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Engineering

Personalised teaching and dedicated support helps our Engineering students to thrive

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Welcome to Girton College Engineering. This page provides key information for prospective applicants interested in studying Engineering at Girton. You will also find insights into the academic and extracurricular activities undertaken by the College’s Engineering Community.

When you study Engineering at Girton, you join one of the largest subject groups at the College, with 10-15 students studying in each of the four years of the Cambridge Engineering course. Girton has seven active Girton Engineering Fellows who will oversee your studies during your time at Cambridge.

While at Girton you will be supported by a dedicated “Director of Studies”, an Engineering Fellow at the College who is responsible for your academic progress, and a “Tutor”, a Fellow in another subject, who provides pastoral support and advice. 

This arrangement helps you to reach your potential, from navigating coursework and exams, to kindling a passion for engineering which sustains a career well beyond your time studying at Girton.    

The Cambridge Engineering degree is a four-year Master’s course, split into Part I, the first two years, and Part II, the third and fourth years. Lectures, practicals, project work and examinations are delivered by the Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED), with students from different colleges all receiving the same teaching. However, in Cambridge in Part I, all of the small group teaching sessions, called “supervisions”, are arranged by the colleges. At Girton, supervisions are delivered by the Engineering Fellows so that our undergraduate students receive high-quality, personalised teaching from experts in the field. 

Part I in Cambridge provides a general education in Engineering which picks up from A-Level Maths, Further Maths and Physics and covers: Mechanics, Thermofluids, Structures, Materials, Electrical and Information Engineering including Computing, and Mathematical methods. In Part II, students specialise and get the opportunity to cover engineering topics as diverse as Systems and Control, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Semiconductor Engineering, Vibration, Bioengineering, Turbomachinery, Nuclear Power, and many, many others. Most students also choose several modules on business, economics or management.  

Put together, the four-year course results in an accredited Master’s in Engineering which sets you up for fantastic careers in a wide range of different fields. You can find more detail about the engineering course on the Department's website.

What is a week like studying engineering as a Girton student? If you are a first or second year you will attend several lectures a day and have “labs”, which are practicals or projects, to work on at the Engineering Department in the centre of town. The cycle ride from Girton is about 25 minutes, or you can catch the bus, so you will feel wide awake for your 9am lecture! 

Most timetabled lectures and labs finish by 13:00 and you have time to get back to college to refuel with an excellent lunch served in either the Main Hall or Social Hub. In the afternoons, there are usually three supervisions per week, led by Girton Engineering Fellows, who help you delve deeper into the different topics you are learning about in lectures. The supervisions are typically 1-hour long and you attend in groups of 2 or 3 with the other Girton students in your year. 

Apart from supervisions, lectures and labs, students need to spend several hours a day going over lectures, working on problems they are set for supervisions, or on coursework. Some students like to work in their rooms, some in the Engineering Department, and others in the calm and fantastically well-stocked college library. As well as staying on top of your work, you will also find plenty of time for socialising, playing sport and music, and relaxing in Girton’s beautiful grounds. 

The schedule for third- and fourth-year Engineers still includes lectures, labs and supervisions but the emphasis shifts more towards coursework and open-ended projects. This culminates in the “Fourth Year Project”, for which you will produce an original piece of research or design which aims to tackle some of society’s most exciting and pressing challenges. 

In recent years, Girton fourth-year Engineers, supervised by Fellows at Girton, have tackled problems including how to measure ice cover in the Antarctic, how best to design electric jet engines, how to improve the energy efficiency of school and college buildings, and how to measure atmospheric conditions to understand cricket ball swing better.  

See from a Girton student's perspective, Engineering graduate Matias Silva talks about what he'll miss most about Girton and what's next:

In addition to other funding opportunities available across subjects, Girton College has a scholarship open specifically to female international undergraduates studying Engineering. 

Hear from Nicole Hu, an international undergraduate, as she shares what inspired her to read Engineering at Girton College, and how her studies have shaped her career aspirations. 

You can find more about this scholarship under the Funding for International Students section on our Costs and Funding page.

Each year, we admit between 10 and 15 students from all over the world, from all types of schools and with a wide range of backgrounds. 

We are looking for applicants with excellent mathematical and physical reasoning, with a strong academic record and also potential to flourish in the Cambridge system, and with a passion and enthusiasm for Engineering.  

  • Subject Requirements: Maths and Physics are essential. If you have a choice of topics within your Maths course (and/or Further Maths), you will find mechanics and pure mathematics most relevant to our Engineering course. 

