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Applying to UCL

Applying to UCL

Applications for undergraduate study at UCL (including those from outside the UK) must be made online through UCAS.

Students are welcome to apply for more than one UCL programme. Please remember though that each programme (rather than each institution) is counted separately, so if a student applies to two UCL programmes that will take up two of their five permitted choices on the UCAS form.

Applications to the UCL International Foundation Year and the Pre-Sessional English Courses are made directly via the website (not via UCAS)

How to choose a programme

UCL offers over 400 undergraduate programmes. They include single subjects, combinations, vocational programmes, and interdisciplinary options.

A full list can be found here.

If you have students who are undecided or are looking to explore a new subject area, we have many interesting programmes apart from the conventional (and often oversubscribed) programmes. We have identified these as ‘do something different’ programmes and collated them in the list below. Together they represent some of our most innovative programmes, offering routes into highly rewarding careers.

 do_something_different_programmes_.pdf

Is my student eligible to apply?

UCL is a popular university – for 2023 entry we received in the region of 79,000 applications. Given the competition for places, our entry requirements are challenging and in order to be considered students must have met or be predicted to meet the minimum requirements for the programme they are interested in.

We therefore recommend that students only apply to programmes for which they meet the requirements. 

Each of our programmes has specific requirements and those requirements are stated on the programme information pages of our website here.

You can find the requirements for students offering qualifications other than A levels and the IB within the above pages by selecting the relevant country from the International applications tab.

If the High School you work for does not offer a qualification recognized by UCL for direct entry, your students may wish to consider the UCL International Foundation year.

UCL offers Pre-Sessional English courses for UG applicants with a UCL conditional offer.
 

How we select applicants

We take a holistic approach when making decisions on applications and look at:

  • Qualifications (actual marks achieved at point of application and predicted final marks)
  • Personal Statement
  • Reference from the school
  • Additional selection tasks, interviews and porfolios (where applicable)
Programmes with additional requirements: aptitude tests
Computer Science

For 2024 entry UCL has introduced the STAT (Special Teritary Admissions Test) run by the Australian Council for Education Research to help asses students suitability to the programme.  UCL will intive shortlisted applicants to sit the STAT and they will receive full test details and instructions.  The fee for the test is £124 ($157).  Students who are eligible for Access UCL, and are shortlisted, will be provided with voucher to pay for the test fee.

European Social and Political Studies / International Social and Political Studies

If your student meets (or is expected to meet) our entry criteria they will receive an email inviting them to an online EISPS Admissions day, which they will be expected to attend. Applicants taking a gap year are also expected to attend an Admissions Day.

The Admissions Day provides an opportunity for students to find out more about the structure of the degree programme and meet academic staff and current students. 

Please note that a limited number of exceptional candidates may be given an offer on the basis of their UCAS form alone, during the first stage of selection.

The Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) test

In addition to attending an EISPS Admissions Day, students will be required to sit the online Thinking Skills Assessment test for UCL Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA). There will be two sittings of the online test - one in January and one in March – and students will be required to register for one of these. Exact dates will be confirmed at  https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/thinking-skills-assessment/tsa-ucl/dates-and-costs/

Law

We require all applicants for our LLB programmes to take the LNAT (National Admissions Test for Law)

The LNAT measures the verbal reasoning skills at the heart of legal education including, amongst others: comprehension; analysis; induction and deduction. It’s a computer-based test and can be taken all around the world. You can find out where the nearest test centre is to your school here.

The LNAT is a 2 part test. In the first part students have to answer multiple choice questions based on passages of text. The second part involves writing an essay (choice of 3 questions).

Students receive a mark out of 42 which is known as the LNAT score. We do not have a benchmark or minimum score required for the LNAT. The majority of successful candidates usually score in the region of 22 or above.

Offers can be made to applicants who score lower when all other elements of their application, including the LNAT essay, are particularly strong. Conversely, a high score in the LNAT is not a guarantee of an offer as applications are considered on the basis of all the information provided (including the academic profile, personal statement, reference, LNAT score and essay).

Students applying for the LLB with another European Legal System may be called for interview if the department is considering making an offer.  Where possible a week's notice of an interview date is given. If the date offered clashes with mock-exams or something equally important at school then efforts will be made to reschedule. All interviews will take place via Microsoft Teams and will last about 30 minutes.  The interview will include a section conducted in the relevant language for the programme applied for.

