Cambridge is a magnet for academic high-achievers with a global reputation for groundbreaking research. Founded in 1209 — the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world — the institution had an eight-year reign at No 1. That ended in 2021 and this year it has slipped out of our top three to rank fourth. 

High marks are a prerequisite for entry — new students in 2023 intake averaged 206 Ucas tariff points (2=) — but are not a guarantee. Instead, admissions are in the hands of the 31 distinctive, historic colleges, and about 80 per cent of applicants are interviewed. Cambridge undergraduates experience hard-to-beat intellectual stimulation coupled with a thriving social scene, all within a small city where getting around on foot (or two wheels) is easy.

What is the University of Cambridge’s reputation? 

Cambridge excels in global rankings: it is fifth in the QS World University Rankings 2025 (behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Oxford and Harvard); fifth in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024; and fourth in the Shanghai Ranking 2024, where it is the top-rated UK institution. 

The university’s research pedigree was confirmed in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), which rated 93 per cent of Cambridge’s work world-leading or internationally excellent. Cambridge was in the top three in a third of its subject areas and led the field in clinical medicine; earth sciences; architecture and land economy; and business. In our analysis of research quality, Cambridge is second only to Imperial College London. But compared with institutions that share its broad academic range, Cambridge’s outcomes are the strongest. The university leads in 19 of our subject tables, more than any other university. 

Cambridge students have spoken, ending their boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS), in place since 2017. Our analysis of the latest NSS shows high rates of satisfaction with teaching quality (30= in the UK and third among Russell Group members). Feedback on the wider undergraduate experience is less positive, however (116=). The majority of lectures are delivered in person. Staff decide whether a session is suitable for recording or not, although some students have called for compulsory lecture capture. 

Cambridge was awarded triple gold in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), gaining the top grade overall, for the student experience and student outcomes.

The gap with the university’s traditional rival, Oxford, may have widened in our main academic league table, but Cambridge still comes out top for continuation rates, with 99.2 per cent of its students projected to continue into the second year of their studies.

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

In October 2024 the first students are due to embark on the new Design Tripos degree course, a four-year programme that merges the arts and sciences. The collaboration between the departments of architecture, engineering, and materials science and metallurgy aims to prepare students to tackle social and environmental challenges such as climate change. No courses are being withdrawn in 2024 or 2025.

What are the entry requirements – and my chances of getting in?

Cambridge is one of the few universities not to enter clearing. The university makes minimum offers of A*A*A or A*AA at A-level. Although applicants’ socioeconomic and educational background are considered, Cambridge stops short of making contextual offers with lower grades. Instead, like Oxford, Cambridge uses this information to give admissions tutors a rounded picture of an applicant, “and the context in which their achievements occurred”. Typically, Cambridge receives six applications per place but there is huge variation between courses. For admission in 2023, for example, there were 1,583 applicants for computer science, of whom 147 received an offer and 121 were accepted on to courses — an application rate higher than ten per place. Modern and medieval languages, however, attracted 254 applications, made 155 offers and accepted 128 first-years, a rate of less than two per place. 

The Cambridge Foundation Year in arts, humanities and social sciences requires only BBB at A-level (120 Ucas tariff points). Designed for disadvantaged students and launched in 2022, the one-year course is fully funded, with fees and living costs covered by the university. Students require an average of 65 per cent to progress to a range of undergraduate degrees in the arts, humanities and social sciences. The course attracted six applications for each of the 42 places available in 2023.

What are the graduate prospects?

Careers get off to a flying start for Cambridge graduates. More than 90 per cent were in professional-level jobs or further study 15 months after finishing their degrees (4=). Handshake, Cambridge’s career development platform, advertises upcoming vacancies and internship opportunities for students as well as in-person networking events. In 2023-24 the university hosted more than 360 organisations at careers fairs. Local industry links — particularly in technological innovation and medical research — provide avenues for young researchers to turn business ideas into reality.

How does the college system work? 

Cambridge applications are part of the Ucas system, but there are three significant peculiarities to the process of applying: 

• The deadline for applications is much earlier than most other universities (unless you’re applying for medicine, veterinary medicine, or dentistry): October 15 at 6pm for entry in 2025 or (rare) deferred entry.
• You can apply to only one of Cambridge or Oxford in an application cycle.
• Selection is in the hands of the colleges rather than the university centrally. Most candidates apply to a specific college, although open applications can be made if you are happy to go to any college.

