What are your top tips for applying to an MSc programme at Cambridge?

1. Provide an additional reference
On the course website, you can read that providing an additional (third) reference is optional. Since there’s no cost of doing so (literally just sending an email to the Faculty asking if you can provide the additional reference: https://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate-studies/mphil-economics/how-and-when-apply), I’d advise to provide the third reference since it is one more opportunity for your referee to confirm your achievements. As long as the CV and the personal statement (called “reasons for applying” in the context of MPhils at the Faculty in Economics) is an important opportunity to “sell” yourself to the admissions officers, it is crucial to have your referees back it up!
In terms of references more generally, I’d also say that academic references are preferred to professional references (e.g., from someone from your internship/work experience). As long as a praise from the employer can be valuable, what they seem to be looking for here is your aptitude for the MPhil course based on your past study. What would appear most valuable to me is to have a referee who knows you relatively well and is ready to praise you for your academic achievements.

2. Highlight your quantitative skills
This is something that I would advise to apply to both your CV and reasons to applying: try to highlight your achievements related to quantitative skills and experience related to those. The master’s programmes here rely on you having a good background in mathematics and statistics – if you’ve had an internship where you applied some techniques you learned during your time at Warwick (e.g., econometrics), did a successful research project (either within or outside of the course) or took a math-heavy module and got a First (e.g., an econometrics module in Year 3 or one of the Mathematical Economics modules), it would be an advantage to write about it explicitly. Having good quantitative skills (i.e., the knowledge of maths and stats useful in economics) is a good predictor of success in the discipline – while applying for such a master’s, you should definitely aim to highlight that. If you’ve got the tools, you’re most likely ready to do well in the MPhil course.

3. Show that you are a good match
Naturally, what the admissions officers are looking for is a good match for their course: they’re looking for someone who really wants to the MPhil (and has the potential to do well in the course), but also someone who will be a fine addition to the student community here at Faculty of Economics. This means that, on the one hand, you should show why Cambridge is a good choice for you: do research about the Faculty staff, about the research they do, and explain in your reasons for applying why what they’re doing matches your interests well; why it would be great to interact with people that research something that interests you. But also show why you are a good choice for them: show that you will be able to do well in the course because of your maths and stats background (as I mentioned above); show that you are a highly motivated individual ready to study graduate economics at the highest level, with ambitions for a successful professional career. This way, you are going to convince them that it is not only you fitting Cambridge, but also Cambridge being the right choice for you!