TL;DR: Cambridge accepted 3,669 of 22,513 applicants in the 2025 cycle, a success rate of 16.3%. Home applicants ran at 19.6% and international applicants at 10.7%. Country matters more than the international average suggests: Singapore came in at 23.1%, above the Home rate, while the United States sat at 5.5%.
Cambridge publishes a full statistical report every cycle, broken down by domicile, country, region, school type and A-level profile.
Almost none of the figures people quote online come from it. The headline number does, but the headline number describes a pool most readers are not in.
Here is the 2025 cycle as Cambridge reports it.
What is Cambridge’s acceptance rate?
In the 2025 cycle Cambridge received 22,513 applications, made 4,893 offers and accepted 3,669 students. That is a success rate of 16.3%.
All three numbers rose on the previous cycle: applications by 1.6%, offers by 2.8%, acceptances by 1.0%.
Worth knowing before you compare that figure to anything: Cambridge’s published success rate is acceptances divided by applications. Its offer rate, which is the measure Oxford leads with, is 21.7%.
Full report: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-05/ug_admissions_statistics_2025_cycle.pdf
How different is it for international students?
Cambridge splits every applicant into Home, meaning permanently resident in the UK according to their UCAS application, and everyone else.
| 2025 cycle | Applications | Offers | Acceptances | Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 14,213 | 3,672 | 2,779 | 19.6% |
| Outside the UK | 8,300 | 1,221 | 890 | 10.7% |
| Total | 22,513 | 4,893 | 3,669 | 16.3% |
A Home applicant was roughly 1.8 times more likely to be accepted than an international one.
International applicants made up 36.9% of all applications and 24.3% of all acceptances.
Which countries send the most applicants?
This is where the international average stops being useful. These are selected rows from Cambridge’s published top 25, ordered by applications.
| Country | Applications | Offers | Acceptances | Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 2,900 | 360 | 284 | 9.8% |
| United States | 597 | 64 | 33 | 5.5% |
| Singapore | 575 | 155 | 133 | 23.1% |
| Hong Kong | 574 | 109 | 82 | 14.3% |
| India | 370 | 38 | 25 | 6.8% |
| Malaysia | 243 | 37 | 29 | 11.9% |
| Ireland | 140 | 22 | 19 | 13.6% |
| Canada | 137 | 21 | 11 | 8.0% |
| Germany | 134 | 20 | 15 | 11.2% |
| Australia | 133 | 28 | 22 | 16.5% |
| Korea | 128 | 25 | 17 | 13.3% |
| Pakistan | 96 | 5 | 0 | 0.0% |
Singapore, at 23.1%, was more successful than the Home pool. The United States, sending roughly the same number of applications, came in at 5.5%.
At the lower end of the published top 25, Pakistan sent 96 applications, received 5 offers and had nobody accepted.
The international acceptance rate at Cambridge is not a single number. It is a range running from zero to above the domestic rate.
How does this compare with Oxford?
Carefully, because the two universities publish different measures.
| Measure | Oxford 2025 | Cambridge 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Offer rate, all applicants | 16.7% | 21.7% |
| Accepted rate, all applicants | 14.2% | 16.3% |
| Accepted rate, international | 7.7% | 10.7% |
On both measures, and for both pools, Cambridge admitted a higher proportion of its applicants than Oxford did in the same cycle.
It also means placing Oxford’s 16.7% next to Cambridge’s 16.3% and concluding they are equally selective is a mistake, because those are different calculations.
Our Oxford breakdown: https://oxford-research.uk.com/oxford-acceptance-rate-international-students
What grades did successful applicants actually have?
Here is the number that should reframe how you read all of the above.
Of Home applicants accepted in 2025, 94.2% achieved the equivalent of A*AA or better, counting only their best three A-levels and excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking.
And 5,885 unsuccessful Home applicants achieved that same standard.
Cambridge accepted 2,779 Home students in total. So more than twice as many people hit A*AA or better and were turned down as were admitted.
At this level, top grades are the condition for being considered rather than the thing that distinguishes you.
What does the rest of the data show?
Three things that rarely get quoted.
289 applicants were excluded from these statistics entirely because they submitted a UCAS application but never completed My Cambridge Application, which Cambridge requires to finish your submission. That form is due 22 October, a week after the UCAS deadline: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/application-dates-deadlines
Regional variation inside the UK is real. Northern Ireland applicants succeeded at 24.5% and Scottish applicants at 12.0%, against a Home average of 19.6%. Greater London sent 4,405 applications, 31% of the Home pool, at 18.8%.
