POSTGRADUATE APPLICATION DETAILS

Please visit theHumanities website which contains links to the seven discipline specific websites-

Humanities Mastersapplication requirements are:

  • A completed online application form

All applications are submitted through an online application system; please visit the mainUniversity of Southamptonwebsite -

Please choose: - Postgraduate Study/How to Apply/Online application form- making sure you select the correct academic year. The academic year runs from August each year, please ensure your chosen programmestart dates are in the correct academic year when applying.

2017-2018 / 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018
2018-2019 / 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019

You then choose your programme and select the ‘Apply online’ link. Application formsdonot have to be completed in one go, you can save your form and return to itat a later date, you are also able to log back in after submission and track the progress.

Your two references in support of your application should be academicand from your last or current period of study, these references can be emailed direct to us at . The system will send one request to your referees by email, after that you will need to chase them yourself; we do need at least one reference to make a decision on your application.

  • Copies of supporting degree transcripts (listing your subjects taken and grades achieved) and certificates awarded from all universities other than the University of Southampton

If your supporting degree is issued from a university other than from Southampton then please provide copies (if they are in a language other than English please obtain translations), please upload with your application or emailthrough not post originals.

  • Personal Statements/Samples of Work

Masters courses require a personal statement in support and/or a sample of work –please check with the table below for your programme and upload what is required with your application form at the time of submission or email the required documentation to If any of the documentation is missing then your application will be placed in the pending file for 30 days before being withdrawn.

Personal statements should normally be a minimum of 250 words and provide a detailed account of how you came to apply to this particular course of study atthis university, and provide evidence (prior study, work or other personal experience) that gives a sense of how your application fits into your broader plans for career or personal development. If you have a previous degree in a relevant subject, you should discuss what particular fields, areas or approaches have caught your interest and suggest ways in which this course will enable you to deepen your understanding. If your first degree was in another subject and/or your application comes after a perioddevoted to work, family or other commitments, you should comment on how you have pursued your interest in the discipline through personal reading, volunteer work or other experience.

Work Samples should normally comprise an essay of approx. 2500 words, or a longer piece of work with a section of 2500 words marked for particular consideration. The work should be appropriate to the subject area in which you intend to study (e.g. an assignment or essay from your undergraduate degree, appropriate to the subject area).

Selectors are looking for evidence of clear writing ability, both in terms of expression and in organisation and development of argument. Clear referencing is also essential.

(For MMus Music Composition and Performance applicants please see the table below)

  • Language requirement

Proof of language is not required for the initial application process. If you receive an offer from us we will advise you of any English language condition, however if you already have a language certificate that is less than 2 years old please upload a copy with your application form or email a copy to

  • Deferring

If you cannot take up your place on a programme e.g. because of lack of funding or if you have not met our conditions you will have to re-apply through the online application system, ensuring you select the next academic cycle.

Once you have submitted your application you have 30 days in which to supply any missing documentation, you will receive reminders and a final warning email about this so please ensure you put a current email address on your application form, if you fail to supply the missing documentation in this time then your application is withdrawn and placed in electronic storage, to reactivate simply email us with the missing information. For the purposes of making a decision electronic copies are sufficient, originals should not be posted. If you are thinking of applying for any funding for your programme it is advisable to get your application for a place on the programme submitted ahead of time. Once we make an offer and you have accepted it your place is heldfor youuntil the start of the academic year.

Required Mastersapplication supporting documentation

These can be uploaded with your application form, or emailed to , if supporting documentation is not provided within the 30 day period your application will automatically be withdrawn from the decision making process.

ENGLISH / Additional material required:
MA English Literary Studies
MA 20th & 21st Century Literature
MA Eighteenth C. Studies (Chawton)
MA Creative Writing / Sample of written work
FILM / Additional material required:
MA Film and Cultural Management
MA Film Studies / Personal statement and sample of academic writing
No additional material required
PHILOSOPHY / Additional material required:
MA Philosophy / Two samples of written work which should be of a philosophical nature
MODERN LANGUAGES / Additional material required:
MA Transnational Studies
MA Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching
MA Applied Linguistics (Research Methodology)
MA English Language Teaching
MA Language Acquisition Research
MA ELT/TESOL Studies
MA Global Englishes
MA ELT (online) part time / No additional material required
HISTORY / Additional material required:
MA History
MA Jewish History and Culture / No additional material required
MUSIC / Additional material required:
MMus (Musicology Pathway)
MMus (Composition Pathway)
MMus (Performance Pathway)
Please do not send CD/DVDs - samples of work for Composition and Performance applications should be uploaded to with notification emailed to
Dropoff instructions below. / A sample of written work (e.g. an undergraduate essay)
A sample of 4-6 composition pieces, totalling 40-60 minutes of music.Please send files through with notification emailed to
A sample of recorded performance (a subsequent live audition may be arranged for UK candidates). Please send files through with notification emailed to
ARCHAEOLOGY / Additional material required:
MA/MSc Maritime Archaeology
MA Osteoarchaeology
MSc Business Heritage Management / No additional material required

University of Southampton - Dropoff Service

Faculty of Humanities Applications for MMus Composition/Performance - Please use the Dropoff service (use the below link) to submit large files in support of an application to MMus Composition or MMus Performance

Please read the below information on how to use our dropoff service, this will ensure that we receive the files direct to the admissions team for decision on your application; if you send the files else where you may experience further delays in your application.

