STUDY IN ENGLAND

Advertisement General Application Requirements

No matter where your home country is, there are general application processes that you will have to go through in order to study in England. As you will see, it’s not very different than the application process for other countries. Keep in mind – even though the following guidelines apply for almost every English university, each university may have its own requirements that you have to follow in order to get into a specific program or area of study. Contact the university you wish to attend for these sorts of details.

See if the university that you wish to attend has specific requirements for admission. This is fairly common, considering some universities (such as Oxford) have very high expectations for their students. Because of the high influx of international students attending university in England, most English universities actually have lists of requirements for each country that may wish to attend their university (Check out this example from Oxford). If you do not meet these requirements but would still like to apply, contact the university and see what you can do in order to try and meet those requirements.

Finish any applications that you are planning on completing. If you would like some help doing this, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) can help you apply to each of the institutions that you would like to apply to attend. Most English Universities will use the UCAS application as part of their application process. Many English Universities will have their own individual online applications you can fill out as well. Keep an eye on application due dates. If you don’t fill out your applications on time, you may be charged a fee or your application may be discarded.

No matter where you apply, you will notice that many of the questions are the same. Give as much information as you are able to, because the more complete your applications are, the quicker they will get processed. Incomplete applications may be completely ignored. Also be sure to do any essays that you may be assigned to do as part of the application process; they do matter and skipping them can be detrimental to your acceptance to the university. Pay any fees associated with the application process.

Make sure that you send your high school transcripts (or equivalent, depending on the country you live in) and transcripts from other higher education institutions off to the universities that you are applying to. These are required as part of the application process so that they can determine if you’ve met their admission requirements. Most times, you will just need to contact the secondary school or university that you attended and ask them to send or fax the transcripts to the English University (sometimes a fee is required to send transcripts). You can also keep copies of official transcripts on hand and just send them off or fax them yourself.

Lastly, make sure that you do anything in regards to financial aid. There are literally millions of dollars available for those who are studying in England, and some of it goes unclaimed. This even applies for those who are international students; some of that money is allocated just for international students. You just have to know where to look. The UK Council for International Student Affairs can help you to figure out what aid you may be eligible for. Make sure that you go through any processes you need to in order to obtain financial aid – contact the financial aid office at your potential institution for more information.

If English Is Not Your First Language

If English is not your first language, you will have to prove your proficiency in the language. You may have to take a placement test, or the university may require another kind of test in order to prove your proficiency in the language. One of the tests that you may have to take is called the Test of English as a Foreign Language exam (TOEFL), which is the most recognized English as a second language test in the entire world.

Some universities may also conduct an interview in order to determine your competency in speaking and understanding the English language. Many people who study abroad will know several languages to start with, so this may not be of concern to you. Advertisement