Undergraduate Study

Applying

These pages contain information on How to apply to the University of Exeter, including entry requirements and an application timeline detailing what you need to do and when.

Depending on your financial, personal or ethnic background, or what qualifications you may have undertaken, you may face additional challenges in both accessing Higher Education and throughout your studies. Our Access Exeter section has range of resources to support you.

If you're ready, you can apply now via UCAS. You can also find out what happens after you apply, including how we assess your application and what happens next.

If you can't find the information you're looking for please search our FAQs below, or contact our Admissions Office.

Frequently asked questions

Show all FAQs

Applying

What is the University of Exeter's UCAS code?

The UCAS code for Exeter is EXETR and E84.

Does the University of Exeter have a campus code?

There is no campus code for our campuses in Exeter (Streatham Campus and St Luke’s Campus). If you are applying to the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus, Cornwall the campus code is C.

Am I eligible to apply?

We welcome applicants with varied experiences and different backgrounds and we have a commitment that no student with potential is deterred from applying. Entry requirements can be high but a wide range of qualifications and experience are considered. 

Before you apply you should check that you meet

  • our general entry requirements (includes tables for UK, EU and international qualifications)
  • the academic requirements and any additional selection criteria for the specific course for which you intend to apply; these can be found in the individual course pages

You can find further information about our offer and decision in our applicants area.

If you would like advice on your eligibility, please contact the Admissions Office.

Are there any lower/upper age limits for university applicants?

Occasionally the University admits students who are under the age of 18 years. In most cases this will be a very temporary situation, as the student will be approaching their eighteenth birthday.

The University treats all its students as independent, mature individuals and students who are under the age of 18 years will be treated in the same way. For further information, please see our policy for students under the age of 18.

There is no upper age limit.

How do I apply to the University of Exeter?

For detailed information see our How to apply page.

Full-time study

All applications for full-time study must be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) using their Apply online system. You can do this through your school or college, if they are registered with UCAS, or independently. Full details and instructions can be found on the UCAS website.

Part-time study

You should apply for part-time programmes directly to the University’s Admissions Office and not through UCAS. Application forms are available from the Admissions Office and should be returned between 1 September and 30 June immediately preceding the September entry. You need to apply before 15 January to be guaranteed equal consideration with full-time applicants applying by the UCAS deadlines. 

Can I apply to my local university?

Yes. Where you live does not determine which universities you can apply to. For example, if you live in Exeter, there is no reason why you can’t apply to the University of Exeter if we offer the degree you are interested in.

Depending on your circumstances, there may be benefits to studying locally, such as reduced costs and an existing network of contacts. 

Will where I went to school have an impact on my ability to get into university?

No, this is certainly not the case for Exeter. Each application we receive is considered individually. For most of our courses we publish typical offers made as a range, and when deciding what offer to make for any one student, we take a range of factors into account, including predicted grades and other contextual information.

Find out more about contextual offers

Does it affect my application if my parents completed Higher Education?

Information on parental participation in HE may now be entered on the UCAS form but is not mandatory, and we do not use it in making admissions decisions.

As part of our admissions policy, we take into account relevant contextual data that can be verified and which may have affected your academic attainment to date. However, there is no guarantee that contextual information will necessarily mean the offer of a place, as each application will be considered holistically.

When should I submit my application?

Your application should normally reach UCAS between 1 September and the UCAS January equal consideration date.

We guarantee that all applications received by the UCAS deadline are given full, equal and careful consideration. Applications received after this date will be considered on an individual basis, depending on availability of places. To check if a programme is still available, please view the UCAS website.

Can I apply directly for entry into the second year based on my existing qualifications?

We will consider applications for entry in second or later years, subject to places being available.

The exceptions to this are the programmes listed below, which are normally not available for second year entry due to the nature of modules within the first year at Exeter:

  • BSc Applied Psychology (Clinical)
  • BSc and MSci Natural Sciences
  • LLB Law
  • BSc Accounting and Business with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Accounting and Finance with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Business with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Business Analytics with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Business and Management with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Marketing and Management with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Business and Environment with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Business Economics with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Economics with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Economics and Finance with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Economics and Politics with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Economics with Econometrics with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Finance with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Finance: Business Management pathway with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Finance: Data Science pathway with Industrial Experience
  • BSc Finance: Investment Banking pathway with Industrial Experience

For full details please see How to apply.

