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  5. Contextual Admissions

Contextual Admissions

At Queen Mary University of London, our mission is to create a truly inclusive environment where we support talented students regardless of their background or personal experience. We recognise that your individual educational experience and context can have an impact on the grades you achieve and your opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities. By using contextual data, we can take this information into account to form a complete view of your attainment and potential when we assess your application to study with us.

How are contextual admissions used?

Our contextual admissions policy is reviewed annually in conjunction with our academic schools. By taking contextual data and information into account, the admissions selector may make one of the following decisions;

  1. Make you the standard offer where your predicted grades may have fallen marginally short of the threshold we usually use to make an offer.
  2. Make you either a standard or enhanced contextual offer (see below).

Our contextual offer eligibility

Your eligibility for a contextual offer is made using the information provided on your UCAS application form. We review every application holistically to determine whether you are eligible for a reduced contextual offer:

One grade drop applied if:

  • The school or college where you took (or are taking) your GCSE’s and or A-Levels has performed below the national average over the last three years1
  • Your school/college is sponsored by Queen Mary
  • You live in an area of high disadvantage defined using the IMD measure AND you live in an area where young people are less likely to progress to higher education, defined using the POLAR measure

Two grade drop applied if:

  • You are care experienced (in care for 13 weeks+)
  • You have participated in one of our sustained/partnered access schemes where we can verify successful completion. This includes Access to Queen Mary or Realising Opportunities
  • You are a refugee or asylum seeker

One grade drop if:

You meet two of the criteria listed below:

  • The school or college where you took (or are taking) your GCSE’s and or A-Levels has performed below the national average over the last three years1
  • Your school/college is sponsored by Queen Mary
  • You are a refugee or asylum seeker
  • You have participated in one of our sustained/partnered access schemes where we can verify successful completion. This includes Access to Queen Mary, Realising Opportunities or the Sutton Trust Pathways to Law Programme (for Law only).

Or one of the above and one of the criteria listed below:

  • You live in an area of high disadvantage defined, defined using the IMD measure
  • You live in an area where young people are less likely to progress to higher education, as defined using the POLAR measure.

Two grade drop if:

  • You are care experienced (in care for 13 weeks+)

Medicine and Dentistry will have additional UCAT requirements which all applicants must satisfy. 

BSc Oral Health (A910) is not eligible for a reduced offer.

Joint programmes in combination with Law are not eligible for a reduced offer.

Our Contextual Criteria

The table below is provided to help you understand the criteria we use to determine whether you meet our eligibility for additional consideration through our contextual admissions policy.

Contextual Criteria Eligibility
Live in an area of disadvantage IMD Quintile 1 or 2 using the IMD by postcode tool.
Live in an area of low participation in HE POLAR4 Quintile 1 or 2 using the OfS Postcode tool.
Attend a state school performing below the national average

This is currently calculated using national school performance tables using data over the last three years1
Attend a school sponsored by Queen Mary Currently attend Drapers' Academy, St Pauls Way Trust School or Royal Greenwich Trust School
Care Experienced You have been in care for at least 13 weeks during the period of their secondary education. If you are a care experienced student, we encourage you to learn more about the ways in which we support you during the admissions process and transition to university.

1 Due to the COVID pandemic and the absence of up-to-date school performance tables, we are currently calculating this using the three years prior to 2019

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