Skip to main content
King's College London

At King’s we don’t just use your grades to assess your application. We recognise that not everyone has the same educational journey and that some students have had to overcome challenges to achieve their grades.

If you have experienced certain barriers which make it harder for you to achieve a course’s standard entry requirements we will take this into consideration.

How does it work?

We use the information you provide on your UCAS application. This means that it is mostly automatic, and you usually do not have to do anything.

If you are care experienced, it’s important that you tick the care-experienced box as part of your UCAS application. If you tick the box, our admissions team will be in touch with you letting you know what to do next.

If you are a forced migrant, you need to contact our widening participation department via priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk, saying that you would like to disclose your forced migrant status as part of your application to King’s.

If you are a estranged, you need to contact our widening participation department via priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk, saying that you would like to disclose your estranged status as part of your application to King’s.

We will automatically get the other factors (postcode and school information) from your application.

Eligibility criteria for contextual offers

To find out if you are eligible

Datasets

Contextual offers are made to those applicants who may have experienced barriers that have impeded their academic progress*.  Contextual offers may be up to two A-Level grades** (or equivalent) lower than the advertised entry requirements found on the course pages. 

Applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria outlined below in order to be considered for a contextual offer.

Have successfully completed one of King’s College London’s widening participation programmes:

  • Discover Chemistry Summer School
  • KCL Sutton Trust Summer School
  • KPlus
  • Realising Opportunities (for participants that completed Realising Opportunities up until August 2021)

AND/OR

Live in one of the following postcodes:

  • ACORN: the applicant lives in an area which has a higher classification (categories 4 or 5)
  • IMD: the applicant lives in an area which has a higher level of deprivation (deciles 1 or 2 or quintile 1)
  • POLAR 4: the applicant lives in an area where the proportion of young people progressing to higher education is low (quintile 1 or 2)

AND/OR

Have the following experience:

*Students applying for our MBBS courses or our courses in the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences are not eligible for this reduction. With the exception, if eligible, students may choose to apply for the long-established Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP) and Enhanced Support Dentistry Programme (ESDP). Students applying to the programme English Law & Hong Kong Law LLB and JD are not eligible for this reduction.

Eligibility criteria for additional consideration

To find out if you are eligible

Additional consideration is given to applications from students who may have experienced barriers that have impeded their academic progress. The outcome of this process may be an offer of a place on the programme applied for or an offer of a place on an alternative programme; however, an offer cannot be guaranteed.

Applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria for their application to be given additional consideration.

Have successfully completed one of King’s College London’s widening participation programmes:

  • Aspire
  • DentView
  • MedView
  • Developmental Neurobiology Academy 
  • Dentistry Schools Council (DSC) Residential Summer School

AND/OR

Have attended the following school:

AND/OR

Have taken part in a qualifying programme delivered by the following organisation:  

AND/OR

Have the following experience:

Exceptions

The information displayed on this page applies to the 2023-24 UCAS Cycle.

Some of our undergraduate programmes have GCSE requirements, which can be found on the Online Prospectus. To be eligible for a programme, these GCSE requirements must still be met.

Some of our undergraduate programmes also have A-level (or equivalent) subject requirements. To be eligible for a programme, applicants must be able to meet these subject requirements at the level specified on the online prospectus.

**Contextual entry requirements may be up to two grades below the standard entry requirements There are some eligible programmes and/or qualifications where the contextual entry requirements are not two grades below the standard requirements. Full details of the contextual entry requirements for each programme can be found on the Online Prospectus.

*Students applying for our MBBS courses or our courses in the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences are not eligible for this reduction. With the exception, if eligible, students may choose to apply for the long-established Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP) and Enhanced Support Dentistry Programme (ESDP). Students applying to the programme English Law & Hong Kong Law LLB and JD are not eligible for this reduction.

 

Next steps