Postgraduate FAQs

To ensure a member of our Admissions team is available please contact the Lucy Cavendish Postgrad Admissions Office in advance of any planned visit during office hours at pgadmissions@lucy.cam.ac.uk.

Potential applicants and offer-holders are welcome to visit the campus outside office hours.  There are periods throughout the year when the campus is closed, during exams for example.  Please introduce yourself in our Porters Lodge on arrival and our Porters will advise you if the campus is currently open to visitors.

You may wish to consult our Disability Access Guide before any visit.

The University offers a range of Postgraduate Open Days, virtual and in person, which the College takes part in and information about events for Postgrads can be found here:

Postgraduate open day information 

• The College Library and its IT facilities are open twenty-four hours a day.
• Lucy Cavendish runs regular seminars showcasing the work of postgraduate students, together with an annual poster competition and Research Day.
• There is a programme of academic skills workshops designed specifically for postgraduates.
• Academic talks and subject dinners occur throughout the year, and Masters and PhD students are active in a range of College societies.
• There are many social events involving the whole College, allowing postgraduates to interact freely with professorial, research and teaching staff across a range of disciplines as well as external expert speakers.

Our Postgrad accommodation is within easy walking or cycling distance of the main College campus, the centre of the city, and most University departments. Some rooms are ensuite with shared kitchens, others are small studios with their own shower room and kitchenette, and a few are in a traditional shared house setting. We also have four one-bedroom and four two-bedroom flats for couples and small families.

Accommodation information

Visiting Students who wish to follow Postgrad courses must apply through the Postgraduate Admissions Office, nominating Lucy Cavendish as their first preference College.

We offer a wide range of support to our postgraduates:

• An experienced team of personal tutors who can provide advice and support

• Postgraduates can apply for grants towards the cost of travel to conferences to present their work.

• We offer several studentships to incoming students, details of which are on the Postgraduate Studentships and Awards page

• The IT Office resolves computing issues and is happy to assist with general queries about the use of common software

• The College Library and its IT facilities are open 24 hours a day and the Library staff can help with bibliographical searches and locating course materials

• The Student Office supports postgraduates through the administrative processes associated with study at Cambridge, including matriculation and graduation.

There is no shortage of social events in Cambridge through which you can meet people, make friends, and form professional networks.

Postgrads can participate in all of our College-based activities, societies and sports teams, as well as a variety of Student Union- and College-run events.

Most Postgrad students socialise both within their Department, and within Lucy Cavendish, and there is a constant flow of visitors between Colleges.

Formal Halls are a particularly popular way to entertain friends from elsewhere in the University.  In addition, each term there is a special Postgrad and Post-Doc Formal Hall which is very popular, and social events continue in the summer after the end of the Easter Term.

To hear more about Postgrad student experiences with the College community, see our 'Meet some of our students' section of this page.

We welcome applications from disabled students. Our Welfare team works with disabled students to provide accommodations and support, and there is a designated Disabilities Officer on the Lucy Cavendish MCR.

The Disability Access Guide for the College can be found here. 

Please contact us early in your preparation to discuss any support or adjustments that you may require. 

The Cambridge University Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) offer guidance, information and support to prospective students, applicants and current students across the University. You may wish to contact them and/or view the resources on their website. More general information on applying to a postgraduate course at Cambridge as a disabled student can be found here.

A number of our students have children.  Lucy Cavendish has a designated Childcare contact in our Student Office who can be reached at studentoffice@lucy.cam.ac.uk. 

Prospective applicants may also wish to consult the University’s Guide for Student Parents. The website of the Childcare Office and the University’s guide for undergraduate parents both contain useful information.

Part-time students enjoy the same benefits of college membership as full-time students, including access to the gym, library and common room. You will be welcome at all Lucy Cavendish events, which include weekly talks, Sunday lunches and formal halls through to the annual Summer Garden Party. You may also host your own events in College.

Part-time students are not usually required to live in Cambridge. Part-time students who do not need any type of immigration status to study in the UK can choose to live in College accommodation for the whole academic year if they wish, subject to availability. 

The College has a guest room for short stays (up to a maximum four nights) which can be booked separately, subject to availability.