Virtual Summer School
Engage online with academics, student ambassadors and other prospective students on our Virtual Summer School.
The next Virtual Summer School will take place in Summer 2025. If you would like to be notified when applications open (early 2025) please complete the expression of interest form.
About the programme
A guaranteed contextual offer
Eligibility criteria
About the programme
The Virtual Summer School is open to Year 12 students and offers many of the benefits of an in-person program but is accessed online via Zoom.
The three-day event comprises academic talks, social sessions, and information, advice and guidance to help you make informed choices about your future options in Higher Education.
Subject streams have included:
- Biomedical and Biological Sciences
- Economics and Finance
- Engineering
- English Literature
- Historial Studies
- Law, Social and Political Sciences
- Medicine and Health Sciences
- Modern Language and Culture
- Maths and Physics
- Psychology
- Veterinary Science
Dates and times
Successful applicants will be expected to attend all three days online from 10 am to 5 pm usually taking place in May. There will be regular screen breaks worked into the programme.
Guaranteed contextual offer
For most courses, attending and completing The Virtual Summer School guarantees participants a contextual offer, providing they meet the full entry requirements of the course applied for (such as GCSE and subject requirements).
The contextual offer is usually set two grades below the standard offer (for example, ABB instead of AAA). Students who are undertaking the appropriate subjects but do not have the predicted contextual offer grades are usually made an aspirational offer at the contextual level.
If the course holds interviews as part of the selection process (such as Medicine and Dentistry), Virtual Summer School participants will be guaranteed an interview, rather than a guaranteed contextual offer. The interview will be guaranteed if their predicted grades meet the contextual entry requirements and the GCSE requirements. If participants are successful at interview, they will be made an offer at the contextual level.
Eligibility
The scheme is only open to students who meet all of the following criteria.
You must:
- be a Home fee student;
- attend a state school or college;
- be in your first year of A-Level study (or equivalent);
- 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).
If a subject stream is oversubscribed, we will prioritise students who meet our widening participation criteria:
- are or have been eligible for free school meals;
- live in an IMD quintile 1 area as defined by your home postcode;
- be considered a mature student (over 21 years old when you will begin your degree);
- are from a Black or Asian background or of a mixed background featuring one of these groups*;
- have spent three or more months in local authority care;
- are currently an estranged student;
- are from Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater (GTRSB) communities;
- attend an aspiring state school or college;
- are from any other minority ethnic background;
- are part of the first generation in their family to go to university;
- have caring responsibilities;
- have refugee status;
- have a disability;
- have a parent or carer who currently serves in the UK Armed Forces, or who has done so in the past.
*With additional priority assigned to the following underrepresented ethnic groups at UoB: Asian Pakistani; Asian Bangladeshi; Black Caribbean; Black African; or of a mixed backgrounds featuring one of these groups.
We recommend that you discuss your application to the programme with your Head of Sixth Form prior to applying as you will need your school or college to grant your permission to attend the scheme. You will also need to list a "Key Contact" (usually your Head of Sixth form) on your application form.