Key Facts
| Overall success rate | 16.3%; 3,669 acceptances from 22,513 applications (2025 cycle) |
|---|---|
| Overall offer rate | 21.7%; 4,893 offers from 22,513 applications (2025 cycle) |
| Lowest course success rate | Computer Science, 7.4% |
| Highest course success rate | Modern & Medieval Languages, 50.6% |
| Applications placed in the Winter Pool | 4,188 of 21,833 direct-and-open applications, around 19% (2025 cycle) |
| Offers made via the Winter Pool | 860 of 4,631 direct-and-pooled offers, around 19% (2025 cycle) |
Figures correct at the time of writing. Confirm current fees and deadlines with the school or university directly.
Cambridge's undergraduate acceptance rate across all courses is 16.3%, with 3,669 acceptances from 22,513 applications after the University made 4,893 offers, according to its most recently published undergraduate admissions statistics. That average spans a wide range between courses, from Computer Science's 7.4% success rate to Modern & Medieval Languages' 50.6%, and a further range between Colleges that the University's winter pool narrows by moving strong applicants between them.
The ranked table below sets out applications, offers, acceptances and success rate for every course in the most recent cycle; the sections that follow explain how offer rates differ from success rates, why raw figures can mislead, and how to weigh both when choosing a course and College. Cambridge notes that, averaged across all subjects, it receives around six applications for every place available, though the ratio differs sharply by course.
How do you read the Cambridge acceptance rates table?
The table lists every undergraduate course with its applications, offers, acceptances and success rate for the most recent cycle, counting all applicants regardless of domicile. Offers combine conditional and unconditional offers made by Colleges, while acceptances count only applicants who went on to hold an unconditional firm place, so an applicant who held a conditional offer but was unsuccessful at confirmation is not counted as accepted.
Success rate is acceptances expressed as a share of applications, and it is the figure worth comparing across courses, since offer rate alone does not show how many offer-holders converted into a place. Mathematics figures in the table include Mathematics with Physics as a single combined course entry.
| Rank | Course | Applications | Offers | Acceptances | Offer rate (%) | Success rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer Science | 1,739 | 163 | 128 | 9.4 | 7.4 |
| 2 | Economics | 1,647 | 195 | 164 | 11.8 | 10.0 |
| 3 | Engineering | 3,263 | 392 | 335 | 12.0 | 10.3 |
| 4 | Architecture | 562 | 93 | 65 | 16.5 | 11.6 |
| 5 | Land Economy | 661 | 112 | 78 | 16.9 | 11.8 |
| 6 | Mathematics | 2,032 | 555 | 258 | 27.3 | 12.7 |
| 7 | Psychological & Behavioural Sciences | 611 | 111 | 79 | 18.2 | 12.9 |
| 8 | Law | 1,654 | 291 | 232 | 17.6 | 14.0 |
| 9 | Human, Social, & Political Sciences | 1,230 | 236 | 173 | 19.2 | 14.1 |
| 10 | Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology | 541 | 92 | 77 | 17.0 | 14.2 |
| 11 | History & Politics | 332 | 68 | 49 | 20.5 | 14.8 |
| 12 | Medicine Graduate Course | 172 | 35 | 28 | 20.3 | 16.3 |
| 13 | Veterinary Medicine | 341 | 80 | 57 | 23.5 | 16.7 |
| 14 | Design | 148 | 36 | 26 | 24.3 | 17.6 |
| 14 | Medicine | 1,530 | 307 | 270 | 20.1 | 17.6 |
| 16 | Philosophy | 223 | 71 | 42 | 31.8 | 18.8 |
| 17 | Natural Sciences | 2,644 | 672 | 576 | 25.4 | 21.8 |
| 18 | Education | 155 | 54 | 34 | 34.8 | 21.9 |
| 19 | History of Art | 141 | 41 | 31 | 29.1 | 22.0 |
| 20 | Geography | 379 | 139 | 99 | 36.7 | 26.1 |
| 21 | Archaeology | 84 | 40 | 22 | 47.6 | 26.2 |
| 22 | History | 631 | 241 | 172 | 38.2 | 27.3 |
| 23 | English | 652 | 241 | 192 | 37.0 | 29.4 |
| 24 | Linguistics | 126 | 52 | 38 | 41.3 | 30.2 |
| 25 | Theology, Religion & Philosophy of Religion | 155 | 72 | 51 | 46.5 | 32.9 |
| 26 | History & Modern Languages | 118 | 50 | 45 | 42.4 | 38.1 |
| 27 | Anglo-Saxon, Norse, & Celtic | 54 | 32 | 22 | 59.3 | 40.7 |
| 28 | Classics (4 years) | 84 | 56 | 35 | 66.7 | 41.7 |
| 29 | Asian & Middle Eastern Studies | 89 | 52 | 38 | 58.4 | 42.7 |
| 30 | Music | 143 | 89 | 67 | 62.2 | 46.9 |
| 31 | Classics | 107 | 61 | 52 | 57.0 | 48.6 |
| 32 | Modern & Medieval Languages | 265 | 164 | 134 | 61.9 | 50.6 |
Which Cambridge courses have the lowest acceptance rates?
