Have we had no further PhD's or MCL's move to PAO so far this week? 

I doubt we will see any movement this week. Considering that the LLM is the last of the programs, after the PhD and the MCL that usually update the status of those who move to the GAO stage, it is most likely that we can expect start hearing about status changes at the end of next week at the earliest, if not until the last week of February, as barely three known PhD and none MCL applicants have reported being moved to GAO. 

I doubt we will see any movement this week. Considering that the LLM is the last of the programs, after the PhD and the MCL that usually update the status of those who move to the GAO stage, it is most likely that we can expect start hearing about status changes at the end of next week at the earliest, if not until the last week of February, as barely three known PhD and none MCL applicants have reported being moved to GAO. 

Thank you for posting.

May I ask what makes you say next week? Most comments here seem to suggest some time in March. :) 

Any updates yet?

I doubt we will see any movement this week. Considering that the LLM is the last of the programs, after the PhD and the MCL that usually update the status of those who move to the GAO stage, it is most likely that we can expect start hearing about status changes at the end of next week at the earliest, if not until the last week of February, as barely three known PhD and none MCL applicants have reported being moved to GAO. 

Thank you for posting.

May I ask what makes you say next week? Most comments here seem to suggest some time in March. :) 

I think OP meant next week 'at the earliest'. Not uncommon for some offers to be released a week or two earlier to some applicants. The website does say 1st of March so in any event, I think the wait wouldn't be too long now. From experience (I applied last year), I believe rejections are often handed out first but the rule of thumb, I think, is no news is good news. Who knows if this pattern would change so take this with a grain of salt.

Any updates yet?

Thank you for posting.

May I ask what makes you say next week? Most comments here seem to suggest some time in March. :) 

I think OP meant next week 'at the earliest'. Not uncommon for some offers to be released a week or two earlier to some applicants. The website does say 1st of March so in any event, I think the wait wouldn't be too long now. From experience (I applied last year), I believe rejections are often handed out first but the rule of thumb, I think, is no news is good news. Who knows if this pattern would change so take this with a grain of salt.

I see. Thanks for the explanation. Getting a bit anxious now. I noticed online that they only have 170 places but have to juggle with 1200 applications. The odds aren't reassuring.


Are you currently studying the LLM? Or applying?

Any updates yet?

Nope. Nothing yet. 

Any updates yet?

Nope. Nothing yet. 

Forgive my ignorance, but if the application is moved to the GAO stage, does this constitute an offer subject to conditions? (just to confirm, my status has not changed - it still reads 'under review by the department'). 

Essentially it works like this (or has at some point worked like this, at least - give or take some minor details - the whole process used to be laid out in an official document, but not sure where it is now): There are five stages in the admissions process (if not rejected), but only some of them might show up on the portal and be changed at slightly different times because stages have to be updated manually and won’t affect their internal decisions anyway (i.e., it’s a bit of a time waste): 


- Submitted: This is the first stage. Simple enough; means your application was submitted and no one has had the time to update to “under review” yet. Many seem to worry about when their application moves from “submitted” compared to the others, but it really is the most insignificant of status changes.

- Under review by department: Most applications will stay here utnil either PAO or unsuccessful.

- Under review by degree committee: Essentially means that the application was not vetted out at departmental stage and subject to degree committee review (second stage). Most applicants will never see this stage on their portals because of the aforementioned time waste involved in updating this middle stage. 

- Awaiting approval by PAO: Means that the degree committee decided to recommend that you should be offered a place. The postgraduate admissions office’s (PAO) main task is mainly to check that you meet the minimum entry requirements and to check for potential fraud, etc. Since the degree committee won’t recommend a place to those who do not meet the requirements, PAO’s role is mainly only about the latter aspect, which is why only a very few applicants from unaccredited unis or with suspicious documents might not pass through this stage. 

- Offer: Will always be conditional because of the college system. 

Hope this helps!

Btw, someone mentioned something about number of places earlier. The uni has published their own admissions statistics for years, although they unfortunately merge all non-doctoral law postgrad stats together. Total non-doctoral offers made in 2019 were for example 419, of which 190 commenced their studies in Cam. Estimate around twice the number of offers as places.

[Edited by Gobbledygook on Feb 17, 2022]

Hi, so just to confirm, when you say that ever offer is conditional, what are the conditions usually? because I am not awaiting results from anywhere, I have already submitted all the documents. So I'm wondering what conditions could be imposed If I were to be made an offer?

