University of Cambridge

Cambridge has a strong claim to being where academic computing began. Its Computer Laboratory, now the Department of Computer Science and Technology, built EDSAC, one of the first practical stored-program computers, which ran in 1949 under Maurice Wilkes. A few years later, in 1953, Cambridge began teaching what is generally recognised as the world’s first taught course in computing.

Today the department sits among the leading computer science departments in the United Kingdom and is consistently placed near the top of the global rankings. Its research spans systems, security, machine learning, programming languages, and the history and theory that Cambridge helped establish.

Undergraduates study within the collegiate system, which combines department lectures with small-group teaching in the colleges. As at Oxford, places are highly competitive and applicants sit an admissions assessment.

Admissions

Places are scarce. In the 2025 cycle the course drew around 14 applications for every one it filled, admitting roughly 128 students. The standard offer is AAA, though most who arrive have done better: 87% of recent A-level entrants held at least AAA*. Applicants now sit the Test of Mathematics for University Admission (TMUA), and anyone applying to Peterhouse or Trinity also takes those colleges’ own Computer Sciences Aptitude Test.