Our visit days aim to provide students with a better understanding and insight not only to university and Cambridge, but what they should be doing to help prepare for a potential application to top universities. Content is tailored to be relevant to the age group and their stage of education which is why we offer separate KS4 and KS5 days.
Visit days include:
Two sessions with our admissions and outreach staff to give students an understanding of what Cambridge has to offer, and guidance on what to be doing and thinking about at this stage in their education; the opportunity to interact with current undergraduate students and a tour of the college; and refreshments on arrival plus a buffet lunch.
All sessions and catering are provided free of charge. Unfortunately, we are not able to assist with travel costs.
The days run from 10:00 (refreshments available on arrival from 09:30-10:15) until 14:30.
Schools from our Link Areas will receive an email when booking opens*. There is a priority booking period for Link Area maintained schools - schools from outside of these areas will only be considered after the priority booking period has ended and where we have remaining capacity, on a first-come first-served basis.
*We can only circulate to schools where we have a contact! Please ensure you are signed up to receive our Teacher and Advisers Newsletter, so we have an up-to-date contact for your school. Multiple sign-ups from the same school are very welcome.
Priority booking periods for 2025-26:
From early July to 15 July 2025 for dates in October, November and January. Email notification when opening will be sent to all link area schools for whom we hold an email contact. Sign up to our newsletters if you haven't already!
From 1 July to 1 October 2025 for dates in February to June.
KS4 Visit Days are designed for students in Year 10 or 11 England/Wales, Year 12/13 Northern Ireland, S3/4 Scotland.
The first session of the visit is an Introduction to University and Cambridge, in which we explain what university has to offer, why consider Cambridge, the support available at university, and how we differ to other universities in the UK.
The second session Subject Matters: Choosing Your Post-16 Options brings the students to consider their next steps in education. In this session we'll dive deeper into thinking about university courses, how they translate into careers, thinking about their skills and interests, and what combinations of subjects and qualifications make for a competitive application.
Selecting Students
We're happy to consider single-year groups, or groups that are a mix of Year 10 and 11 students as the school prefers. Schools can initially request 15 student places and two accompanying staff members. At the point of booking, you can also specify if you would like to book additional spaces if capacity allows.
KS5 Visit Days are for students in Year 12 England/Wales, Year 13 Northern Ireland, S5 Scotland.
The first session of the visit is an Introduction to University and Cambridge, in which we explain what university has to offer, why consider Cambridge, the support available at university, and how we differ to other universities in the UK.
The second session Supercurricular Activities & Preparing a Competitive Application brings the students to consider their next steps in education. In this session we'll dive deeper into thinking about university courses, how they translate into careers, thinking about their skills and interests, and what combinations of subjects and qualifications make for a competitive application.
Selecting Students
Schools can initially request 15 student places and two accompanying staff members. At the point of booking, you can also specify if you would like to book additional spaces if capacity allows.
Students for our Year 12 days should be taking suitable qualifications for the course(s) they are considering. They should normally be taking 3 A-Level qualifications, or the International Baccalaureate Diploma, or Highers (and Advanced Highers - Scotland). Please note that qualifications such as BTECs, Applied A-Levels and some other Level 3 qualifications like Criminology are not normally accepted as part of three qualifications for study at Cambridge (with the exception of the Foundation Year in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, which isn't offered at Christ's but which you can find out more about here).
Read more about accepted qualifications at Cambridge here.
You can check course requirements here. Particular ones to note are: Engineering, Economics, Computer Science, Mathematics (Further Maths for those doing A-Level); Medicine; Natural Sciences; Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology; Psychological and Behavioural Sciences.
Link Area priority booking period: until 15 July for autumn and January dates, until 1 October for February 2026 onwards. Requests after each deadline will be considered from schools from any location, on a first-come first-served basis.
There are 60 student places available on each date.
KS4 Visit Days for students in Year 10 or 11 England/Wales, Year 12/13 Northern Ireland, S3/4 Scotland:
Autumn: Tuesday 21 October 2025
Winter/Spring: Friday 30 January 2026, Friday 20 March 2026
Summer: Monday 22 June 2026
KS5 Visit Days for students in Year 12 England/Wales, Year 13 Northern Ireland, S5 Scotland:
Autumn: Friday 17 October 2025, Thursday 6 November 2025, Friday 16 January 2026
Winter/Spring: Tuesday 10 February 2026, Tuesday 3 March 2026, Monday 23 March 2026
Summer: Monday 29 June 2026
You can rank your preference for up to three dates per KS4 or KS5 day. Flexibility is helpful for us to accommodate as many requests as possible!
Want to hear about future visit days? Make sure you're signed up to our Teachers & Advisers Newsletter!
Please click here to make a booking request for 2025-2026 dates.
Deadlines
Link area school requests received by the priority request deadlines outlined below will be given equal consideration. We aim to get in touch with all schools who have requested within 10 days of the priority deadline.
For dates in October, November 2025 and January 2026: priority request period is 3-15 July 2025.
For dates in February to June 2026: priority request deadline is 1 October 2025.
The upcoming dates section above will be updated with spaces remaining after each of these deadlines pass and spaces allocated. Further request after these deadlines will be considered, but on a first-come first-served basis where there's still spaces!
Later dates are not yet open for booking but you should sign up to our teacher mailing list if you want to be notified.
Link area state schools will be contacted first as part of a priority booking request period.
Details you need for your request
We will ask for: your school name and details; the name and contact details of the teacher/staff member completing the form; which day you wish to request for (KS4 or KS5) and preference of dates; how many pupils you wish to bring.
You may wish to read our Practical Advice page for school visits to us, including guidance around travel and accessibility.
Our visit days are always advertised to those on our Teacher and Advisers list. If you would like to receive our newsletters, please sign up here!
Please note that visits to Cambridge are in very high demand so please book early. Link area schools will be given priority when booking visits to Christ's.
After submitting a request
If we are able to allocate you spaces for a preferred date, we will then ask you to confirm acceptance for the given date and for further details from you. This will include confirming the designated staff contact (someone who is attending with the group), and any accessibility, disability, religious or dietary requirements of which we need to be aware for those attending.
If you are a link area school, you should read our page for you here! This outlines the various support we might be able to provide.
There are also myriad opportunities for students and teachers to engage with us in person and online outside of visit days, and regardless of location. This includes: Open Day or similar events (October, February, July and September); our Regular Webinar Series; or outreach taster days and residentials (January-August, deadlines may be several months beforehand).
You can find out more about any of the above linking from our events page. We also advertise all of our opportunities via the University's Upcoming Events page - this is updated regularly and a key resource for staff and students alike.
We're also always reachable via email at admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk for any admissions queries no matter how big or small - we're Kristy, Fran and Ellie!