Applying

We very much welcome your application. The Admissions Tutor, our Directors of Studies and all the other interviewers have been trained to assess your academic potential and will do their utmost to enable you to do your best in the selection process. Once you arrive at Newnham, this commitment to your academic and personal success continues during your time here and beyond.  

We take great care over our admissions procedures and review them continually in order to make them as fair and transparent as possible. We base our admissions decisions on your academic achievements and your future potential. We have high academic standards and invest a lot of time and energy to make sure that we identify the very best students among those who apply. We are one of the few colleges that have a full-time Admissions Tutor.

 

If you are a UK or EU applicant, you will only need to submit a UCAS application, naming Cambridge as one of your choices, by 15 October. After your UCAS application has been received you will be asked to provide additional information through a Supplementary Application Questionnaire (SAQ), in common with applicants to many other universities.

 

If you are living and studying outside the EU, you will need to complete a Cambridge Online Preliminary Application (COPA) as well as a UCAS application. You can find the COPA and guidelines for completing it here.

 

Most of our applicants are invited to Newnham for at least two interviews, although we reserve the right not to call applicants who, on the basis of their application, will have little chance of success. We interview in early December (though we may exceptionally be able to schedule early interviews for applicants who will be away then). All your interviews will usually be on one day, but you are welcome to free overnight accommodation at Newnham if that helps with your travel arrangements.

 

We will write to you with information about the interview procedure. In some subjects we need examples of your written work (we will use them as a basis for discussion in your interviews). In other subjects, we will ask you to read a short passage, work on a problem, or take a short written test before your interview starts.

You may like to take a look at the Applicant Toolkit, produced by the Cambridge Admissions Office. The Toolkit should help you to navigate all the information about courses and colleges, and offers some advice about the application process and the interviews. You might also find these documents useful:

• Interview advice
• Flowchart of admissions process