Essentially it works like this (or has at some point worked like this, at least - give or take some minor details - the whole process used to be laid out in an official document, but not sure where it is now): There are five stages in the admissions process (if not rejected), but only some of them might show up on the portal and be changed at slightly different times because stages have to be updated manually and won’t affect their internal decisions anyway (i.e., it’s a bit of a time waste): 


- Submitted: This is the first stage. Simple enough; means your application was submitted and no one has had the time to update to “under review” yet. Many seem to worry about when their application moves from “submitted” compared to the others, but it really is the most insignificant of status changes.

- Under review by department: Most applications will stay here utnil either PAO or unsuccessful.

- Under review by degree committee: Essentially means that the application was not vetted out at departmental stage and subject to degree committee review (second stage). Most applicants will never see this stage on their portals because of the aforementioned time waste involved in updating this middle stage. 

- Awaiting approval by PAO: Means that the degree committee decided to recommend that you should be offered a place. The postgraduate admissions office’s (PAO) main task is mainly to check that you meet the minimum entry requirements and to check for potential fraud, etc. Since the degree committee won’t recommend a place to those who do not meet the requirements, PAO’s role is mainly only about the latter aspect, which is why only a very few applicants from unaccredited unis or with suspicious documents might not pass through this stage. 

- Offer: Will always be conditional because of the college system. 

Hope this helps!

Btw, someone mentioned something about number of places earlier. The uni has published their own admissions statistics for years, although they unfortunately merge all non-doctoral law postgrad stats together. Total non-doctoral offers made in 2019 were for example 419, of which 190 commenced their studies in Cam. Estimate around twice the number of offers as places.

Hi, so just to confirm, when you say that ever offer is conditional, what are the conditions usually? because I am not awaiting results from anywhere, I have already submitted all the documents. So I'm wondering what conditions could be imposed If I were to be made an offer? 

Hello everyone! I just received a rejection mail from the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Does that have any connection with the decision on the actual LLM application? 

Hello everyone! I just received a rejection mail from the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Does that have any connection with the decision on the actual LLM application? 

[Edited by Gobbledygook on Feb 18, 2022]

Hi, so just to confirm, when you say that ever offer is conditional, what are the conditions usually? because I am not awaiting results from anywhere, I have already submitted all the documents. So I'm wondering what conditions could be imposed If I were to be made an offer?

Essentially it works like this (or has at some point worked like this, at least - give or take some minor details - the whole process used to be laid out in an official document, but not sure where it is now): There are five stages in the admissions process (if not rejected), but only some of them might show up on the portal and be changed at slightly different times because stages have to be updated manually and won’t affect their internal decisions anyway (i.e., it’s a bit of a time waste): 


- Submitted: This is the first stage. Simple enough; means your application was submitted and no one has had the time to update to “under review” yet. Many seem to worry about when their application moves from “submitted” compared to the others, but it really is the most insignificant of status changes.

- Under review by department: Most applications will stay here utnil either PAO or unsuccessful.

- Under review by degree committee: Essentially means that the application was not vetted out at departmental stage and subject to degree committee review (second stage). Most applicants will never see this stage on their portals because of the aforementioned time waste involved in updating this middle stage. 

- Awaiting approval by PAO: Means that the degree committee decided to recommend that you should be offered a place. The postgraduate admissions office’s (PAO) main task is mainly to check that you meet the minimum entry requirements and to check for potential fraud, etc. Since the degree committee won’t recommend a place to those who do not meet the requirements, PAO’s role is mainly only about the latter aspect, which is why only a very few applicants from unaccredited unis or with suspicious documents might not pass through this stage. 

- Offer: Will always be conditional because of the college system. 

Hope this helps!

Btw, someone mentioned something about number of places earlier. The uni has published their own admissions statistics for years, although they unfortunately merge all non-doctoral law postgrad stats together. Total non-doctoral offers made in 2019 were for example 419, of which 190 commenced their studies in Cam. Estimate around twice the number of offers as places.

[Edited by PolarBear21 on Feb 25, 2022]

Do we think there might be movement this coming week?

Best of success to everyone! 

[Edited by TheRuleofLaw on Mar 02, 2022]

Do we think there might be movement this coming week?

Do we think there might be movement this coming week?

If everything goes like in previous years, this next week rejections will be sent to all unsuccessful applicants and some others will move to GAO.