Cambridge is a collegiate university, which means that all students are members of both a College and the University. Applications to Cambridge are handled by individual Colleges.

The University and the Departments set course content, lectures, classes, practicals and exams. It is the responsibility of the College, through your Director of Studies (typically a Fellow of the College), to arrange ‘supervisions’ and to provide more general guidance and support on academic matters. Beyond this, the College is your home within the university, where you will do the majority of your eating, sleeping and socialising.

You can find further information about University and College entry requirements on our course pages, and on the University’s website.

Because we are a small college, we are able to take great care over every application and we aim to find out as much as possible about you. We fully support the University’s Widening Participation initiatives and encourage you to apply even if your school has little or no experience of the Cambridge system. Our Admissions Team are happy to help potential applicants, their parents, supporters and their teachers who would like advice on individual applications. Although we try to achieve an even balance between Arts and Sciences, we have no fixed quotas in any subject except Medicine (where the quota agreed with the University is seven places per year). For enquiries about Postgraduate Admissions, email graduates@pet.cam.ac.uk.

Interview Format 2024 

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 will be able to cover the cost of travel for UK applicants who are invited to an in-person interview who are currently in receipt of Free School Meals or who are in care. Other candidates for whom purchasing travel would cause financial hardship are advised to contact the Admissions Office about the possibility of reimbursement. You will be asked to submit appropriate evidence, which will be kept confidential from your interviewers throughout the admissions process. Candidates must then send us an online or paper receipt, along with their bank details, and we will reimburse them as soon as possible. 

Accommodation will be provided free of charge to in-person candidates whose interview schedule would require them to travel outside the hours of 7.30am- 10.30pm. We are only able to offer accommodation to applicants and not to any accompanying parents, supporters or friends.