FAQs

All applications for our undergraduate Mathematics programmes need to be submitted online via UCAS: https://www.ucas.com/.

The deadline for applications to start studies in September is in January of the same calendar year. You can find the application deadlines on the prospectus pages and in the UCAS Key Dates Calendar.

All students who apply by the application deadline in January are guaranteed to receive the same level of consideration. 

Please note that all candidates applying on the 9th December or earlier are required to take TMUA.

We recommend that you apply for the programme you are most interested in. However all of our undergraduate Mathematics degree programmes (G100, G125, G1F3, G102, G1G3, G1GH, G103, and G104) have a common point of entry, with the same curriculum in the first year, during which students are able to transfer between any of these programmes.

There are no quotas for particular degree programmes, so there is no advantage in applying to a particular programme in terms of securing a place at Imperial to study Mathematics. Nor does applying to multiple programme increase the chance to receive an offer.

Since it is easy to transfer between programmes in the first years of study, we recommend that students who think that there is a chance that they may want to stay on one of the four-year programmes should apply there initially, since it simplifies things with grant/loan providers and visa applications.

If you would like to change the programme you applied for prior to enrolment, please email the department at maths.admissions@imperial.ac.uk to request the change.

Please note that the joint Mathematics and Computer Science degree programmes (GG14, GG41) have a different curriculum and are dealt with separately, so it is not possible to transfer freely between Mathematics and CS and any of the Mathematics programmes. Admissions process for the joint Mathematics and Computer Science programme are handled by the Department of Computing.

We do not enter UCAS Extra, because our courses have always been oversubscribed, thus at that stage of the year we are not looking to fill places. It is also very unlikely that we would enter either Clearing, as we are unlikely to have any available spaces left on our undergraduate Maths programmes.

We consider applicants for direct entry into Year 2 only if all three of the following conditions are met:

1. There are some mitigating circumstances that mean they would be better off studying in London
2. Their school marks satisfy our minimum entry requirements
3. They have done sufficiently well in their first year at their present university

We would also assess whether the applicant’s current degree is sufficiently similar in content, level and intensity to the Imperial degree programme for credit transfer. For this reason, if you are currently undertaking a degree outside of the UK, it is highly unlikely you could be considered for a transfer into Year 2 of our programmes.

We do not allow any transfers into Year 3 under any circumstances as per college rules.

Yes, however please be aware that students returning from a gap year often struggle in Maths degrees unless they have been trying to continue their studies during the year. Please also note that if you are applying for deferred entry, you will still need to meet the conditions attached to any offers you receive by the end of August of the calendar year you are applying in.

When assessing applications, we look at several factors, including GCSE (or equivalent) grades, your school reference, predicted (or achieved) grades as well as the Test of Mathematics for University Admission  (or Sixth Term Examination Paper) results, and your personal statement in which we expect to see evidence of strong motivation to study mathematics.

Please note that all candidates applying on 9th December or earlier are required to take TMUA. 

We don't currently use interviews as part of our regular admissions process. Applications are assessed based on the UCAS form and performance in MAT.

We may consider students for interview where there are mitigating circumstances that need investigating, or where the background of the student means that their application requires further consideration. In these cases, our conditional offer may change as a result of the interview, and as with all candidates, each application is considered on its individual merits. The Admissions Tutor's decision is final.

Since entry to our course is highly competitive motivation will play a part in our decision-making process, so we expect to see a commitment to mathematics in its own right in the UCAS personal statement as well as broader engagement with all areas of mathematics.

No, the Department of Mathematics does not accept additional or supplementary personal statements to what is submitted via UCAS, since we expect that students are applying for the same subject at Imperial as they are at other universities. We do expect to see a strong commitment to mathematics in the UCAS personal statement.

We highly encourage all of our applicants to take TMUA, regardless of when they submit their application and require TMUA from all candidates applying on or before the 9^th December. Further information on TMUA can be found here.

We reserve the right to reject any candidates who apply before the TMUA deadline and do not take TMUA, unless there are some mitigating circumstances, e.g. the candidate was unwell on the day of the TMUA, in which case the applicant needs to notify us at the department as soon as possible with relevant evidence.

Candidates who apply after the 9th December and have not taken TMUA, usually have a STEP requirement included in any offer made. In some cases, we may increase the required STEP grade. We may also require STEP from candidates with a borderline TMUA score compared to the rest of the cohort.

Please note that Imperial is no longer using the MAT.

We highly encourage all applicants to take TMUA and require it from candidates applying before the final TMUA registration deadline. There are registered test centres in many countries throughout the world, where it is possible to sit the test. You must register by the registration deadline and can take a test in a registered test centre on the test date. There is more information available here.

