For information on applying as an international (non-UK) student, please see our International pages.
Q. How will Brexit affect my intended studies?
The Universities Minister for England announced on 23 June 2020 that EU (except Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland), other EEA and Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for home fee status for courses starting in academic year 2021/22. For more information, please visit https://www.eu.admin.cam.ac.uk/
Students from within the EEA and Switzerland are likely to need to apply for a visa in order to study at the University if they are moving to the UK after 1 January 2021. EEA and Swiss students moving to the UK to start full-time studies prior to this date will not require a visa and can apply for the EU Settlement Scheme after arriving in the UK. Please see the https://www.internationalstudents.cam.ac.uk/immigration for more information for visa requirements.
Q. Will I be required to pass a language test?
Whether or not you have to take a language test set will depend on a number of conditions. Please see our Competence in English pages for more information.
Q. Why am I being asked to submit a language test when my first language is English or I have studied in the UK?
The Applicant Portal will automatically request an English language test from you based on your nationality.
If you have previously studied in the UK for a minimum of three years, and your course was completed within two years of the proposed course start date at Cambridge, you would not normally need to provide a language test.
If this does not apply to you, you will normally be asked to provide a language test.
If you believe you do not need to provide a language test, please select "Other" in the Applicant Portal and state your reasons why.
If you are made an offer, we will decide whether or not a test is required. If the test is required, it will be a condition of your offer to provide it.
Q. When do I need to take my language test?
Unless you are applying for the LLM or MCL, you do not need to take the test before you apply.
If you are made a conditional offer and have not already met our language requirements, one of the conditions of your offer will be that you pass a test at the required level.
Please note that test results only remain valid for two years.
Q. I need to book an English language test, but the test centre in my country is closed – what do I do?
If you have received an offer of admission to the University, you may have been set a condition to achieve the required English language score by the relevant offer conditions deadline.
If your course starts in Michaelmas Term 2021 (October), the deadline to provide English language test results will be 31 July 2021. If you are eligible for an assessment by the University of Cambridge Language Centre, we will notify you via the Self-service portal, but only after providing a valid language exam.
For information on which English language online tests we are able to accept as evidence of English proficiency, please visit our dedicated webpage www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/coronavirus.
We also recommend you check the following websites regularly for updates on language test centres.
Q. Can I arrange for my IELTS certificate to be posted to you?
No, please do not arrange for IELTS certificates to be posted to us. Upload a copy via the self-service portal, ensuring that the TRF number is visible. We are able to verify the authenticity of your results online.
If you do not have the official certificate, we will also accept an uploaded screen print of your score report, as long as it shows your IELTS registration number (TRF).
Q. I narrowly missed the language requirement. What do I do?
Please submit your language certificate so that it may be assessed and a decision taken by the academic department that runs your course and the Postgraduate Admissions Office.
Q. Does my non-UK qualification meet your academic requirements?
Please use the equivalence guidelines lookup tool at the end of the International Qualifications page.
Q. When will I receive my CAS/ATAS statement?
We can only issue your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) once you have met all of the conditions of your offer and your admission is shown as confirmed on your Self-Service account. See the CAS page for more details.
We cannot provide information on the status of your Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) application. If you have any queries regarding this, please contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office directly.
If an ATAS is required for your course, you must upload the certificate once you have received it from the FCO, to your Self-Service account.
Q. I am a refugee, what support or advice can I access?
The University has set up The Refugee Hub to serve as the point of contact for refugees and displaced persons at the University of Cambridge. It brings together research, practice and policy at the University of Cambridge.
Q. I am a Ukrainian applicant, what support can I get?
If you are a Ukrainian national interested in applying for postgraduate study at University of Cambridge you may follow the guidance we offer here: Application Process | Postgraduate Admissions (cam.ac.uk)
Please note that Ukrainian applicants will automatically receive an application fee waiver. More information about this can be found here: Application Fee | Postgraduate Admissions (cam.ac.uk)
You should contact the prospective department directly if the course application deadline has already passed, as an extension may be permitted.
The University and Colleges are also developing a process that will enable us to host in Cambridge displaced doctoral students and academic staff, including postdoctoral researchers, for an agreed period of time. You can find more information about this here: The war on Ukraine (cam.ac.uk). More information for postgraduate applicants who are refugees, asylumn seekers, or forced migrants can be found here Refugees | Postgraduate Admissions (cam.ac.uk).
If you are interested in Undergraduate Study, further information on the application process can be found here and there is additional guidance for applicants who are refugees, asylum seekers, or forced migrants at Refugees | Undergraduate Study (cam.ac.uk).