How we assess your application

Now your application is in, here's a guide to explain who reviews your application and the stages your application will go through as we make our assessment.

First, we receive your application from UCAS

After you submit your UCAS application, UCAS will send you an acknowledgement email. This will include your UCAS personal identity number. Please quote this in all correspondence with UCAS or UCL. 

We usually receive applications 24 to 48 hours after a completed application is submitted to UCAS. 

When we receive your application, we’ll send an email to the address you used in your UCAS application to let you know. We’ll also send you your UCL student number and an invitation to register for UCL’s Applicant Portal, Portico. 

You can use Portico to track the progress of your application. It provides an overview of the admission process and includes copies of all the emails we send you. If we need any additional documents or information from you, upload them to Portico. Please ensure you complete the steps to register for your Applicant Portal as soon as possible.  

If you have any problems accessing Portico, contact Portico support by telephone on +44(0)20 7679 5000 or by email to itservices@ucl.ac.uk. The Helpdesk is open Monday - Friday 8.30am-5.30pm.

Then, our selectors review your application

An admissions selector will look at your application in full. 

First, they check you meet the essential academic requirements of UCL and the programme you have applied for. At this point, we assess your past and predicted academic performance. It is important to note that meeting the entrance criteria through achieved or predicted grades does not guarantee an offer will be made. 

Next, our selectors consider your personal statement and academic reference. We do this to assess your academic potential, your motivation for studying your chosen degree, and core skills required for the programme. 

In most cases, the information we need to complete our assessment is provided in your UCAS application. To ensure fairness, we do not accept any other supporting documents sent to us outside of UCAS. This includes additional references, supporting statements and extracurricular certificates.

Keep an eye on your emails. We may request further information from you or invite you to complete a selection task. If we do not hear from you by the deadline given, we may not be able to consider your application further. 

To help make sure our emails arrive in your inbox, we recommend you add “@ucl.ac.uk” to your safe senders list. 

You can also use Portico’s ‘Communications’ heading to view all emails we have sent you. 

Next, you may be required to complete a further selection task and/or interview

Again, keep an eye on your emails as we may ask you to complete a further selection task/and or interview for some of our programmes. 

These are an important part of our admissions process. Make sure you complete them by the deadline given or we may not be able to consider your application further.

Additional Selection Tasks, Tests and Interviews

The following programmes have an additional section task, test, or an interview. Please take a look at the prospectus entry for any of the programmes below to find out more about the additional steps. If your programme is not listed here, there are no further selection tasks, tests or interviews.

All applicants who apply to Bartlett School of Architecture are requested to submit a portfolio. You will be contacted by email with instructions on how to complete the task and submit it to us. Please note your academic qualifications will be fully assessed following the receipt of your Portfolio and your application and Portfolio will not be considered further if your qualifications do not meet the advertised requirements for the programme you have applied for. 

If you meet the programme advertised requirements and your Portfolio is successful, you will then be invited for an interview.  Further information on the application process is available at The Bartlett website

As the BASc programme is unique to UCL, after you submit your UCAS application we will send you a questionnaire by email. We will use this in lieu of your UCAS personal statement. You will also be asked to confirm your major pathway choice (Cultures, Societies, Science and Engineering or Health and Environment). 

Please see the UCL Arts and Sciences website for further information. 

If you are not studying a mix of arts/humanities/social science and science/maths subjects in your A Level (or equivalent) qualifications and you meet the minimum entry requirements, you need to take an additional maths/science test or arts/humanities/social science test in the subject area you're missing. 

Exact details of the test will be sent to you by email. 

If you are UK-based, meet the minimum entrance criteria, and have a strong personal statement, you will be invited to an online interview. After the interview you will write a short essay. If you live outside the UK, we may contact you to complete a questionnaire instead of an interview. In some cases exceptional candidates may be given an offer without being interviewed.

Please visit the English Department website for further information on the interview process and what to expect.

After your application has been reviewed, you may be invited to an assessment day to do a group activity and to meet members of the Engineering Foundation Year team at UCL.

If you reach the second stage of assessment, you will typically be invited to sit an online test (Thinking Skills Test). There are usually two sittings of the test – one in January and one in March. You will be required to register for one of these. A limited number of exceptional candidates may be given an offer based on their UCAS form alone.

