University of Cambridge — Full Profile & Ranking 2026

The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England, founded in 1209. It is made up of 31 colleges, which provide housing, small-group teaching, and community life, alongside university departments that provide lectures, labs, and libraries. Its academic work is organized into six Schools: Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology.

Undergraduates apply to one course and can either choose a college or make an open application. Teaching combines lectures with supervisions, which are small-group sessions with an academic. All applicants apply through UCAS, and for 2027 entry the deadline is earlier than for most UK universities.

Cambridge ranked 6th in the QS World University Rankings 2027, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in June 2026, the same position as in the previous edition. In this edition MIT ranked 1st, Imperial College London and Stanford tied for 2nd, Oxford ranked 4th, Harvard 5th, Caltech 7th, and ETH Zurich tied with UCL for 8th.

QS ranks universities using academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, and measures of international faculty and students. This is a QS-specific result and not one universal ranking. Other organizations, such as Times Higher Education and ARWU, use different methods and can order the same universities differently.

Sources: QS TopUniversities and the QS World University Rankings 2027 press release (18 June 2026).

Cambridge is best known for the following areas, and offers undergraduate courses across all six Schools:

• Mathematics & Theoretical Physics — a long tradition from Newton to Hawking
• Natural Sciences — a broad course that lets students study several sciences before specializing
• Medicine — taught through the School of Clinical Medicine
• Engineering — taught through the School of Technology
• Humanities, law, and social sciences — including history, English, economics, and law
• The supervision system, in which students study in very small groups with an academic

For the full list of courses, see Cambridge’s undergraduate courses page.

Cambridge uses the UK admissions system for undergraduates. Undergraduate and postgraduate applications are handled differently.

Undergraduate Admissions (2027 Entry)

Details follow Cambridge’s undergraduate admissions guidance as published for this cycle (checked October 2026). Dates change every year, so confirm them before applying.

Postgraduate Admissions

Postgraduate applicants apply through Cambridge’s Graduate Admissions Applicant Portal, not UCAS. Funding deadlines are often earlier than course deadlines, so check the course page and apply early.

Official sources: Cambridge Undergraduate Study and the Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle (PDF).

Cambridge publishes undergraduate applications, offers, and acceptances each year. In the 2025 cycle it received 22,513 applications, made 4,893 offers, and recorded 3,669 acceptances. That is an offer rate of about 21.7% and a success rate (acceptances divided by applications) of about 16.3%.

The earlier figure of about 21% that you may see online is the offer rate, not the acceptance rate. Success rates differ widely by course, college, and country, and they describe past cohorts rather than your chances.

Source: Cambridge’s Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle (published May 2026). The ‘Other international’ group is the one Cambridge reports for countries not listed separately.

• Choose one course and decide whether to name a college or make an open application
• Check which admissions assessment your course needs, and register before the booking deadline
• Submit your UCAS application by 6pm UK time on 15 October 2026, and plan to submit earlier
• Complete the My Cambridge Application and upload your transcript by 22 October 2026
• Arrange your academic reference and prepare your personal statement
• Book IELTS or TOEFL early, aiming for IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each component) or TOEFL 110
• If you will need funding, check the Cambridge Trust undergraduate scholarship process, which starts after you hold an offer
• Verify every date, fee, and requirement on Cambridge’s official website before submitting

Overseas undergraduates pay two charges: a university tuition fee that depends on the course, and a college fee that depends on the college. Both are listed below.

The total yearly cost is the course tuition fee plus your college fee, plus living costs. Check Cambridge’s fees page and your college’s page for exact figures, because the course and the college both change the total.

Sources: Cambridge’s international fees and costs pages and individual college fee pages. Fees are set annually and can change.

Full funding for undergraduates is limited, and most large scholarships are for postgraduate study. The main options are:

• Cambridge Trust (undergraduate): offers scholarships to international undergraduates who show academic merit and financial need. You must submit your UCAS application by the UCAS deadline to be considered, and once you hold an offer your college invites you to apply to the Trust.
• Gates Cambridge Scholarship: a fully funded postgraduate scholarship open to citizens of any country outside the UK. It does not fund undergraduate degrees.
• Cambridge Trust postgraduate awards: open to students of any nationality for master’s and PhD study, with funding deadlines that are earlier than course deadlines
• College and department awards: many colleges and departments offer their own funding, so check your college’s page

See also our guide to fully funded scholarships for 2027. Official sources: Cambridge Trust undergraduate applicants and Gates Cambridge eligibility. Awards are not guaranteed.

Pakistani applicants follow the same process as every other international applicant, through UCAS by the 15 October deadline. Cambridge does not run a Pakistan-specific admissions track. Practical points:

• Qualifications: Cambridge expects qualifications equivalent to UK A-levels or the IB. Check Cambridge’s published entry requirements for your course and for how overseas qualifications are treated.
• Admissions assessments: if your course needs an assessment such as the ESAT or TMUA, book it within the published window, which closes before the UCAS deadline
• English: prepare IELTS Academic 7.5 (7.0 in each component) or TOEFL iBT 110. Our IELTS preparation guides can help.
• Funding: ask about the Cambridge Trust once you hold an offer. For postgraduate study, apply for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and Cambridge Trust awards early.
• Visa and travel planning: international students generally need a UK student visa, and decisions are made by UK immigration authorities, not by Cambridge. Cambridge confirms your English in the CAS.
• Agents: you apply directly through UCAS, so a paid agent is not required

• Cambridge’s 31 colleges provide housing, supervisions, and community life, and each college has its own character
• Supervisions pair students with academics in very small groups
• Cambridge University Library and college libraries support study across the university
• Cambridge is a compact city in England, about an hour from London by train

• Cambridge’s research covers the sciences, medicine, engineering, humanities, and social sciences, and has a long history of Nobel Prize-winning work
• Graduates go on to careers in research, medicine, law, technology, finance, and public service
• Cambridge does not guarantee employment, salary, or immigration outcomes. Any graduate outcome statistics describe past cohorts and are not promises.

• Isaac Newton — physicist and mathematician; studied at Trinity College
• Charles Darwin — naturalist; studied at Christ’s College
• Stephen Hawking — theoretical physicist; earned his PhD at Cambridge
• Allama Muhammad Iqbal — Pakistan’s national poet; studied at Trinity College
• Abdus Salam — Pakistani Nobel laureate in Physics; studied at St John’s College

University of Cambridge
The Old Schools, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
Official website: www.cam.ac.uk
Undergraduate admissions: undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk