Lucy Cavendish Undergraduate Admissions

The College expects applicants to maintain the strictest confidentiality throughout the application and admissions process.

Sharing details of any part of the application process (including, but not limited to, your assigned pre-reading or exercises (if any), admissions assessment and/or interviews) is strictly prohibited, because it risks compromising our standards of admission, and could harm the interpretation of your own performance. This includes, but is not limited to, communication indirectly or directly by email, websites, chat rooms and texts with other applicants. While we understand that you may wish to discuss your interviews with advisers at your school or college, you are requested not to share full details of any questions asked with them.

The Colleges expect you to maintain confidentiality, this means that:

• You must be alone in the room for your interviews and any pre-interview reading or exercises
   
• You must not disclose any details of the assigned pre-reading (if any)
   
• You must not disclose any details of the admissions assessment (if any)
   
• You must not disclose any details of the interviews
   
• You must not record or photograph any part of your interview or admissions assessment
   
• You must destroy any notes or other form of written record that you make during your interview or admissions assessment, or during your preparation for these, and should under no circumstances share such notes with any third party
   
• You must not permit any third party record or photograph any part of your interview or admissions assessment
   
• The recording or photographing of your interview or admissions assessment will result in your application to Cambridge being cancelled
   
• The recording or photographing of your interview or admissions assessment will be reported to UCAS

Lucy Cavendish College will treat any breach of confidentiality as a very serious matter, and it may be reported to UCAS and relevant professional bodies as well as to the other Cambridge Colleges.

Lucy Cavendish is unable to consider any additional reference provided outside of the UCAS Teacher Reference, such as additional documents sent by an applicant's school or by another third party who has supported the application. The sole exception to this is in applications for the Graduate Course in Medicine, for which a second, clinical reference is a formal requirement of the application process.

This does not include the Extenuating Circumstances form or associated communications.

Any school or college wishing to disclose additional contextual information about an applicant should first contact the College by email on admissions@lucy.cam.ac.uk to seek advice.

Late submission of any essential forms or documents required as part of the application process, or a failure to meet any deadline during the admissions round, can be considered as grounds for the rejection of an application.

For a full list of deadlines and their associated submissions we recommend applicants check the Deadlines sections of our Current Applicants Webpage. 

Lucy Cavendish College is happy to consider re-applicants to the University, so long as the following principles are obeyed:

• A re-applicant to the University who previously applied to a different College and was unsuccessful may apply to Lucy Cavendish without consulting us first.  We would generally expect such applicants to have taken steps to improve their application since the previous round in response to any feedback they received following their previous rejection.
   
• A re-applicant to the University who previously received an offer from another College and failed to meet the terms of that offer *must* disclose this in the 'Any other information' section of the My Cambridge Application Form.  Such re-applicants are strongly advised to contact the College ahead of their application to seek advice on its competitiveness.  They are also strongly advised to be re-taking the most competitive combination of subjects possible, such that they can demonstrate the highest possible academic potential.  Having previously received an offer from another College or from Lucy Cavendish College is no guarantee that another offer will be made in a different round.
   
• Any student who was previously admitted to a Cambridge College but withdrew from study and is now re-applying *must* contact the College in advance of an application to discuss their circumstances.  Such applications will only be considered under the most exceptional circumstances.
   
• Re-applicants to Lucy Cavendish College for the same subject are generally discouraged unless they have discussed their application with the College in advance and the College has stated that it is willing to consider the application.
   
• Serial re-applicants to the University (more than two applications) are strongly discouraged from applying to Lucy Cavendish College.

All re-applicants are generally advised to contact the College on admissions@lucy.cam.ac.uk to discuss their application with us in advance. We would generally encourage demonstrable substantial positive changes to the application profile.

Lucy Cavendish College generally discourages UK applicants who are already studying at another UK higher education institution from applying to the College.  Any applicant who does wish to apply to re-commence study from scratch at Cambridge should first contact the College to discuss their application.  Such applications will only be considered when:

1. The applicant can demonstrate that there is a significant difference between the course on which they are currently enrolled and their proposed course at Cambridge and can explain to the College's satisfaction what it would be beneficial for them to change course in this way.
    
