Applicants from Switzerland

We welcome applicants from Switzerland who would like to apply for a place here at Christ's College. We also welcome teachers and guidance counselors at schools in Switzerland to get in touch if you have questions about supporting students from your school who would like to apply to Christ's College.

Entry requirements

Typical offers for Christ's applicants taking the Maturitätszeugnis (Federal Maturity Certificate) / Certificat De Maturité / Attestato Di Maturitá / Eidgenössisch Anerkanntes Kantonales Maturitätszeugnis / Certificat De Maturité Cantonal Reconnu Par La Confédération / Attestato Di Maturitä Cantonale Riconosciuto Dalla Confederazione would be based on an overall score of 5.1 and scores of 5.5 in three subjects.

Students taking the International Baccalaureate would normally need to achieve 42 points overall (including bonus points), with 7,7,6 in Higher Level subjects. If you are applying for a course that requires Maths at Higher Level in the IB, make sure that you take the Maths: Analysis and Approaches option at Higher Level. See our page for IB students.

Students taking International A levels will need to achieve at least A*AA or A*A*A, depending on the course applied for. See our page for International A levels.

Some courses require an Admissions Test. The registration dates for these tests are normally in mid-September so please check this carefully in relation to the course you are planning to apply for.

Offers for Mathematics include STEP II and III exams, which you take in the same summer as your Abitur or IB exams. Further information about STEP and preparation support is available on the Maths page.

English Language requirements

We may include IELTS Academic / TOEFL in offers to candidates whose English seems variable at interview, or in an at-interview admissions assessment; this is more common in essay-based subjects. If you demonstrate very good English Language skills at interview and in any  admissions test, we may not need to set you an English Language condition, however. If you are given an English Language condition, the standard requirements are on the university website. 

Some UK universities do routinely include TOEFL, IELTS and comparable qualifications in offers to students from Switzerland who are not native speakers of English, so if you already hold such a qualification, you should mention it in your UCAS application.

Student Profiles

Elise did the IB in Switzerland, and wrote a student profile for us at the end of her second year studying Geography at Christ’s:

• Elise's profile

It can be very helpful to read student profiles, so do look up the students who have written about the course you are interested in, and you might like to read accounts by our European students in other subjects too - we have a separate page where the profiles are grouped by where the students are from
 

The application deadline

For applicants applying in 2024 (for 2025 entry or deferred 2026 entry) the application deadline is 15 October 2024.

It is very, very important to check whether your course has a test that requires registration, as you will need to check the registration deadline for this. Depending on your subject you may need to register some time before the October UCAS application deadline. See the application process section below.
 

The application process

We recommend that you apply as soon as possible once UCAS opens for applications in September. Your course may require registration for an admissions assessment in September (depending on the subject) and then the UCAS application deadline for all courses is 15 October 2024.  Application is for entry the following October (or for deferred entry the year after). We encourage all applicants to read the information about applying on the relevant subject page, as well as the how to apply page well in advance of September, as there are a number of parts to the application procedure which may take time to organise and complete:

1. If you have a test that requires registration (needed for some of the courses), you will need to make sure you are registered for this by the relevant deadline. Details are updated on the Admissions Tests page by July each year for students applying the following October. You will be able to search for the test centres in Switzerland.
2. There is more than one application form. You first make a UCAS application and then you complete an additional form called My Cambridge Application.
3. You will need a referee who can provide a reference and predicted grades for any exams that you have not yet taken.
4. You will also need to arrange for your school to provide a transcript, which you upload as part of My Cambridge Application.

Do also explore our additional support pages for international applicants, and note that on 20 September Christ's publishes the current applicants section, which will support you (in detail!) through the next steps once you have submitted a valid application and chosen Christ's College in your UCAS application.

Further detail on aspects of the application process

We have additional help pages for international students for aspects of the application process such as UCAS personal statements, UCAS references, Admissions Tests and interviews. See the additional application support for international applicants.

Do read these details carefully, as it's important to understand what you will be assessed on and what we are looking for. It is worth bearing in mind, for example, that a Cambridge interview is not a straightforward academic “examination” of what you know: it is a way of finding out how you handle and apply new information, and whether you would thrive within the supervision (tutorial) system. See the interviews page for the detail.

Finance

Do have a look at our finance section for details of the costs and financial support available. In addition to the university-wide awards from the Cambridge, Commonwealth, European and International Trusts, you'll see that at Christ's we have Christ’s College International Awards and Christ's Awards.

The Christ's College International Awards awards are worth £10,000 a year and may be accompanied by a full or partial waiver of the College Fee (currently £11,300 a year).

More information is available on our page on international financial support .

Where can I find out more?

We encourage you to explore the college online as there are lots of pictures to help you to get a sense of it. We have a College map and there are picture pages for First Court, Second Court, Third Court, New Court and the Fellows' Garden, as well as a section on Christ's facilities including pages on the Hall, Canteen, Working Library, Old Library, Law Library, Chapel, Theatre, Common Rooms, Café and Bar, Swimming Pool, Gym, Squash Court, Function Room, Sports Fields and Boathouse. There's a page on accommodation, and 360 degree photography of First Court, The Fellows' Garden, and Third Court.

Do explore the undergraduate admissions section, and the international students section plus the relevant subject page in particular. If you read through some of the student profiles and the student life section, you'll also pick up lots of detail about College life.

For your course research we recommend reading the Christ's subject page (and following links from it to the university pages too). It is essential to read this page before making your application as it also has any subject-specific requirements, advice and resources.

We hope that you will feel free to email the Christ's Admissions Office: admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk with any questions. We'll be pleased to hear from you!

If you would like to visit Cambridge, you are welcome to Visit Christ's (and there are a number of options for this on the page). We also have events (including online events) through the year, so don't worry if you can't travel. We recommend reading this website, and it would be particularly helpful to sign up for our international webinar.

International Students / Should I apply? / How to apply / Subjects at Christ's / Application support for International Students