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Universities that will take on Humanities PhD with a "high 2.1" BA + Mer/Dist MA

Hi everyone,

I got a high 2.1. in English LIterature during undergraduate study at University of Gloucestershire.

I got accepted onto my Masters at Cardiff University. I would be very happy with a Merit on a personal level, but was wondering if a distinction is absolutely critical for any hope of funding for a PhD, or if some universities/ahrc will accept a "strong merit" (say 65%+)

I understand there are many shades of grey, just I've heard too many stories on the impossible quest for funding for humanities students.

I'd like to aim for Russell Group, but wouldn't be heartbroken if I undertook my PhD at another university :smile:

Any advice would be helpful
Everywhere is different. For my subject I have seen funded phd places that ask for merit overall with a distinction in the dissertation so there are all kinds of variables.

It can also be based on the specifics of what you have studied previously. For example I was told in response to one application I sent that there was no doubt over my academic potential but they had decided not to further my application because there were so many applicants and they needed to narrow numbers down by only furthering the applications from people who had studied as close to the specified project as possible. So yeah, there are more variables than just your grades that can influence a phd application.
Original post by NoHeroes94
Hi everyone,

I got a high 2.1. in English LIterature during undergraduate study at University of Gloucestershire.

I got accepted onto my Masters at Cardiff University. I would be very happy with a Merit on a personal level, but was wondering if a distinction is absolutely critical for any hope of funding for a PhD, or if some universities/ahrc will accept a "strong merit" (say 65%+)

I understand there are many shades of grey, just I've heard too many stories on the impossible quest for funding for humanities students.

I'd like to aim for Russell Group, but wouldn't be heartbroken if I undertook my PhD at another university :smile:

Any advice would be helpful


As others have said, there is more to a PhD application than just grades. But they are very important, undoubtedly so, so I would be pushing as hard for a Distinction as possible, and particularly in the dissertation portion. While there are stories of people getting PhD funding with 2.1s and merits (and it does happen!), the majority of people will have firsts and distinctions, so you would be at a bit of a disadvantage. However, making sure you have a killer research proposal and strong references will help.

Do bear in mind as well that PhD studentships attached to specific projects often have fewer applicants, and this is where I have seen people with maybe less-than-platinum academic records do well, because their interests were an excellent match for the project, and they wrote a very interesting research proposal that would contribute to the overall project's development. These kinds of PhDs are often advertised as part of AHRC, ERC, Leverhulme etc. projects and typically would be advertised on places like jobs.ac.uk, so have a comb through those as well.

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