We encourage our applicants to take TMUA and require it from all candidates applying before the final TMUA registration deadline, even if the candidate has previously taken STEP. We will however take any previously attained STEP grade(s) into consideration when assessing the application. 

It is up to applicants to provide STEP info with the application in the UCAS application under the previous qualifications section and provide evidence in the form of certificates as attachments.

You will need to contact us at the department to notify us of it as soon as possible and let us know the reason(s). Please note that we would usually also expect to see evidence of the mitigating circumstance(s), e.g. a doctor’s note.

Yes, if you sit TMUA in October, you can apply through UCAS afterwards, and we will match we match your TMUA score to your application.

You are also welcome to contact us and let us know that you have taken TMUA a few days after submitting your application, to ensure there are no delays in linking your TMUA score to the application. Please ensure that you include your UCAS/CID and your TMUA ID in your email. 

Please also be aware that we start making offers in January (at the earliest), after we have received the TMUA scores.

We do not have preset mark thresholds for TMUA. We will examine applicants’ full applications along with their TMUA scores when making decisions.

In previous years, when MAT was used, the quartiles for MAT scores were as follows:

2013/14 All applicants: 37-46-59

2013/14 Placed applicants (to start studies in Sept 2013): 49-55-63 

2014/15 All applicants: 35-49-64

2014/15 Placed applicants (to start studies in Sept 2014): 51-60-71 

2015/16 All applicants: 36-46-59

2015/16 Placed applicants (to start studies in Sept 2015): 52-58-63 

2015/16 Applicants with offers: 52-58-62

2016/17 All applicants (to start studies in Sept 2016): 40-53-69 

2016/17 Applicants with offers: 62-71-82

2016/17 Place applicants: 59-69-77 (to start studies in Sept 2017)

2017/18 All applicants: 43-56-72

2017/18 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Sept 2018): 63-74-83 

2018/19 All applicants: 45-57-70

2018/19 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Sept 2019): 63-70-79 

2019/20 All applicants: 33-46-62

2019/20 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Oct 2020): 53-65-76 

2020/21 All applicants: 49-62-75

2020/21 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Sept 2021): 76-82-88

2021/22 All applicants: 40-54-68

2021/22 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Sept 2022): 68-76-83

2022/23 All applicants: 39-52-65

2022/23 Applicants with offers (to start studies in Sept 2023): 64-71-80

2023/24 Due to technical issues impacting a large number of applicants as well as the additional test taking place for impacted candidates, no equivalent information an be published.

We recommend that students take a look at the Further Mathematics Support Programme website which provides resources for students who are studying Further Mathematics, TMUA or STEP. You should ask your teacher to indicate that you have been self-studying in your application.

You can find more details of TMUA including recent past papers/solutions here.

STEP information can be found here https://maths.org/step/

A "Problem Solving Matters" course is offered in the Department in the summer to support students develop the problem solving skills required for admissions tests. Similar courses are also offered at other UK locations.

You can find further information on our entry requirements on the prospectus page of the course you are interested in as well as on the College's Academic Requirements page. Please note that the Department of Mathematics often requires higher grades than listed as the minimum entry requirements by Imperial College London.

The only foundation courses we accept are the foundation courses for international students run by UCL (the Science and Engineering pathway) and Warwick (one of the Science and Engineering pathways).

Please note that the Department of Mathematics does not accept any Access courses nor BTEC as part of our entry requirements.

Our required A-level subjects are Maths and Further Maths. The only subjects we would not accept as the third A-level are General Students and Critical Thinking or a subject that is the native language of the candidate.

If a candidate is taking a subject that includes a practical exam or test, they must pass that element of it.

We don’t have preference in terms of what examinations board you will sit your examinations with, but we will only accept results from the exam board indicated on UCAS.

If you are sitting the same subject with multiple Exam Boards, the offer text will specify just one Exam Board that we will accept the result with.

If your school does offer Further Maths but you are not taking it, we would not consider an application from you.

If your school does not offer Further Mathematics A-level, we can make a special case for admission - we would expect the school to confirm that Further Maths is not offered as a separate subject by your school in the reference section of the UCAS application. When making these special cases we are often guided by performance in MAT.

Candidates who opt to spend a year out taking Further Maths A-level may be considered.

Yes, we often get applicants who take Maths A2 early, and as long as they achieve the required grade (A*) this is fine. That part of the offer would then be fulfilled.

You are certainly welcome to apply and your application will be considered in its entirety, including individual circumstances, marks to date, etc. However, entry onto our courses is very competitive and in general we are unlikely to make an offer to someone who isn’t predicted to meet our minimum required grades.

No, our standard offer would be the same regardless of whether the applicant is taking three or four (or more) A-levels.

