FAQ for Masters Applicants

The MSc course you choose to study will entirely depend on your personal interest and careers goal. We would advise you to visit our website where you can find the specifications for all of our programmes and to decide which one best matches your strengths and career goals.

Each MSc course is worth between 180 - 190 CATS credits. Each UK credit equals 0.5 of an ECTS credit, so 180 CATS = 90 ECTS.

When you fill in the online application form, you will be given the opportunity to indicate a second and third choice course, in order of preference. If your application is not successful for your first-choice course, your application will be passed to your second choice for consideration. The same application form and supporting documents will be used for all courses. Please do not complete and submit a separate application form for each course option that interests you, as this will cause delays in processing your application. For more information on the application process and a step-by-step guide to completing the application form, please see our blog post.

Our MSc programme has a single intake each year in September, except the 'fast track exemptions route' Insurance and Risk Management course which has a January intake.

We recommend GMAT for applications to all our finance-related courses, particularly if it is evident from your degree that you have had little exposure to quantitative or finance-related modules. It is also recommended for the MSc Management.

You can apply without a GMAT score report, but you might be asked to sit the GMAT as a condition of your offer. This will be at the discretion of the Admissions Panel and applies to all our courses.

Please refer to individual course information pages on the website. In general, work experience is seen as an advantage, where relevant. National service is also considered, depending on the nature of your chosen course.

It is useful to provide details of your high school education in the application form, and it is essential for certain courses. Please see the relevant course page for details.

In the British education system, GCSEs (formerly O levels) and A levels are school-leaving qualifications. Candidates are usually 16 years old when they take GCSEs. A levels are normally taken at 18 years old and are considered to be university entrance exams. If you have not studied these qualifications, please give details in the relevant section of the application form of your secondary/high school qualifications, including subjects taken and grades awarded.

We operate on a rolling admissions basis and normally close applications in mid-July each academic year. We strongly recommend you apply at your earliest convenience to allow time for application procedures. Any imminent course closures will be notified on the relevant course page.

All applicants are assigned a specific Admissions Officer, whose details will be made available to you once you have submitted your application form. They will be your regular contact for all queries you have regarding the admissions stage of your application. Please allow at least 3 working days for email responses, and longer during busy/peak periods.

You are also welcome to address any queries to bayes-masters@city.ac.uk, but please avoid sending the same email to more than one party in separate emails. This can slow down responses as a result.

In some cases, the Admissions Panel will require an applicant to submit an online interview before a decision can be reached. If required, we will contact the applicant with full instructions and deadlines.

We aim to return a decision as soon as possible, normally no more than six weeks from receiving a complete application. Please note that all official correspondence (including offers) will be sent by email. Please ensure you supply an up-to-date email address when applying, and check it regularly throughout the process.

Requesting a deferral is a possibility. Please write to your Admissions Officer and state your reasons for wishing to defer. Once the deferral has been considered, the Admissions Officer will let you know the outcome of the request.

Please refer to your course of interest to see the relevant information regarding start dates.

The deadlines for accepting offers and paying deposits are individual and are stated in your offer. The deadline depends on the vacancies on the course and the point in the admissions cycle.

Please read your offer carefully as there could be a number of deadlines stated within it. Your offer also contains useful information and links.

You can apply before you have your final degree results, but we will require an interim transcript showing your results achieved to date. We may then make you a conditional offer. If you are made an offer, we would then need to see the original or certified copy of the final transcript in order to upgrade your offer to unconditional. Your offer will state how you should provide your award documents to us. Please do not send documents by post unless advised by your Admissions Officer.

The deadline for submitting your final results and other offer documents will be clearly stated in your offer. There might be circumstances where you would not be able to meet this deadline, so please contact your Admissions Officer as soon as possible and seek their advice in such cases.

We also might change some of the deadlines and will endeavour to inform you as early as possible.

The scanned copies of your documents would be fine for the application stage – if an offer is made, then the original or secure electronic transcript/documents (where available) will be requested. Your offer will state how you should provide your award documents to us. Please do not send documents by post unless advised by your Admissions Officer.

The original document will be the document issued by your university and will have a stamp, seal or other security mark to confirm its authenticity. An original document is not a scanned copy or photocopy of the original.

A certified copy of a document is a photocopy that has been stamped/signed and verified as a true copy of the original by the issuing institution, a legal authority or, in the case of translated documents, the British Council or a certified translator.

Please do not send documents by post unless advised by your Admissions Officer.

A final degree transcript or award transcript is an official university/institution document that shows all of the modules/subjects you have studied and the grades you have achieved for each one, as well as the award classification and the date it was awarded.

If you have not yet completed your degree, an interim transcript will show the grades of all your modules taken to date. If you are still undertaking any degree studies, you should also upload to your application a separate list of the modules that you are undertaking in your final year of study (if these are not listed on your transcript).

We must have received a final transcript or interim transcript before a decision can be made on your application.

An electronic transcript is an official university/institution document delivered to the nominated recipient’s email address and/or accessed via a secure network/portal. Such a document is certified by a digital signature and contains special security characteristics.

The nominated recipient (e.g. Admissions Officer, employer, etc.) will receive instructions on how to authenticate the official electronic transcript, including necessary steps to acquire an access code to view and download the transcript.

Yes, if your documents are not in English, you must provide original translated copies certified by your University or a legal authority, e.g. the British Council or a certified translator.

Please do not send documents by post unless advised by your Admissions Officer.

Your personal statement should demonstrate why you are applying to your course of interest, and how your academic background and work experience, where applicable, would make you a strong candidate.

If you are applying to more than one course, please ensure you submit a personal statement for your first-choice course only. If you are then considered for your second choice, you will be contacted directly by your Admissions Officer to request a personal statement for this. Aim for your personal statement to be no longer than 500–600 words.

For detailed guidance on writing your personal statement, please see our Admissions Blog.

On your application form, you should supply the required details of two referees. We would prefer them to be one academic and one professional referee, or two academic referees. If you have graduated more than two years ago, we will be able to accept two professional referees. Applicants for part-time courses must submit the details of two professional referees.

Referees will be contacted directly by the Admissions team in the event that an offer is made.

Please note that we do not accept references submitted by an applicant or agent – they must come directly from the referee.

For more information about how to submit references, please see our Admissions Blog.

You should upload evidence of any professional qualifications, examinations, exemptions, or passes you have achieved that are relevant to the course to which you are applying. Professional qualifications are mostly 'Chartered' qualifications such as CFA, ACCA, CISI, ACII, ACMA, and Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

In order to meet the academic requirements for our MSc programme and participate fully in our collaborative learning process, applicants should have achieved the required scores in one of the approved English language tests.

Please note, the Admissions Panel are able to review applications before receiving proof of English language proficiency. If you are made an offer, this would always be conditional upon meeting our English language requirements.

We do not offer nor accept a pre-sessional English course as an alternative to the listed English tests. Any pre-sessional course should be viewed as an aid to living and studying in the UK, and not as a way of topping up an English test score.

There is no application fee for any of our MSc courses at present.

Please refer to the section entitled Funding your studies. We have a number of ways we try to support our applicants with this.