Information for applicants applying in 2023 for entry in October 2024 or deferred entry in October 2025

Thank you for your application to Trinity College. Below you will find the information you need for the next stages in the application process. This page will be your main source of information until the end of January. It is essentially the Admissions Office notice board. Please read this information carefully as you will not receive a further notice of anything you are required to do.  It is crucial that you submit My Cambridge Application and high school transcript (if applicable) by the deadline.

• Key dates
• Interviews

Information for applicants selected for interview in Cambridge in December

Please ensure that you allow ample time for your journey to the College and that you leave plenty of time to register for your first appointment. If you experience any difficulties on the day, please contact Stacey Smith immediately on 01223 338422 or telephone the Porters’ Lodge on 01223 338400. You do not need to attend anything other than the appointments that are listed in your personal interview schedule. You are free to leave the College as soon as your last appointment has finished.

There is no particular dress code for interviews at Trinity. You are encouraged to dress comfortably. Some applicants come in jeans and a jumper, some prefer a suit. We are interested in your academic potential only.

Family members and friends are welcome to look round the College whilst applicants are here but they must not wait outside interview or test rooms: it is disruptive to other candidates and interviewers want to meet applicants only. The focus during the interview week is purely on the assessment of candidates so we are unable to offer any tours or information sessions, etc. If you have any questions about studying at Trinity, please refer to the undergraduate admissions pages of the College and University websites or contact the Admissions Office.

We regret that it is not possible for family or friends to stay in College or have meals in the Dining Hall; meals and accommodation are provided for applicants only.

Please note that you must not contact your interviewers directly under any circumstances – all correspondence should be addressed to the Admissions Office.

• Directions to the College
• College Map
• Street Map
• University Map

Information for applicants selected for an online interview in December

If you are having a remote interview, it will be run on the platform Zoom. It would be helpful to familiarise yourself with this platform if you haven’t done so already.  It is free to sign up to an account (via https://zoom.us/).  You will need to be confident that you have access to a reliable internet connection, on a computer with a video camera, in a place where you can be confident you won’t be disturbed during the interview.  It is for you to decide where that will be.  It can be in your school, your home or somewhere else – wherever you feel most comfortable and have most confidence that you won’t be interrupted.  If you anticipate any problems with this, please be in touch with us to explain your situation.

For the subjects that have pre-interview reading or questions, you will be given this at a specified time in advance of your interview.

For the interview itself, for subjects in the Arts and Humanities as well as Psychological & Behavioural Sciences, you don’t need anything except for a computer with a video camera and a stable internet connection.

For candidates being interviewed in Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine and Natural Sciences, you will need to have access to a graphics tablet (or ‘drawing tablet’) during your interview.  This could be an iPad or another device plugged into your computer.  A typical such device is a Wacom One with a stylus (pen) which costs about £36 to purchase.  This is so that we can see what you write during the interview, such as if we ask you to make some calculations.  There is no need to buy anything other than a small sized device.  If you are in a subject that requires a graphics tablet and you have not used one before, we strongly encourage you to practise with one before your interview.

If you are invited to a remote interview, you will be sent a single link.  You should log in for your interview(s) 15 minutes in advance.  You will be met there by some of our student ambassadors, who will make sure your technology is working well.  They will pass you through to the interviewers at the appropriate time.

Please note that you must not contact your interviewers directly under any circumstances – all correspondence should be addressed to the Admissions Office.

UCAS Hub will not update to show that you have been invited for interview.

My Cambridge Application

In order to make a valid application to the University of Cambridge, you must also complete My Cambridge Application by the deadline set. Once your UCAS application has been received by the University a message will be sent to the email address specified in that application. In this email you will be given your personalised link to My Cambridge Application. In the majority of cases the deadline to complete it will be 6.00 pm UK time on 23 October 2023. We will not be able to process your application until we have received your submission.  It is not necessary for you to advise us once you have submitted My Cambridge Application – we will receive it automatically. Please note that we do not acknowledge receipt of My Cambridge Application. If you are unable to complete My Cambridge Application online (i.e. because you do not have a valid email address or as a result of a disability), please contact the Cambridge Admissions Office as soon as possible (01223 333308/email: applicationhelp@ug.admin.cam.ac.uk).  We will be contacting you by email at various stages throughout the application process so it is essential that our emails are not rejected by your email provider. For set-up instructions, please see https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/how/cambridge-application.