Can I apply for a Study Abroad programme?

Yes: applicants for the Study Abroad programme should apply directly to the University. Full details are on our Study Abroad at Exeter site.

Can I apply to study for one or two semesters?

Applicants for one or two semesters should apply directly to the University.

Applicants who wish to spend up to one year or semester in the UK as a recognised part of their course at their home institution should have completed at least two years of undergraduate study for admission to any of our programmes.

You must follow regular programmes of study as offered to full-time students (please refer to our subject and course pages for programmes of study).

A statement of academic record (transcript) will be issued at the end of a module and sent, as requested, to your home institution. To apply, you will need to send us an application form and DBS form.

How many students attend the University of Exeter?

There are currently approximately 22,400 undergraduate students and 6,800 postgraduates. For further information about Exeter see our Facts and figures page.

Where can I find out about declaring criminal convictions and the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)?

Please refer to our DBS webpages for further information.

Why do you have places for International applicants but not UK?

We manage the total number of places available on our courses carefully to ensure the best possible experience for all our students. We have separate targets for International and UK students, reflecting the strategies we have in place for their support academically and to encourage a vibrant and inclusive learning environment. Although this varies by programme, we usually fill our UK places earlier in the admissions cycle than those for International.

International students often have to manage factors such as visas, travel arrangements and currency fluctuations which may delay or prevent their arrival. This is why you often see International places available when Home are already filled. All applications are considered carefully and on an individual basis. 

Are UK students losing out to international students this summer?

We have separate target numbers for home and international. Typically, we fill our home places more quickly than our international numbers, and there is more uncertainty as to whether overseas students can arrive at Exeter. We therefore go on making offers a little longer for international, including across the summer period, when home recruitment is already finished.

Home and international students both have to meet our challenging entry requirements and we never admit any student without every reasonable prospect that they will succeed on their course. We monitor the success of our entrants to make sure they are progressing well.

Why are some International grade requirements different to UK?

We make offers across a range to both UK and International students and the same academic standards apply to both. If you consider the contextual offer levels set out alongside the standard offers on our course pages, you will see that UK as well as International students benefit from flexibility.

This is also about timing. We finalise International and Home student recruitment at different points in the cycle. This can sometimes lead to differences between the cohorts in the grades advertised through Clearing.

 

After you apply

How long does it take for a decision to be made on an application?

The University operates a ‘gathered field’ procedure whereby applications received between September and January will be considered but a decision may not be conveyed until the end of January or later. Where this procedure is operated, candidates will be informed accordingly.

Whilst the majority of our decisions will be gathered field, we may decide to release a small number of offers early for exceptionally well-qualified candidates who fall within the highest tiers, or those with other special circumstances.

Decisions on applications submitted by the January UCAS deadline will normally be made by the end of May. On occasion, however, it is not possible for us to make all decisions by this date and it may take a little longer; for example, applications where further information is required to make a decision, interviews are taking place, or application numbers have increased.

I have declined your offer, but now wish to accept. What can I do?

UCAS allows applicants to amend their choices up to 14 calendar days after their initial decision. Applicants can amend their choice within UCAS Hub during this period. After 14 days, changes can only be made with the permission of the institutions concerned.

I have already been to an Open Day - what is the difference between an Open Day and an Offer Holder Visit Day? Do I need to visit again?

The general Open Days give a broad overview of the University and its extensive facilities, whereas the Offer-Holder Days are more specific and relate closely to the course that you have chosen to study.

Each Faculty holds its own Offer Holder Visit Days, and academic staff will be available to discuss courses in detail. If you have visited the University previously, it is not compulsory to visit again unless you are applying for a course which requires an interview.

Once I have been accepted on to my chosen course unconditionally, what happens next?

For all applicants holding an unconditional offer, we send out accommodation information from Easter onwards. Joining instructions, giving details of enrolment, term dates, and other useful information will be sent in August.

Once I have received my A-Level grades, can I decide to go to my insurance choice university even if I do well enough to be accepted by my firm choice?