Computer Science has the lowest success rate of any Cambridge course, accepting 7.4% of applicants from 1,739 applications and 163 offers. Several other courses also convert a small share of applicants into places.
- Economics: 10% success rate (1,647 applications, 164 acceptances)
- Engineering: 10.3% success rate (3,263 applications, 335 acceptances)
- Architecture: 11.6% success rate (562 applications, 65 acceptances)
- Land Economy (now Environment Law and Economics): 11.8% success rate (661 applications, 78 acceptances)
- Mathematics: 12.7% success rate (2,032 applications, 258 acceptances)
- Psychological & Behavioural Sciences: 12.9% success rate (611 applications, 79 acceptances)
- Law: 14% success rate (1,654 applications, 232 acceptances)
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Enquire about this tutorWhich Cambridge courses have the highest acceptance rates?
Modern & Medieval Languages has the highest success rate of any Cambridge course, accepting 50.6% of applicants from 265 applications and 134 acceptances. A cluster of smaller arts and humanities courses also converts a large share of applicants into places.
- Classics: 48.6% success rate (107 applications, 52 acceptances)
- Music: 46.9% success rate (143 applications, 67 acceptances)
- Asian & Middle Eastern Studies: 42.7% success rate (89 applications, 38 acceptances)
- Classics (4 years): 41.7% success rate (84 applications, 35 acceptances)
- Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic: 40.7% success rate (54 applications, 22 acceptances)
Which Cambridge courses get the most applications?
Engineering, Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Science, Law and Economics are the six most-applied-to Cambridge courses, in that order. Natural Sciences is the only one of the six with a success rate above the university average, accepting 21.8% of its 2,644 applicants.
The other five courses in this group all appear among the lowest success rates set out above, so in these statistics Cambridge's most popular courses are also among its most competitive by this measure.
What is the gap between Cambridge's offer rate and success rate?
Mathematics has the largest gap in absolute numbers between offers and acceptances of any Cambridge course: 555 offers from 2,032 applications give an offer rate of 27.3%, against a success rate of 12.7%. Offer rate is offers expressed as a share of applications, distinct from success rate, which measures acceptances as a share of applications. Cambridge's published statistics show the two figures diverging by course without stating why the gap is wider for some courses than others.
A wide gap between offer rate and success rate marks a course where a larger share of offer-holders did not go on to hold an unconditional firm place, compared with a course where the two figures sit close together. Applicants can use the gap as one further data point alongside the success rate itself, though Cambridge does not publish the reasons behind it for individual courses.
Why can Cambridge's acceptance rates be misleading?
Cambridge's published rates measure only applicants who chose to apply, so a course's rate reflects how that self-selected pool performed at interview and assessment, not how a typical sixth-former would fare against it. Course size also shapes the numbers: a small course such as Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, with applications numbering only in the dozens, moves by almost two percentage points with each additional acceptance, while a large course such as Engineering, which receives thousands of applications each cycle, changes far less per place.
A course's overall rate also blends outcomes across every College, though applicants can choose a specific College or make an open application. Because admission decisions happen at College level, combining the figures into one course-wide rate obscures how competition for the same course can vary between Colleges.
How should you use acceptance rates when choosing a course?
Arts, humanities and social science courses had a combined success rate of 19.3%, against 14% for the sciences, so a science course's rate sits against a different baseline to an arts course's rate; comparing a course only against others in its own broad group gives a fairer read than comparing it against the university-wide figure.
Applicants should look up the success rate for the exact course they intend to apply for. Cambridge's university-wide 16.3% figure describes no single course precisely, given how far individual courses range above and below it.
Applicants should also check whether their intended course sets its own admissions test or a College-set assessment, since requirements and preparation time differ by course.
How should you use acceptance rates when choosing a College?
Applicants unsure which College suits them can submit an open application; Cambridge allocates these, after the UCAS deadline, to a College that has received fewer applications per place for the course.
Whichever College considers an application, that College conducts the interview, and a College that interviews an applicant it rates highly but cannot offer a place to may share the application with other Colleges in January, giving a strong application a further route to a place.
Cambridge acceptance rates by college
Cambridge publishes applications, offers and acceptances for every College in its undergraduate admissions statistics report, broken down by gender, so a College's acceptance rate can be worked out from the official figures. Each College's figures are counted against the College an applicant chose, or was allocated to through an open application, regardless of any later transfer through the pools.
Admission decisions are made by individual Colleges; Cambridge's winter pool then moves many successful applicants between them. In the most recently published cycle, 4,188 of 21,833 direct and open applications were placed in the Winter Pool, and 860 of the 4,631 direct-and-pooled offers came from the pool instead of the College an applicant applied to or was allocated. Because pooling reallocates strong candidates after interview, a College's apparent acceptance rate reflects how many pooled applicants it took on as much as how competitive its direct applicant pool was, which makes college-level rates a weak basis for choosing a College; an open application lets Cambridge allocate a candidate centrally instead.
