Applicant information 2026
This webpage is for students planning to apply to King's College, Cambridge in October 2026.
On this page
This webpage is for students planning to apply to King's College, Cambridge in October 2026.Please use this page, alongside the dedicated subject pages to prepare your application. The page includes important information about deadlines, and what will be expected at each stage of the application. Please read this page carefully; you are responsible for ensuring that all relevant deadlines are met. If you have any questions, please have regard to the information at the bottom of the page about how you can get in touch.
Key deadlines
All times are in UK time.
| Deadline | What | Who | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 October 2026, 6:00 pm | UCAS deadline | All applicants | In order for your application to be considered, your application must be complete. It must include details of all the qualifications you have already taken; all those which you are yet to sit, along with predicted grades. It must also include a personal statement, written by you, and one reference from someone who knows you academically (usually a teacher or careers’ adviser). If your UCAS application does not include one or more of these elements, it may be discontinued automatically. |
| 22 October 2026, 6:00 pm | My Cambridge Application | All applicants | Within 48 hours of submitting your UCAS application, you will be sent a link to the My Cambridge Application. 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. |
| 22 October 2026, 6:00 pm | Adjustment Form | Applicants who have ticked the disability disclosure box on UCAS and/or receive adjustments for school exams | If you receive adjustments for exams, we ask you to submit an adjustment form. If you don’t receive adjustments for exams, but you disclosed a Disability/Specific Learning Difficulties/long-term illness on UCAS, please submit this form as well to let us know that you do not need any adjustments. The form will be available here in due course. You will be required to complete, provide relevant evidence, and submit the form via an online form which will be linked here in due course. This flow chart may be helpful in determining whether you should submit an adjustment form. If you have selected the disability box on UCAS by accident, please let us know so that we are not chasing you for an adjustment form. If you do not submit your adjustment form and accompanying evidence by the deadline, and/or that evidence does not explain the adjustments you need or the basis on which they are required, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to make these adjustments for you throughout the admissions process. |
| 22 October 2026, 6:00 pm | Extenuating Circumstances Form (ECF) | Applicants with extenuating circumstances whose referee has not included sufficient details in the reference | If this form is not submitted by the deadline, we cannot guarantee that the information it contains will be considered as part of the admissions process. Information on when you might need to submit this form is provided below. |
| 4 November 2026, 5:00 pm | Written work | Applicants to specific subjects (see assessment and pre-interview notes) | If your subject requires written work, you can find the cover sheet here. The link to submit your written work will be sent to you in an email. If you do not submit your written work by the deadline, your application will be automatically discontinued. |
| 4 November 2026, 5:00 pm | Portfolio | Applicants to Architecture and Design | Candidates for Architecture and Design are required to submit sample artwork/a portfolio (as a single 6-page PDF). Please note that this PDF must be less than 15MB in size. Guidance on submitting a portfolio can be found here. The link to submit your portfolio will be sent to you in an email. If you do not submit your portfolio by the deadline your application will be automatically discontinued. |
After submitting your UCAS application
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 2026. 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 acknowledging your application. This email will include information on how to submit written work and other documents that must be submitted by the appropriate deadline (see below) if your application is to be considered. 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.
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 online form for submitting your Extenuating Circumstance will be sent to you in an email after you have submitted your application, and must be submitted by the deadline of 6:00pm on 22nd October 2026. For this reason, if you plan to submit an Extenuating Circumstances Form, we suggest you aim to submit your UCAS and My Cambridge Application forms in advance of the deadline, to give you time to submit the Extenuating Circumstances Form. If the form is received after 6:00 pm on 22nd October 2026, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to take the information it contains into consideration.
Adjustment forms
If you receive adjustments for exams, or have a disability that means that you may require adjustments throughout the admissions process, you must submit an adjustment form, accompanied by appropriate evidence, by the deadline of 6:00pm 22nd October 2026. If you do not, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to make the required adjustments, and your continued participation in the admissions process will be on the assumption that you have waived your right to reasonable adjustments by failing to meet the deadline.
This flow chart may be helpful in determining whether you should submit an adjustment form.
The form will be available here in due course. You will be required to complete, provide relevant evidence, and submit the form via an online form, which will be linked here in due course.
The evidence you provide must clearly justify the accommodations requested. If it does not, we reserve the right to make only those reasonable adjustments that can be substantiated by the evidence provided.
If you declared a disability on your UCAS form but do not require any adjustments, you will still be expected to fill out an adjustment form and confirm that no adjustments are required.
Interviews
At King’s, we interview a large proportion of the students who apply to us. For 2026, most interviews will take place in the week commencing the 7th December, however some interviews might take place on the 14th 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.
No interview invitations have currently been sent.
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 (including conflicts with school timetabling and/or exams)
- 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
Decisions for all applicants will be sent on 27 January 2027. 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 on decision day.
Helpful links
University information about application decisionsFeedback
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 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. This report will be sent by the end of February 2027.
Applicants who were not invited to interview, or who received an offer, will not receive this report.
Please be aware that, in order to preserve the integrity of our admissions processes, the College will not accept any gift from a prospective applicant and/or anyone, including friends or family members, where that gift is made in reference to, or could reasonably be interpreted to be in reference to, an actual or intended application by them to the College.
Contacting the King's Admissions Office
To enable us to work efficiently, we ask you to start all emails / letters with the following information:
Your subject (including 'Biological' or 'Physical' if it is Natural Sciences)
Your UCAS Personal ID
Postal address:
Undergraduate Admissions Office
King's College
Cambridge
CB2 1ST
United Kingdom