The colleges have differing characteristics. At Lucy Cavendish, for instance, 93.7 per cent of those accepted for a place in 2023 went to state schools; at Trinity the proportion was 52.7 per cent. At Corpus Christi, the proportion of non-white students was 25.6 per cent, while at Trinity it was 41.4 per cent. Cambridge has two female-only colleges: Murray Edwards and Newnham. However, wherever you choose, the college will have a long list of illustrious alumni. Cambridge’s “pool” system gives the most promising candidates a second chance if they miss out on their first choice of college, but Cambridge reconsiders fewer applicants than Oxford does. 

What is the University of Cambridge’s campus like?

Cambridge offers a more intimate setting than its rival, Oxford. The city centre is dominated by the low-rise medieval quads, grand Tudor entrances and yellow sandstone buildings, many of which are linked across the River Cam by much-photographed bridges. 

The university has more than 100 libraries, including those in colleges or faculties and the Main Library (home to more than eight million books, journals and documents, from ancient manuscripts to electronic resources). Its nine specialist museums house artefacts and treasures such as samurai armour, paintings by Titian and Rembrandt and even Ernest Shackleton’s snow goggles. The university has many specialist facilities, from laboratories and surgical suites to concert halls and theatres.

Everything you need to know about the University of Cambridge’s student life and wellbeing support

A demanding academic schedule is crammed into eight-week terms, requiring a concerted effort from students, who spend between 42 and 46 hours a week on their studies. Undergraduates tend to throw themselves into the social side too. There are college and university events and 700 societies and sports clubs — from anime and badminton to ice hockey and opera — as well as city nightlife. Each college has a bar, where cheap — and often idiosyncratic — drinks are served and the small city has plenty of pubs and late-night haunts.

Outstanding sports facilities include the university gym and courts for squash, badminton, basketball and five-aside football. Many colleges also have swimming pools, tennis courts, grass pitches or gyms, and boathouses for rowing and punting on the River Cam.

Arts and culture are just as richly served. Cambridge’s ADC Theatre is the oldest university playhouse in the country and the site for productions by student drama groups such as the Marlowe Society, the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, and the Fletcher Players. 

Since launching its Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan in 2022, Cambridge has boosted investment in counselling services and reduced waiting times to three working days. The university-wide Reach Out campaign aims to reduce stigma about seeking support and promotes the services available to students. Each college also has a senior tutor, nurse and wellbeing adviser — all available to students in need.

What do the students say?

“Studying at Cambridge will stretch and challenge you, and no two weeks are ever the same. The city provides a great respite from your studies, with a perfect mix of beautiful buildings, sprawling green spaces, and opportunities to do something different, from theatre to sports.”
Sarah Anderson, undergraduate president of the Cambridge students’ union and classics student

What about student accommodation at the University of Cambridge?

Most students are guaranteed a space in college-owned accommodation for three years, some for four. From the mediaeval to the modern, rooms are in the colleges (offered to all first-years) or in flats and houses within the university precincts, within a three-mile radius of Great St Mary’s church. Basic kitchen facilities are available and colleges offer café-style meals, and three-course dinners known as formal halls. Communal dining is encouraged, and some colleges require students to eat a certain number of meals in college each term.

How diverse and inclusive is the University of Cambridge?

Private schools have noticed declining Oxbridge success rates as the universities pledge to widen participation, with Cambridge’s proportion of state sector admissions reaching 72.6 per cent in 2023, including grammar schools. The university has since said it is doing away with its state-school admissions target, which had been set at 69.1 per cent by 2024-25. 

Our social inclusion index ranks universities according to their admissions from non-selective state schools (49.5 per cent, 113th). Only Imperial College London and Durham accepted more students from independent or selective state schools.

Ethnic diversity (30.8 per cent, 57th) has shown improvement in the years since the Stormzy Scholarship was introduced in 2018 and expanded in 2021. More than 40 black British students have benefited so far from the £20,000 award, covering tuition fees and a maintenance grant. Thirty scholarships will be offered from 2024-26 through a partnership between Stormzy’s #Merky Foundation and HSBC UK.

The university also works with social mobility charities such as the Sutton Trust and Target Oxbridge. Its colleges offer mentoring and outreach in areas with low participation rates at Russell Group universities, focusing on breaking down barriers to admission to Cambridge and demystifying the application process. 

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Cambridge

Generous university-funded provision includes more than £10 million awarded to students from low to middle-income households through the Cambridge Bursary, which pays between £100 and £3,500 a year, on a sliding scale,  to UK students whose household incomes are less than £62,215. Those who have qualified for free school meals receive an extra £1,000. About one in three UK undergraduates receive the bursary, and colleges may make additional awards. 

There are also scholarships from academic departments aiming to widen participation — such as the Joyce Reynolds Award, set up by Dame Mary Beard for the study of classics and named after one of her tutors, and the Geography Scholarship.