You may have questions about how the Coronavirus pandemic will affect your application or offer from us. This guide includes the most up-to-date information to help you make informed choices about any UCAS application you have made with us and reassurances that we are doing what we can to help all our applicants in this difficult time. If you have applied for a postgraduate course at Bath, please see our separate guidance.
Recent updates to this guide
7 April 2020:
- Answers for A level students have been updated with Ofqual guidance, including where you are sitting exams as a private candidate
- New answer for if you are considering apply to Bath in 2021
- New information on STEP exams and offers
- New reassurances that we are exploring other options for you if you need to sit an English language test to meet your offer
- New question on fees for EU students in 2021
If you have not yet applied to Bath this year
Is the University of Bath still accepting applications through the main UCAS cycle or Extra for 2020 entry?
Yes. Most courses are open for new applications and you can still apply. A small number of our courses closed to new applications in January as they were full – you can check course availability on our course pages or UCAS. We are accepting Extra applications for any course that remains open.
Will I be able to apply to Bath through Clearing or Adjustment once I have my grades?
In recent years we have been able to consider applications through Clearing (or Adjustment) for a small number of students. The courses available and number of places varies based on how many students apply in the main UCAS cycle and the grades they achieve, so it is impossible to say whether we will have places for a specific course at this stage. Please be aware that our most popular courses are not usually available in Clearing, including Architecture, Psychology and some Business and Management degrees.
Available courses will be listed on our website and UCAS once Clearing opens.
I am planning to apply to Bath in 2021 (or later) using exams that have been disrupted this year. How will this affect me?
This may be the case for you for several different reasons. You may be finishing school this year but chosen not to apply because you are planning a gap year. You may still be planning to be at school next year but would have taken exams at the end of this year that you will need next year (for example, APs). Regardless of why this is the case for you our guidance is the same.
Where we are accepting grades in a qualification that is being awarded differently this year (such as A levels, the IBDP or APs) we will continue to accept any grades you achieve in the 2021 UCAS cycle. This means you can apply next year and use any awards from this year as normal.
Where you are unable to achieve an award in your qualifications this year through disruption we will expect you to resit and achieve an award next year wherever possible. You will not be penalised for any resits due to the pandemic and can apply and receive a conditional offer based on your future results.
Changes to our offers for Mathematics degrees following the cancellation of STEP exams will not apply to you if you apply in the 2021 cycle (but will apply if you are holding a deferred offers for 2021 from this year).
For specific answers on what we are accepting this year please see the “If you are holding a conditional offer from Bath” section.
If you have applied through UCAS but are waiting for a decision
Will my application now be disadvantaged because of the Coronavirus pandemic?
No. We are considering applications as normal and continuing to make offers to suitable students. The criteria we are using and the number of possible offers we can make for each course has not changed. All applications will be considered fairly.
Can I still receive a conditional offer now my exams have been cancelled?
Yes. We are aware that exams have been cancelled and schools closed in many places in the world. We are continuing to make conditional offers based on our typical requirements even where it is uncertain whether students will be able to meet them.
See the ‘If you are holding a conditional offer from Bath’ section for information on how we will assess conditional offers in these circumstances.
When will I receive a decision on my application?
The Undergraduate Admissions Team is working hard to get decisions as fast as possible to any students still waiting for an outcome. We know waiting can be worrying or frustrating even in normal circumstances, and you may be more anxious given the uncertainty with schools and exams.
I have been asked to provide information to support my application but am unable to do so because of the Coronavirus pandemic. What should I do?
We know that the closure of schools and universities may make it difficult for you to get certain information to us. If we have set you a deadline you cannot meet due to Coronavirus, please contact us at admissions@bath.ac.uk so we can make alternative plans.
We will only ask you for information that is absolutely necessary to assess your application at this time.
If you are holding a conditional offer from Bath
How will Bath assess whether I have met my conditional offer this year?
Our approach to offers this year will depend on what qualifications you are taking and any arrangements made by the organisation that awards them:
A levels (including International A levels), GCSEs, IGCSEs, Scottish Highers, BTECs and Cambridge Technicals
Exams in these qualifications have been cancelled throughout the world, but the UK Government and awarding bodies have confirmed that you will be awarded a final grade that fairly reflects your work to date.
