Applying to Cambridge – advice for mature applicants 

At the University of Cambridge, our Admissions Tutors are looking for students who they believe have the academic ability and potential to flourish at the University. In this article, some of our Admissions Tutors give you their advice. 

"Your qualifications must be relevant to the course you’ve applied for, and recent (completed within the last three years). If your existing qualifications are older, you will need to refresh your knowledge and academic skills with a short formal course. Providers such as the  Open University  or the Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education are particularly suitable. 

Some of our students have taken one year courses, such as an Access qualification. The mature Colleges have a later application deadline in March (for some arts, humanities and social sciences subjects) for students who are on a one year course and therefore find it difficult to have the right academic evidence and support of their referees to meet the standard October UCAS application deadline. Find out more about the second application deadline.

Prior attainment is something that often worries mature students, but we're more interested in your recent and relevant experience and qualifications. 

If you’re applying to university as a mature applicant, my main tip would be to get in touch with an Admissions Tutor at a mature College (even if you want to apply to a standard-age College) before applying. If you have any questions, particularly about whether your qualifications meet the entry requirements, we’d be happy to help."

Dr Martin Thompson

You can find details of Admissions Tutors on the mature College websites: 

• Hughes Hall 
• St Edmund's College
• Wolfson College

"I get to see applications from a huge variety of candidates. Each subject has different expectations, for example, what makes a good Law student will be different to what makes a successful Linguistics student; Economists need to be strong at Maths, but English applicants able to analyse closely a piece of writing. 

My top tip for potential applicants is always do your research and work out which is the right subject for you: are you genuinely interested in it? Are you motivated enough to take on the challenge of dedicating three or four years to studying it? What are the requirements to get on to the course and are you studying the right subjects, if any are required? Take a look at the descriptions of the subjects on our webpages and see if you like what you see and if you are the right fit. 

It's important to work hard towards those high grades that we hope to see. As an Admissions Tutor, I’ll be looking for evidence of academic excellence, but remember that doesn’t mean top grades in every exam — nobody’s perfect — but a good profile of high grades both achieved and predicted." 

Dr Stuart Davies

"If you are thinking of applying to start a degree course in 2023, you might already have a firm idea of what subject you want to study, or you might still be a bit unsure. Now is the perfect time to explore your potential chosen subject area beyond what you have learnt at school or college. We call this "super-curricular" exploration, and there are lots of free ways to do it: books, websites, films, podcasts...you can find some suggestions on the Cambridge website. 

It's also a good idea to start researching different degree courses and checking that they fit well with your interests and learning style. All of this should help you to begin writing your UCAS personal statement; when we assess an application, this is the place we look for evidence that a student really wants to learn about the subject they have applied for. You can find some useful guidance on what to include on the UCAS website." 

Dr Susan Haines