Alternative offers to study with us
When education is inclusive, everybody wins.
'Alternative offers' and 'contextual offers' give you a fairer chance of getting into university, no matter your background, by taking into account more than just your exam results.
Who can get them
You're eligible if you went to a state-funded school, college or sixth form, and would pay UK (Home) fees if you go on to uni.
If you’re applying for Medicine at Hull York Medical School, there’s a different process for getting an alternative offer.
How they work
There are various ways to receive an alternative offer from us.
1) You're considered automatically
If you’re from an area less represented at university, seeking asylum in the UK, or have refugee status, we’ll automatically consider you for an alternative offer using what you tell us on your UCAS application. It could be up to two grades below our standard entry requirements.
2) You tell us more about you
If you have experience of being in the care of your local authority, or you’re estranged from your family, you can also let us know directly. We’ll use this extra information to consider you for an alternative offer up to two grades below our standard entry requirements.
It’s best to do this at the same time as submitting your UCAS application, or by 31 May 2025 at the latest.
3) You do some extra preparation
If you’ve completed one of our Access and Outreach team's eligible post-16 programmes, we might consider you for an alternative offer up to three grades below our standard entry requirements.
Let us know on your UCAS application which programme you did, and get in touch with the programme team directly while you're applying so they know to look out for you.
Explore our post-16 programmes
If you're applying for certain York subjects, you might qualify for an alternative offer if you've completed an EPQ, a Core Maths qualification, or one of our free short courses.
Check entry requirements for your course
After you apply
After you’ve submitted your UCAS application, and let us know any extra information directly, we’ll look at everything together to see if we can give you an alternative offer. If we can, all the details will appear on your UCAS Hub.
Contact us
If you have any questions at all about alternative offers, say hello.
Contact us
If you have any questions at all about alternative offers, say hello.