Undergraduate Applications

Tariff point offers may be made if you are taking a qualification, or mixture of qualifications, from the list below

• A-levels
• AS Levels
• Extended Project Qualifications(EPQ)
• OCR Cambridge Technicals
• BTEC qualifications
• Cambridge Pre-U Certificates
• Welsh Baccalaureate Advances Skills Challenge Certificate
• WJEC Applied Diploma or Certificates
• Core Maths Qualifications
• LIBF Diploma or Certificates
• NCFE Level 3 Applied General Certificate
• A combination of any of the above.

We can also accept the following qualifications too:

• T-Levels
• CTEC qualifications
• International Baccalaureate Diploma and Certificates
• QAA-approved Access to HE Diplomas
• Open University courses
• Practicing professional qualifications
• A range of different international qualifications (more details on our Country Specific pages)

This list is based on what we currently accept for the upcoming year of entry, but may be subject to change in subsequent years.

If you have not already completed your qualifications, our typical offer will require you to achieve specific grades in three A-levels (or equivalent), or the equivalent in UCAS tariff points. 

We are also happy to consider your application if you are taking a mixture of A-levels, BTECs and other qualifications that hold UCAS tariff points. 

If your results fall short of the offer level by a small margin, your results in other qualifications such as the Extended Project, a Core Maths qualification or an additional AS-level may be taken into account. We want you to stand the best chance of benefiting from an Essex Education.

If you’re from outside the UK, we are more than happy to make offers based on EU and international qualifications that are considered equivalent to our standard A-level offer. Up-to-date information is also available on our course pages.

Contact our Admissions team for more information on specific qualifications.

If your predicted or achieved grades are lower than our published entry requirements, you can still apply to Essex.

We’ll review your application as a whole, including previous academic history, personal statement and reference before a final decision is made. If we can’t make you an offer for the course you have applied for, we’ll automatically consider your application for other related courses, including our Foundation Year courses.

Foundation year

When submitting your application you only need to apply for your preferred entry point. Our Admissions Team will assess whether you meet the entry requirements for that entry point, or if you'd be better suited to an alternative. For example, if you apply for Year 1 we will assess if you meet the entry requirements for Year 1, or if you would be better suited to a Foundation Year or Year 2 entry. You do not need to make multiple applications for the each point of entry.

Essex Pathways

If you don't quite meet the entry requirements, you may be able to take a foundation year prior to the start of your degree.  A degree with a foundation year, through our Essex Pathways program, will help prepare you academically for university study and when you pass, you are automatically guaranteed a place on your chosen degree. The following students are eligible:

• UK students
• Students eligible for home fees but living overseas
• Students from the European Union (EU)
• Students from the European Economic Area (EEA)

Kaplan International Pathways

If you're an international student, you may be eligible to apply to and study a Foundation Certificate with Kaplan International Pathways. You can browse the degree preparation programmes created in partnership with Kaplan International Pathways, for which you will need to apply directly to Kaplan.

We are committed to supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds to access the University of Essex. 

A contextual offer is based on your potential to succeed as an Essex Undergraduate student and applies to UK applicants in the following categories:

• Applicants from underrepresented groups, including applicants who have declared one or more disability type on their application
• Applicants progressing from University of Essex Schools Membership schools/colleges
• Applicants who attend a compulsory admissions interview
• Applicants who attend an Offer Holder Day at our Colchester or Southend campus 

Further information, and full eligibility criteria, can be found in our Contextual Offers Policy.

Contextual offers will be made to eligible applicants taking A-levels, a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma, a combination of qualifications that hold UCAS tariff points (eg A-levels alongside a BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate.

Where possible, we will make contextual offers to eligible applicants holding other qualifications. If the standard offer is already at the contextual offer equivalent level based on your individual offer conditions or qualifications (eg UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma), we may be unable to make you a contextual offer. For further information about what a contextual offer may look like for your specific qualification profile, please contact our Undergraduate Admissions Team.

Compulsory interview, audition or workshop

Some courses at Essex have a compulsory interview, audition or workshop as part of the application process. This means that an offer of admission can only be made after being successful at the interview, audition or workshop required for that course, even if the other entry requirements for the course have been met. 

Applicants that will be required to attend an interview or audition include the following (this list is not exhaustive):

• Applicants to East 15 Acting School are required to attend an audition, interview or workshop as part of the selection process.  An additional application form is required for applicants applying to our audition courses. Full information on the application process and what to prepare for audition is on the East 15 website.
• Applicants to some health-related courses, for example BSc Nursing, MSci Nursing (Dual Award in Adult and Mental Health), Foundation Degree and BSC (top up) in Oral Health Science, BA Social Work, BSc Physiotherapy, BSc Occupational Therapy and BSc Speech and Language Therapy, are required to attend a compulsory interview as part of the selection process.  Further information about additional requirements for courses in our School of Health and Social Care (HSC) and how to prepare for interview can be found on the HSC Department pages.
• Applicants to LLB Licence English and French Law (Double Degree) are required to attend a compulsory interview as part of the selection process
• For FdSc Oral Health Science decisions are communicated and offers are made after all interviews have been held. This will be no later than mid-May (and by any relevant UCAS deadline) each year

DBS and occupational health checks

Some courses require you to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS), when working with children and/or vulnerable adults, and a Occupational Health Check. 

