In 2023/4, interviews for candidates based in the United Kingdom will take place in Cambridge, in person, as a default, with the option for candidates to request to be interviewed online (via Zoom) if they consider that they have a good reason for this.

Candidates based overseas will be offered online interviews as a default.

The interview process is slightly different for those applicants who are at school or college in the UK (or, if you have left school, are ordinarily resident in the UK) and those who are at school or college outside the UK. For applicants invited to interview, those applicants who are in the UK will normally be offered an in-person interview in Cambridge. As international travel is expensive and often difficult to arrange at short notice, those applicants who are outside the UK will normally be offered an online interview (using the platform Zoom).

The distinction only affects the format of the interview. The type of questions you will be asked and the level of assessment will be the same whether you are interviewed in person or online. Please see further details on the University Interviews page.

Peterhouse welcomes applications from overseas candidates. The University provides lots of information for overseas applicants, in particular details on typical entry requirements including information on EU and international qualifications. If you have any questions about applying from overseas, please contact our Admissions Team.

If English is not your first language, it is essential that your English language skills are good enough for you to undertake an intensive and challenging academic course that is taught and examined in English. Therefore, a reasonable standard of spoken English will be required at interview. At Peterhouse, the typical IELTS offer in the Arts and Humanities and Medicine is likely to be 8 or 8.5 overall with at least 7.5 in each element, and in the Sciences (except Medicine) 7.5 with at least 7 in each element. Please also note that the assessment of candidates involves an interview which includes a substantial speaking and listening component and you may be disadvantaged if your English language skills limit your ability to understand questions and to express yourself clearly. We do not expect applicants to have achieved the levels requested in our typical offer by the time they apply and an overall IELTS score of 6.0 for sciences or 6.5 for arts and social sciences would be regarded as a reasonable score at the point of application.

Details on the Tuition Fee rates for overseas students studying at the University of Cambridge are available on the University website. In addition, overseas students are required to pay a College Fee. At Peterhouse for 2024-25 this will be £11,750 but are liable to increase annually by not less than the United Kingdom rate of inflation for entrants in future years. The College Fee is fixed for the duration of your course, provided you do not intermit for more than six terms. In addition, for 2024-25 annual living expenses for overseas students at Peterhouse are estimated at around £13,400. If you are given a conditional offer to study at the College, you will be required to provide a satisfactory financial guarantee that you have sufficient resources available to meet these costs for the minimum duration of your course.

Financial support may be available through the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust. In addition, students from Hong Kong are eligible to apply for the Prince Philip Scholarships.

Peterhouse is one of four Cambridge Colleges that participate in the Jardine Scholarship: a scholarship scheme for applicants who are nationals and/or residents of Hong Kong, China (PRC), Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and Taiwan run by the Jardine Foundation. These are full scholarships awarded by the Jardine Foundation alone (i.e. independently of the University of Cambridge) and they are awarded to high academic achievers who have the potential to become outstanding citizens with a high commitment to the community. Applications to the Jardine Foundation are separate from applications to Peterhouse and the deadline to apply is usually in mid-late October. Jardine applications, whether successful or not, do not affect suitability to study at Peterhouse, our academic offers are made independently of the Jardine Scholarship assessment.