Undergraduate

What happens to your application?

  • Your application is received in the Student Recruitment and Admissions Office (SRAO) who will acknowledge this by an email or letter. If you have not heard from the SRAO within three weeks of submitting your application to UCAS please contact us.
  • Your application is forwarded to the relevant department (or departments for Joint Honours programmes) for consideration. The department (or departments) will make a decision on whether an offer will be made.
  • For almost all courses we do not interview applicants. In three specific circumstances we insist on an interview: a) where external bodies determine that interviewing is compulsory (applicants to Initial Teacher Training and Medicine); b) applicants to the Foundation Centre; and c) applicants who do not in their application show adequate evidence of recent and relevant knowledge or who have experienced a break in their study prior to application. This will be determined by academic departments on an individual basis having considered all the information provided in the application. There may arise exceptional circumstances, other than those listed above, when an interview is considered necessary.
  • Once the department(s) has made a decision your application is returned to the Student Recruitment and Admissions Office and the decision processed through UCAS. The decision issued through UCAS is the official decision.
  • If the department make you an offer through UCAS we guarantee that you will be allocated to a college.
  • Your application is forwarded to the college you nominated as your preference in your UCAS application. If you have made an open application (i.e. not stated a college preference), we will select this on your behalf. If the first college is unable to give you a place, a place will be allocated for you at another college. Your college preference has no bearing on the department(s) decision on your application.
  • You will be contacted by the college to which you have been allocated. Please see below for more information about college allocation and the dates when applicants can expect to be contacted.

How we select applicants

We aim to select students who we think will benefit most from the unique experience Durham offers and can contribute most to university life, irrespective of their background. All applicants are assessed on the basis of merit and potential. This includes their motivation to make the most of the wide range of academic and non-academic opportunities available within Durham. We look at the contribution applicants can make to university life overall, including our college communities. Our admissions policy is based on the core principles of fairness, transparency, consistency and operating a professional admissions process.

We are committed to the principle of equal consideration, which means that any application made to us through UCAS by the deadline of the 15th January (or the 15 thOctober for applications made via Newcastle University for Phase 1 of the Medicine degree delivered at Queen’s Campus) has a chance of being considered for an offer. Because of this we may not inform some applicants who applied as early as September of our decision until March. However, we do this because we consider each application carefully and we want to make offers to those applicants who show the strongest merit and potential in their application.

College allocation

If a department would like to offer you a place, internally your application is passed to your preferred college after the offer decision has been sent to UCAS. If you have not nominated a college in your UCAS application, we will select this on your behalf. We aim to ensure we have a good mix of students in each college from across all subject areas that are based at that campus. This might mean that we are unable to allocate you a place in the college you nominated in your UCAS application. If this happens, we guarantee to find you a college place at a different college. Our first college allocations will be released on 22nd January 2013 and communicated directly to applicants by letter or email. Therefore, this is the earliest date on which you will receive your college allocation. From this date onwards, we will be releasing college allocations at regular intervals. 

The important thing to remember is that anyone who has been accepted by an academic department via UCAS will secure a place at one of our colleges.

Applicants may change their college preference up to the point that an offer from the academic department is sent to UCAS. Applicants wishing to do this need to contact UCAS. Once the academic department's decision on an application has been processed to UCAS, applicants will no longer be able to change this option on their application and will need to contact us directly. Our policy is not to accept requests for a change to an applicant's college preference except where an applicant has a disability or health issue that cannot reasonably be met by the college to which they are allocated.

Applicants whose course is delivered at the Durham City Campus must be a member and, if applicable, resident in a college in Durham City. Applicants whose course is delivered at the Queen’s Campus must be a member and, if applicable, resident in a college at Queen’s Campus.

Applicants who accept Durham University as their firm choice and who meet the exact terms of their offer will be guaranteed the college that they were originally allocated to. Applicants who accept Durham University as their insurance choice or fail to meet the terms of their offer and are accepted as a near miss applicant may be reallocated a college in August. However, wherever possible, applicants will be placed in the college that they were originally allocated to.

Applicant Mitigating Circumstances

Telling us about your mitigating circumstances

We expect applicants who have experienced mitigating circumstances which have affected their work to report this to the relevant examination boards as we are unable to take account of the impact of mitigating circumstances for a second time. If this has not been possible, please see below for the appropriate way of informing us of your mitigating circumstances.

Mitigating circumstances during the completion of previous qualifications/examinations

Applicants who are applying to us and who have experienced mitigating circumstances during previous qualifications/examinations which they have been unable to report to examination boards should let us know this via their referee who should include in the reference:

  1. What the mitigating circumstances were;
  2. The effect this had upon the applicant’s work;
  3. Why it was not possible to report the mitigating circumstances to the examination boards.

We are unable to take account of mitigating circumstances for a second time. If your circumstances have been taken into account by the examination board(s), we will not normally be able to consider your mitigating circumstances as part of our admissions process.

Mitigating circumstances during study for qualifications currently being completed

Applicants who are considering applying to us, have made an application to us or have received an offer from us should report mitigating circumstances which are affecting their current studies to the relevant examination boards. Schools and colleges are able to help applicants do this and may be able to offer personal support and advice.

Applicants holding an offer with us can tell us about any mitigating circumstances which could not be reported to the relevant examination boards or could not have been fully taken account of by examination boards using the Mitigating Circumstances Form which will be available online. The link to this form will be sent to applicants holding us as their Firm choice in early July and the deadline for returning it to us is 1st August. Applicants wishing to use this form should specify which parts of their studies were affected;

  1. specify why it has not been possible to report the mitigating circumstances to the relevant examination boards or why the examination boards could not take account of their mitigating circumstances;
  2. include evidence.

Submitting mitigating circumstances does not guarantee that the University will make an offer to you or accept you if you do not meet the conditions of your offer. Academic achievement and the ability to successfully complete the programme of study are always the primary considerations when deciding whether or not to make you an offer or whether we are able to accept you if you do not meet the conditions of your offer.

Continued support while you study

If your mitigating circumstances are a result of a long-term health issue or disability, the University offers support and guidance to students and applicants through the Durham University Service for Students with Disabilities (DUSSD). You can find further information about DUSSD and the support provided on our website at www.durham.ac.uk/dussd.