Here you'll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about admissions and life at Â鶹Դ´.
If you still have questions or you need more detailed answers, please email us at undergraduate-admissions@jesus.cam.ac.uk.
No. We welcome anyone who has the potential to thrive on our courses. We take some contextual information into account, such as the average performance at your school, but this is only to make sure we're assessing you fairly. No one who applies is successful or unsuccessful simply due to their background.
Always busy, sometimes intense, but never boring. Our students work hard and take their studies seriously, but they also have a huge range of other interests. You'll have the opportunity to do everything you would do at any other university. You can dedicate your spare time to almost anything that interests you, from sport and music to student volunteering or spending time with your friends. There's no such thing as a typical student at Â鶹Դ´, we're proud of our diversity.
College choice is a social decision, and the best way to choose a College is to consider whether you'd enjoy living there. Consider whether it offers the facilities you'd like, where it is in the city, and simply whether it 'feels' right when you visit. The important thing is not to worry about it too much. People almost always end up loving whichever College they apply to; it's far more important to get your choice of course right.
There's no magic formula for success apart from hard work at school and a genuine interest in your subject. You should be engaging in your subject outside of school, but there's no set way you have to do this. Reading books or articles, attending talks or lectures, watching videos, or listening to podcasts are all great ways to prepare. Whatever you do, make sure you're actually interested, and don't be afraid to start a new book or consider a new idea if what you're working on isn't engaging you.
The interview is a structured but relatively informal discussion about your subject. We won't expect you to know about subjects you don't study. We'll discuss questions which ask you to apply what you know to unfamiliar scenarios, to solve problems, and to think critically and flexibly. It doesn't matter what you wear or how you speak, and we're not looking for a 'smooth' performance. Just stay calm, listen to the questions being asked, and be prepared to consider things in new ways; many people find they enjoy their interviews.
The Colleges’ shared approved policy and procedure for the can be found under Admissions complaints and appeals on the University website.
I chose to study Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at Cambridge due to my love for languages. I was keen to pick up new languages in addition to those which I had studied at school. The AMES tripos is excellent for this: in Years 1 and 2 I studied Arabic and Persian, and in my final year I am studying Arabic and Hindi. The small class sizes are excellent and really aid in the learning of new languages. The degree is excellent with regards to the choice of modules...
Jesus is known for being the friendly College, and I really felt that aspect of our ethos while walking around during the open day I attended. This, coupled with the lovely and historic atmosphere, pushed me to apply here. I chose to study Economics because I appreciate how it explains the world around us via informative interpretations and predictions. Cambridge was the natural choice, given its reputation as having the most rigorous and wide-ranging undergraduate Economics course in the world. I’ve really enjoyed the course’s blend of mathematics, problem-solving and...
Before applying, I thought it was far out of my reach, that Cambridge was only for naturally gifted geniuses, but after I started studying I realised that couldn’t be further from the truth. The vast majority of people here work hard and love their subject, by far the most important factors for making the most of studying your subject at university. Jesus has a really strong contingent of historians sitting a range of papers, so we all give each other help and advice as well as learning from academic staff...
I joined Jesus in 2011 to read Computer Science. At school I had done a lot of mathematics, so the theoretical nature of the Cambridge course appealed to me. As well as a strong theoretical grounding, however, the course gives a thorough introduction to many practical aspects early on, such as chip design and a variety of programming languages. There are plenty of opportunities later in the course to expand on these, and the result is an education that is both wide ranging and in depth. I took a particular...
Studying Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) at Jesus is great, as the relatively large intake creates a really supportive group within College. The course itself is diverse, allowing you to study everything from power politics to the psychology of free will. Taking four subjects in part one means you gain experience of several different disciplines before deciding where to specialise.
