TL;DR: The Cambridge acceptance rate for the 2025 cycle was 16.3%: 3,669 students accepted from 22,513 applications, with 4,893 offers made for an offer rate of 21.7% (University of Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle). The friendlier headline conceals the same domicile split that defines Oxford. Home applicants succeeded at 19.6% while applicants from outside the UK succeeded at 10.7%, and US applicants specifically at 5.5%, with 33 accepted from 597 applications. Course choice swings the odds further: Computer Science accepted 7.4% while several arts courses ran far above the university average. The UCAS deadline is October 15, and an applicant may apply to Cambridge or Oxford in a cycle, never both. To plan an application built around these numbers, schedule a consultation with Oriel Admissions.
What Is the Cambridge Acceptance Rate?
The Cambridge acceptance rate for the 2025 cycle was 16.3%. The University of Cambridge received 22,513 undergraduate applications, made 4,893 offers, and recorded 3,669 acceptances, students who received an offer, met its conditions, and took up a place. Cambridge frames the same arithmetic more plainly in its own materials: about six applications for every place. Like Oxford, Cambridge publishes its full admissions data, broken down by course, college, and country of domicile, which makes the real odds knowable before a family commits an application slot.
| 2025 cycle | Count | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Applications | 22,513 | |
| Offers | 4,893 | 21.7% of applicants |
| Acceptances | 3,669 | 16.3% of applicants |
Source: University of Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle. Rates computed from published counts.
The trend is a slow tightening. Applications peaked at 22,795 in the 2021 cycle, dipped to 21,445 in 2023, and climbed back to 22,513 for 2025, while the acceptance share drifted down from 19.6% in the 2020 cycle to 16.3% today. Offers, by contrast, have risen, which means a growing share of offer holders fails to convert an offer into a place. That gap is the single most misunderstood feature of the Cambridge numbers, and it is where American families most often misread their odds.
Why Is the Cambridge Offer Rate so Much Higher Than the Acceptance Rate?
Because Cambridge offers are conditional, and the conditions have teeth. The offer rate of 21.7% counts everyone who received an offer, the figure comparable to a US acceptance rate. The acceptance share of 16.3% counts only those who then met their grade conditions and enrolled. Mathematics is the extreme case: in the 2025 cycle the course made offers to 27.3% of applicants but recorded acceptances for only 12.7%, because most Mathematics offers are conditional on STEP, a separate examination sat after the offer arrives. A Cambridge offer is a checkpoint, not a finish line, and any family comparing Cambridge to US universities should compare offer rate to acceptance rate deliberately rather than letting an aggregator mix the two.
What Is the Cambridge Acceptance Rate for US Applicants?
The Cambridge acceptance rate for US applicants was 5.5% in the 2025 cycle: 597 applications from students domiciled in the United States produced 33 acceptances (University of Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, country of domicile tables). That is the sharpest domicile penalty among the destinations American families consider. The United States sent the second largest overseas applicant pool after China, yet converted below the overseas average of 10.7% and at less than a third of the Home rate of 19.6%.
| Overseas domicile, 2025 cycle | Applications | Success rate |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 575 | 23.1% |
| Hong Kong | 552 | 14.3% |
| China | 2,900 | 9.8% |
| United States | 597 | 5.5% |
Source: University of Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle. Success rate is acceptances divided by applications.
The pattern indicts preparation, not passports. Singapore, whose schools run on A-levels, outperformed the Home rate itself at 23.1%. American applicants sit at the bottom of the table because the US system trains students for a different competition: broad excellence, activities, and narrative essays, none of which Cambridge evaluates. Cambridge reads subject mastery, admissions test results, and interview performance, and it attaches grade conditions that AP students must map onto an A-level scale. An American who prepares like a UK candidate closes most of that gap. Our guide on how to get into Cambridge details that preparation, and our complete guide to the UCAS application covers the mechanics, deadlines, and the personal statement that UK admissions actually expects.
Which Cambridge Courses Are Hardest to Get Into?
Computer Science is the hardest course to get into at Cambridge, with a 7.4% acceptance share in the 2025 cycle, followed by Engineering at 10.3% and Land Economy at 11.8%. The volume tells its own story: Engineering drew 3,263 applications, Natural Sciences 2,644, and Mathematics 2,032, so the three largest courses at Cambridge are all sciences, and the competition concentrates exactly where international demand is strongest.
| Course, 2025 cycle | Acceptance share | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Science | 7.4% | Most competitive course |
| Engineering | 10.3% | Largest course by applications, 3,263 |
| Land Economy | 11.8% | Small course, heavy oversubscription |
| Mathematics | 12.7% | Offer rate 27.3%, cut by STEP conditions |
Source: University of Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, 2025 cycle. Acceptance share is acceptances divided by applications.
