What should I include in my application?

Applications for postgraduate courses at Aberystwyth University should be made via the Postgraduate Admissions Application Portal. Locate the relevant course page at https://courses.aber.ac.uk/ and select the “Apply Now” button on the course page to start your application.

The Postgraduate Admissions Application Portal will ask you to provide us with your personal details, confirm your course selection(s) and upload documents in support of your application. Please have your supporting documents saved in PDF format and ready to upload to your online application. Please upload as much of the following as you can, or as is relevant to your application:

Copies of degree certificates from previous Bachelors or Masters study (certified translated copies are required if original document is not in English or Welsh)

Copies of University transcripts from previous Bachelors or Masters study (certified translated copies are required if original document is not in English or Welsh).

You are welcome to apply for postgraduate study before you have completed any current studies, or if you have already completed your qualification(s). If you apply before you have completed your studies, and the University decides to make you an offer for a place to study with us, then the submission of relevant additional documents to demonstrate your successful completion and award of the qualification at the required level to meet the academic entry requirement, will be a condition of the offer made to you.

A personal statement (approximately one side of A4), telling us why you wish to study your chosen course at Aberystwyth University and how your background makes you suitable for admission.

We encourage all applicants to submit an up-to-date CV with their application. It is a requirement for applications for MBA programmes and courses in the Department of Information Studies.

Applicants can upload any references that they have in-hand at the point of application. Alternatively, applicants can provide details of their referee(s) when they make their application, and our online Postgraduate Admissions Application Portal will then automatically contact the referee(s) to request the reference(s) on the applicant's behalf. This is the easiest way to secure references in relation to an application for postgraduate study at Aberystwyth University. We require at least one satisfactory reference for taught Masters programmes and two satisfactory references for research programmes. Please see https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/study-with-us/pg-studies/apply/essential-refs/ for information on the University's reference requirements. We are able to consider applications where references are yet to be received. In such cases, your admission would be conditional upon receipt of the necessary satisfactory references.

(for International applicants only) Evidence of any qualifications and/or English Language test results which demonstrate that you have met the English language entry requirements for your chosen course. Further details about the qualifications and test that we accept can be found at https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/study-with-us/pg-studies/apply/english-language/. Again, you are welcome to apply for postgraduate study before you have completed the relevant qualification or English language tests. If you do this, and the University decides to make you an offer for a place to study with us, then the submission of relevant evidence to demonstrate that you have achieved the required level English language entry requirement of your chosen course, will be a condition of the offer made to you.

(for MPhil/PhD/DProf applicants only) Please upload your full Research Proposal. If you are applying for a pre-advertised project then you will just need to provide the relevant details of the project, and the website link to where the advert can found.

(for applications for courses in the Department of English & Creative Writing and School of Art only) Please upload a portfolio of previous work to demonstrate you skills and interests.