MBBS Medicine

For 2025/26 entry and beyond, we will be using the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) as our admissions test. Further details regarding application and test dates can be found on the UCAT website.

For the 2024/25 admissions cycle candidates must sit the BMAT on 18 October 2023.   The 2023 sitting for the 2024/25 cycle will be the last sitting as the BMAT is being withdrawn from 2024.

Useful BMAT preparation advice can be found here: https://www.admissionstesting.org/Images/238518-bmat-preparation-guide.pdf

We do not use a cut-off score for BMAT but as a guide you may be interested to see the average scores for both UCL applicants and offer holders in the most recent application cycle:

Average BMAT scores for UCL Medicine applicants

Home Applicants - 10.1

Access UCL Eligible Applicants - 9.9

Overseas Applicants - 13.1

Average BMAT scores for UCL applicants

2022 cycle - 4.5, 4.4, 3.0A   2023 cycle - 4.7, 4.8, 3.0A

2024 cycle - 4.8, 4.9, 3.2A

Average BMAT scores for UCL applicants interviewed

2021 cycle - 5.7, 5.8, 3.4A     2022 cycle - 5.8, 5.8, 3.3A

2023 cycle - 6.0, 5.9, 3.3A

Average BMAT scores for UCL offer holders

2021 cycle - 5.7, 5.8, 3.4A    2022 cycle - 5.9, 5.8, 3.4A

2023 cycle - 6.0, 5.9, 3.3A

Applicants will find it useful to refer to this guidance on gaining relevant experience for studying medicine.

Following receipt of the BMAT results in November, eligible applicants will be intvited to attend an MMI (Mutlitiple Mini Interview) where applicants will be asked a series of structured questions and receive a score for their responses.

As entry to Medicine is very competitive it is worth bearing in mind that we offer several other programmes in medically related areas, which do not have quotas on the number of international students they can accept:

Applied Medical Sciences BSc

Cancer Biomedicine BSc

Medical Innovation and Enterprise BSc

Medical Sciences and Engineering BSc

Nutrition and Medical Sciences BSc

Pharmacy MPharm

Pharmacy with Integrated Pre-registration Training MPharm

Population Health BSc

Sport and Exercise Medical Sciences BSc

Programmes with additional requirements: portfolio
Architecture

Architecture applicants who we judge to meet the entry requirements are asked to share their work with us as follows:

Architecture BSc/MSci, Architectural and Interdisciplinary Studies BSc and Engineering and Architectural Design MEng applicants will be invited to upload a comprehensive portfolio of creative work.  As soon as the Admissions team have received a students application from UCAS they will be requested to upload a small digital portfolio of up to 10 pages of their creative work to the UCL Applicant Portal page. They will be given a deadline of two weeks to submit the portfolio. 

For the portfolio we are interested in seeing a student’s ability to think creatively, intellectually and three-dimensionally, and to draw and use different media.  This may include sketches, drawings, photography, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, models, product design, computer code, fashion design, lighting design and jewellery.  Portfolios can contain as many pieces as wanted, but must be in PDF format, 10 pages maximum (cover page is not required but if included it is not counted as one of the 10 pages). Portfolios must not be larger than 5MB. We cannot accept embedded links to websites, videos, etc. within the portfolio.

We particularly like to see work completed outside the school curriculum and are interested in seeing personal sketchbooks and unfinished work. 

After reviewing an applicant's academic profile, the UCAS personal statement and the porfolio of creative work, eligible students will be shortlisted for an online interview.  If invited to interview students will be asked to present their porfolio.

Fine Art

PORTFOLIO INSPECTION

All applicants are required to submit one portfolio for inspection by the entrance examiners.

PORTFOLIO HANDLING FEE

All applicants must pay an inspection fee of £15 or US$20. The handling fee is not returnable.

Along with the UCAS application, students will also submit a portfolio. Portfolios should comprise a selection of current and recent work including self-initiated work. Applicants should submit up to twenty images with each image no larger than 5MB. Titles should be included for each image, including the date the work was made, size and materials. Applicants with time-based or performance elements to their work may include a showreel with a maximum duration time of five minutes. The overall portfolio size should be no larger than 450MB. We also encourage applicants to upload a short video featuring pages from sketchbooks.  Further guidance about the portfolio can be found on the Slade School of Fine Art pages.

