Use of contextual data (2024 Entry)

The University is committed to reducing and eliminating barriers to entry for students with the potential to succeed at St Andrews. We seek to ensure that no student with the potential to do well is disadvantaged by social and economic background, whether this is related to their place of education, family background or residence, and we do this using relevant pre-entry information, clear entry requirements and robust assessment methods, appropriate to each application cohort. 

Find out more about our commitment to contextual admissions and use of contextual data:

Undergraduate (2024 Entry)

An introduction to undergraduate contextual admissions

The University of St Andrews has a limited number of places it can offer for undergraduate study each year and not all who meet all the entry requirements can be offered a place. It is therefore important that we set out our principles for assessing applications so you know what you can expect from us.

We are committed to the Universities Scotland guarantee of fairness when applying to a university in Scotland, as outlined on the Universities Scotland website

All admissions decisions at the University of St Andrews are made in-line with the University’s Admissions Policy.

Postgraduate (2024 Entry)

The University of St Andrews has committed to reducing and eliminating barriers to entry to Postgraduate Taught degrees. 

We are beginning to undertake work to widen access to postgraduate study and to support this we introduced a contextual information section into our PGT application form for UK domiciled students for applicants since 2023.  

It is the intention of the University of St Andrews to reflect upon the responses provided by our PGT applicants for 2023 and 2024 entry to draw up an accurate picture of the diversity of our applicants and support our internal planning for postgraduate recruitment and student support for 2025 entry and beyond.  

In 2024 the responses to these specific contextual information questions will be taken into consideration where possible by our academic admissions officers as they will not be subject to verification for 2024 entry.