Ofqual have now published information on how this will work for A levels and GCSEs in the UK. Exam centres will submit centre assessments, which will then be standardised by awarding bodies. While these arrangements do not cover International A levels or other qualifications, we expect the process to similar.
We can confirm that we will accept any grade awarded in these qualifications this year as normal. We will consider your grades when they are available and providing you meet your offer conditions, your place will be secured. This applies wherever you are studying in the world.
The conditions of your offer will not be changed because of this.
A levels (including International A levels), GCSEs, IGCSEs, Scottish Highers – entered as a private candidate
We know that these circumstances are particularly challenging if you are entering as a private candidate, and we are working to ensure you are not disadvantaged wherever possible. Our priority is making sure all students who join us are suitably prepared to succeed on their course.
Ofqual have now published information on how A levels and GCSEs will be awarded in the UK. We are pleased this includes specific guidance for students who are entering exams as a private candidate.
If you are entering exams as a private candidate (for example, because you are re-sitting exams without attending school or have been home schooled) then your exam centre has been asked to contact you to discuss providing centre assessments for you where possible. If this is possible you will receive awards in the same way as other A level students. Ofqual are continuing to investigate alternatives where a centre assessment is not possible.
If we have identified you as a private candidate we will contact you in the coming weeks with details of how you should confirm whether or not you will receive grades awarded through centre assessments. We will then work with you on whether there are suitable alternatives if this is not the case.
These arrangements apply for A levels and GCSEs in England. While they have not been confirmed for all other qualifications we expect the approach to be similar.
We cannot promise that we will ultimately be able to consider every student in this situation, but our priority is to make sure you are not disadvantaged where possible.
The International Baccalaureate Diploma
Like A levels, the exams in these qualifications have been cancelled throughout the world.
The International Baccalaureate Organisation have confirmed that every student will receive a final grade in each part of the IBDP. The most up-to-date information on how these grades will be calculated is available on the IBO’s website.
We can confirm that we will accept any grades awarded in the IB Diploma this year as normal. We will consider your grades when they are available and providing you meet your offer conditions, your place will be secured. This applies wherever you are studying in the world.
The conditions of your offer will not be changed because of this.
Sixth Term Examination Papers (STEP) – Mathematics degrees only
Cambridge Assessment have announced the cancellation of STEP I exams while STEP II and III will go ahead in some form. We have considered our approach to STEP and other additional maths tests. We do not want any student to be disadvantaged as a result of exam cancellations, and we do not feel it would be fair to expect you to sit STEP II or III if you have not been preparing to do so.
We have therefore decided that STEP will no longer be required for any offer holders in the 2020 admissions cycle. How this applies depends on your degree:
MMath/Bsc Mathematics, BSc Mathematical Sciences, BSc Mathematics & Statistics, BSc Statistics, BSc Economics & Mathematics and MComp/BSc Computer Science & Mathematics:
If your offer includes STEP as a mandatory condition, we will be amending it to remove STEP (and other additional maths tests). The rest of your offer conditions will remain unchanged, including any English language requirement. We will not increase any of your conditions to compensate for removing STEP.
MMath/Bsc Mathematics, BSc Mathematical Sciences, BSc Mathematics & Statistics, BSc Statistics and BSc Economics & Mathematics:
If you are studying A level (or Pre-U) Mathematics and Further Mathematics and apply for these degrees you would be eligible for a reduced offer (of A*AB) if you achieve a strong STEP grade.
We know you may have been intending to use this alternative to secure your place. To ensure no student is disadvantaged, we have decided in this case to amend our typical offer for you to A*A in Maths and Further Maths plus B in a third subject with no additional requirements. This will apply if you are studying equivalent combinations including Pre-Us and BTECs. Because this is the level of our reduced offer, your offer will not include other alternatives this year (such as EPQs or fourth A level subjects). Any other conditions of your offer, including English language requirements, will still apply.
We have emailed affected offer holders will amend eligible offers as appropriate.
These changes do not affect applicants to MSci/BSc Mathematics & Physics as we do not use STEP for these degrees.
