How to Apply

Browse through the information below to find out about our application procedure.

Date of Entry

Undergraduate students enter the University of York at the start of the Autumn Term, which is usually the second Monday in October. Visit the official University Term Dates page to see exact dates of terms in the next few years.

Applications

All applications to UK universities must be made through UCAS.

Applications for Computer Science at York should be made early, to give us flexibility in scheduling your interview or, if from overseas, time to consider your application. Our qualifications admissions policy is specified in the entry requirements page. Visit why we require specific qualifications for more information about the reasons for these requirements.

Information We Require

If you have not yet received all your examination results, then please ask your referee to state clear predictions on your UCAS form, as it is very difficult for us to assess your application without predictions.

If you are making any kind of application based on qualifications not immediately related to A-levels or Scottish AH, it is most important that your application should explain the following:

what the overall qualification is called,
what level it was at,
what specialism or subject-grouping was involved,
the level (standard and weighting) at which you took each subject,
the grades you obtained in any subjects that we would have required at A-level,
how those grades compare with those we would require at A-level (in so far as you can say).

This is especially important if your application has to mention lots of papers taken (as for example with BTEC, or the baccalaureates).

The most common reason for our being unable to proceed with an application is lack of information - in particular, lack of specific information about your abilities in mathematical and scientific subjects.

Your application should make clear what previous experience of computing - hardware, software and applications - you have had. We have no specific requirement about this, but, if you have had no computing experience at all and yet you are applying to spend several years studying Computer Science, you should explain why you think this is a good idea. Also, you should be prepared to discuss this at interview.

Plenty of information about a few relevant matters is much more helpful than long lists of facts of lesser importance.

Lists of languages, operating systems and machines that you have used do not, alone, give us the kind of information we require.

It is better to explain one or two projects you have undertaken, saying who they were for, how those people were helped by your system, what it did, how it did it, what methods you employed, and why you chose to employ those methods.

Bear in mind that we are interested not only in what you have done, but, even more, in what you are going to do. Put information in your application that tells us how you are going to make use of your opportunity at University and after graduation.

Interviews

If you are living in Britain, or will be visiting it at a suitable time, then we will need to interview you before we make any offer of admission. If you have met, or are predicted to meet, our admission requirements, then we will assess your application form, and if you are selected we will invite you to attend for an interview.

If you are called for interview, then, on the day (usually a Saturday), you will have an opportunity to suggest questions to be answered, after which those questions will be answered by staff and students and there will be a brief talk on the work of one of the research groups in the Department.

After that you will be offered a light lunch of sandwiches, biscuits, orange juice, tea and coffee, followed by a tour of parts of the University, conducted by a student guide and a tour of the Department's research and teaching laboratories.

After your refreshment and tours you will have a 25-minute interview with a member of teaching staff. What will your interview day be like?:

It will be relaxed and informal
You are likely to be asked technical questions - logical, mathematical and scientific - but not in an intimidating way.

You can wear whatever you like. Really. What is the purpose of the interview day? It is for us to find out about you and for you to find out about us. So, do please ask whatever questions you want to.

If you will not be in Britain at a suitable time, then we will assess the information you have given in your application, as a result of which, provided you have met, or are predicted to meet our admissions requirements, we may make you an offer of admission without interview.

Mature Applicants

Any application from a mature applicant (over the age of 21 at the time of proposed admission) is treated on its individual merits.

Mature applicants should set out their work experience in detail. If work experience is to be counted in place of (say) our second or third A level requirement, then it should be relevant, and also should be of the level and duration normally attained by the age of 25.
Mature applicants should provide evidence of recent academic ability, especially in mathematics. Depending on the nature of this recent study and qualification, you should refer to A-level and AS-level grades and subjects, Scottish Highers or Advanced Highers, BTEC(H), HNC/D, SCOTVEC(H), AGNVQ, Access, Foundation, BCS, NCC or Open University qualifications.
Please try to provide us with as much information as you can.
We do require applicants to show evidence of recent mathematical ability. That is because we think it would be unfair to admit applicants who, in our collected experience, would be very likely to drop out or to fail their examinations after spending a year here.
We do not admit applicants on the basis of work experience alone.
We do not admit directly into the second year of any of our courses.

Direct Entry into the 2nd Year

We do not admit directly into the second year of any of our courses.

Department of Computer Science