Admissions appeals

Applicants considering making a formal appeal or complaint relating to admission to the Cambridge Foundation Year must read the following:

Foundation Year admissions appeals and complaints policy and procedure (PDF)

Details of appeals and complaints about admission to other undergraduate courses at Cambridge can be found here.

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 to consider 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”). The document above details the approved policy and procedure for the managing of such appeals and complaints as related to admisison to the Cambridge Foundation Year.

How to submit an appeal

Before submitting an appeal or complaint you must read the document linked to above.

  • To submit an appeal after the decision not to make an offer for the Foundation Year, complete Foundation Year Appeal Form here.
  • To submit an appeal after an offer has been made, select the form for the College that that offer was from the forms available on this webpage.
  • To submit an Appeal Review, click the link to the Appeal Review form available on this webpage. This is a request for an appeal decision to be reviewed. You can find out more about this in the policy and procedure document above.
  • To submit a complaint you should do so in writing to the Foundation Year.