The UCAS application

It is in the UCAS application that you choose a College, if you want to. If you like Christ's College, then we hope that you will choose us! 

If you choose Christ's College then we will receive your application directly and you will first of all be considered for a place at Christ's. We will also consider you on behalf of the whole university so that if you make a strong application but are squeezed out by competition for places in your subject at this College, you may be selected for consideration by other Colleges at the Winter Pool (there is a moderation process as across the university we obviously want to be able to select the best students who apply for each course).

Information about choosing a College and why to choose Christ's College is available, and as international applicants we recommend that you read these comments by some of our international students (as well as the more detailed student profiles) - we get consistent feedback that Christ's is a welcoming and friendly environment for students from outside the UK. 

If you don't want to choose a College, this is called making an open application. This just means that you'll be allocated a College by a computer rather than choosing it yourself. There is no advantage to this - it's just a way for people to apply to Cambridge if choosing a College is too difficult. Open applicants are allocated to Colleges a few days after the 15 Oct application deadline, so apart from having to wait a few days extra for your welcome email from your College, there is no difference in the process. Once you have been added to your allocated College's list of applicants, your application will be processed in exactly the same way as the students who chose that College. Only the administrator will even know that you made an open application. 

Note that the info and support on this website is for students who are being (or considering being) assessed by Christ's. If you apply to a different College in your UCAS application, or if you make an open application and are allocated to a different College, it would be best to instead read that College's website.

Please make sure that you fill in your UCAS application fully, even if you are also asked for information on other forms. 

You will be asked to enter all your qualifications from secondary education onwards, whether you have the result (even any that were ungraded) or you’re still awaiting exams and results. Make sure you add as much detail as possible – including grades and results. Qualifications are listed by name and country, but don’t worry if yours isn’t there – just add it into the ‘other’ box.

Please do not miss out any qualifications - the information must be given even if you were not pleased with the grade achieved! If you are retaking an exam, you must enter what you got originally as well as listing it as a qualification that you will be taking this year. Failure to provide full information is taken seriously and could result in the withdrawal of an offer. The best way to deal with any grades you are concerned about is to ask your referee to comment on these in your reference.

As well as your high school qualifications, please include any additional qualifications you may have taken, such as:

English Language qualifications (if you have taken an additional test such as IELTS Academic / TOEFL Internet Based Test / Cambridge English C1/C2)

SAT / ACT results

Once you have completed your part of the UCAS application, your referee will then need to provide your UCAS reference and predicted grades for any exams that you have not yet taken. It is therefore important to complete your part of the UCAS application in plenty of time before the application deadline so that your UCAS referee has time to complete the reference section for you (please ensure that your referee is aware of the deadlines - it is your responsibility to check that they submit their part in time). We cannot consider your application without a reference and predicted grades.

We recommend that you take time in the summer to work on your personal statement, which may need several drafts before you are ready to include it in your UCAS application.

We understand that it can be hard to know what we are looking for in the UCAS personal statement, especially as it's very different from the College Essay needed for applications to US universities! Don't worry as support is available: we have a page on personal statements as well as a regular webinar on personal statements, which we recommend that you attend between May and August before you apply. 

UCAS also provides a helpful guide to filling in your UCAS application, which should answer most questions.

If you have a disability, Specific Learning Difficulty or long-term illness (that includes mental illnesses), we encourage you to declare this in your UCAS application. See further information

If you are a care leaver, please tick the box in your UCAS application

If your education has been significantly disrupted or disadvantaged, your referee should mention this in the section on Extenuating circumstances in the UCAS reference. We only need brief details, but if additional space is needed, they may submit an Extenuating Circumstances Form by 22 October (details will be in the current applicants section published on 20 Sept).

If you are applying from a university, please also read this page.

If you will be 21 or over at the start of your course, please also read this page.

If you play the organ and would like to be considered for an Organ Scholarship, it is important that you read about the application process for organ scholars.

For questions about how to complete the UCAS application, we recommend that you first of all check the UCAS FAQ's and if you cannot find the answer, please contact UCAS directly. Please ensure that you have your UCAS Personal ID to hand as you will need it in any communication with UCAS.

Please contact UCAS rather than Christ's for any information about how to complete your UCAS application as they are the experts.

When you apply you will need to pay the UCAS application fee. 

For students applying in Oct 2024 the fee is £28.50 (you can apply for up to five universities for £28.50). 

Look out for the log-in email for My Cambridge Application (the additional questionnaire)

Within 48 hours of your UCAS application submission, you will receive an email from Cambridge University (central team) with log-in details for the My Cambridge Application. Look out for this, and check your junk / spam folders if you can't see it. Further detail is on the My Cambridge Application page.

UCAS Account

Whether you are just applying to Cambridge in the UK or have also chosen other UK universities, you will be able to track all of your UK applications together by logging into your UCAS account. One warning: when we invite students for interview, we do not update your UCAS account as we communicate with you directly about this.

You'll need your UCAS number when you email us

You will have a ten digit number for your UCAS application. We ask you to start every email to Christ's after you have submitted your UCAS application with the following details:

This makes a big difference in helping us to work efficiently to answer your queries, so thank you very much in advance for remembering, and we will remind you about it if you don't (we may ask you to re-send your email).