Further information about DBS checks and the courses where this may be required is available online. 

If you previously started but did not finish a degree course at Essex and are now thinking about coming back to complete your studies, we call this ‘readmission’ and there is a different application route in place.

This procedure doesn't apply to:

• students who want to be admitted to study at a higher level after having successfully completed an award at a lower level
• students who have successfully completed a degree and want to start another degree in a different subject area

Readmission policy

It is our policy, and part of national HESA rules, that you cannot normally be considered for readmission to the same programme from which you have been required to withdraw, or a similar programme which contained modules you have already taken, for a minimum of two years after you left (with the exception of students who have been required to withdraw for debt).

You can be considered for immediate readmission to a completely different area of study if there are good reasons to indicate that you chose the wrong course originally and there was evidence that you could be successful in a new area. This is subject to the University’s rules relating to the maximum period of study.

How to apply for readmission

In order for your request to be considered, please complete the application form for former undergraduate students. Please ensure that you select ‘Yes’ to 'Have you ever registered for a course at the University of Essex before?’

Supporting documents

Your personal statement should cover the reasons why you wish to be readmitted, what you have been doing since leaving Essex, and why you believe you will be successful if you return to your studies at Essex. If you have studied elsewhere since leaving Essex, please give full details of the course(s) you studied and the dates of your study.

If you are a recent Essex student and you have not studied elsewhere since leaving Essex, then you will not need to supply a new reference with your application.

Deadlines

The deadlines for the submission of a readmission request are set well in advance of the relevant course start date, as the process can be a lengthy one, especially if a student requires a Student visa to study in the UK.

The deadline is 15 July 2025 for October 2025 entry.

Outcome

Your application will be considered by several departments within the University, so please don’t be concerned if you don’t hear from us immediately. Depending on your case, it may be a number of weeks before you receive a decision. If you have any concerns about the progress of your readmission request please contact: readmission@essex.ac.uk

Complaints against decisions

There is no right of appeal against selection decisions made by the University, including decisions about readmission. Complaints will normally be considered to be valid only where there is evidence of procedural irregularity. In the event that you are dissatisfied with the University’s readmissions process, you can submit a complaint in line with the Complaints policy for applicants.

We understand that you might want to take a gap year to travel, to work, or to recharge before starting your Essex journey.

We consider applications for deferred entry for all of our courses, except for our East 15 courses and our BSc and FdSc Oral Health Science.

You can apply in the normal way, but you should indicate that you would like to apply for deferred entry on your application.

• Applications for deferred entry will be considered on the same basis as those for entry in the current application year. 
• If you are made a conditional offer, you will need to meet the conditions of your offer in the academic year which you apply, ie the year before you would start your course.
• As a deferred applicant you will still need to complete your qualifications within the current academic year, not by the deferred academic year.
• If after you have accepted your offer you wish to defer your place, please confirm this in writing via email to ugquery@essex.ac.uk

We understand that sometimes circumstances beyond your control may have impacted your studies. 

The Admissions Selector may take into account any extenuating circumstances which have affected an individual applicant when deciding whether an offer should be made, or if an applicant’s place may still be confirmed where exam results miss the entry requirement. 

• We will automatically consider information provided within the personal statement and reference about any extenuating circumstances which may have affected your academic performance.
• If you wish to inform us of any extenuating circumstances not disclosed in your application, such as illness or any other serious difficulties during examinations, you should email ugquery@essex.ac.uk.
• You should inform us as soon as possible and before your final results are issued, or at the point of submitting your application if you are applying through Clearing. 
• If further information or evidence is required regarding any extenuating circumstances before a decision can be made, we will contact you at the point at which you have all of your results and any other conditions have been met. 
• Please note any extenuating circumstances provided should only be those not already considered by an examination board prior to your results being issued. 

When you apply you can declare whether you have a disability or health issues so we can provide support. We have a team of disability and wellbeing advisers, dyslexia tutors, and other specialist staff. 

Declaring a disability or health issue will not form part of our decision making and we are dedicated to offering equal opportunities to all.

Further information about the support available at Essex is available on our Student Support pages.

The Undergraduate Admissions Feedback Policy (.pdf) provides information on how to request feedback if your undergraduate application is unsuccessful.

Please note that feedback is not available for all undergraduate courses, and this is explained within the Policy.