Access to HE Diplomas and International Foundation Years
The arrangements for these qualifications may vary based on what your college is able to provide, but in most cases we hope you will be able to continue your course through online learning and assessment. As these are intensive courses that compress a lot of content into a short amount of teaching, we are also conscious that you may be affected by college closures more harshly than students who have already completed most of their teaching.
We will contact you in the next few weeks or months to confirm your situation with you and discuss what options are available in your circumstances. Assuming you can complete your qualification, your offer will remain unchanged.
Advanced Placement (AP) Tests
The College Board have put in place alternative exams following the cancellation of normal AP exams. These include special 45-minute online assessments, with two sittings available to you. If you sit these exams you will be awarded an AP grade as normal. We will accept grades awarded on these alternative exams as normal. You can also use any existing AP grades you have achieved that fit the conditions of your offer.
We will not accept teacher assessments or coursework grades in place of final AP award. While A level students are receiving grades on this basis, the grades they are awarded will be moderated by UK awarding bodies using a defined process. To be fair to all students we are accepting the alternative arrangements made by each country on their own merits. For APs this is the exams set by the College Board.
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education
The exams for the HKDSE have been rescheduled and you will receive your results later than normal. We understand that you will face delays in providing your results and will be able to consider you once they are available. Your offer conditions will remain the same.
Qualification in other countries (including the French Baccalaureate, Spanish Titulo de Bachiller, Italian Diploma di Esame di Stato, Indian High School Certificates, Greek and Cypriot Apolytirions and others)
We know exams in many other countries may be delayed or cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak and are monitoring the situation carefully.
If your exams go ahead, we will assess you based on your results, even if they are issued later than normal.
If your exams are cancelled but the awarding organisation makes alternative arrangements for you to receive a final award, we will consider any alternative put in place for you against your conditional offer.
If it becomes clear your exams will be cancelled with no alternative award or your results will be issued too late for you to start on time with us, we will contact you directly to discuss alternative assessments. We will do this no later than 31 July 2020.
Until a decision is made for your qualification, the conditions of your offer will not change.
Will Bath withdraw my conditional offer now the situation with my exams has changed?
No. We will honour any conditional offer we have made for a student who can meet the conditions by the appropriate deadline. Please read the rest of this section for details of how your offer will be considered.
Will Bath consider making my conditional offer unconditional now due to the current situation?
No. We appreciate in this difficult time you may be anxious about your future and want as much certainty as possible. However, we believe that is it is important for all our applicants that our admissions process is fair. We believe the best way to achieve this is to work with UCAS, the UK Government, awarding bodies and others to ensure students receive final grades that reflect their achievements.
We are also aware that you may feel pressured to accept an unconditional offer if we make it. It is very important to us that you make your UCAS choices based on which course and university is right for you – as such we would never do something intended to put extra pressure on you.
What happens if I miss my offer?
We know that with exam cancellations and changes to grades you may be anxious about what grades you will receive. While we are hopeful you will receive the grades you deserve we want you to know that we always aim to have some flexibility if you narrowly miss your offer.
How much flexibility we have will depend on how well all students perform and how much space we have available. In a typical year, most courses will be able to consider students who miss by one or perhaps two A level grades. The amount of flexibility we have is more limited if you miss the required grade in an essential subject for your course.
While we aim to have some spaces available for students who narrowly miss their offer on every course, each year there are a handful of courses that end up filled with students who achieve their offers.
If you are a UK student and you are flagged as a widening participation priority through our contextual admission process, we will strongly prioritise you for a place at Bath if you narrowly miss your offer.
We also want to reassure you that every student is the same position as you.
My offer includes an IELTS condition, but I am currently unable to sit an English language test due to the Coronavirus pandemic. What should I do?
We are monitoring the availability of English language testing across the world closely. In some countries (such as China) we hope that testing will become available again in good time for you to sit a test.
Please make sure you check our list of accepted English language qualifications in case you already have something else which will meet your conditions. Details of commonly accepted alternatives are available for each degree on our course pages. We accept a range of English language tests including IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, CPE and CAE. We are also working on a range of alternative ways for you to demonstrate your English language skills and will email you to update you once we have more detailed plans.
Our normal deadline for you to provide a valid English language test is 31 July 2020, as indicated in your offer. We will be extending this deadline for all students and will confirm to you the new deadline when it is confirmed. The new deadline will be no earlier than 31 August 2020.
