How to apply for a masters degree

Start by finding the course you want to do. You can browse by subject or explore our A-Z listing. On the course page, you can check entry requirements, fees and scholarships.

Courses typically start in September, with a small number offering a January or February intake. 

Check the entry requirements

Every course page will tell you which qualifications, experience or skills you need before you can apply.

Organise your supporting documents

You’ll need to provide information about your experience and in some cases supporting documents. You might need to request some of these from your university, so you should factor in the additional time needed for this.

Before you start your application, it’s a good idea to have to hand:

• certificates and transcripts of any essential qualifications
• academic or employment referee details
• your CV, if you have work experience that you need to mention
• your personal statement
• your Manchester Met ID, if you’re a current or former student

If you’re an international student, we’ll also need evidence of your English language skills.

You’ll need to write a personal statement explaining why you want to do the course. We’ll use it to help us decide whether to offer you a place.

It should be about 450-500 words (4,000 characters), setting out why the course is right for you, your career aspirations, and your experience and interests. It’s a good idea to write your personal separately, and then paste it into the application form.

How to write a successful personal statement for a masters degree

To give yourself the best chance of getting a place, you should:

• Indicate your motivation: why do you want to study this course at Manchester Met, and why do you find the subject area interesting or challenging?
• Link the subject to your own goals:how does the subject relate to your research, professional training needs and future plans?
• Build on your knowledge: how will the course expand the knowledge you already have in the subject area?
• Be focused: is your statement easy to understand and have you avoided unnecessary jargon?
• Demonstrate your commitment:  how have you engaged with your subject and prepared for studying it?
• Think about the course structure: can you link your statement to the description of the course content?
• Show your interest: which areas of the course interest you, such as modules, placement opportunities or practical experience?

You can apply online for most of our courses. Follow the ‘How to Apply’ link from the course page, and your course details will be automatically entered into the application form.

If there is an application deadline, it will be on the course page. We recommend you apply as soon as you can — some courses may close early if demand for places is high.

Before you apply, you should read our guidelines for applicants.

Some professional courses have their own application process, such as the:

• PGCE
• MA Social Work
• Professional Law courses
• Healthcare pre-registration courses in nursing, speech and language therapy, and physiotherapy

If the process is different, we’ll explain what you need to do on the relevant course page.

After you apply, you’ll get an automated response. In this email will be your Manchester Met ID number and instructions on how to access our application portal. Save this email, you’ll need it again.

We’ll review your application, and contact you when we’ve made a decision. You can check on progress in the application portal.

If we need any more information, we’ll email you to ask you to upload it to the application portal. Or we may invite you to an interview if this is part of the application process. 

If your application is successful, we’ll email you a formal offer. You can accept or decline the offer in the application portal.

If your offer is conditional, you’ll need to upload evidence of meeting your offer conditions as soon as possible.