Your Cambridge CRSid (Common Registration Service identifier) is a login name issued by the University Computing Service and used to identify you on any computing system managed by the University Computing Service, including Raven, Hermes and Desktop Services. It is also used as a login name on many computing systems managed by other University Institutions. In particular, the CRSid forms part of your standard Cambridge @cam email address.
You can find out what your CRSid (and therefore your @cam address) will be before you arrive in Cambridge, but you will not be able to read your @cam email until you have collected your passwords.
- Postgraduates: If you are a new (to Cambridge) postgraduate student you can find out what your CRSid and email address will be, usually within a couple of weeks of receiving an offer. You will be asked for your Board of Graduate Studies admissions number which is quoted on all correspondence from the Board, and your surname. If your application was not processed through the Board of Graduate Studies, or is still in the process of being approved, or your College has not yet been finalised, you will not (yet) be able to use this mechanism. Postgraduate students who were previously undergraduates at Cambridge will retain their CRSids and email addresses.
- Undergraduates: You will be able to find out what your CRSid and email address will be in September, shortly before you take up your place in Cambridge. When you use the search form you will be asked for your UCAS number and date of birth. If you have not entered the University via UCAS, you will not be able to use this mechanism to find your email address and you will need to wait until you arrive in Cambridge to find out what it is.
- Staff: If your College or Department has arranged for your Computing Service accounts to be created before your arrival, you can find out your CRSid and address and collect the passwords for your accounts. You will need a registration code from your Institution.
The CRSid is generated from your initials followed by some digits, So a Cambridge user Arthur Brown might have CRSid ab999 and his @cam email address would be ab999@cam.ac.uk.
It is not possible for a person to request a specific identifier and CRSids are never reissued.