Applying to the Department of Psychiatry
Before you apply – please watch this very informative video which was put together by our Postgraduate Admissions Team.
To apply you will need to do so via the University’s Application Portal.
Please note the closing date for all October 2024 applications is May 16th 2024.
It’s important to note that funding competitions all have deadlines before this.
***Please do not submit an application unless a principal investigator from our department has agreed to supervise your PhD or MPhil.
You should apply for admission using the University’s online Application Form if you:
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- wish to apply for University-wide funding competitions (this includes: Gates, Cambridge Overseas & Commonwealth Trusts, Cambridge Home and EU Scholarships)
- have been awarded a specific studentship/programme position in a competition
- wish to apply for a College studentship
- have an external scholarship
- have your own funding
All our application and funding deadlines are listed here
Postgraduate students applying to Cambridge will no longer have to pay a fee to submit their application. This came into effect from the 2022/23 application cycle, for admissions in 2023/24. The University will also reduce the application fee for non-doctoral postgraduate study to £50. More information regarding the the application fee can be found here.
Frequently asked questions
We have listed some of our most frequently asked questions to help you with your application.
1. Am I eligible to apply for admission to the Department of Psychiatry?
Competition for admission to a University of Cambridge postgraduate programme is intense. Like all departments in the Postgraduate School, we require all our postgraduate entrants to have:
- at least a good 2.1 in an Honours degree or equivalent in a relevant subject. Although a Masters degree is not a requirement for entry onto a PhD programme, several recent successful candidates have relevant qualifications at this level. Further information about International Qualifications can be accessed here.
- 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 information please visit the Postgraduate Admissions pages.
If you have no experience in neuroscience, you can attend courses in Cambridge. Alternatively, you might consider taking a one-year ‘taught’ Masters in neuroscience first, however, this is not available at Cambridge.
For more details of the University’s academic requirements see the University’s Postgraduate Prospectus.
For more details on fees please refer to PhD Science and MPhil Medical Science respectively.
2. What qualifications can I apply for?
3. How do I choose a topic to study and find a supervisor to work with? (MPhil by research or PhD)
The application form requires you to choose a course – for research applicants, this means specifying which department or institute you wish to study within.
Before you apply, you need to identify a suitable potential supervisor within the Department and a topic which is aligned to their area of research.
You can also find out more about them by visiting the Cambridge Neuroscience website.
If you have not already decided, you should:
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- browse our research groups to identify suitable principal investigators [PIs]. Visit their personal/group page to check details of their research.
- check if they have any vacancies within their lab.
- if you are interested in more than one supervisor within our department, you can name them as your first and second choice in your application.
PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT AN APPLICATION UNLESS A PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FROM THE DEPARTMENT HAS AGREED TO SUPERVISE YOUR PhD OR MPhil
4. How do I apply?
For full instructions on how to apply please go to the Postgraduate Admissions ‘How-To-Apply’ page.
Research Proposal – maximum of 2000 words. Please include references and explain what you wish to investigate and how you plan to do so.
5. What are the Gates Scholarship and Postgraduate funding competition deadlines for 2023/24?
Round 1: GATES USA (citizens normally resident in the USA only)
Applicants in this round must apply by October 11th 2023 for entry in October 2024, January 2025 or April 2025.
Round 2: GATES International and all other funding opportunities
Applicants in this round must apply by December 5th 2023 for entry in October 2024, January 2025 or April 2025.
For more information about funding please visit the Postgraduate Admissions Funding pages.
6. Help! I still need more information…
Email us at psych-education@medschl.cam.ac.uk . It will be helpful if you have initially researched who in the Department you wish to approach and make contact with by email to establish if they would be interested in your research proposal. For queries to the Postgraduate Admissions Office please email pg.admissions@admin.cam.ac.uk