Porfolios must be uploaded by Monday 05 February 2024. If portfolios are not submitted by the deadline, do not meet the specified format they will not be viewed and the application will be rejected. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview. 

MEDIA BA

All applicants must submit an online porfolio of up to 12 items. Applicants will be emailed details of how to upload their portfolio after submitting their UCAS application. Please see the Media BA prospectus page for more information. 

Programmes with additional requirements: interview
English

Most UK-based shortlisted applicants are invited to an online interview, where they talk to tutors for around twenty minutes. On the day of the interview, in the morning, candidates will be emailed a short piece of poetry or prose, to write a short essay, highlighting everything that they find interesting or noteworthy in the text.  

Most applicants from outside the UK will be considered without an interview. Those who are actively under consideration may be contacted for further information or asked to complete a questionnaire.

In some cases, UK and non-UK students receive offers without being interviewed.

mBBS Medicine

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview. Please see the Medical School website for further information on the Selection and Interview process.

We run Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs) on campus for Home fee paying candidates. Overseas students will attend on-line interviews. Candidates will be asked a series of structured questions and receive a score for their responses, according to the values listed on our website. Further detailed information will be provided to candidates when they are invited.

We suggest that students review information on the Medical Schools Council website regarding online interview preparation.

Applicants are asked to keep us regularly notified of dates that they are unavailable during our interview season. Notification should be sent by email (using the subject line 'Unavailable for interview') to undergraduate-admissions@ucl.ac.uk. Applicants will need to include their full name, UCAS ID (and UCL student number) and the dates from the below list that they would not be available. It is not necessary to provide a reason for being unavailable, but by contacting us in advance this will ensure that, if selected for interview, we can offer a date that your student is able to attend.  Please note that it is not possible for us to reschedule interviews and we do not make any offers for Medicine without an interview.

We advise candidates to monitor their Junk Folder and the UCL Applicant Portal for emails from UCL. If invited to interview we expect acknowledgment of attending within 5 calendar days. If a candidate does not confirm that they are attending, or the interview is not confirmed within the above time frame, the interview spot will be given to another candidate.

Pharmacy

Applicants for 2024 entry will be contacted by the School of Pharmacy by email about an interview/test, which is to be taken by all candidates.

LLB Law with a european language

Students applying for the LLB with another European Legal System may be called for interview if the department is considering making an offer.  Where possible a week's notice of an interview date is given. If the date offered clashes with mock-exams or something equally important at school then efforts will be made to reschedule. All interviews will take place via Microsoft Teams and will last about 30 minutes.  The interview will include a section conducted in the relevant language for the programme applied for.

BA European Social and Political Studies: Dual Degree

Applicants who meet (or are expected to meet) our selection criteria will be invited to an interview conducted by staff from Sciences Po. Interviews will be conducted via Zoom.

fine art 

Once all portfolios have been inspected, we will call shortlisted candidates to interviews. For UK candidates and candidates currently based or residing in the UK, interviews will be in person at the Slade School of Fine Art. For overseas candidates who are not currently in the UK, the interviews will be online.  Interview dates, when available, will be published on the prospectus programme page.

architecture

After reviewing an applicant's academic profile, the UCAS personal statement and the porfolio of creative work, eligible students will be shortlisted for an online interview.  If invited to interview students will be asked to present their porfolio. Interviews usually take place from mid-November to late April. Interviews are currently taking place online via Zoom. 

Engineering foundation year 

Applicants may be invited to an assessment day to do a group activity and meet members of the Engineering Foundation Year team at UCL. The group activity assess how applicants work with other people, and how they think in order to undertake the activity. It is not a test of knowledge, but rather how they approach a challenge.

Programmes with additional requirements: Arts and Sciences

Due to the unique nature of the Arts and Sciences programmes we understand it may not possible for students to provide a personal statement that reflects the student's interest in this degree in addition to their other UCAS choices. Students should be encouraged to write what is most appropriate to the majority of courses they are applying to. This will be taken into account and we shall not look at the main UCAS Personal statement. If a student is eligible, they will be asked to complete a questionnaire.