    Girton strongly prefers applicants for Engineering to be taking a third, relevant a level (or equivalent) subject. If your school or college is able to offer Further Maths or you can access it through the Further Mathematics Support Programme, you are very strongly encouraged to study this. Other suitable subjects for your third A-Level include Chemistry, Computing, Design Technology, and Electronics. If you realise only at the end of Year 12 that you would like to pursue Engineering at Girton, we very strongly recommend that you take AS Further Maths in Year 13 if possible. 

  • Minimum offer level:

    • A level: A* in Mathematics, A*A.
    • IB: 41-42 points, with 7 in Higher Level Mathematics, 76 at Higher Level. 

    We welcome applications from students taking A-Level Mathematics and a suitable vocational qualification, e.g. a BTEC Higher National Diploma, in an engineering discipline. Applicants are expected to achieve the highest possible grades in A-Level Mathematics and the vocational qualification.

  • Admissions assessment: All Cambridge applicants are required to take the Engineering and Science Admissions Test (ESAT) prior to interview. Applicants must register in advance and further information about the written assessment can be found here.
  • Interviews. In December 2025 interviews will be online and each applicant will receive two 25-minute interviews.
  • Written work: No written work required

More information about admissions can be found on the University webpage.

All Girton Engineers are a part of Girton’s Engineering Society. We host several socials each term, usually accompanied by free food and drinks, giving a great opportunity for students from different years, postgraduates, supervisors and Fellows to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere. This year we have planned a Welcome Social for the Freshers, our trademark annual Christmas Quiz, Lent Term Presentation evening where Girton Engineers show-off their exciting projects and research, End of Part II Exam Celebration Drinks, and Summer BBQs with neighbouring colleges. There is also a “Girton Great Build” being planned for a Maker’s Space on site that will be perfect for College engineering projects. Keep an eye out for the launch of our revamped website with information about all the socials, projects and more!

Girtonians have also been fully involved in the activities of the Cambridge University Engineering Society, CU Eco-racing, CU Space Flight, CU Riviera Racing as well as science and engineering outreach activities such as teaching support in local schools through the Stimulus Scheme, educational science activities for children such as CHaOS and helping in the Department of Engineering’s participation in the Cambridge Science Festival. Girton Engineers have also been involved in schemes to encourage applications to Cambridge from under-represented groups, such as being Student Ambassadors for the College and University, as well as being active members of the College community. Many Girtonians also take active part in clubs such as the Cambridge University Ladies Netball Club, Welcome to CUHC | Cambridge University Hockey Club,  Cambridge University Wind Orchestra, and Cambridge University Basketball Club. These clubs, and many others, help students to gain diverse experiences and meet students across the University. This in turn enriches their lives and helps them to study to the best of their abilities. 

After graduation, our alumni go on to a wide range of exciting career pathways. Some proceed to postgraduate study at Cambridge or elsewhere around the world. They study PhD, MPhils or MSc courses in various engineering disciplines to develop and hone their area of expertise. 

Hear from our Fellow and Girton Alumnus, Dr Shaun Fitzgerald about his ground-breaking work as Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge: 

Alternatively, many of our students enter industry as engineers. The Girton Engineering Fellows and the wider Engineering Department will closely support you to find rewarding summer work placements. In many cases, these opportunities have led to employment after graduation. 

Today, our recent graduates are working on “real-world” problems including the latest smart phone technology, high speed rail infrastructure, future aircraft propulsion, explosion modelling, and even parachutes for landing vehicles on Mars! Away from Engineering, our students also go on to have successful careers in many different sectors including teaching, finance, consulting or the armed forces.

As part of the Cambridge Engineering Degree, our students have to complete at least six weeks of relevant work experience. On top of the support provided by the department, Girton Fellows help with advice and contacts for securing these positions – we even get Girton alumni working in industry asking to recruit Girton students. The range of work undertaken never ceases to amaze, in recent years students have worked in civil engineering for national infrastructure projects, aerospace startups, Formula 1, robotics R&D, medical device companies, at particle accelerators, and in many other fascinating roles both in the UK and around the world. 

Girton also runs its own Rokos Internship Programme. This provides a fantastic opportunity for Girton Engineering students to work with Girton Fellows on research projects over the summer vacation. In 2024 and 2025 students have completed incredible projects looking at new measurement techniques for aerospace testing, investigating how Girton can pursue a zero-carbon future with its building and energy strategy, and pushing the boundaries of tidal turbine design to make this promising technology viable for large-scale deployment. There’s a great video of one of our students talking about his Rokos internship here: Developing the Whittle Laboratory Aerodynamic Probe Calibration Facility

Fellows and teaching staff