What must I do now?

• Read the Pre-interview and Interview Notes document very carefully and make note of anything you are required to do.
• Applicants for Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Medicine and Natural Sciences should have already registered for an admissions assessment (deadline 29 September).  The assessment will be taken on 18 October.
• Applicants for Law should already be registered for the LNAT and must sit this by 16 October.
• Complete My Cambridge Application by 6.00 pm UK time on 23 October 2023.
• Complete the Additional Information Questionnaire and submit it by Friday 27 October 2023 at the very latest.  The link for this will be emailed to all applicants shortly after the closing date for applications.
• If applicable for your subject, upload any written work that is required by 2 November 2023. Please remember to complete a Cover Sheet for each piece of work submitted.
• If you have registered a disability/neurodiverse condition/long-term illness on your UCAS application and/or you normally receive adjustments for school exams, please send the Disability/Neurodiverse condition/long-term illness form to the Admissions Administrator by 2 November 2023.
• If you are unable to provide a digital photograph as part of My Cambridge Application, you should contact the Cambridge Admissions Office as soon as possible.
• You may be required to submit a transcript as part of your application to the College.  Please check here for further details.
•  If you have experienced particular personal or educational disadvantage, you may like to consider submitting an Extenuating Circumstances Form. Further information about this can be found on the University website. If this is relevant, please arrange for your form to be submitted as soon as possible.
• If you are applying to read Medical Sciences, please note that we do not select applicants for interview in Trinity until we receive the BMAT results. Results will be released by the exam board on Friday 24 November 2023.

We will not be able to process your application until we have received all the documents required to complete your application.

Transcripts

Applicants who have taken non-UK school qualifications may need to submit a High School Transcript. For further details if this applies to you, and for information on how to submit it, please see this page.

By transcript we mean a record of your academic achievement to-date in your secondary school/college examinations, usually for the last/most recent two years of schooling. However, if you’re taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma and took the Middle Years Programme (MYP), you should submit a transcript for the MYP. We would like to be provided with your teachers’ assessment of your academic performance to-date.  We strongly prefer to have the fullest possible information available to us in order to conduct a fair and holistic assessment.  Please do NOT include references, detailed project work or any non-academic achievements.

Decisions

Applicants who are selected for interview will hear the outcome of their application through UCAS on Wednesday 24 January 2024 (University-wide communication date).  We are unable to give decisions over the telephone or discuss the outcome with parents.  The Undergraduate Admissions website has information about the possible outcomes.

January pool

Candidates who are placed in the Pool may be asked to undertake another interview in January. You should let us know as soon as possible if you will not be available for interview in January.

Feedback

Trinity College will provide feedback when requested by applicants who have been interviewed by the College, but have failed to secure an offer.

We usually provide feedback to the writer of the UCAS reference, who is in most cases a member of staff at your school/college. This is for two reasons:

1. The referee is well placed to judge the best way to convey the feedback to you so that it is received as a beneficial learning experience;
2. The provision of feedback to your referee helps them understand the standards and requirements for the relevant Cambridge course and so may be helpful to future applicants from your school or college.

Admissions complaints and appeals

Queries

If you have any queries, on any matter at all, please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions Administrator, Ms Stacey Smith.

Tel: +44 (0)1223 338422

Fax: +44 (0)1223 338584

Email: admissions@trin.cam.ac.uk

When contacting us, please include the following information:

• Your full name as you entered it on your UCAS application (please do not use alternative names)
• The subject you have applied to study
• Your UCAS Personal ID number

Dr Glen Rangwala
Director of Admissions
September 2023

How we use your personal information

Please visit https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/applicant-data for information on how we use the personal information provided by applicants.  The College’s Data Protection Policy is available at https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/website/dpn/.