Contextual admissions schemes
Check if you're eligible
Use our admissions scheme eligibility tool to see whether you qualify for our contextual admissions schemes for applicants from disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds.
If you come from a disadvantaged or underrepresented background, we believe you should have the opportunity to demonstrate you have the academic potential to succeed in your studies and benefit from studying at Imperial.
We want to ensure that you will not be disadvantaged in the application or selection process when you apply.
What are contextual admissions schemes?
Our contextual admissions schemes allow us to look beyond purely academic achievements and consider your performance in context – taking into account factors such as your economic, social and educational background.
In practice, that means guaranteeing you an interview or offer if you come from a disadvantaged background, show potential and could make a unique contribution to our learning community.
Who is eligible
If you are a student with Home fee status or an appropriate UK residential status, you may be considered under our contextual admissions schemes if:
- You are a care leaver or have spent time in care under a local authority, or
- Your home address* postcode falls into England’s index of multiple deprivation quintile one, or
- Your home address* postcode falls into POLAR4 quintile 1 or 2 and you also meet one of the following criteria:
- You are the first in your family to attend university
- You attend an English school where the key-stage 5 performance is below Imperial's percentile threshold of 20%
- You attend a school in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland where the Free School Meals percentile is above Imperial's percentile threshold of 80%
*Your home address is your place of permanent residence and not your school or boarding school.
Answer some quick questions in our eligibility tool to see if you are eligible.
How our contextual admissions schemes work
Find out more about the contextual admissions scheme that applies in the department you are interested in at Imperial.
How does it work?
Guaranteed interviews
The following departments will guarantee interviews for widening participation applicants if your predicted grades meet the minimum Imperial entry standard of AAA at A-level or an equivalent level qualification (in the correct subjects for the course):
- Aeronautics
- Bioengineering
- Imperial College Business School*
- Chemical Engineering
- Chemistry
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Computing**
- Dyson School of Design Engineering
- Earth Science and Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
These departments may choose at their discretion to interview widening participation applicants whose predicted grades are below AAA at A-level or an equivalent-level qualification.
* All candidates who are predicted to achieve AAA including Mathematics will be guaranteed an invitation to the interview. Applicants who have completed their qualifications when applying must meet the minimum entry requirements to be guaranteed an invitation.
** The first stage of the interview in the Department of Computing consists of an online test. Only those applicants who successfully pass this test will progress to the second part: a face-to-face interview (currently conducted online).
Guaranteed offers
The Department of Life Sciences, the Department of Physics and our BSc Medical Biosciences courses within the School of Medicine will make offers to all widening participation applicants who:
- have predicted grades that meet the minimum College entry standard* of AAA at A-level or an equivalent level qualification
- demonstrate motivation to study within the specific subject area.
* These Departments may choose at their discretion to consider widening participation applicants whose predicted grades are below AAA at A-level or an equivalent level qualification.
For Medical Biosciences, our guarantee applies only on the first sitting of A-levels.
Guaranteed standard minimum offer
Department of Mathematics
In the Department of Mathematics, widening participation applicants who meet the minimum contextualised Maths Admission Test (MAT) score will be guaranteed an offer at the Department’s minimum of A*A*A at A-level or an equivalent level qualification.
The Department may still make offers including a Sixth Term Examination Papers (STEP) requirement in cases where the widening participation applicant has not taken MAT and their academic potential is indicative of the required or expected standard to do well on our programme (applicants should still register and take MAT if they apply before 15 October).
Department of Chemistry
The Department of Chemistry provides a guaranteed standard minimum offer to a large majority of widening participation applicants who achieve AAA at A-level.
However, a small number may be made a standard or higher offer or not accepted, dependent on interview performance and applications. This is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Department of Materials
The Department of Materials is able to provide a guaranteed standard minimum offer to a large majority of widening participation applicants. However, a small number may not be accepted, dependent on interview their performance. This is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Contextual offers
The School of Medicine invites applicants for A100 MBBS/BSc Medicine to interview on the basis of predicted grades and BMAT scores.
Widening participation applicants with predicted grades of AAA (including Chemistry and Biology) at A-level or equivalent will be considered on the basis of an adjusted BMAT threshold score, which takes into consideration how personal and school circumstances may have impacted achievement.
Widening participation applicants who meet the adjusted minimum score will be invited to interview and those who are successful at interview will receive a contextual offer of AAA at A-level or an equivalent level qualification.
How do I apply?
If you meet the criteria you do not need to do anything extra — simply apply to study at Imperial in the normal way through UCAS.
Our admissions teams will assesses your application against the criteria to see whether you are eligible.
Please be careful to supply all the correct information and declarations when you submit your application as we do not re-evaluate assessments. We reserve the right to request documentary evidence to verify any declarations you make on your UCAS application.
If you have any questions about this scheme, please contact the relevant Admissions team.