As at Oxford, the inverse holds. Arts and languages courses draw a fraction of the pressure and accept at rates far above the university average, which means a student with authentic depth in a less oversubscribed subject faces the best odds available anywhere in elite admissions. Because applicants commit to one course on the UCAS form, the course decision is the acceptance rate decision, and it deserves more deliberation than most American families give it.
How Does Cambridge Decide Who Gets In?
The Cambridge process runs on the same October 15 UCAS deadline as Oxford, with admissions tests for most courses, interviews in early December, and offers in January carrying grade conditions, typically A*A*A for sciences and A*AA for arts at A-level, with published AP and SAT equivalents for American applicants. Two mechanisms distinguish Cambridge. First, the winter pool: strong applicants whose chosen college is full are pooled and can be picked up by another college, and roughly one in five successful applicants receives an offer this way, so college choice matters less than most families assume. Second, post offer examinations such as STEP for Mathematics mean the work continues after the offer letter. One structural rule shapes the whole decision: an applicant may apply to Cambridge or Oxford in a given cycle, never both, so families should weigh this data against our companion analysis of how to get into Oxford before committing the slot.
How Does the Cambridge Acceptance Rate Compare with the Ivy League?
A 16.3% Cambridge acceptance rate reads as three to four times the sub 5% rates at the most selective US universities, and for a US family the comparison needs the same three corrections that apply at Oxford. The relevant number is the course rate, not the university rate, and for Computer Science that is 7.4%. The pool is self selected against published grade floors, so weak applications that inflate Ivy denominators mostly never arrive. And the US specific rate is 5.5%, which is Ivy League territory, not safety school territory. What Cambridge offers an American family is not easier admission but a legible one: published data, stated criteria, and a process where preparation measurably moves the odds. Our comparisons of UK universities versus the Ivy League and Ivy League acceptance rates set the systems side by side.
For the full admissions picture at Cambridge, see our guide on how to get into Cambridge University, and for the US side of the comparison, our overview of Ivy League acceptance rates. For the sister university, see our breakdown of the Oxford acceptance rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
By headline numbers, slightly: Cambridge accepted 16.3% in the 2025 cycle against 14.2% at Oxford, and its offer rate of 21.7% runs well above the Oxford figure of 16.7%. For US applicants the ordering reverses: Americans succeeded at 7.0% at Oxford and 5.5% at Cambridge. Course choice matters more than the university choice.
In the 2025 cycle, 597 applications from the United States produced 33 acceptances, a 5.5% success rate. The United States sent the second largest overseas applicant pool after China yet converted below the overseas average of 10.7%.
A safeguard for strong applicants whose chosen college has no room. Pooled candidates can be picked up by other colleges, and roughly one in five successful applicants receives an offer this way, which is why college selection matters less than families expect.
October 15 through UCAS, with admissions test registration earlier and interviews in early December. An applicant may apply to Cambridge or Oxford in a cycle, never both.
Computer Science, which accepted 7.4% of applicants in the 2025 cycle, followed by Engineering at 10.3% and Land Economy at 11.8%. Mathematics shows a special pattern: a 27.3% offer rate cut to 12.7% acceptance by STEP examination conditions.
No. UCAS rules prevent applicants from applying to both Cambridge and Oxford in the same admissions cycle, so families must choose one. Selectivity for US applicants is similar at both, and the right choice usually follows course fit rather than prestige.
Cambridge admits primarily on academic fit for the chosen course: rigorous coursework such as AP exams, course specific admissions assessments, and the supervision style interview. Strong AP results or equivalent credentials form the core of a US academic profile, and applicants should confirm the current entry requirements for their course on the Cambridge admissions site.
Cambridge applications run through UCAS with a deadline in mid October, nearly three months before most US Regular Decision deadlines. Admissions assessments and interviews follow in the autumn, so US applicants should plan the Cambridge timeline alongside early round US applications.
Sources: University of Cambridge Undergraduate Study and admissions statistics, University of Cambridge, UCAS
About Oriel Admissions
Oriel Admissions is a Princeton-based college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy. Our team brings deep expertise across every dimension of the application, and our distinctive 360 approach develops strategy, positioning, activities, essays, and interviews as one coherent whole. To discuss your family’s admissions strategy, schedule a consultation.