No. It’s really important to understand how the application process works. Once you have accepted an offer from a university as your firm choice, and if you achieve the grades that they ask for, you have three choices – either to go to that university, be released to go into clearing or to withdraw altogether and apply again the following year.

You cannot change your mind and decide to go to your insurance choice university. This will only be possible if you are unsuccessful in being accepted to your firm choice and your insurance university accepts you instead. Make sure whichever university you accept as your firm choice really is the one you want to go to!

When does term start?

See the full list of our term dates.

When/how is my accommodation allocated?

Accommodation is allocated to applicants who:

  • Have a status of Unconditional Firm on UCAS
  • And have submitted an accommodation application before the 31 July deadline.

Allocation of accommodation normally begins around the middle of August. You do not need to inform the Accommodation Office that your place has been confirmed following the release of your results, as this will be automatically done by the Admissions Office.

Please visit our Accommodation section for further information.

Can I defer my place?

If you would like to defer your year of entry, or if you have applied for deferred entry but would now like to bring your year of entry forward, you will need to email the Admissions team at ug-ad@exeter.ac.uk for Streatham programmes or ugadmissions-cornwall@exeter.ac.uk for Penryn programmes.

The Admissions team will review all requests and will endeavour wherever possible to approval requests; however a change to your start date may not always be possible, particularly for some of our most competitive programmes or programmes with specific caps on the number of places available.

Requests for a second deferral will normally be considered only in the most exceptional of circumstances.

I've lost my examination certificates; what should I do?

Please contact the Admissions office who will be able to provide advice on exactly which documentation is required and, if necessary, where evidence can be obtained.

Will I be called to interview?

A minority of courses require an interview, such as Medicine, Nursing, Medical Imaging, Applied Psychology and Dual LLB/JD with the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

If this applies to the course for which you are applying, it will be stated clearly in the Entry Requirements section of the relevant programme page. Further details can be found in the Admissions Interview Policy.

What do I do if illness or family problems have affected my academic performance and I do not think I will meet the conditions specified in my offer?

Any contextual information which you think is relevant that may have affected your performance in respect of grades should be sent to the Admissions Office as soon as possible.

For further details please go to our Extenuating Circumstances page, where you will find more information and can complete our online ‌Applicant Extenuating Circumstances Form.

If illness or other factors have affected my academic performance and I do not complete any qualifications that are part of my conditional offer, but have a deferred place, will I be made the same offer for the following year?

If you do not satisfy the conditions of your offer by August 31 in the year of application, we are unable to confirm your deferred entry place. You will need to withdraw and re-apply through UCAS for entry in the following year. 

Whilst we will give due consideration to students who have been affected by illness or other extenuating circumstances, it is not our policy to guarantee an identical offer for any new application.

I want to change programme

If you are an applicant and have not yet registered on a programme with us and wish to be considered for a different programme to the one you applied for, please contact the ug-ad@exeter.ac.uk (putting 'Request to change my programme' in the subject field), quoting your UCAS ID number and the programme you would like to study.

If you are a registered Undergraduate student wishing to transfer to another programme, you will need to complete the change of course form via SID online.
Please note: you will also need to complete this form if you are applying to re-start your first year on a new programme of study.

Change of programme requests for Year 1 should be submitted by the fourth week after the start of the term. Normally changes will not be permitted within the first year after this date.

Will you be flexible with my grades when results come out, if I have missed my offer but have the grades you are advertising in Clearing?

If you are holding an offer with us on a course which is now in Clearing, we will assess your achieved grades against those advertised in Clearing and make a decision in line with that. Please note that subject requirements will still apply, and we may not be able to offer as much flexibility on those.

If your course is not in Clearing, it is possible we may be able to offer some flexibility on grades, but this will depend on your results relative to the grades achieved by other students holding offers for your chosen course.

What about SQA and other results that are released before A-Level results day?

All offer holders will be treated equally, regardless of their qualification type. So, if we have already been flexible on Clearing grades for your particular programme, we will extend the same flexibility to offer holders whose places are being confirmed later in July/August. You can find out more about qualification equivalencies here.

How will insurance choice candidates be treated?

If you are holding an insurance offer at Exeter, we will review your results to see if you meet all our conditions or not. If you do, your place will be confirmed. If you do not, we will consider your results carefully alongside the other students who have missed their offers and alongside those looking for a Clearing place. Basically, it will depend on how strong your results are relative to the other candidates who want to come to Exeter.