This service can handle files up to 20GB in size. There is a maximum of 20 GBytes per drop-off and 20 GBytes per file. Be sure to use a 64-bit web browser (such as Safari or Chrome on a Mac, or Chrome on Windows) on a 64-bit operating system (such as any Mac or Windows 7 64-bit) to upload more than 2GB in one drop-off.

Creating a Drop-off

  • When a user create a drop-off, you need to enter some identifying information about yourself;

Your Name: Your Full name as used in your application

Your Organisation: please enter your web id created when you applied

Your Email Address: As used in your application

  • Play the game to proves that you are a ‘Human’ to allow the dropoff to continue, you will then be sent an email with a link within, please open the email and follow the link as instructed
  • Complete the ‘To’ information
  • Name: Admissions
  • Email:
  • Click ‘Add Recipient’ then close the box.

There are two ways in which users can dropoff multiple files at once:

  • Attach each file individually on the dropoff page
  • Archive and compress the files into a single package and attach the resulting archive file on the dropoff page. There are many ways to archive and compress files:
  • Mac users can select the files in the Finder and Compress (see the File menu)
  • Windows users can create a "compressed folder" or use WinZip
  • Linux/Unix users, give the zip utility a try

Please note that the uploaded files are scanned for viruses.

Size Limitations on Uploads

Being able to upload files larger than 2 GB depends on the browser being used. The following major browsers have been tested:

Browser / Uploads>2 GB?
MAC / Safari 5.x / Yes
Chrome / Yes
Firefox 5.x / Yes
Opera 10.x / Yes
PC / Internet Explorer 6 / No
Internet Explorer 7 / No
Internet Explorer 9 64-bit / Yes
Firefox 5.x / Yes
Opera 10 / Yes

The Dropoff software itself has limits on the amount of data that can be uploaded in a single dropoff. Even for browsers that support uploads larger than 2 GB, dropoffs may not exceed 20.0 GB per file, or 20.0 GB total for the entire dropoff.
If you are having the following issues when dropping-off or picking-up a large file:

  • Your browser reports a bad or broken connection after downloading a significant portion of the file
  • An error page is displayed that indicates you dropped-off no files

Then you are most likely connected to the Internet via a connection too slow to move the amount of data in a timely fashion. Your computer has approximately 2 hours to fully send a drop-off.

Resumable Downloading of Files Most web browsers support resumable downloads. Imagine this scenario: you're sitting at your local coffee shop, downloading a 100 MByte PDF that a student uploaded to Dropoff for you. Suddenly, someone a few tables away starts watching the latest movie trailer (well, attempting to, anyway) and your wireless connection drops — you were 95MB into the download, and now you have to start over! Not so, if your browser supports resumable downloads; in which case, the browser requests only the remaining 5MB of the file.

Accepted File Types

Only the following file types are allowed for upload:

Text files:

TEXT .txt Plain text

PRN .prn Formatted text (space delimited)

Word processing application document files:

MSWORD .doc MS-Word

DOCX .docx MS-Word 2007

MCW .mcw Word for Macintosh

PDF .pdf Adobe Portable Document Format

PPS .pps MS-Powerpoint Slideshow

PPT .ppt MS-Powerpoint Presentation

RTF .rtf Rich Text Format

SDW .sdw StarOffice Text (Unix)

SXW .sxw StarOffice Text (Unix)

WP .wp WordPerfect

WPD .wpd WordPerfect

WPF .wpf WordPerfect

WPS .wps MS-Works Word Processor Doc

Document image files:

Page 2 of 4

file://\\soton.ac.uk\home\windows\ss3y07\mydesktop\twbkfrmt.htm 01/02/2010

BMP .bmp Windows Bitmap

GIF .gif Graphic Interchange Format

jpeg .jpeg Joint Photographic Experts Group

jpg .jpg Joint Photographic Experts Group

JPEG2000 .jp2 Joint Photo Experts Group 2000

TARGA .tga Targa Image

PNG .png Portable Network Graphics

TIF .tif Tagged Image File Format

TIFF .tiff Tagged Image File Format

Music files:

MP3 .mp3 MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3

MID .mid Midi Audio

MID .midi Midi Audio

SIB .sib Sibelius Music/ Score File

WMA .wma Windows Media Audio

Video files:

AVI .avi Audio Video Interleave (Movie file)

MPG .mpg MPEG Video (mpg)

MPE .mpe MPEG Video (mpe)

MPEG .mpeg MPEG Video (mpeg)

Quicktime .mov Quicktime video (Apple multimedia)

WMV .wmv Windows Media Video

Queries to