Please be aware that if you provide an English language test later than usual you may have less time with which to apply for a student visa (if applicable).
If you are holding an unconditional offer from Bath
I have an unconditional offer from the University already, is my place still secure?
Yes. If you have already achieved all of your qualifications and you your offer is therefore unconditional your place is secure, providing you confirm it as your firm choice by the appropriate UCAS deadline.
While this is a difficult time for everyone, we hope that disruption in your country will not impact your ability to take up your place.
If you have questions regarding mitigating circumstances and disruption
My school or college has been closed due to Coronavirus, do I need to tell you?
No. We know many schools have been closed around the world. We will consider any widespread school closures as part of our approach to your final qualifications, particularly where exams have also been cancelled – you do not need to tell us for this to happen.
I have other mitigating circumstances affecting my application, what should I do?
You may have other personal circumstances affect your previous grades or your recent education, beyond general disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. If this is true for you, we have a dedicated process for considering your circumstances, including a confidential form for you to provide details. Guidance on how we consider mitigating circumstances is available online.
You do not need to provide a mitigating circumstances form for disruption due to recent school closures. We will be considering the impact of Coronavirus separately as it affects almost all our applicants.
If you have other questions
When do I need to reply to my offer from Bath?
The deadline to respond to your offer is set by UCAS and depends on both when you applied and when you received a decision for all of your UCAS choices. You should check information published by UCAS for the exact date.
To give students more time to consider their options during these circumstances UCAS have delayed the May response deadline (which applies to most UK students) by two weeks to 20 May 2020.
Can I defer my offer for 2020 to 2021?
We hope this will not become necessary for any of our applicants because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but we are happy to defer undergraduate applications in the usual way.
If you have made your application through UCAS you will need to have your place confirmed at Bath based on the grades you achieve this year for you to hold a deferred offer with us. As such, we do not recommend you request a deferral simply because your exams have been cancelled at this stage.
You should also be aware that if you choose to defer your place to 2021, we cannot guarantee you will be able to switch back to 2020 later. We will always try to do this for you, but places may already be filled at that point. We recommend you only consider deferring once you are certain you do not wish to join us in 2020.
In the unlikely event you hold an offer but are unable to join us due to the Coronavirus outbreak and we are also unable to confirm a place for you, we guarantee we will make you an offer if you apply again through UCAS for 2021 entry. Any offer next year will be either conditional or unconditional, depending on what you have achieved, and subject to you meeting our typical entry requirements.
I am an EU national and may need to defer (or re-apply) for 2021 entry. What will happen to my fee status at Bath?
The UK Government has not yet confirmed the fee status of new applicants from the EU in 2021 following the UK’s departure from the European Union. We know that if you are an EU national and find yourself unable to take up a place at Bath this year you may be worried about how your fees may change.
We do not have an answer to this question at this stage. We are actively considering this problem and will update you once we know more.
Is my degree expected to start as usual in September 2020?
Yes. At present the University of Bath intends to deliver its degree courses as planned in September 2020.
As there is much uncertainty about the future of Coronavirus, if this changes we will let all applicants know.
I need a Tier 4 (student) visa to study at Bath. Will that be affected by Coronavirus?
While many visa application centres are currently shut, we hope visa application processes will re-open so that students are not affected in September.
We are working to make sure any changes to our application processes allow time for your visa application.
We will update all offer holders needing a Tier 4 visa on any changes.
I am anxious about securing accommodation at Bath. Can I apply for it now?
Our student accommodation applications are not yet open for 2020 and before you can apply you will need to have chosen Bath as your firm choice.
We want you to be reassured that you do not need to worry about this. Unlike some universities, our accommodation system is not ‘first-come, first-serve’. Every offer holder who applies during the available application window has an equal chance to secure their preferred accommodation option.
Our accommodation system usually opens in early May. It is likely we will need to delay the launch due to the current situation, but we will keep all offer holders informed.
I have other questions about my application. Who can I contact?
The best way to contact us about your UCAS application is to email admissions@bath.ac.uk. Please be patient with us if we do not respond immediately – we are currently receiving a very high number of emails.