We know that serious things that have happened, or are happening, in your life can have a big impact on your studies. These are called extenuating circumstances.
It’s important that you let us know about any extenuating circumstances that impacted your studies in the last 2-3 years so that we can take them into account when we assess your application. You should tell us around the same time as you submit your UCAS application. Most extenuating circumstances should be declared by your teacher in your UCAS reference.
If you have a disability and need to request adjustments, check the guidance on our Support for disabled students page.
Examples of extenuating circumstances
These are some examples of situations that we would appreciate having more information about during the application process:
- the impact of a serious acute or chronic medical condition, such as leukaemia
- death of a close family member, such as a parent, legal guardian, child, sibling or partner
- being a victim of serious crime, such as a physical assault
- the impact of late diagnosed learning difficulties
- someone stealing your work
- experiencing a terrorist incident or war
- if you’re a refugee or have an asylum background
- experiencing a natural disaster, such as an earthquake
- experiencing a major fire in your home
- if your family experienced a breakdown, for example your parents got a divorce
- if you are estranged from your family, which means you’re not in touch with them
- being evicted from your home
- experiencing racial trauma, or race-based traumatic stress
- significant and ongoing caring responsibilities, for example caring for a close family member
- jury service or attending court or tribunal as a witness, defendant or plaintiff
Situations that are not usually extenuating circumstances
There are some situations that you don't need to let us know about. For example:
- disruption to your education because of Covid
- minor illnesses or injuries, such as colds, headaches, hay fever
- stress, related to taking exams or assessments
- financial problems or employment issues
- visa problems
- not revising and preparing on time
- going away somewhere, for example on holiday
How to tell us about your extenuating circumstances
Via your UCAS reference
We want to hear from your teachers about the impact extenuating circumstances have, or have had, on your education in school.
Your school or college will write a reference for you when you submit your UCAS application. Where possible, your teacher should include information about the impact of extenuating circumstances as part of their UCAS reference. This will ensure that the other universities you apply to are also aware.
Your teacher should check our guidance on writing a UCAS reference.
The College assessing your application will read your UCAS reference as part of the application process. There's no need to give additional information if your circumstances are mentioned in your reference.
If information cannot be given in your UCAS reference
It might not be possible for full information about your extenuating circumstances to be included in your UCAS reference. This may be because:
- your school is unaware of the circumstances you need to tell us about. This might include information from doctors, lawyers or social workers
- your teacher needs extra space to provide details
- your teacher needs to include sensitive information that is not appropriate for your UCAS reference
If information about your extenuating circumstances cannot be given in the UCAS reference, you should ask a relevant professional (eg a doctor or care worker) to contact the College that is assessing your application.
Contacting a College about extenuating circumstances
Your doctor or care worker should email the College you applied to with details of your extenuating circumstances. If you submitted an open application, they should email the Cambridge Admissions Office at admissions@cam.ac.uk.
We recommend that they use our template to help them: Extenuating circumstances email template (Word document, 67.29KB)
The person contacting us should include the details outlined in the email template. You must make sure you give the person writing to us all the information they will need to include.
Reporting minor issues or circumstances from a long time ago
If you are reporting minor issues or things that happened a long time ago, you can mention it as part of your My Cambridge Application submission.
You only need to report issues that you feel are relevant. If the information you wish to tell us about has already been provided in your UCAS reference, you do not need to contact us separately.
Deadlines to submit extenuating circumstances information
Most extenuating circumstances should be declared in your UCAS reference.
Any additional information should be submitted by:
- 22 October 2025, if you applied by the 15 October UCAS deadline
- 21 January 2026, if you applied as a mature student in the January round
This will ensure we can consider the information when assessing your application. Information should be sent to the College you applied to or, if you submitted an open application, the Cambridge Admissions Office (admissions@cam.ac.uk).
If you have extenuating circumstances that arise after the deadline, tell us as soon as you can. Contact the College considering your application so that they can use the information in what is left of the admissions round.
We can only consider information that we have available at the time we are assessing an application. It is not possible for us to alter decisions retrospectively in light of new information. You must ensure information reaches us as soon as possible and that you include full details.