Chance of getting onto MPhil African Studies at Cambridge with a very low 2:1…

Chance of admission- MPhil African Studies at Cambridge.

Hi,

So I just submitted an app for African Studies MPhil.

My final grade was a very low 2:1 at UCL in History with a Year Abroad (59.40).

My mum did die like a month before final year though (August 2022)…. And my mums family were pretty abusive so I had to cut them off entirely in Feb of final year (Feb 2023). So my extenuating circumstances are surely… extenuating! My personal tutor knew about my home life situation and her and other colleagues basically metaphorically carried me to graduation 😭

Now I am safe and happy doing a gap year in order to recover. And I applied for the MPhil.

One of my references was the head of the history dept at my University. We built an excellent relationship during final year to ensure I graduated and was safe.

Another was from a member of staff who taught me African Cities module who happens to know the director of the African Studies department at Cambridge. And he said he really enjoyed my research proposal and that it was good enough to submit.

Are there any outliers in terms of people with lower grades being accepted onto MPhil programmes especially in light of different circumstances?