Applicant information 2025

15 October 2025 - 22 October 2025

Completing the My Cambridge Application

Within 48 hours of submitting your UCAS application, you will be sent a link to an additional online questionnaire called the My Cambridge Application. The deadline for this is 6:00 pm (UK time) on 22 October 2025. This is a firm deadline and we will not be able to consider your application if you submit the form late. Our advice is to not leave things to the last minute and submit your My Cambridge Application sooner rather than later. The sooner you submit your UCAS application, the more time you have to submit this additional Cambridge form, so do take this into account. If you have not received the email with the link by the 17th October, please check your junk / spam folders and contact the My Cambridge Application team if you are unable to find it.

A few days after the UCAS deadline of 15th October, the King's Admissions Office will also send an email to you. This email will include information on how to submit written work and other documents. Please do look out for this email and check your spam folder.

If you have any questions about submitting this form, please see the University website for information and contact details for the relevant helpdesk.

Submitting an Extenuating Circumstances Form (ECF)

We know that serious things that have happened, or are happening, in your life can have a big impact on your studies. These are called extenuating circumstances. You can read some examples of extenuating circumstances on the University website.

For most students, details about these extenuating circumstances will be provided as part of their UCAS reference, as there is a designated section of the reference for these details to be included. If, however, you feel there are extenuating circumstances not included on your UCAS reference, you can ask your teacher to submit a separate Extenuating Circumstances Form (ECF) to us. This can provide additional context for us when considering your application. Further questions about the ECF are best asked by teachers rather than applicants, parents, or home supporters. In the rare case that your school is not aware of the circumstances, a doctor or social worker can fill in the form on your behalf.

The submission of an Extenuating Circumstances Form will in no way disadvantage an application. If in doubt, we would encourage you to submit it.

The form must be submitted before 6:00 pm on 22nd October 2025 for us to take the information it contains into consideration.

22 October 2025 to mid-November 2025

Once you have submitted your My Cambridge Application, it is essential to read the assessment and interview notes very carefully and take whatever action is required. You may be at a disadvantage if you do not read these. They contain information about written work that you may have to submit, details of admissions assessments, information about interviews, and any additional things you need to do for your subject.

Key deadlines

At King’s, we interview a large proportion of the students who apply to us. For 2025, most interviews will take place in the week commencing the 8th December, however some interviews might take place on the 15th December. Please keep this period free as we will not be able to reschedule interview dates once they are communicated to you.

We will let you know if you have been invited for interview around two weeks in advance. If you are not invited for interview, we will also let you know. We will issue interview communications subject by subject, so some subjects will hear before others. We will update the list of subjects below when we have sent out decisions. Other Colleges will send information at other times, so people applying to other Cambridge Colleges may hear about their interviews before you, even if they are applying for the same subject. Please be patient and do not contact us until the list of subjects below is updated with your subject.

Interview format

All applicants invited to interview, whether they are based in the UK or overseas, will undertake an interview in person in King's College, Cambridge. 

If a candidate knows they would be unable to travel to Cambridge for an exceptional reason, they must let us know via the survey that will be sent to all applicants following submission of their application. We are willing to consider remote interviews in these circumstances, but it is up to the candidate to explain why such an accommodation is required.  Reasons that will not be considered sufficient include:

• Distance travelled
• Cost of travel, unless you can show that your household income is below the median for your country
• Scheduling conflicts
• Administrative inconvenience associated with applying for a visa

Reasons that may be considered sufficient include:

• You have been refused a visa or can prove that you would not be eligible for a visa
• Health or disability
• Care-related obligations

If you apply for a visa and it is not granted by five days prior to your interview date, we will grant you an online interview if you can demonstrate that you have taken all reasonable steps to procure the visa as swiftly as possible following the receipt of the interview invitation. 

If you are requesting an online interview, you may be asked to submit supporting documentation such as evidence of household income, details about the costs of your travel, or evidence of your visa application date.

The orientation and aims of the interview are the same regardless of format, and students will not be disadvantaged in any way by the format of their interview. Candidates also not be disadvantaged in the Winter Pool by reason of the interview format used by their College of application.

If you apply to us and later decide you cannot attend an in person interview, you will not be able to transfer your application to another college.  

ID checks

All interviewees will need to present ID at a specified time prior to their interview. The following types of photographic ID are acceptable:

• Passport
• Photocard driving licence (full or provisional)
• EU photo ID card
• Government-issued ID card
• If you do not have any of the above, a school-issued photo ID card

The ID needs to be presented in the Latin alphabet (English letters) in order to be checked by the Admissions Team.

Accommodation and meals

If you are coming to King’s for your interview and it is not possible for you to make the round trip to Cambridge in a single day, we may be able to offer you free overnight accommodation as well as dinner (on your day of arrival) and breakfast (on the day of your interview) in College. We are only able to offer accommodation to applicants and not to any accompanying parents, guardians or friends. Applicants who need overnight accommodation should let us know using the reply form included with the email interview invitation. We only offer accommodation on the night before the interview.

Travelling to Cambridge

If you are invited for an in-person interview, you will need to make your own way to Cambridge and organise your own travel arrangements.

There is no parking available at King’s. If driving, we recommend using one of the many Park and Ride sites around the city. Parking in the centre of Cambridge is very expensive, and there many one-way streets and bus gates which can incur traffic fines.

The entrance to King’s College is on King’s Parade. The postcode is CB2 1ST.

Travel costs

We can reimburse eligible UK applicants for travel costs as long as you take public transport and book the cheapest option available to you. Applicants are eligible for reimbursement if they are a UK student and any of the following apply: 

• They are eligible for free school meals
• They are from a family with an income of below £30,000
• They are estranged from their family
• They are in local authority care

If any of these apply to you, you will be able to tell us in the interview invitation reply form. You will be asked to submit appropriate evidence, which will be kept confidential from your interviewers throughout the admissions process. You must then send us an online or paper receipt, along with your bank details, and we will reimburse you as soon as possible. We are unable to reimburse travel costs for non-UK-based applicants. 

Decisions for all applicants will be sent on 28th January 2026. We send these decisions in batches, so some applicants may receive their decisions earlier than others. Please do not worry if another applicant has received a decision and you have not; this has no bearing on the outcome of your application. All applicants will have received their decision by 5:00 pm.

King’s College does not provide individualised feedback to any applicants, whether successful or unsuccessful. Instead, those who were invited to interview but rejected will be sent a strength of field report that provides an indication of what successful candidates did well in their year of application. Applicants are encouraged to share this report with their referees. 

Applicants who were not invited to interview will not receive a strength of field report.