What are we looking for in applicants?

We are looking for evidence that applicants have academic ability along with a deep and demonstrable interest in the subject they are applying to. Their motivation and enthusiasm should be clear, and we are particularly interested in learning about the ways in which they have extended their learning beyond the classroom.

Some understanding of what the chosen programme of study involves is useful as it shows that students have done some research. We also look for an indication that students have developed transferable skills such as critical thinking, communication and time management and that they are able to undertake independent learning.

Finally, the potential to contribute both in and outside of class is important as we encourage students to make the most of the many opportunities being a UCL student affords them.

Personal Statement guidance

Once we have assessed a student’s eligibility for the programme, and that they are expected to meet our entry requirements, we use the Personal Statement in the following ways:

  • To assess academic potential, motivation for studying the chosen degree, and core skills required for the programme
  • To differentiate between applicants with comparable academic profiles
  • To identify those to take to the next stage of the selection process
  • At interview

There are further tips on writing Personal Statements including structure, content and avoiding pitfalls on UCAS.

Remember that no matter how good the Personal Statement, it cannot compensate for predicted grades below our minimum entry requirements. 

Our Director of Admissions recently contributed some top tips to The Times and the Head of Undergraduate Admissions has created a great video on Applying to UCL via UCAS. We also have Personal Statement guidance for students.

References

The UCAS reference has changed for 2024 entry, and we thought it might be useful to hear from UCL what they are expecting from the new format.  

Whilst the nature of the information advisers are asked to provide within the reference has not changed, the way the information is provided has altered. There are now three discrete sections within the reference, each with a different focus. The sections should help ensure that the information being provided is relevant and should also mean that the admissions team will be better able to extract the most salient points quickly and efficiently.  

Section One 

In this section we are looking for a general statement about the school or college. As hyperlinks do not work within the UCAS system, URLs which link to school profiles are not recommended. Instead, relevant information, for example the type of school, qualifications taken, subjects offered and policies and processes for predicted grades, should be outlined in this section. Including information in this way will mean admissions staff do not have to spend extra time trying to access information from within your school website. 

Section Two 

At UCL we expect this section to be blank for most applicants. In this case the box should be ticked to indicate that no information is being provided. 

Whilst some universities may provide mitigating circumstances forms as a way for schools to provide additional information, we do not do this at UCL. Instead, we ask that such circumstances are dealt with by notifying the relevant exam board(s) so that the circumstances can be considered when final grades are assigned.  

Section Three 

This section allows advisers to highlight the student’s suitability for the course they have applied for. This could include their aptitude as well as attitude, motivation, and commitment. Outlining these attributes in short, factual sentences is recommended. In the case of apparent discrepancies between grades already and predicted grades, it is useful to include an explanation so that we better understand the academic trajectory a student is on. 

  • The reference remains an important element of the application and teachers and counsellors should try make sure the information provided is as accurate and insightful as possible. 
  • Many institutions, like UCL, do not allow additional references. All the information we need should therefore be provided in the UCAS reference. 
  • UCL requires a reference for each application received from UCAS and does not agree for applications to be submitted without a reference. We expect the reference to be academic in focus and are unable to consider work or other non-academic references. It can be written by a counsellor or a subject teacher, or a combination of both.  
  • The reference is used alongside the personal statement and details of actual and predicted grades to add context. It is expected to complement the other information included in the UCAS application. 
  • Predicted grades remain a key element of the reference and we are looking for predictions for all qualifications which are entered as pending. Accurate predictions are important to us and feed directly into our consideration of applications during the selection process. 
  • Succinct, evidence-based sentences using bullet style (the UCAS system will remove formatting such as bullet points) are welcomed.  
  • Although references are subject to an overall character limit of 4,000, we do not expect all references will need to use 4,000 characters. Shorter references will not disadvantage applicants. 
Things to consider
  • All applications which we receive by the main UCAS deadline, 31 January for 2024 entry, will be given equal consideration. Applicants for Medicine must apply by the early deadline – 16 October.
  • Not all programmes are willing to consider resits from A level applicants. If in doubt please check directly with the relevant programme contacts.  
  • We do not participate in UCAS Clearing.