2. The applicant's current HE institution is supportive of the application and is prepared to write a reference indicating this.

In all other circumstances, such applicants will be rejected.

International applicants currently studying at another international HE institution may apply to the College, but are encouraged also to ensure they can demonstrate no. 1 above. International applicants currently studying at another UK HE institution are encouraged to contact our admissions office to discuss any potential application. 

Under no circumstances will transfer requests be accepted. 

Lucy Cavendish College can only take into consideration information that is disclosed at point of application and by way of the usual processes through which personal information relating to extenuating circumstances, disabilities, health and access requirements are disclosed to the College.  We cannot consider any information which is not disclosed to us through the proper, formal channels, nor any information that subsequently comes to light after a decision on an application is made.  Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all relevant information is fully and accurately disclosed to the College and that the standard procedures and timeframe for its disclosure are followed.  The College will not be held accountable for any failure by an applicant to disclose any relevant information, or for their failure to follow the appropriate procedures or timeframe.

Should a candidate's health or circumstances change during the admissions round, it is the responsibility of the applicant to inform the College of this, providing supporting evidence if required.  It is particularly important that such matters are brought to the College's attention immediately if they would involve additional access requirements: whilst every reasonable attempt to accommodate these will be made, the College cannot guarantee that such late changes will be possible.

Equally, and in line with the University's policy (https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/after/interview-preparation) the College takes a 'fit to sit' approach to undergraduate interviews, which is that candidates will be assumed to be in good health and mentally capable of being interviewed unless they have explicitly informed the College otherwise before their interview is due to begin.  Any subsequent disclosures of ill health or poor capacity cannot be taken into account.

The College may occasionally contact applicants to request more information or supporting evidence regarding their circumstances, access requirements or health.  We may also contact applicants to discuss their access requirements as we plan the admissions round.  If a candidate fails to reply to such correspondence within the timeframe requested, the College will not be able to make the necessary arrangements for them.  It is the responsibility of all candidates to ensure that they remain in regular correspondence with the College about all such matters.

Any information that is disclosed after any stage of the admissions round has been completed cannot and will not be considered.  Any admissions appeal or complaint on these grounds is explicitly prohibited by the Collegiate University's Admissions Appeals and Complaints Policy( see here for the full policy).

Lucy Cavendish College is committed to ensuring that our admissions processes are as transparent and comprehensible as possible.  We therefore have the following policy on providing feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Candidates who are rejected before interview will not be able to request individual feedback on their application. However, information to contextualise our decision will be provided in the rejection letter.

Candidates who have been interviewed by the College, but have failed to secure an offer, either in the first instance from Lucy Cavendish College, or subsequently from a pool College, will have initial information provided at point of rejection to contextualise the outcome. If candidates would then like to request further individual feedback on their application, their referee will be able to request this on their behalf by completing a Feedback Request Form. This will be available from 17-23 February 2025. Such additional feedback will only be provided where the College determines that there is information it would be useful to share.

Individual feedback is provided to the UCAS referee in the first instance because:
1. The referee is well placed to judge the best way to convey the feedback to you so that it is received as a beneficial learning experience;
2. The provision of feedback to your school/college/university informs advisers of future applicants about the standards and requirements for the relevant Cambridge course and is therefore of wider benefit to the admissions process.

If you have any concerns about feedback being provided to the writer of your UCAS reference please contact us at admissions@lucy.cam.ac.uk.

We aim to offer admission to undergraduate applicants of the greatest academic potential. The Colleges receive many applications of very high quality. Unfortunately, we cannot offer everyone a place and the number of unsuccessful candidates – even those with very strong applications – is therefore also high.

Colleges take time considering all elements of your application (including formal applications, tests, submitted work and interviews), to ensure that admissions decisions are focussed on academic ability and potential, and all staff involved in the process are trained to treat applicants fairly, consistently, and professionally.

Occasionally, however, an applicant may be dissatisfied with the decision not to offer them a place and have grounds to believe this stems from procedural error (submitting an “appeal”), or they may be dissatisfied with some other aspect of the management of their application (submitting a “complaint”).

Please consult the following page for details on the Colleges' shared approved policy and procedure for the managing of such appeals and complaints.