The university of Cambridge is currently composed of 31 colleges, of which three accept only women ((New Hall, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish). The 28 others are mixed. Magdalene is the last only male college to have opened its doors with women in 1988. Although certain colleges are famous in a particular field, such as for example Churchill in sciences, they admit all of the pupils in all the matters.

List colleges of Cambridge:

| Christ' S | 1505 |395 |95 | christs.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Churchill | 1960 |440 |210 | chu.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Clare | 1326 |400 |180 | clare.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Clare Hall | 1965 |None |135 | clarehall.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Corpus Christi | 1352 |250 |150 | corpus.cam.ac.uk/ |- | | | Darwin | 1964 |None |570 | dar.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Downing | 1800 |409 |292 | dow.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Emmanuel | 1584 |494 |98 | emma.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Fitzwilliam | 1966 |474 |180 | fitz.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Girton | 1869 |503 |201 | girton.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Gonville and Caius | 1348 |468 |291 | cai.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Homerton | 1976 |550 |500 | homerton.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Hughes Hall | 1885 |39 ^† |314 | hughes.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Jesus | 1496 |503 |237 | jesus.cam.ac.uk |- | | | King' S | 1441 |397 |239 | kings.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Lucy Cavendish | 1965 |106^{* †} |116^* | lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Magdalene | 1428 |335 |169 | magd.cam.ac.uk |- | | | New Hall | 1954 |377^* |74^* | newhall.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Newnham | 1871 |396^* |120^* | newn.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Pembroke | 1347 |~420 |194 | pem.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Peterhouse | 1284 |270 |125 | pet.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Queens' | 1448 |490 |270 | quns.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Robinson | 1977 |390 |96 | robinson.cam.ac.uk |- | | | St Catharine' S | 1473 |436 |165 | caths.cam.ac.uk |- | | | St Edmund' S | 1896 |100 ^† |200 | St-edmunds.cam.ac.uk |- | | | St John' S | 1511 |570 |340 | joh.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Selwyn | 1882 |360 |140 | sel.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Sidney Sussex | 1596 |338 |181 | sid.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Trinity | 1546 |656 |380 | trin.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Trinity Hall | 1350 |364 |241 | trinhall.cam.ac.uk |- | | | Wolfson | 1965 |90 ^† |510 | wolfson.cam.ac.uk |}

There exist also theological colleges in Cambridge (for example, Westminster College and Ridley Hall) which are generally affiliated at the university through the theological Fédération of Cambridge.

One can also add to this list the colleges which do not exist today any more:

• King' S Hall founded in 1317
• Gonville Hall founded in 1348 and become Gonville & Caius in 1557
• Michaelhouse which under the reign of the king Henri VIII of England amalgamated with King' S Hall to form Trinity in 1546