Christ's and Trinity Colleges run an annual Women in Maths residential, taking place from 27-29 March 2025. This opportunity is open to Year 12 students in England and Wales, S5 Scotland, and Y13 Northern Ireland women - see below for further eligibility criteria and to apply.
- What is the Women in Maths Programme?
- What does the event cost?
- Eligibility and selection
- Apply for a place on the 2025 Women in Maths Residential
- If you are in looking for other maths opportunities
- Info for students observing Ramadan
What is the Christ's-Trinity Women in Maths Programme?
While there are lots of events run across the country to encourage young women to study STEM subjects, this programme specifically targets potential female applicants to Mathematics courses at top universities. It will take place in Cambridge from 27-29 March 2025 (see below for students observing Ramadan).
This programme is open to women who are interested in studying Maths and related courses at a top university. During the programme, you’ll attend lectures and classes taught by Cambridge academics and meet current students and admissions staff. It's a great opportunity to gain an insight into what it’s like to study at Maths at the University of Cambridge. Attendees will also have the chance to explore Christ's and Trinity Colleges, and take part in social activities and other maths-related activities alongside the academic lectures and classes.
What does the Christ's-Trinity Women in Maths Programme cost?
The event is free of charge (including meals and accommodation) with the exception of travel to and from Cambridge. If you feel that you may require travel expenses to be able to attend, please get in touch, as some support may be available.
I enjoyed meeting people from all over the country and especially those with similar academic interests. There is only one other girl who is looking at Maths in my school and a small Further Maths class so it was cool to even just see that many people do it. A trip alone was also fun to expereience which was out of my comfort zone: a new place with new people.
Eligibility and selection
To be eligible for this event, you must meet all of the following criteria:
- You are a woman studying at a UK school that does not charge fees (even if you are on a bursary or scholarship)
- You will be in Year 12 (England/Wales)/ S5 (Scotland)/ Y13 (Northern Ireland) at the time of the event
- You will be aged 16 or over by the first day of the programme (27 March 2025)
- You can attend the full programme (from c. 2pm on Thursday 27 March to lunchtime on Saturday 29 March 2025 - you should check that school will give you permission to attend)
- You must be studying for any of the following:
- A Level Mathematics and A Level Further Mathematics including if you are doing Maths in Year 12 (Year 13 in N. Ireland) followed by Further Maths in Year 13 (Y14 NI)
- International Baccalaureate Higher Level Mathematics 'Analysis and Approaches'
- Scottish Higher in Maths with the intention to study Advanced Highers in Maths and one of Mechanics of Mathematics, Physics or Statistics.
- An equivalent academic qualification - please get in touch prior to making an application
Please get in touch if you have any queries about your qualifications and please note that Core Maths is not a suitable qualification for this event. Students self-studying Further Maths A-Level will be considered.
Applicants will be assessed based on their academic record, their commitment to exploring maths at a higher level, and a teacher’s reference. In addition, we are particularly keen to identify students with little or no family tradition of higher education, those whose schools don’t send many applicants to Cambridge University, and students who’ve spent any time in care.
It may be helpful to note that in previous years, almost all those successful in being placed on this event had achieved the highest grades in Mathematics at GCSE/National 5 and were on track to achieve top grades in relevant subjects at A-Level/Higher/IB HL.
If selected to attend, you will be sent a confirmation form, requirements form and a code of conduct, which you must have signed by a parent/guardian via an online form (so, no need for scanning or posting!) – this is to confirm that you have permission to attend the residential in Cambridge and to notify us of any requirements you may have.
What I enjoyed most about the residential was the incredible people that I met, I’m so glad that I met them and that we got to share our passion for maths. I really loved the talks as they showed me how maths can be used beyond A-Level and how fundamental and important it is, which makes me proud to want to study it.
Applying
Applications for 2025 have not opened yet but you can register your interest here and we'll email you when applications open for 2025. We expect applications to open in or before early December 2024.
All applications must be accompanied by a teacher reference - you will be asked on the application form to provide the details of a supporting teacher who can complete a reference on your behalf. It would be helpful if this teacher is one of your Maths/Further Maths teachers (if it is e.g. a form tutor, they should still speak with your subject teacher before completing the reference).
Once we have received your application, we will then contact your teacher to complete the reference for you. Sometimes this email ends up in spam (especially with school firewalls) so you should check that they have received it.
All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of February 2025. All applications received by the deadline and with an accompanying teacher reference will be considered equally, and applications will not be assessed until the reference deadline has passed (date TBC when application open). Please note that due to the limited spaces available on events such as these, we do not normally take more than two students from any one school, except in exceptional circumstances.
If you are currently in Year 12 England/Wales, Year 13 Northern Ireland or S5 Scotland and looking for other opportunities
If you can't attend, found this information too late or are not eligible for this event, don't worry as there are plenty of other opportunities to find out about studying Maths at Cambridge.
Do consider coming on an Open Day / Online Event at Christ's College (next open day: October including subject meetings!) or an Open Day at Trinity College if you'd like to find out more (booking required).
The Maths faculty runs an annual Maths open day which both Christ's and Trinity take part in. You can also see the events listing for events across the university here.
Practical Details
Students are responsible for getting themselves to and from Cambridge. You may find the following travel information useful for your planning:
For Students Observing Ramadan
It is expected that Ramadan will overlap with the Women in Maths event in 2025. If you are planning to observe Ramadan, please read our information page on what to expect during your stay with us at this time. Students observing Ramadan are very much welcome to attend our events and we will be putting in place arrangements to allow you to both attend and observe.
Get in Touch
You can send any questions to Ellie Wood, Admissions & Outreach Officer at access@christs.cam.ac.uk.
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It was such a good experience that I can't really isolate one bit of it. Everything from the tours of the colleges, to the lectures which have inspired my own further supracurricular exploration of maths and given me confidence in choosing to study maths at university in the future, to the social events and the people, who also inspired me to have high aspirations when applying to uni. All of this meant I left the event with more friends, more ideas and more confidence in what I want to achieve.