Applicants to Engineering, Natural Sciences, Veterinary Medicine or Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology can check test format and timing in our ESAT guide.
Applicants weighing Law's 14% success rate against the LNAT requirement can check our Cambridge Law entry requirements.
Given Economics' 10% success rate and TMUA requirement, our guide to applying for Economics at Cambridge sets out how to prepare.
Which Cambridge courses are hardest to get into
Computer Science is the hardest Cambridge course to get into by success rate, admitting 7.4% of applicants in the University's most recently published figures, followed by Economics, Engineering, Architecture, Environment Law and Economics (formerly Land Economy) and Mathematics, the six lowest-converting courses in the table above.
Each of the most competitive courses sets its own admissions test. Computer Science and Economics both require the TMUA, Engineering requires the ESAT, Architecture sets a College admission assessment with no advance registration, Environment Law and Economics has no admission assessment, and Mathematics also requires the TMUA; Peterhouse and Trinity additionally require Computer Science applicants to sit the College-set CSAT.
- Computer Science: TMUA (plus the CSAT for Peterhouse and Trinity applicants)
- Economics: TMUA
- Engineering: ESAT
- Architecture: College admission assessment, no advance registration
- Environment Law and Economics (formerly Land Economy): no admission assessment
- Mathematics: TMUA
Cambridge application numbers and acceptance rate over recent cycles
Cambridge's undergraduate applications have risen in each of the three most recently published admissions cycles, while offers and acceptances have grown more slowly, so the overall success rate has eased by small margins each year. Figures below count all applicants regardless of domicile and are drawn from the University's published undergraduate admissions statistics.
- Most recently published cycle: 22,513 applications, 4,893 offers, 3,669 acceptances, 16.3% success rate
- Previous cycle: 22,153 applications, 4,760 offers, 3,632 acceptances, 16.4% success rate
- Cycle before that: 21,445 applications, 4,238 offers, 3,557 acceptances, 16.6% success rate
Related guides
- Oxford acceptance rates by subject
- Oxford vs Cambridge compared
- Oxbridge application guide
- Oxford and Cambridge admissions tests
- Cambridge interview preparation
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Frequently asked questions
- When is the Cambridge application deadline?
- Applicants apply through UCAS by 6pm UK time on 15 October, then complete My Cambridge Application, an extra form most applicants finish about a week later. At this stage applicants also choose a College to apply to or make an open application.
- Can you apply to Cambridge and Oxford in the same year?
- No. Applicants cannot apply to Cambridge and Oxford in the same admissions cycle, and each applicant may submit only one application to Cambridge in a given year. This applies whichever course or College is chosen, so applying to Cambridge rules out an Oxford application for that cycle.
- Which admissions test does each Cambridge course use?
- Cambridge requires the ESAT for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Engineering, Natural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine; the TMUA for Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics; the LNAT for Law; and the UCAT for Medicine. Many arts and social science courses set a College admission assessment instead, and Archaeology, Education, Environment Law and Economics (known in Cambridge's admissions statistics as Land Economy), History of Art, and Theology have no admissions test.
- When are Cambridge interviews?
- Most Cambridge interviews take place in the first three weeks of December, online or in person depending on the College, and invitations are mostly sent in November. Interviews follow the UCAS and My Cambridge Application deadlines and are conducted by the College considering the application, not centrally by the University, so format can vary between Colleges for the same course.
- Why don't Management Studies and Manufacturing Engineering appear in Cambridge's acceptance rate table?
- Management Studies and Manufacturing Engineering can only be taken after completing the first part of another subject at Cambridge, so the University's admissions statistics count their applicants under their first-year subject, without separate entries in the course-by-course figures.
- What is Cambridge's overall offer rate?
- Cambridge made 4,893 offers from 22,513 applications in its most recently published cycle, an offer rate of 21.7%, against a 16.3% success rate once only confirmed acceptances are counted. The gap exists because some offer-holders do not meet the conditions of their offer or accept a place elsewhere, so offer rate and success rate answer different questions about the same course.
- Which Cambridge college has the highest acceptance rate?
- Cambridge's admissions statistics report lists applications, offers and acceptances for each College, counted against the College an applicant chose or was allocated to, so a rate can be calculated for each one. Those rates move from year to year and reflect which courses each College's applicants chose; because the winter pool reallocates many strong applicants after interview, the College named on an application matters far less than the course.
- How does the Cambridge winter pool work?
- The winter pool is the process by which a College that interviews more strong applicants than it has places for passes some of them to other Colleges for reconsideration. In the most recently published cycle, 4,188 applications were placed in the pool, and 860 offers came from the pool instead of the applicant's original or allocated College.
- How many people apply to Cambridge each year?
- In its most recently published cycle, Cambridge received 22,513 undergraduate applications and made 3,669 acceptances, and application numbers have risen in each of the three most recently published cycles. Applications are counted regardless of domicile and cover all undergraduate courses combined.
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