Are you ready to submit your Master's application? Liz Holding, Senior Admissions Officer at Alliance MBS, gives her top tips on how to submit a successful application.
1. Submit your application early
Applications generally open in mid-October. As our Master's courses are in high demand I would advise applying early. There’s no need to wait until your current course finishes, eligibility is assessed on your grades received so far and you would be required to send up to date transcripts with your application. We are operating a staged admissions process with selection deadlines throughout the year. All places are subject to availability and if you apply in one of the later stages, some courses may already be closed.
We have one intake each year in September and each course runs for 12 months.
2. Be prepared – have your supporting documents ready
You will need to submit a few supporting documents alongside your application. These include your academic transcript and your statement of purpose.
How many references should I submit?
When you complete your online application, you are not required to submit an academic reference. After an initial assessment of your application, we may contact you to request an academic reference so please keep a lookout for a reference request email.
If English isn’t your first language…
You will need to provide an English language test score at the time of application. If you submit your application without an English test result, we can assess your application but cannot make an offer until you provide your test result. If you have booked your English test but have not taken it at the time of submitting your application, you should let the Admissions Team know when to expect this.
But I’ve studied in English?
Unless you have studied a minimum of 3 years in a majority English speaking country as defined by the UK Home Office, we will require you to submit an English Language test result.
View a list of majority English speaking countries >>
If you have studied for 1-2 years in one of these countries, we still require an English test score.
3. Check our minimum entry requirements and English language requirements
We have many different courses to choose from, and some, such as our finance courses, do require a specific background at Undergraduate level, and others are a conversion to their subject and accept students from any discipline. You should check the course webpage to see its specific entry requirements.
We require at least a UK 2:1 honours degree (60% average) or the overseas equivalent.
We receive applications from all over the world but unfortunately, we can't list every country on our website. If your country is not listed and you would like to check your eligibility, please contact our enquiry team at pg.ambs@manchester.ac.uk
Read more about Masters entry requirements >>
4. Try to keep your Statement of Purpose brief
Your Statement of Purpose explains your motivation for applying for the course and should be between 300-500 words. An interesting and well-written statement of purpose showing strong motivation for the course you have chosen can influence the final decision. This should be concise and concentrate on why you are interested in the subject you have applied for, how it will influence your career path and why you consider yourself to be a suitable applicant.
Try to make your statement of purpose interesting and reflect your personality, we have to read a lot of them!
Read tips for writing your Statement of Purpose.
5. Proofread!
Make sure your application is filled out to the best of your ability, and that you’ve attached the required documents. You won’t be able to go back in and change some sections of the application by yourself, so it’s important to make sure that everything is correct at the time of submitting your application.
6. Ensure that you have organised funding
It is wise to organise funding for your Master’s before you apply. There are a number of Master's funding options for our courses and these will vary depending on whether you’re a student from the UK, EU or an international student from outside the EU.
I’m a UK student, what funding options are there for me?
If you are a prospective Master's student from the UK, there are potential sources of funding available. The UK Government has confirmed that Postgraduate Loans will be offered to UK students starting a Master's course in the 2023/24 academic year.
Read more about funding for UK and EU students
There are also a number of partial scholarships that are available across our Master’s courses that go towards the cost of your tuition. There is no application process for them, every applicant is automatically considered.
Read more about Alliance MBS Scholarships.
Application fee
Some of our programmes also require an application fee. If you are applying for one of these programmes, you will be prompted to pay this within the application portal before you can submit your application. You will not be able to submit your application without paying the application fee first.
Find out how to submit subsequent applications
7. Keep checking your emails
Our Admissions Officers may need to email you if there are any documents missing from your application, and of course, they will email you to keep you informed about the status of your application! This will be sent to your preferred email address, so make sure to note this when you submit your application.
Watch our Application Guide video.
Good luck with your application!
