How to apply

Follow our five-step process to apply for a postgraduate degree in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

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What do you want to study?

Find your degree programme

Browse our degree programmes to find out more about the areas of postgraduate study available. The School of History, Classics and Archaeology offers a broad range of taught and research degree programmes.

Our Degrees

Search for funding and scholarships

The University of Edinburgh is committed to supporting students and rewarding excellence, and we therefore offer a large range of financial scholarships. Please consult each individual scholarship entry for details on how to apply, eligibility, application deadlines and contact details - as these do vary considerably.

Student Funding


What qualifications do you need?

For the latest entry requirements please find the appropriate degree on the University's degree finder:


Before you start, make sure you have all your paperwork.

To be given an unconditional offer, you will need to scan and upload a number of documents within your online application, and may need to provide original copies upon commencing your studies. If any of these documents are pending, you may still apply and we can consider making a conditional offer until are you able to upload these.

Required documents

1.   A transcript(s) with all of your Undergraduate and Postgraduate results achieved to date.
2.    Copies of your degree/diploma certificate(s), if you have already completed your qualification(s). If you are currently completing a programme, submit an interim transcript or certificate of matriculation instead.
3.   The number of academic references, required for the application to your chosen programme. One academic reference is required for taught MSc programmes, while two are necessary for research MSc and PhD programmes.
4.  Evidence that you satisfy our requirements for competence in written and spoken English, if you do not come from a majority English speaking country as defiined by UKVI.
5.  Certified translations, if your original documents are not in English.
6.  

If you are applying for an MScR or PhD, you must also submit a research proposal. We recommend that you discuss your ideas for the proposal in advance with a member of academic staff who specialises in your chosen topic. Your proposal should demonstrate that your chosen research topic is a viable one, and that you are well prepared to undertake it. We do not impose a set word limit on the research proposal (Suggested length of Research Proposal is c.1000 - 2000 words). You can find guidance on writing a research proposal here:

How to Write a Good Postgraduate Research Proposal

7.Taught degrees within the School of History, Classics and Archaeology do not generally require a writing sample, but we reserve the right to request these to assist us in making a decision in some cases.

How to make your application.

Apply online using our Applicant Hub, which you can access within the Postgraduate Degree Finder.

Apply Now Online

The application form contains guidance on how to complete each section. You do not need to complete the application all at once; you can save a partially completed application. If you do this, an email will be sent to you that provides a link to allow you to return to the application to complete it.

Once you have submitted your completed application, you will be able to track its progress and accept or decline any offers you receive.

For additional support when using our application system see our guidance pages:


You've made your choice and submitted your application. What happens next?

The Graduate School of History, Classics and Archaeology processes applications for Research Programmes and for the online distance learning version of our taught MSc, while the Postgraduate Office  in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences processes applications for campus-based taught progammes. 

Prior to you being notified about the outcome of your application, you should check your email for any updates or requests to upload further documentation to the applicant hub

Once a decision has been made regarding your application, the relevant admissions office will send an automated email advising you that an update on your application is now visible in the applicant hub.

There are four potential outcomes:

An unconditional offer

If you receive an unconditional offer through the application system click the ‘Accept/Decline link’ for your chosen programme under the ‘Admissions Section’ at the bottom of the Applicant Self Service screen. Please make sure you accept your unconditional offer within 4 weeks of receiving your offer. If you require a Tier 4 visa, please note that a CAS can only be issued once you have accepted an unconditional offer, and cannot be issued more than 6 months prior to your programme start date.

A conditional offer

Your offer letter will list all the conditions that apply to your offer. You can upload the required document(s) through Applicant Self Service. If you have met the conditions satisfactorily, you will be sent an unconditional offer by the relevant admissions team.

Your application is unsuccessful

If your application is unsuccessful then we will send you an email to inform you of this which will outline the reason why we have been unable to offer you a place on this particular programme. Please note that your application status will be updated to 'Cancelled' on Applicant Self Service if the application is rejected.

Deferral Policy

The School does not routinely permit deferrals, but will consider cases where there are particular grounds for doing so.


Common questions about applying.

How do I submit references? What kind of references do you require?

There are three acceptable ways in which you can submit references:

  1. You can input the referees’ institutional e-mail address into your study application in the applicant hub, the reference will be requested electronically automatically when you submit your application. The system can only request the reference – not make sure the academic responds. You will need to check your EUCLID portal regularly and re-send the request to your referee if a reference is outstanding. Further guidance on requesting references within the applicant hub is available.    
  2. You can provide signed references, dated within the last year and written on official letter headed paper.    
  3. You can ask the referee to send the reference via e-mail to the Postgraduate Research Office (hca-pgr@ed.ac.uk) for research degree programmes (MSc by Resesarch and PhD programmes or the Taught Office (hca-pgt@ed.ac.uk) for online MSc degree programmes. Please ensure that the reference is sent from an institutional e-mail address and not a personal one such as yahoo or gmail as these accounts cannot be verified.
Is my degree equivalent to a UK 2(i)?
Please refer to the guidance within the 'Entry requirements' section of our webpages for your programme of study. Unfortunately, we can only assess equivalency once you have submitted your application for study - we cannot assess qualifications by email or over the phone.
When is the last possible date to submit incomplete documents?
All documents for your application must be received 7 calendar days after the application deadline. On this basis we strongly recommend that you upload all of the required documents plus both references immediately if you are applying close to the application deadline. It can take up to 10 working days for your application to be processed and reach the School in order for us to send out reference requests.
What do I need to do for the research proposal? (Applies to research degrees only)

We recommend that you discuss your ideas for the proposal in advance with a member of academic staff who specialises in your chosen topic. Your proposal should demonstrate that your chosen research topic is a viable one, and that you are well prepared to undertake it. We do not impose a set word limit on the research proposal (suggested length for guidance is c.1000 - 2000 words).

You can find guidance on writing a research proposal here:

I'm not from the UK; will I pay overseas fees?

Your tuition fee status is determined by your nationality and the country where you normally live. Determining the fee status appropriate to an application is undertaken by Student Administration and you will be required to complete a Fee Status Questionnaire. For further information, please see:


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