If you choose to apply to Clare you will need to apply to study a subject that we offer, and check that you meet both our entry requirements and those of the University. Our subject pages list the subjects that we offer, along with our entry requirements and recommendations for A-level and IB-level study. If you are an international student please consult the entry requirements for your country on the University admissions website.

If you are applying to the following courses, you will need to register in advance to take an admissions assessment:

• Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine: all applicants must take the Engineering and Science Admissions Test. You must register by 16 September 2024.
• Computer Science and Economics: all applicants must take the Test of Mathematics for University Admissions. You must register by 16 September 2024.
• Law: all applicants must take the Law National Aptitude Test. You must register by 15 September 2024.
• Medicine: all applicants must take the University Clinical Aptitude Test. You must register by 19 September 2024.

These assessments are taken at authorised testing centres and are used as part of the shortlisting process for interviews in these subjects. If you apply for one of these courses and do not take the required assessment, we cannot consider your application.

For 2025 and deferred 2026 entry, you will need to submit your application via UCAS by 15 October 2024. If you are applying for an Organ Scholarship you will need to submit your application at the beginning of September. 

When you register with UCAS, we strongly recommend that you use a personal email address, rather than one from your school. Once you have submitted your application, be sure to check both the inbox and spam/junk folders of the email address you have given in your UCAS application regularly, as this is the email address our admissions office and the University will use to contact you.

Once we receive your UCAS application, the Clare College Admissions Office will email you with instructions for the next steps you must take in the application process. This will include upcoming deadlines, instructions for how to submit written work, and instructions for how to submit any additional required documentation, for example if you have a disability. 

Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an email from the University with instructions to complete an additional application form (My Cambridge Application, or MyCApp). It is very important that you complete this by the specified deadline. For 2025 and 2026 deferred entry, you must submit My Cambridge Application by 22 October 2024. We will not be able to consider your application if you miss this deadline. 
 

Please note that if you live in a different time zone, you should indicate this in My Cambridge Application, in case you are invited to interview.

Many courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences require you to submit written work as part of your application. If the course you applied for requires written work, the requirements are listed on the Clare College Undergraduate Subject Pages. 

The College will contact you after you submit your application via UCAS with instructions for how to submit any required written work. For Clare College applicants, the deadline to submit written work this year is Tuesday 29 October 2024 at 11:59pm UK Time. If your course requires written work, we will not consider your application if you miss this deadline.

For some courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences, if you are invited to interview you will also need to take a College admissions assessment. These assessments are administered by the Cambridge Colleges and you do not need to register separately or in advance. Further information about these assessments is available on the University admissions assessment webpage.

Interviews for 2025 entry and 2026 deferred entry to Clare will be conducted online.

Every valid application is considered carefully by the admissions team before decisions are made about who to interview. For subjects requiring an admissions assessment, your performance in the assessment will not be considered in isolation, but will be taken into account alongside the other elements of your application.

For those invited to interview, these take place during the first three weeks of December every year, so please keep this timeframe clear if you apply to Cambridge. If you have an unavoidable commitment in this timeframe, please let us know at least one month in advance. We will do our best to accommodate particular scheduling needs, but cannot make any guarantees. 

The timing and format of interviews varies by subject, but most applicants will have 2-3 interviews lasting 20-30 minutes. 

Preparing for interviews:

If you are already studying the subject you wish to study at university then we encourage you to read critically about your subject, exploring it beyond the limitations of your school syllabus. What is going on in your chosen subject? Why you do you want to study it, and why you want to study it at Cambridge? If you are applying for a subject that is new to you, you will need to have researched enough to know why you want to study it. 

Interviewers know you may be nervous. They are not trying to catch you out; they are trying to challenge you to think for yourself. Often there are no right or wrong answers to the questions, and the way you arrive at an answer may be of greater interest than the answer itself. 

A typical example of how an interview might be structured can be viewed on the Clare Schools YouTube Channel.

There is no blueprint for the ideal student. We look for academic potential, self-motivation and enthusiasm for the subject. Interviews are the final piece of the jigsaw that shows us which candidates to select for places at Cambridge. 
 

Final decisions are sent out at the end of January. When deciding whether to offer an applicant a place at Clare, the admissions team carefully evaluate each applicant in light of the gathered field. They consider each applicant’s written application, any admissions assessments, any written work submitted, and the overall interview performance. 

The College will provide feedback, upon request, to applicants who were invited to interview at Clare but were ultimately not offered a place at Cambridge. Details of the feedback process will be communicated along with decision letters. Please note that the College cannot provide feedback to applicants who were not shortlisted for interviews. Further information about the University's complaints and appeals process for admissions is available on their admissions website.