Changing Colleges

Achieving a place at the University of Cambridge and one of its Colleges is highly competitive.

• At undergraduate level, all places are filled at set stages through the UCAS admissions process (January and August for commencement in October).
• At postgraduate level, many College places are often filled early on during the admissions cycle.

It is therefore not possible for a student to request to transfer from one College to another. Where you have been made, or accepted, an offer from a Cambridge College, you should assume that this will be your academic home for the duration of the course.

In very exceptional cases, Colleges may discuss and agree between them the transfer of a student or applicant between the two Colleges, but this will only take place if there are compelling reasons for doing so, and the receiving College has the appropriate resources and capacity to admit the student. In such cases, the Senior Tutor will raise this in discussion with you as a potential option if this is considered by them to be an appropriate consideration in your specific circumstances, but please note that this does not guarantee such a transfer would be possible. In any one year, the total number of such transfers across the whole University (at both undergraduate and postgraduate level) is likely to be fewer than ten.

The above points do not necessarily apply to postgraduate applicants in receipt of specific financial support packages from a College: it is relatively routine for a student to transfer from their undergraduate College to another College should they obtain a College-specific scholarship or bursary.