-century literature in the second term might write an essay comparing Madame Bovary and Jane Eyre). However, students who wish to focus on texts written in English or translated into English will find relevant MPhils in the English Faculty. It is possible in the Literature, Culture and Thought programme to use conceptual and theoretical material in English translation.

University Minimum Academic Requirements

Language Requirement

Visa Information

No ATAS required

What Is An ATAS?