After you submit your UCAS application we will send you a selection task by email. You will be asked to choose your campus and major language. Applicants who meet the criteria will be invited to sit an online test (Thinking Skills Test).

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

You will need to provide a portfolio containing a selection of current and recent work including self-initiated work.

We’ll email you instructions on how to submit your portfolio after you submit your UCAS application. If you are shortlisted after the portfolios have been reviewed, you  will be invited to interview.

Please visit the Slade School of Fine Art website for further information.

All applicants are required to sit the National Admission Test for Law (LNAT)

For further information, please visit the Laws website.

All applicants are required to sit the National Admission Test for Law (LNAT)

For further information, please visit the Laws website.

If you have applied to one of our LLB Law with a European Legal System degree programmes, and we are considering making an offer to you, we will also invite you to interview to assess your competence in the language of your programme.

After you submit your UCAS application we will send you an email inviting you to complete an Additional Personal Statement. This consists of a few questions designed to help you showcase your skills and how you think.

The email will include instructions on how to complete the statement and submit it to us.

All applicants are required to sit the BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) in the year that you apply (either the September or November sitting)

For further information, please visit the Medical School website.

Please also see the MBBS admissions notice board for up-to-date information on the admissions process, including average BMAT scores for UCL applicants.

If you are shortlisted, we will invite you to interview. Please see the Medical School website for further information on the Selection and Interview process.

If you are shortlisted, we will invite you to a selection day which includes a test and interview.

Please visit the School of Pharmacy website for further information.

Some applicants will be invited to sit the STAT Special Tertiary Admissions Test run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). We will use this alongside the UCAS application to assess applicants in their suitability for this programme. Please be aware not all applicants will be invited to take the test.  

Applicants should not complete this test until they are invited to do so. Exact details of the test will be sent to the invited applicants by email. 

The following programmes or departments require applicants to specify a pathway or language choice. Applicants will receive an email outlining their options and instructions on how to submit this information. 

BASc Arts and Sciences  

BA Classics and the Ancient World 

BA European Social and Political Studies and BA International Social and Political Studies  

School of European Languages, Cultures, and Societies  

Some of our courses such as BA Comparative Literature (with Year Abroad), BA Language and Culture, and BA French with an Asian/African Language will require you to select your major language. 

You will need to provide a portfolio containing a selection of up to 12 items of work you have created, representing a variety of your work and approaches.

We’ll email you instructions on how to submit your portfolio after you submit your UCAS application. 

Please visit the BA Media pages for further information.

Last, we make a decision

Our programmes attract many talented and well qualified applicants so it may be some time before we can give you a final decision. For some of our most oversubscribed courses we use a ‘gathered field’ approach to assess applications.

You may wish to take a look at information about the number of applications we receive for each undergraduate programme at UCL.

It is quite usual for some applicants to hear sooner than others, but this doesn't mean that your application will be unsuccessful if you don't get a quick response from us. 

We aim to make our decisions by the end of April at the latest. Please be assured that we are working hard to make our decisions sooner.  

Sadly, due to the intense competition for many of our oversubscribed programmes we are unable to make offers to a number of highly capable applicants. Where we receive a high number of applications per available place, it is possible that applicants who meet the entrance requirements via achieved or predicted grades will not receive an offer.

How we let you know

Once we have made our decision, we will send you an email to let you know that your application status has been updated, and you can then view our decision on UCAS Track/Hub and Portico.

We want to reassure you that we will contact you with the outcome of your application as soon as we can. We therefore ask you not to contact us before the end of April about the status of your application, as this can delay us processing applications. 

We appreciate your patience during this time. 

Please note: Information provided by applicants is expected to be accurate and complete. UCL reserves the right to refuse admission if information provided by an applicant is inaccurate or incomplete. 

Please see our Academic Manual for full details.

Diversity, access and equality

Our Equality Opportunities Policy underlies every aspect of our student selection process.

We want to admit excellent students who are likely to complete their degree programme successfully and derive benefit from it, regardless of:

  • age,
  • disability,
  • ethnic origin,
  • gender identity,
  • marital status,
  • sex,
  • sexual orientation,
  • number of dependants, and
  • religious or political beliefs.

We positively encourage and welcome applications from members of underrepresented groups at UCL.

For further information please see our:

Further information