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What are we looking for?

We look for students with academic ability and potential, who can show us commitment to their chosen course.

We want to encourage good applicants regardless of their school background. Jesus College has a lot to offer able and motivated students from any type of school, and we know that you have a lot to offer us.

What we're looking for

When we assess your application, we'll be looking for:

  • Academic ability and potential
  • Motivation and suitability for your chosen course
  • Commitment and self discipline.

Strong candidates will usually have excellent grades, but we often overlook the odd low mark, and in special circumstances we will accept applicants with weaker grades.

We'll also be looking for enthusiasm and commitment to the subject, and to academic study generally. For instance, you may have read widely. For certain subjects, such as Medicine, Engineering, or Architecture, you may have taken a work placement in a relevant area.

If you are applying from outside the UK your application will be assessed in the same way as everyone else's. There's no quota system based on nationality, except in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Entrance requirements

You can find more detailed information about entrance requirements and different qualifications on these pages: 

How we make decisions

Undergraduate admissions decisions are made by Colleges. After interviews have taken place in December we compare applicants to Jesus College with applicants in the same subject at other Colleges to ensure that between us we make offers to the strongest candidate. Find out more about how Colleges make admissions decisions.

Subjects you can study at Jesus

We welcome applications for all subjects studied in the University. The ratio of applications to places in all subjects is about average for the University as a whole, although the number of students in each subject varies slightly from year to year.

Each year we take in roughly the following numbers of students in each subject:

If you have any further questions you might find the answer in our frequently asked questions. If you don't, please email us at undergraduate-admissions@jesus.cam.ac.uk.

Hear from our students