FAQs: undergraduate admissions

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FAQs: undergraduate admissions

We hope our main undergraduate admissions home page will make it easy for you to find the answer to your question. The other good places to get information are our prospectus and the University prospectus & other useful publications (includes extra information for parents and teachers).

The University undergraduate study FAQs are very helpful.

You can also see more FAQs on the Selwyn student page.

If you still can't find the answer just send us an email: admissions@sel.cam.ac.uk

These are some of the remaining FAQs that we receive about undergraduate admissions:

The College holds a series of Open Days each year for potential applicants. These will take place on 6 & 7 July and 15 September 2023. Please visit our Open Days page to find out more
Below are typical minimum offer levels Selwyn would make on some of the most common national examinations. If you are taking an examination not listed below, please email the Admissions Office for advice. School-predicted grades are taken into consideration when making offers.
Qualification Level Required
A-Level A*AA – A*A*A for arts and social sciences as well as PBS and Veterinary Medicine. A*A*A – A*A*A* for Economics, Mathematics and for Sciences courses.
International Baccalaureate At least 41-43 points overall (including bonus points), with 776 in Higher Level subjects.
Scottish Advanced Highers Three A grades at Advanced Higher. If you are not able to take three Advanced Highers please contact us for further advice.
Cambridge Pre-U We welcome applications from students who are either studying towards the full Cambridge Pre-U Diploma or certain subjects within the qualification alongside A-Levels. Conditional offers will be set on an individual basis but are likely to be at least D2, D2, D3.
European Baccalaureate At least 90% overall with 9.0 in specified subjects related to the proposed course of study.
French Baccalaureate Mention Tres Bien overall with 16 or 17 in specified subjects related to the proposed course of study.

All candidates applying for Mathematics or Computer Sciences with Mathematics will be asked to sit Sixth Term Examination Papers (STEP).
In all cases, the offer is tailored to the candidate's individual circumstances.

The College welcomes applications from candidates who are considering taking a gap between school and university, and who have a sensible and structured plan for the year.
For those taking AS modular exams, we find that the marks obtained in these exams are a good indicator (better than GCSE) of future performance. In such cases, we are likely not to pay a great deal of attention to GCSE grades. You might like to know, however, that most candidates have eight 7-9 grades at GCSE, with the majority of these 8 or 9.
Selwyn will only consider applications from students enrolled in a degree course at another university in very exceptional circumstances. Any application to move to Cambridge would need strong support from your Course Director or other academic tutor at your current university. A reference or letter of recommendation from that person to the college would be required in advance of any application, and only then could the college consider an application. All such applications are still subject to the same academic assessment as any other application, including scrutiny of past performance in school examinations.
Selwyn College participates in University exchange programmes like ERASMUS and the Ecole Centrale Paris, MIT and NUS schemes when in operation. Apart from these we do not take visiting or Junior Year Abroad students.
It is not possible for a student to transfer to Cambridge to pursue only part of a degree course. All students must start in the first year of our three or four-year undergraduate programmes.

Latest News

  • Sustainability award
    Wed, 10/05/2023 - 10:37

    We’re thrilled that Selwyn postgraduate student Chloe Balhatchet has won the sustainability category in the vice-chancellor’s social impact awards. The citation says: ”The sustainability team and Cambridge Zero jointly nominated Chloe for the sustainability award because of her outstanding and numerous contributions to many engagement projects within the university.

  • Women in science
    Wed, 10/05/2023 - 10:29

    In May 2023 Selwyn hosted a discussion about women in science, featuring Dame Athene Donald – former professor of experimental physics in Cambridge, and currently master of Churchill College.

  • Open to all
    Mon, 24/04/2023 - 15:29

    Selwyn’s outreach work has been particularly intense in recent weeks, with a series of trips to Cambridge by schools and multiple occasions when our schools liaison officers have been visiting locations across the country. The aim is a simple one: to show that Selwyn and Cambridge are open to everyone with the right talent irrespective of geography or background or personal circumstances.

  • Sir David Harrison RIP
    Tue, 28/03/2023 - 09:52

    With great sadness, the college announced the death on March 27th of its former master Sir David Harrison at the age of 92.

  • Flagship lecture
    Mon, 27/03/2023 - 11:15

    The college is pleased to announce that its flagship Ramsay Murray lecture will be given this year by Professor Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford. Her title is ‘Revolution: The German Peasants’ War 1524-6’, and she will argue that this was the greatest uprising in western Europe before the French Revolution.

     

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