Congratulations on your offer at Sidney Sussex College! We are so excited to welcome many of you to the college next year. This page is to give you an overview of the important dates and deadlines from now until the start of the academic year, and to answer any questions you may have.

 

Please click the links to access the recordings of the Online Offer Holders Open Day and the Parents and Supporters webinar


Main Dates and Deadlines

March: applications for student finance in the UK are expected to open 

We encourage Offer Holders who are eligible to make applications to student finance as soon as possible. 

Please note that when you apply you must enter your campus as Sidney Sussex College - University of Cambridge. If you enter your campus as just University of Cambridge, your application for student finance may not be processed correctly.

15 April: deadline for VISA information

Applicants who this applies to have been contacted with instructions. If you have any questions about student VISAs, there’s lots of guidance on the International Students website, and the International Student Office will also run guidance webinars in June and July (details will be sent closer to the time). You can also access the International Student Office’s free, confidential visa advice service.

30 April: deadline for Financial Guarantee form (overseas offer-holders only)

As a condition of their offer, all offer-holders with overseas fee status must complete our financial guarantee form, and provide evidence for their sources of funds. This form is accessible by clicking the link in our document submission form. You can then return to the document submission form when you are ready to submit your completed Financial Guarantee. These forms will then be reviewed and we will contact you if we have any questions or concerns. 

If you think you may experience any difficulties completing this form by the deadline, please make sure you contact us and we can work with you to resolve this. 

1 June: deadline to submit certificates and passport

Deadline for submitting certificates for any already completed examinations, such as GCSEs, AS levels, Scottish Highers, and A-levels or IB, if you have already completed these. Please make sure you have scans of all your certificates scanned and combined in one PDF file and submit them via our document submission form.

You do not need to send certificates for Music Awards (unless you applied for Music), DoE awards, etc. 

Please keep hold of the original copies of your certificates, as you will be asked to bring these with you to University for spot-checking.

You will also be asked to submit a scan of your passport in this survey, so please have this ready in a separate PDF. 

6 June: deadline for replying to your offer on UCAS

If you receive your last University decision on UCAS on or before 16 May 2024, your reply date is 6 June 2024. Please make sure you select a firm and insurance choice by this deadline.

31 July: Financial Declaration deadline (home offer-holders only)

Home offer-holders should submit a financial declaration. This form is accessible by clicking the link in our document submission form. You can then return to the document submission form when you are ready to submit your completed Financial Declaration.

Please have your student finance letter ready, and include it in the PDF with the declaration. 

31 August: deadline for meeting all offer conditions

This includes any English language, DBS or financial conditions if applicable. Please see below for information about sending us your results.

29 September: freshers arrival day

At Sidney, we organise a mandatory introductory week known as 'prep week'. This year, this will take place from Monday the 30th of September to Friday the 4th of October. This week will familiarise you will the city of Cambridge, the College and the pastoral and academic support available. There will also be academic skills courses. 

Most freshers will be expected to move in on this Sunday but there will be options for international freshers to arrive slightly earlier. Details for this will be confirmed closer to the time so please hold off on making any travel arrangements. 

Subject-Specific Deadlines

Classics (and MML with ab initio Classical Greek)

Students who do not or will not have A-level Greek or equivalent when they begin their Cambridge course are required to undertake 30 hours of tuition in Greek before arriving in Cambridge. In order to attain the required tuition, students are normally expected to attend the JACT Greek Summer School at Bryanston School (Sunday 28th July to Saturday 10th August 2024). Details of the course can be found at: https://www.greeksummerschool.org   

The Faculty of Classics makes funding available to ensure that all those eligible will receive generous bursaries from the JACT Summer School to cover all or part of the costs.  

If for unavoidable reasons you are not able to attend the JACT summer school, please a) try to make alternative arrangements, and b) contact Dr Rosanna Omitowoju (rso20@cam.ac.uk) to check that any alternative arrangements are suitable and for help or advice in facilitating them. 

Classics 4 Year Course

As a Four Year Course candidate you will be required to attend a summer course in Cambridge running for the first two weeks of September. Please keep 1 – 14 September 2024 free in your summer planning. The tuition, course materials, accommodation and most meals will be free of cost to you. You will be given further details of this course after the confirmation of your place after results in August. If for any reason (e.g. serious travel or visa issues) you foresee that you would not be able to attend this course then please contact the course director, Dr Charlie Weiss at cw322@cam.ac.uk. 

Medicine

Please ensure you return your completed Health Assessment Form and Immunisation Record Form to Occupational Health by the date specific in your offer email.

You will be contacted directly by Student Registry with details of your DBS check.

Veterinary Medicine

Please ensure you return your completed Health Assessment Form to Occupational Health by the date specified in your offer email.

Mathematics

Your registered test centre (usually your school/college) must register you to take STEP by the date specified on the OCR website.

This webpage also has more information about registering for STEP.  Please ensure you check with your school/college if they are a registered test centre well ahead of the deadline. If your school/college is not a registered test centre, then they can either apply to become, or you can take the exam at another test centre local to you.

You can find key dates for STEP (including when the examinations will be held) online.


Receiving results of your qualifications

There are a number of qualifications for which we receive the results directly. There are a number of other qualifications, however, for which the results are not automatically communicated to us. In this instance, it is essential that you inform us of the results as soon as possible, including the official certificates once you receive them. There is more information about these qualifications below.

Exams results we do receive

  • AS and A-levels (including EPQs)
  • Cambridge International AS and A-level, including Singapore H1, H2 and H3
  • Cambridge Pre-U
  • International Baccalaureate
  • SQA Highers and Advanced Highers
  • Welsh Baccalaureate
  • Access to HE

Exam results we do not receive

  • The vast majority of European qualifications (e.g. the German Abitur, the French Baccalaureate, the Romanian Baccalaureate etc.)
  • English language results, including IELTS
  • Advanced Placement Tests (APs) and SATs
  • Canadian Diplomas
  • Hong Kong Diploma
  • Indian school leaving certificates
  • Australian secondary school certificates
  • Degree results

If you are in any doubt, then please ensure you contact us as early as possible.

Results days

  • SAT results - more information here
  • AP results- July 2024 
  • IB results- 6th July 2024
  • SQA results- 6th August 2024
  • A-level results- 15th August 2024
  • Irish Leaving Certificate- August/September 2024

Any remaining questions?

Please do feel free to look around the other pages on our college website to learn more about student life, accommodation, etc. We will also be updating this page with more information throughout the spring and summer, so please do keep checking it regularly. If you have any remaining questions, please contact us at admissions@sid.cam.ac.uk