Christ's students by the passageway

Applying to Cambridge is much the same as applying to other UK universities, but we have an early application deadline (18:00 UK time on 15 October for all courses), and there are extra things to do, such as sending in additional forms and documents, taking an admissions assessment, and coming for interviews.

This page provides information for Christ's College applicants: 

If you would like to know more about applying to Cambridge, please visit the University applications section.
 

An overview of the application timeline

Here is a list of dates and deadlines for the admissions process at Christ's College. Note that the application process is reviewed each year and there can be changes to forms and which subjects require a pre-interview assessment. We normally have any changes included in the info below by early July.

January - June

September

October

  • 1 October (18:00 UK time): First registration deadline (recommended) for the BMAT (Medicine applicants) and TMUA (Computer Science applicants)
  • 15 October (18:00 UK time): Deadline for UCAS application
  • 15 October (18:00 UK time): Final registration deadline for all pre-interview assessments. Please note that open centres may set an earlier deadline for accepting entries, and it is your responsibility to check if this applies at your centre.
  • 16 October: Important Information for applicants email sent to all Christ's applicants with information about the next stages of the admissions process, what you need to send when, and support from Christ's Admissions Office via the current applicants section.
  • 22 October (18:00 UK time): Applicants (for all interview schemes except GMT+7) submit the SAQ (received by email after UCAS form submission), and some applicants also include a transcript. 
  • 22 October (23:59): Multiple further deadlines (see stage 2 in the current applicants section, once available) including the Extenuating Circumstances Form, a form & accompanying document that students with a disability, Specific Learning Difficulty or long-term illness need to send, and a form on Covid-19 disruption etc. 

November

  • Early November: Pre-interview assessments for some courses taken in schools or assessment centres around the world
  • Date tbc. November: Multiple deadlines including written work and cover sheet (certain essay subjects only).
  • Late November: Deadline for Cambridge interviews attendance reply form

December

January

  • Mid January: Winter pool takes place. A small number of applicants may be contacted and asked to attend a further remote interview.
  • 24 January 2023: Decisions given to applicants by email. If you receive an offer, we then send your detailed offer letter by by email, and you will be given a link to the offer holders section (updated in late January).

February

May-June

A Levels, IB and other examinations taken – including STEP for Mathematics.

August

  • Examination results published and confirmation of conditional offers that have been met - all conditional offers must be met by 31 August (the deadline set by UCAS) unless otherwise specified.
  • Some students who applied in October but did not get an offer may be eligible to be considered via the August reconsideration pool. If you were interviewed in December and did not get an offer but meet the widening participation criteria for the August reconsideration pool, we will tell you this by email in January.

September

Freshers’ Information emailed to successful offer holders.
 

Further detail

The UCAS application

To apply to the University of Cambridge you must submit your application through UCAS. If you choose Christ's College in your UCAS application, we will receive your application directly and process it from there. Please note that Cambridge has an earlier UCAS deadline than most other universities, which is 18:00 UK time on 15 October for every course we offer, though candidates in GMT+7 or more countries except China and Hong Kong apply by 20 September for courses covered by the GMT+7 scheme (detail available nearer the time), and those applying for an organ scholarship must apply by 1 September. We are not able to consider late UCAS applications under any circumstances.

Admissions assessments 

Applicants for many courses are required to take an admissions assessment, either pre-interview or at interview (the list of subjects that require these assessments is updated in July each year). The course-specific written assessments are designed to supplement the information in your application and provide a gauge of your abilities – to assess skills (such as comprehension and thinking skills) and, where appropriate, levels of current knowledge and understanding relevant to the course applied for.

Pre-interview assessments will take place in early November. Your school or test centre must register you for the relevant assessment by 

  • 18:00 (UK time) on 1 October if you are applying for Medicine or Computer Science
    (otherwise, you can register until 15 Oc if you pay a fee).
  • 18:00 (UK time) on 15 October if you are applying for another subject that requires a pre-interview assessment

Some courses that don't require a pre-interview assessment use an at-interview assessment for which no prior registration is required.

Additional questionnaire (SAQ)

All applicants are also required to complete an additional questionnaire called the SAQ. You can only do this after you have sent your UCAS application - The SAQ log-in details are emailed to you within 48 hours of your UCAS application submission, and you must submit the SAQ by either 27 September (if applying for GMT+7 interviews only) or 22 October. There is information and guidance on the Cambridge Admissions website (see in particular the Guide to completing the SAQ), and there is a SAQ helpdesk email address to contact if you have any questions (saqhelp@admin.cam.ac.uk). The most common problem is that the email containing the SAQ log in details sometimes goes into people’s junk / spam folder, so do check there first if the expected email hasn’t arrived in your inbox within 48 hours.

If applying for an Organ Scholarship, check the Organ applications page for details of the process.
 

Support for Christ's applicants: the current applicants section

At Christ's we publish an open-access current applicants section for each year's applicants on 20 September. This section is designed to support you from when you have submitted your UCAS application through the entire admissions process.

We email all applicants at Christ's just after the 15 October UCAS application deadline to introduce ourselves and send you to the current applicants section. This is called the Important Information for Applicants email, and it is normally sent at the end of 16 October. Introductions and explanations done, the current applicants section is then your first point of reference in October, November, December and January, since it provides details of what you need to do, sets out the arrangements and any requirements for each subject (e.g. any written work to send), answers common questions, and updates you so that you know when invitations to online interviews are sent out for individual subjects, for example. We update it most days, sometimes several times a day! 

As you can see in the overview above, there are a lot of parts to the admissions process, however in the current applicants section, we break the process down into a few chunks (stages) and tell you clearly what to focus on in which time period so that it doesn't feel too overwhelming.

Of course, if you have questions that are specific to your application, or you can't find a piece of information that you're looking for, you would then email us directly. Our email address is admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk, and we request that you start all of your emails (every single one!) with

  • Your name (exactly as you wrote it on your UCAS form), 
  • The course you have applied for (including 'Biological or Physical' if Natural Sciences),
  • Your UCAS number (with no dashes)
  • Your requested interview location if not Cambridge, UK. 

This helps us to process your query as quickly as possible so that we can get you the information you need.

"I think if you take the application process step by step instead of viewing it as a whole, it’s much less stressful."

Max, History

Further Information

Applying from a background with low participation in Higher Education If you're the first in your family to apply to university, or if you go to a school / live in an area where not that many people apply to universities like Cambridge & Oxford. 
International applicants
(EU and overseas)		 If you are applying from outside the UK (this is a whole section and includes additional application support for non-UK students)
Updates for EU students Keeping you updated as details are confirmed following Brexit.
Post-qualification applications If you have already taken your A Levels, International Baccalaureate or equivalent qualifications.
Taking a gap year If you will take a gap year between school and Cambridge.
UK care leavers If you've you’ve spent time in local authority care in the UK.
Mature applicants If you will be 21 or over when you start the Cambridge course.
Ethnic diversity If you have concerns about studying at Cambridge these films with Courtney Daniella may be helpful.
Applying from a university If you will be a current student at a university when you apply.
If you already have a degree If you already have already completed a university degree when you apply.
Extenuating Circumstances If you have circumstances that have caused educational or home life disruption or disadvantage (this covers quite a wide range of things).
Disability / Specific Learning Difficulty / Long-term illness If you have a disability, Specific Learning Difficulty, or long-term illness.
Organ Award applicants If you are applying for an organ scholarship (music award).
Teachers and parents If you are a teacher or a parent / guardian supporting an applicant.


Back to the undergraduate admissions main page / Subjects at Christ's / How we use your personal information