Access to Bristol
Access to Bristol provides local students with an unprecedented opportunity to experience life at the University of Bristol.
Applications for Access to Bristol are now closed. Unfortunately, and in the interest of fairness, we are unable to accept late applications under any circumstances.
Please complete this form if you wish to be notified when applications for Access to Bristol 2024-24 open in September 2024.
The Access to Bristol scheme is for local students taking A-levels, BTECs, Access to HE courses or equivalents. Taking part shows a commitment to further study that will strengthen your application when you apply to university. On completion, you will be guaranteed a contextual offer/interview from Bristol, a top ten UK university (QS World University Rankings 2023).
You will get an idea of what it is like to study at the University of Bristol, working with academics and current students who can offer advice and guidance about higher education and their subject area.
To find out more about the subjects we have on offer for 2023-24 and their subject requirements, please download our brochure Access to Bristol brochure 2023-24 (PDF, 2,388kB).
Eligibility
To apply for Access to Bristol you must:
- be in your first or second year of A-level study (or equivalent);
- be resident in a BA, BS or other local postcode within an hour’s journey of the University of Bristol (this includes South Wales);
- attend a local state school or college;
- have the academic ability to study at the University of Bristol (meeting the GCSE entry requirements for their chosen subject stream and studying any required Level 3 subjects)
The scheme is very popular and there is high demand for places. If a subject stream is oversubscribed, we will give priority to those who meet all or most of the following criteria:
- are part of the first generation in their family to go to university;
- live in an area of low participation in higher education as defined by POLAR4, which is a score of 1 or 2 for the category 'POLAR4 young participation quintile';
- identify as being Asian, Black or from a Minority Ethnic background, or Mixed Heritage featuring one or more of these ethnicities;
- attend an aspiring state school or college;
- are or have been eligible for free school meals;
- have spent three or more months in local authority care;
- are currently an estranged student;
- be considered a mature student (over 21 years old when you will begin your degree).
If you are interested in Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Science, please note that our Pathways to Health Sciences scheme has now merged with Access to Bristol and will be running as streams under the Access to Bristol Programme.
We recommend that you discuss your application to the programme with your head of sixth form/college. You will need permission from your school or college to attend the sessions and we ask for a contact at your school on your application form.
Benefits of Access to Bristol
Access to Bristol bursary
If you successfully complete the Access to Bristol scheme and choose Bristol as your Firm choice in UCAS you may be eligible for the Access to Bristol bursary, which currently consists of a maintenance bursary of £3,855* for each year of your course.
To be considered for the bursary you need to be Firm with Bristol, a Home UK student and have a household income of £25,000* or below. No bursary is paid in any year where you are entitled to NHS funding as part of your course.
*Figures may be subject to change.
Guaranteed offer at contextual level
If you successfully complete the Access to Bristol scheme, you may be eligible for a contextual offer to study at Bristol.
If you are studying A-Levels/BTEC
For most courses, you will be guaranteed an offer at the contextual level, provided that you meet the full entry requirements of the course applied for. Students undertaking the appropriate subjects but not predicted the contextual offer will usually be made an aspirational offer.
If the course holds interviews as part of the selection process you will be guaranteed an interview (for example, Medicine or Dentistry). The interview will only be guaranteed if your predicted grades meet the contextual entry requirements and you meet the GCSE subject requirements.
Please note: we do not currently have BTEC contextualised offers. This means that your BTEC subject(s) offer will not be made any lower than stated on course pages.
If you are studying Access to HE
For most courses, you will be guaranteed an offer to study, providing full entry requirements are met.
For a small number of courses within the Faculty of Science, as well as Medicine/Dentistry or other interviewing subjects, Access to HE students will be guaranteed an interview. These courses often interview to ensure that Access to HE students have the required grounding in Mathematics and/or Physics.
Please note: the Access to HE qualification is already at the contextual level, in recognition that students returning to study may face additional barriers to entering HE. This means that your offer will not be made any lower than stated.
Term dates and times
Sessions will take place on campus every Wednesday from 2 pm to 4 pm on the dates shown below.
Autumn term 2023 |
1 November, 8 November, 15 November, 22 November, 29 November, 6 December |
Spring term 2024 | 24 January, 31 January, 7 February, 21 February, 28 February, 6 March |
Subjects
You can view a brief overview of the subjects we offer and the term(s) they run below. For more information on our subject stream content and Access to Bristol more broadly, please download our Access to Bristol brochure.
Arts and Humanities
Our Arts and Humanities subject streams are:
- English Literature (Autumn and Spring)
- Film & TV (Autumn)
- History (Spring)
- Modern Languages (Spring).
Read more about our Faculty of Arts.
Engineering and Computer Science
Our Engineering subject streams are:
- Engineering
- Computer Science
As Engineering is such a broad subject, we do our best to showcase the different types of Engineering on offer at Bristol during your time on Access to Bristol.
Read more about our Faculty of Engineering.
Life Sciences
Our Life Sciences subject streams are:
- Biological Sciences (Autumn)
- Biomedical Sciences (Autumn and Spring)
- Psychology (Autumn and Spring).
Read more about our Faculty of Life Sciences.
Science
Our Science subject streams are:
- Chemistry (Spring)
- Earth and Environmental Sciences (Spring)
- Geography (Autumn)
- Mathematics (Autumn)
- Physics (Spring).
Read more about our Faculty of Science.
Social Sciences and Law
Our Social Sciences and Law subject streams are:
- Business (Spring)
- Childhood and Education Studies (Autumn)
- Economics (Autumn)
- Law (Autumn and Spring)
- Social Sciences: Sociology, Politics, Criminology and Social Policy (Spring).
Read more about our Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.
Health Sciences
Our Health Sciences subject streams are:
- Medicine (Autumn)
- Dentistry (Autumn)
- Veterinary Science (Autumn)
Please note that Health Science subjects are only open to Year 12 and Access to HE Diploma students. Read more about our Faculty of Health Sciences.
Contact us
If you have any questions about Access to Bristol, or if you need any assistance with the application form, please get in touch with Kath (Access to Bristol Coordinator) at access-to-bristol@bristol.ac.uk.
Please note that our Pathways to Health Sciences scheme has now merged with Access to Bristol, and Medicine/ Dentistry/ Veterinary Sciences will now be running as subject streams under the Access to Bristol Programme, rather than as a standalone programme.
Please note that where a stream is undersubscribed, students in Year 12 may be invited to take part in subject streams that are running in Autumn for Year 13 students. If you are a Year 12 applicant, you will be able to indicate your Autumn subject stream preference on the application form.