Offer Holder Days

The Colchester Offer Holder Day dates are:

• Saturday 17 February
• Saturday 9 March
• Wednesday 3 April
• Saturday 4 May

Our Offer Holder Days run from 9.30am - 4.00pm. From 1.00pm, we run an optional session called 'Experience Essex', which is designed to give you an insight into what life at Essex is really like. This session is aimed at students who haven't visited the Colchester Campus before (on an Open Day for example), or who would like a second look!

Time	Activity
9.30am	Check-in
10.00am - 10.30am	Welcome talk In this talk you'll receive a warm welcome and an overview of the University of Essex, as well as a rundown of the programme for the day.
10.45am - 12.30pm	Department activities There is when you'll spend time with your department, find out more about your course and meet your future classmates.
12.30pm - 1.00pm	Lunch
1.00pm - 4.00pm	Experience Essex
	This is an optional session, where you will have the chance to: Attend the accommodation talk (1.15pm - 1.45pm): we'll give you an overview of each type of on campus student accommodation available to undergraduate students and let you know what is available to see on the day Meet our Student Services' teams and find out how we support you during your studies Take a look at our campus on a Campus Tour with one of our Student Ambassadors View a range of our student accommodation Say hello to our Student's Union and see what student life at Essex is really like
4.00pm	The event ends at 4.00pm. A free coach will take visitors back to Colchester Station.

The Southend Offer Holder Day dates are:

• Wednesday 17 April (Nursing and Social Work only)
• Saturday 11 May (Nursing and Social Work only)
• Friday 26 April (Essex Business School only)

Our Southend Offer Holder Days run from 10.30am - 2.30pm.

Time	Activity
10.00am	Check-in
10.00am - 12.00pm	Campus and accommodation tours Take a tour of our campus and accommodation with a Student Ambassador to see if you could imagine yourself living and studying at our Southend Campus
11.20am - 11.50am	Student life talk and Q&A Hear about Essex from our current students and ask any questions you may have about student life.
12.00pm - 12.30pm	Welcome talk Join us for an introduction to the University of Essex and learn more about Southend.
12.30pm - 2.30pm	Department activities Find out more about your course, speak to academics and meet your future classmates. There will also be time allocated for lunch during this session too.

If you have multiple applications, you will be attending the Offer Holder Day for your first choice. The morning section of the day will be spent with your department, whilst the afternoon is your chance to attend a variety of general talks and explore campus.

An Offer Holder Day gives us the opportunity to get to know you, explore your enthusiasm and academic potential. We would be delighted to see you and will issue eligible applicants who attend, a contextual offer to lower the requirements in your current offer by up to two A-Level grades or equivalent. 

We make contextual offers because we understand your grades can be influenced by a range of factors. A contextual offer is personalised to you and your potential to succeed as an Essex undergraduate student – as well as what you have achieved so far.

You don’t need to do anything to be considered and the application process is the same; submit your application and if you’re eligible for a contextual offer, you’ll receive information about this in your offer letter. If you are not eligible for a contextual offer at the point of your first offer but can be made a contextual offer following an Offer Holder Day, your offer will be amended within 5 working days following attendance.

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 (e.g., A-levels alongside a BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate. Where possible, we may make contextual offers to eligible applicants holding other qualifications. For further information about what a contextual offer may look like for your specific qualification profile, please contact our Admissions team.

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

An Offer Holder Day is an invite-only event for those that have received an offer to study at University of Essex. The day is a great opportunity to meet your department, with a department specific activity to get a feel for your course, as well as attending general talks. We will also run campus and accommodation tours throughout the day so you can see if Essex is somewhere you could see yourself living and studying.

An Open Day also gives you the opportunity to talk to academics from your department to get answers to all of your questions, but an Offer Holder Day gives you a taster of exactly what you can expect when you study at Essex (and you'll also have a chance to meet your future course mates).

Eligible applicants who attend an Offer Holder Day will receive a contextual offer, which lowers the requirements in your current offer by up to two A-Level grades or equivalent. See the contextual offer FAQ for more information.

When bookings open later this year, we will send you an invite email giving your further information on how to book your place at an Offer Holder Day.

If you need to cancel or move your booking to one of our other Offer Holder Day dates, just send us an email.

University of Essex

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester

CO4 3SQ (for SatNav purposes use CO7 9HT

What3words: magic.violin.frame

By car

If you're arriving by car, please head to Boundary Road and then take the first right onto Park Road, which will take you into the main entrance to the University. Once there, please look out for 'Offer Holder Day Visitor Parking' signs. Once you've parked, follow the 'Offer Holder Day Check-In' signs which will guide you to the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall; the main venue for the day.

Parking is free for all Offer Holder Day attendees.

By train

If you're arriving by train, we have three train stations in Colchester: Colchester Town, Colchester Hythe and Colchester North Station (also referred to as Colchester Main Station). Colchester North Station is the largest and has the best bus and taxi links so we recommend using this station. There is a taxi rank and bus stop at the station. The S1 and 87 buses will take you to campus.

More information about travelling to our Colchester Campus can be found here.

University of Essex

Elmer Approach

Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1LW

By car

There is plenty of city centre parking in public car parks. The closest car park is located underneath University Square student accommodation which is accessed via College Way and is payable by phone only. There will be signage displayed from University Square car park to the Offer Holder Day.

Blue badge holders with Southend-on-Sea issued blue badges can park for free. Badge holders with badges issued by other authorities will need to pay the appropriate car park charges, however on street parking bays remain available and free of charge to all badge holders.

By train

There are frequent trains from London to Southend, with journey times of 45 minutes to one hour:

London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria (0.3 miles from our campus) - operated by Abellio Greater Anglia
London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central (0.2 miles from our campus) - operated by c2c

Both London Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street have underground and bus services available for connections with Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow Airport.

By bus, coach or taxi

National Express operate services to Southend Bus Station from all over the UK.

As the campus is located in the city centre, most local buses stop nearby. Buses are run by Arrivabus and tickets can be bought online or via their app. Take advantage of their Student Saver tickets, available to anyone in full-time education.

There are also a number of local taxi services based in Southend. Below are some of those available:

• 333444 Taxis
• Southend Airport taxi transfer, call 07427 095060
• Steve's Radio Cars, call 01702 559519

Take a look here for more information on travelling to our Southend Campus.

Offer Holder Days aren't compulsory, but they're the best way to get hands-on experience of your subject and meet your future classmates, so you'll have some friendly faces on day one! There will be lots of activities going on during the day too, like campus and accommodation tours and general talks, to get answers to all of your questions.

If you've already visited us before at an Open Day or on a Campus Tour, we'd still love to see you!

We'd recommend you attend your department activities in the morning and you can then pick which other parts of the day you'd like to attend - such as an accommodation tour, listening to a talk or heading down to the squares to meet our Students' Union and find out more about student life at Essex.

We appreciate that travelling to university events can be expensive and with rising costs, we want to ensure that as many of our offer holders as possible are able to visit us. We are therefore offering a bursary of up to £150 to help with travel costs to our Offer Holder Days.

Take a look at the terms and conditions (.pdf) and travel bursary form (.pdf). You can fill in the form and bring it with you on the day, or we will some available for you to fill out when you arrive.

Of course! Feel free to bring family, friends and guests with you - the more the merrier!