Second Court
Second Court, Christ's College

We welcome applicants from Hungary who would like to apply for a place here at Christ's College. We also welcome teachers and guidance counselors at schools in Hungary to get in touch if you have questions about supporting students from your school who would like to apply to Christ's College. Our Director of Admissions, Dr Emily Tomlinson is sometimes able to meet with Hungarian students on visits to Hungary for events with the Milestone Institute.

News

Do join us for regular webinars, online open days and the next Christ's International Webinar. A complete list of forthcoming events is here - quite a few of them are online!

If you are applying for one of the following courses, please be aware that you will need to register for an Admissions Test by mid-September: Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Natural Sciences. We advise you to register as early as you can to increase your chances of getting your chosen Test Centre. Further info below. 


Entry requirements

Dr Emily Tomlinson (Christ's Director of Admissions) speaking to students at the Milestone Institute, May 2024

Typical offers for Christ's applicants taking the Matura /Érettségi Bizonyítvány (Secondary Education Graduation Certificate) require at least four subjects at grade 5 (jeles) and one at grade 4.

It will be important to take particular care to also ensure that you meet any specific subject requirements for your chosen course. These are set out on the subject pages. Where there is a required subject for the degree (e.g. Mathematics for Mathematics, Physics or Engineering degrees), students would be expected to take the Higher (emelt szintu) examination in this subject. We would normally expect students to be taking at least two of the five Matura subjects at the Higher Level.

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, please make sure that you take the Maths: Analysis and Approaches option at Higher Level. See the information about taking the IB in Hungary and our page for IB students.

Some courses require an admissions test. The dates and registration details for these tests vary from subject to subject so please check this carefully in relation to the course you are planning to apply for.

Offers for Mathematics include STEP II and III. Further information about STEP and preparation support is available on the Maths page.

 

English Language requirements

Books in the Milestone Institute
These shelves at the Milestone Institute house books shipped from Christ's Working Library so that prospective students and offer holders in Hungary can practice reading academic books in English and develop interests in relevant areas for our courses.

If English is not your first language, we will look at your grades for English at school and also assess your language skills during the various elements of the Cambridge application process. We may include an English requirement in an offer if a candidate's English seems variable at interview, or in a written  assessment. This is more common in essay-based subjects.

If you are given an English Language condition, the standard requirements are on the university website, and you would have about seven months to meet the condition after your offer is made in January.

NB. Some UK universities do routinely include TOEFL, IELTS and comparable qualifications in offers to Hungarian students, so if you already hold such a qualification, you should mention it in your UCAS application.
 

Academic programmes and competitions

You might like to look into programmes offered by the Budapest-based Milestone Institute, which supports students’ intellectual development and has helped a lot of Oxbridge applicants. You might like to read Milestone at a Glance and this article, for example.

Many successful applicants have participated in Maths and Science competitions (including international Maths and Science Olympiads), and doing well in such competitions can be a good way to demonstrate that your mathematical and/or scientific knowledge and skills are at the required standard, particularly if you have not taken A levels. Taking part in any form of competitive academic activity will also emphasise your commitment to the subject involved.

Here at Christ's College, students from Eastern Europe and the Baltic States who have won individual medals at selected International Science Olympiads and perform strongly in our interviews and assessments will be considered for adjusted offers, that is, offers set at a lower level than would be the case for non-medalists.

If you are applying for an essay subject such as History, English, Philosophy or Classics, a number of Cambridge Colleges hold essay competitions which you might find helpful and enjoyable. See, for example the Trinity Essay prizes. There is no obligation to take part in these, but they can offer good opportunities to explore a relevant topic and write in English, and if you do well, this will be an achievement that you can tell us about in your application. A good place to look for essay prizes is in the helpful resources tables on our subject pages.
 

The application deadline

For applicants from Hungary 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 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.
 

Two students walking in Third Court
Third Court (Blyth Building in the background)

The application process

We recommend that you apply as soon as possible once UCAS opens for applications in September. Your course may require registration in September for an admissions test (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 Hungary.
  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.

 

Finance

Students from Hungary are encouraged to 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 and do also read the notes for EU students.

 

Where can I find out more?

Webinar poster
 One of our regular webinars. Info and booking here

We encourge 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.

If you read through some of the student profiles and the student life section, you'll 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 next international webinar.

 

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