What are we looking for?

What are we looking for?

We look for students with academic ability and potential, who can show us commitment to their chosen course.

We want to encourage good applicants regardless of their school background. �� has a lot to offer able and motivated students from any type of school, and we know that you have a lot to offer us.

What we're looking for

When we assess your application, we'll be looking for:

Academic ability and potential
Motivation and suitability for your chosen course
Commitment and self discipline.

Strong candidates will usually have excellent grades, but we often overlook the odd low mark, and in special circumstances we will accept applicants with weaker grades.

We'll also be looking for enthusiasm and commitment to the subject, and to academic study generally. For instance, you may have read widely. For certain subjects, such as Medicine, Engineering, or Architecture, you may have taken a work placement in a relevant area.

If you are applying from outside the UK your application will be assessed in the same way as everyone else's. There's no quota system based on nationality, except in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. See our dedicated page for international students for more information.

Entrance requirements

You can find more detailed information about entrance requirements and different qualifications on these pages:

Please note that we do not normally consider applications from students enrolled on a degree course at another university, unless:

You are or
You are studying in the first year of a course as advised by the University because your school leaving qualifications are not adequate preparation for study at Cambridge or
You have exceptional circumstances or
You want to change the subject you're studying.

In cases 3 or 4, you will need strong support in the form of a written reference or letter of support from your course director.

If you transfer to Cambridge from another university, you will need to start your chosen Cambridge course from the beginning (first year). It is not possible to transfer credit to Cambridge from another university.

How we make decisions

Undergraduate admissions decisions are made by Colleges. After interviews have taken place in December we compare applicants to �� with applicants in the same subject at other Colleges to ensure that between us we make offers to the strongest candidate. Find out more about how Colleges make .

Subjects you can study at Jesus

We welcome applications for all subjects studied in the University. The ratio of applications to places in all subjects is about average for the University as a whole, although the number of students in each subject varies slightly from year to year.

Each year we take in roughly the following numbers of students in each subject:

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic - up to two
Archaeology - up to two
Architecture - two to three
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies - up to two
Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology - two to three
Classics - two to four
Computer Science - three to five
Design - two to three
Economics - around six
Education - approximately two
Engineering - 12 to 14
English - seven to nine
Geography - four to six
History - approximately seven to eight
History and Modern Languages - up to three
History and Politics - up to three
History of Art - up to two
Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) - approximately five to six
Land Economy - up to three
Law - eight to ten
Linguistics - up to two
Mathematics (including Maths with Physics) - seven to nine
Medicine - 11
Modern and Medieval Languages - six to eight
Music - three to four
Natural Sciences (Biological) and Natural Sciences (Physical) combined - 28 to 32
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences - two to three
Philosophy - up to two
Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion - up to three
Veterinary Medicine - three

If you have any further questions you might find the answer in our frequently asked questions. If you don't, please email us at undergraduate-admissions@jesus.cam.ac.uk.

Hear from our students

Rachel

Modern and Medieval Languages

Studying Modern Languages at Cambridge is about much more than learning languages, although that is certainly a very important part! The course takes you through literature, history, and linguistics, beginning with a broad overview and becoming more specialised in the second and fourth years. Before starting Cambridge, I had never read or even come into contact with any medieval French literature, yet I have just completed a dissertation on women's speech in 12th century French romance. The third year is a compulsory year abroad, a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself...

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Modern and Medieval Languages
Ben

Land Economy

Land economy covers an incredibly wide range of topics across multiple academic disciplines. This diversity makes it fascinating to study, offers flexibility to specialise or maintain a wide coverage and enables development of a great number of skills including solving quantitative problems, analysing legal cases and statutes, interpreting economic models, and writing reports. This range of skills means it acts as a stepping stone into many different careers. For example, I'm going to be an actuary and much of what I've learnt in my finance papers will be of great...

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Land Economy
Mohsen

Natural Sciences (Physical)

Studying a science option within the Natural Sciences Tripos provides an excellent opportunity to achieve a solid grounding in the core physical or biological sciences, as well as exploring new or different options that you may not have encountered at school. I have just finished my third year specialising in Materials Science at Jesus after studying Physics and Chemistry for the first two years. The ability to experience different options and tailor my direction of study especially appealed to me as I did not know what I wanted to specialise...

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Natural Sciences (Physical)
Maksym

Engineering

I chose to study Engineering at Cambridge because I really enjoyed the subjects that I studied at A-level (Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Economics), and I liked the practical side of the Engineering course at Cambridge. The Cambridge course differs from other Universities as you are taught General Engineering for the first two years, after which you specialise into your chosen branch of Engineering. This attracted me to the course as it means that you get a basic understanding of all types of engineering (Mechanical, Structural, Electrical etc) before having to...

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Engineering
Bella

Geography

Geography at Cambridge is a hugely diverse course, which allows you to obtain a wider grasp on the world. The knowledge and skills gained from topics within both human and physical geography can complement a huge range of jobs! My favourite topic so far has been the Earth, as I find Volcanology incredibly interesting, although Geopolitics has also caught my eye. Next term we’ll be carrying out a project on air quality, which will involve data collection and practical application of our statistics modules. When I visited Cambridge on an...

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Geography