However, we often make higher offers and sometimes use a fourth A-level for that. If there is no fourth A-level, we might require an A* in the third A-level subject or use STEP.

If you would like to drop one of your A-levels prior to an offer being made, you will need to update your UCAS application and let us know as soon as possible, as your application would be assessed based on you taking all the A-level subjects you have declared on your application.

If an offer of a place has been made and the A-level you would like to drop is not specifically included in the offer conditions and you would still be able to meet the offer with your remaining subjects, dropping the A-level would not have an impact on the offer. You would however need to update your UCAS application accordingly and we would advise you to let us know that you are dropping the subject to ensure there are no delays when A-level results are released caused by us awaiting a result for an A-level you are no longer taking.

If the A-level you would like to drop is specified as part of the offer conditions, dropping it would result in you not being able to meet the conditions attached to your offer and make you ineligible to take up your place at Imperial.

No, so do not worry too much about individual module marks as any offer will be based on your overall mark for the subject.

You are welcome to apply, but we do have a preference for first-time A-level sitters and usually only make offers to re-sitters if there are mitigating circumstances that meant their first set of results did not show their true potential.

Candidates who choose to sit exams rather than accept centre/teacher awarded grades are not disadvantaged.

Please note that re-sitting one module as opposed to re-sitting the whole A2 still counts as a re-sit.

Whilst we do look at GCSE results as part of the admissions process, we try to do this in a contextualised way and consider all candidates, particularly if they have scored well in these exams relative to typical results at the school where they took them.

You can certainly apply for entry into Year 1 of our programmes while studying at a different university. Our assessment of your application would mainly be based on your school qualifications (plus MAT/STEP). We would still like to know your performance at current university, but this is less of a factor.

Applicants must get one of our English language qualifications, whether GCSE or any of the others listed. For entry to our undergraduate Mathematics degree programmes this will be at the "higher" college level.

Further information regarding Imperial’s English language requirements can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/apply/requirements/english/

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis as we receive them through UCAS. However, most decisions are not made until TMUA marks have been received by the College, and students who have done well on TMUA should start receiving decisions in late January.

We will endeavour to ensure that all applicants who have applied by the deadline will receive a decision via UCAS by the end of March. Some applicants may hear back earlier, but we are unable to guarantee an earlier decision to any individual applicant.

Unfortunately, due to the high number of applications that we receive each year, it is not possible for us to write to all unsuccessful applicants.

Applicants can follow the progress of their application via the UCAS Online Application Tracking Facility: https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/track-your-ucas-application

No, we are unable to discuss an applicant’s results or application details with anyone other than the applicant themselves without the applicant’s prior written consent.

If you are interested in visiting Imperial, we recommend signing up to one of our Open Days – this allows you to visit the campus, meet our current students and staff and attend a variety of activities. You can find further information regarding the Open Days online here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/visit/open-days/

There are also regular tours of the campus taking place throughout the year, for which you can book a place online: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/visit/campus-tours/

The Maths department will also hold Departmental Open Days, although these are mainly aimed at our current applicants/offer holders. Further information about the Departmental Open Days can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mathematics/undergraduate/degree-courses-and-admissions/open-days/.

We are unable to offer individual department tours to prospective applicants outside of Open Days.

You will be informed by UCAS of the date by which you need to make a formal response to the offers you have received, either by accepting them firmly, on an insurance basis, or declining them.

You will need to accept your offer via the UCAS portal.

You can request a deferral – the Admissions Tutor will either agree or will ask you to re-apply. If asked to re-apply your application will not be disadvantaged, but you will be assessed against all other applications in that year. You are not guaranteed to receive a new offer, if you do decide to re-apply the following year.

Please be aware that students returning from a gap year often struggle in Maths degrees unless they have been trying to continue their studies during the year.

The College receives a large number of applications for every place and as entry is very competitive, it is unable to make offers to all applicants.

There is no right of appeal against the academic or professional judgement of those making a decision, but you may appeal the decision if you believe an administrative error has occurred in the processing of your application. For further information see: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/students/terms-and-conditions/appeals/

The Student Finance website (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/fees-and-funding/) provides further information about bursaries and grants for home students. If eligible, you should also consider applying for Student Finance as soon as you can. It can take several months for applications to be processed.

The Department of Mathematics will also nominate students with an excellent MAT performance for the President’s Scholarship Fund (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/fees-and-funding/bursaries-and-scholarships/presidents-scholarships/).

International applicants who require a visa to study in the UK will start to be assigned a CAS (Confirmation of Accesptance for Studies) number in July (no more than 3 months before the enrolment date) or once they have received their results and have met the conditions of their offer. The CAS number is needed before a visa application can be made.

You can find further information on how to apply for a visa here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/apply/after-you-apply/visa/