Access Issues

St Andrews is looking for applicants with strong academic potential. Inevitably, this gets assessed in the first instance by school grades, but we recognise that these are not always reliable indicators, particularly where applicants' educational careers have been affected by adverse personal circumstances (e.g. long term unemployment, family illness, housing problems, or attendance at schools with little experience of preparing students for Higher Education). For this reason, we may make talented applicants offers based on successful completion of a specialised access course if their grades do not quite meet the standard asking rates. In such circumstances the Personal Statement is doubly important in indicating potential. See the University's Access pages for more information, and above for more advice on composing a Personal Statement for your UCAS form.

Applications from mature and non-traditional students are also warmly welcomed. St Andrews is a member of SWAP (the Scottish Wider Access Programme for mature students) and particularly welcomes applications from students studying at FE colleges on this programme.