Among acceptances from Home students at UK schools, 72.5% came from maintained schools and 27.5% from independent schools.
What should international applicants do with this?
The numbers describe pools. Your application is not a pool. Here is what follows.
Work from your country’s figure, not the headline
If you are applying from the United States, 5.5% is your starting point and 16.3% is not. If you are applying from Singapore, you are in a stronger position than most UK applicants. Look your own country up in the report before you decide how many of your five UCAS choices to spend on Oxbridge.
Check what your qualification converts to first
Cambridge publishes country-by-country requirements, and they are more demanding than most applicants expect. US applicants need five or more APs at grade 5, plus an SAT or ACT, plus a strong GPA: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international-students/international-entry-requirements
We break down what that means in practice: https://oxford-research.uk.com/what-gpa-do-you-need-for-oxford-or-cambridge
Do not lose your application to a missed form
289 people did exactly that this cycle. My Cambridge Application is separate from UCAS, due 22 October at 6pm, and without it your application is not complete. Our full timeline covers every date: https://oxford-research.uk.com/oxbridge-application-timeline-month-by-month
Prepare for the interview as seriously as the grades
Everyone who receives an offer from Cambridge has been interviewed first, and 5,885 applicants with A*AA or better did not receive one: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/after/cambridge-interviews
What that actually involves: https://oxford-research.uk.com/how-to-prepare-for-an-oxford-or-cambridge-interview
Build something that survives a conversation
Cambridge asks you to apply what you know to material you have not seen before. Work you have done yourself, beyond the syllabus, is the part of your application that holds up to that.
Key Takeaways
- Cambridge’s 2025 success rate was 16.3%: 3,669 acceptances from 22,513 applications.
- Home applicants ran at 19.6%, international applicants at 10.7%, roughly a 1.8 times gap.
- Country spread is enormous. Singapore 23.1%, Hong Kong 14.3%, China 9.8%, India 6.8%, United States 5.5%.
- International applicants were 36.9% of applications and 24.3% of acceptances.
- Cambridge’s published rate is acceptances over applications. Its offer rate is 21.7%.
- On like-for-like measures Cambridge admitted a higher share of applicants than Oxford in the same cycle.
- 94.2% of accepted Home students held the equivalent of A*AA or better.
- 5,885 unsuccessful Home applicants also held A*AA or better, against 2,779 Home acceptances.
- 289 applicants were excluded for not completing My Cambridge Application.
- 25% of Cambridge undergraduates, around 3,207 students, come from outside the UK, across around 91 countries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cambridge’s overall acceptance rate?
In the 2025 cycle it was 16.3%, from 22,513 applications and 3,669 acceptances. Cambridge calculates this as acceptances divided by applications. Its offer rate, a different measure, was 21.7% from 4,893 offers.
Is it harder to get into Cambridge as an international student?
Yes. Home applicants had a success rate of 19.6% in 2025 against 10.7% for applicants domiciled outside the UK. That said, the international figure conceals a very wide range, and applicants from some countries did better than the Home average.
Which country sends the most applicants to Cambridge?
China, by a wide margin, with 2,900 applications in the 2025 cycle against 597 from the United States in second place. China’s success rate was 9.8%, close to the international average.
Which international applicants had the best success rate?
Among the top sending countries, Singapore at 23.1%, which was higher than the Home rate of 19.6%. Australia followed at 16.5% and Hong Kong at 14.3%.
How many international students are at Cambridge?
Cambridge states that 25% of its undergraduates, around 3,207 students, are from outside the UK, representing around 91 countries: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international-students
Is Cambridge easier to get into than Oxford?
On the 2025 figures, on matching measures, yes, though the margin is modest. Cambridge accepted 16.3% of applicants against Oxford’s 14.2%, and for international applicants specifically 10.7% against 7.7%.
Do I need perfect grades?
You need excellent ones, and they will not be enough by themselves. 94.2% of accepted Home students held the equivalent of A*AA or better, and so did 5,885 applicants who were rejected.
Conclusion
The 16.3% figure is accurate and mostly useless to you.
If you are applying from outside the UK your working number is 10.7%, and if you are applying from a specific country it is whatever that row of the table says. Those rows range from 23.1% to zero.
The more useful number is 5,885. That is how many people met the academic bar and did not get in. Whatever separated them from the 2,779 who did was not their grades, because their grades were the same.
OCAR pairs high school students with Oxbridge and Ivy League mentors to produce original research, which is one of the few things on an application a tutor can genuinely interrogate: https://oxford-research.uk.com/what-is-ocar
Applying to Cambridge specifically? https://oxford-research.uk.com/how-to-get-into-cambridge-university