After receiving an offer
Once you have received an offer to study an international foundation programme at the University of St Andrews, there are a few steps you will need to take to secure your place at the University and prepare before you arrive in St Andrews.
Orientation for Foundation students starting in January 2021
Orientation will be on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 January 2021. To get the latest news about Orientation, visit the January 2021 Orientation Team regularly before the start of your foundation programme.
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To accept your offer of a place at the University, you must complete these two steps:
1. Accept your offer
You must accept your offer after your interview has been confirmed as successful.
January programmes
To accept an offer for a programme starting in January 2021, visit the January acceptance form.
September programmes
To accept an offer for a programme starting in September 2021, log into the applicant portal.
2. Pay your deposit
Find out when and how to pay your deposit. Sponsored applicants must provide a financial guarantee letter from their sponsor to ifpapplications@st-andrews.ac.uk.
If Coronavirus affects your travel plans or our start date to the extent that you wish to decline our offer of a place on the foundation programme, we will refund your deposit in full.
If you wish to decline your offer, please email ifpapplications@st-andrews.ac.uk and quote your student ID number.
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If you have received a conditional offer you will need to provide evidence to show that you meet the conditions of your offer. This evidence might be an IELTS for UKVI test report form, or a final transcript from your high school, or a reference letter.
Please submit your evidence as soon as it becomes available by uploading it to your applicant portal. To sign in, you will need the username and password you created for your application.
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Students who will require a visa to study in the UK should begin their visa application only once their offer changes from conditional to unconditional. You will be notified by email from ifpapplications@st-andrews.ac.uk when your offer becomes unconditional.
An offer becomes unconditional when:
- you have accepted your offer
- you have paid your deposit
- you have met all the conditions of your offer
- you have made the further payment.
Please refer to your unconditional offer email from ifpapplications@st-andrews.ac.uk for more details on the further payment and instructions on how to obtain a CAS number (if you need a visa to study in the UK).
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Once you have paid your deposit, met all of your conditions and your offer has changed from conditional to unconditional, you must make a further payment of £11,000 (or provide a financial guarantee letter if you are a sponsored student).
Once you have paid your further payment:
- Your accommodation will be confirmed.
- The CAS process will begin (if you need a visa to study in the UK). CAS numbers are only issued when your course start date is less than three months away.
You should pay the rest of your fees during or before your Orientation. You cannot be in classes until you have paid the rest of your fees.
Find out when to pay your foundation fees.
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Students joining an International Foundation programme do not need to apply for accommodation but they are required to accept their offer of accommodation to ensure a room is allocated to them at David Russell Apartments prior to their arrival.
Check your email account regularly (the email address you provided when you submitted your application). The offer of accommodation, and instructions on how to accept it, will be sent by email from Student Accommodation Services during July and August for students starting in September, and in November and December for students starting in January.
Quarantine requirements
You may need to quarantine when moving into your University accommodation. Please refer to the Scottish Government and public health guidelines for more information.
If you are required to quarantine, please complete the Quarantine application form 2020 and email it to studacc@st-andrews.ac.uk.
If you have any questions about your accommodation please contact studacc@st-andrews.ac.uk including your full name and your student ID number.
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Approximately six weeks before your course starts, you will receive an email with information on how to activate your University computer account and email. You should begin using your St Andrews email account as soon as you can, so that you do not miss any communications from us.
Once you have your St Andrews email account, you will be able to access University systems like MySaint, the web portal for current students.
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Start looking for flights once you have received your unconditional offer and your visa (if you need one). Please do not book your flight tickets before you have received your visa.
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Transport will be provided free of charge from Edinburgh or Glasgow airport. Information on this will be provided in the coming weeks.
If you have an urgent question about transport, please email ifpapplications@st-andrews.ac.uk including your full name and student ID number.
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The International Education Institute offers webinars where foundation students can meet their Programme Director and other staff at the University of St Andrews. These webinars take place throughout the application cycle and give you the opportunity to ask questions in a live Q and A session.
Q and A sessions in December 2020 will also include pre-arrival information for students starting a programme in January 2021.
Find out how to join a webinar.