I am worried that there will be people with a wide variety of grades on my course.

It is actually more common than you might imagine for there to be entrants with a variety of grade profiles and, also, different qualification types (e.g. BTEC, Access, T-Levels, and all sorts of combinations). We also make contextual offers which are at two or three grades below our standard published requirements. We know that contextual entrants achieve broadly in line with everyone else because we provide excellent student support and focused teaching and learning.

If we confirm your place, we are confident you will have an appropriate mix of support and challenge in your degree programme. 

 

Studying

If I want to do a Law degree, do I have to study Law at A-Level?

Entry requirements for all programmes differ from university to university; however you do not have to take a Law A-Level to do Law at university. This is similar with studying business and a whole range of other degree subjects.

Some programmes do require particular A-Levels, and you need to make sure you know what these are before you apply. To find out the entry requirements for any university or programme that you might be interested in applying to, visit the UCAS site.

Do my GCSE results matter once I’ve moved on to A-Levels?

This is one to do some research on. Some degree programmes may require you to have achieved certain grades in subjects such as English and Maths at GCSE, as well as meeting the grades through your further education. For full details on our entrance requirements please see Entry requirements.

Are all English degrees, for example, the same regardless of the university I study at?

No. Programme content and module options can vary significantly from university to university. To ensure that what you are applying to study is what you expect it to be, you will need to do some research. Most universities provide details of the course structure and the modules available on their websites.

What are the entrance requirements for mature students?

Mature students who wish to study full-time should also apply through UCAS. Whilst we recognise that mature students may offer differing qualifications and experience which will be taken into account, you should normally have undertaken some recognised systematic course of study (e.g. Access, Open University credits, or Advanced GCE) within the last three years.

Relevant work experience may also be considered towards your application, and you should therefore supply full details with your application.

If you are considering applying as a mature student, you can find further information in our Mature Students section.

Do you accept General Studies?

Whilst we recognise that students may be taking General Studies A-Level as part of their academic profile, we do not include General Studies as part of any conditional offer.

Do you take into account the fact that I am doing a fourth A-Level (excluding General Studies)?

We take into account all academic qualifications that students are offering, but any conditional offer will be made over 3 GCE A-Level subjects and, where relevant, any specific A-Level subjects that we require.

My qualification is from outside the UK - will it be acceptable to study at Exeter?

The University also recognises a wide range of qualifications taken outside of the UK. If you are studying outside the UK, the grading system and level of qualification in your country may not be the same as in the UK.

If you are unsure whether your qualification meets our entry requirements, you can find out more information from our entry requirements pages and our international entry requirements page, where you can select the country or region in which you have studied. Alternatively, you can contact us.

You can find further information about academic and English language entry requirements in our international students section.

Will the University consider Accredited Prior Learning (APL)?

It may be possible for you to have your learning from prior qualifications and experience accredited towards your degree programme. To be considered you will need to send information on your APL to the Admissions Office (along with information on the programme you are interested in studying) by completing either

These should be submitted to our Undergraduate Admissions team at ug-ad@exeter.ac.uk.

The Admissions Team will liaise with the academic department to confirm whether any of your prior learning can be accredited to your new programme of study.

How good does my English need to be?

Please visit our English Language requirements section for full details.

Does the University offer part-time and/or distance learning courses?

There are two ways that you can choose to study part-time with us. Firstly, many of the undergraduate degree programmes described on our site are potentially available by part-time study. We advise you to check with the relevant department to ensure that it is possible with respect to timetabling arrangements before you make a formal application. For advice on the structure and availability of programmes in your chosen area of study you should contact the Admissions Tutor or the Head of the discipline concerned. Secondly, you may wish to study one of our distance learning programmes.

You should apply for part-time programmes direct to the University’s Admissions Office and not through UCAS. Application forms are available from the Admissions Office and should be returned between 1 September and 30 June immediately preceding the October entry.

What if I am offering a 'non-standard' qualification?

We recognise a wide range of qualifications. If you are presenting 'non-standard' qualifications and the equivalencies cannot be found in our:

then please contact us, providing as much detail as possible.