Entrance requirements for the University are demanding. The usual requirements at A-level are A*A*A for most sciences courses and A*AA for arts courses. Further background is given here.

Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers

Courses with a typical offer of A*AA generally require A1, A2, A2; and for courses with a typical A Level offer of A*A*A, offers are usually A1, A1, A2. However, most successful applicants ultimately exceed the conditions of their offer.

In some cases, two Advanced Highers and an additional Higher may be acceptable, for example if it is very difficult to study for three Advanced Highers at your school. You can indicate this in the ‘Teaching difficulties’ section of My Cambridge Application, so that this can be taken into account when assessing your application.

If you’re studying towards a Scottish Baccalaureate qualification, you are expected to offer three Advanced Highers as part of it.

The University’s admissions policy statement on the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence can be found by clicking on the link.

Variations

Obviously the University courses require qualifications in relevant subjects and it is important to look at the entrance requirements as specified for your chosen subject (see Courses), select your course and then choose “Entry Requirements”. Note that there are variations by College and these can be found by following the “Subject Requirements and Typical Offer by College” link. This may affect your choice of College.

The Subject Matters

Note that Cambridge often considers not only the individual subjects but also the combination of subjects in assessing a candidate’s suitability.

The Subject Matters is a series of Cambridge based events for S3 and S4 students offering advice about making informed subject choices. This could be of interest to teachers and careers advisors as well as older pupils who still have subject choices to make. Follow this link for more information and here for a PDF on the subject.