About mitigating circumstances for undergraduate applicants

We understand that sometimes students can underperform during their studies due to mitigating circumstances and therefore if your studies or performance have been significantly disrupted by circumstances beyond your control, you should complete and return the mitigating circumstances form. Completing the form will allow you to provide us with full details of your circumstances so that we are able to take everything into consideration when we assess your UCAS application.

If you submit a mitigating circumstances form, it does not guarantee that we will make you an offer or that we will confirm your place at the University if you do not meet the conditions of your offer. We will not make a lower offer based on the information you provide on the form.

However, we will thoroughly assess your mitigating circumstances alongside your UCAS application and use the information that you provide to help us assess your academic performance in light of your individual circumstances. We will treat the information and any additional documents that you provide in the strictest confidence.

When we receive your UCAS application, we can see information about your educational or socio-economic background which allows us to consider the context in which you have been studying. You do not need to complete a mitigating circumstances form to provide this information as we will take your application into careful consideration through our contextual admissions process

When we consider mitigating circumstances for applicants

We consider mitigating circumstances when we are deciding whether or not we are able to make you an offer.

If you are an offer-holder and select Bath as your firm or insurance choice, we will consider your mitigating circumstances if you do not meet the conditions of your offer. We have a dedicated Admissions Progression Team to make sure that any information provided is considered carefully when we are deciding whether or not we can confirm your place.

We want to know about these circumstances so that we may take them into consideration when we are assessing your application. Please use the typical examples provided below as a guide, however, please be advised that if you are unsure if your circumstances will be considered, submitting a form will not be detrimental to your application in any way and any information you provide will be treated with sensitivity and thoroughly considered.

Examples of mitigating circumstances

In order for us to consider mitigating circumstances, you will need to show how the circumstances have affected your studies. We do not have a set criteria for circumstances that we will consider, however typical examples include:

• bereavement
• serious, acute or chronic illness
• serious illness of a close family member or partner
• significant caring responsibilities, care leavers or living independently (estranged students)*
• significant adverse personal circumstances
• significant disruption to the provision of education at school or college
• any other factor that has had a serious and significant impact on your academic performance

*If you are a care leaver, care experienced, an estranged student or young adult carer, you will be able to disclose this information to us by ticking the box on your UCAS application. Please do also complete our mitigating circumstances form if you would like to provide us with more detailed information about how your circumstances have affected your studies.

If you have a disability or long-term health condition, we will typically only consider this a mitigating circumstance if:

• there were no appropriate adjustments made for studies or exam performance
• you had an acute episode of illness which had a particular impact on a period of study or your exam performance

You should contact our Disability Service for information about the support available for current students at Bath.

When to submit your form

You can submit the form after making your UCAS application. If your mitigating circumstances have impacted on your previous performance or your predicted grades, please submit the form as soon as possible after making your application so that we may take your circumstances into consideration when we assess your application.

Please submit the form as soon as you know about any circumstances that may affect your final exam performance.

If you submit your form after your final results have been released, we may not be able to take your circumstances into account. We strongly recommend you submit your form before 31 July 2024.

If you have already submitted a form

If you have applied to the University in a previous year and already provided mitigating circumstances documentation this personal data will be retained for 1 year following the date on which your course would begin. If there is no change to your circumstances, you will not need to re-submit a form.

If there is any change to your circumstances which we should be aware of, or you are concerned that your exam performance may be affected, please complete and submit an updated mitigating circumstances form.

If you have already submitted a form and would like to share additional information with us later in the admissions process, you can do so via: ugadmissions-confidential@bath.ac.uk.

Your personal data

Coming to university can be a big adjustment for all students and we want to help support your transition to the University as much as possible.

Information about how any personal data you provide will be processed can be found in the mitigating circumstances section of our undergraduate applicant privacy notice.

We will treat this information differently depending on the outcome of your application. Should you: - receive an offer and choose the University of Bath as your Firm or Insurance choice - go on to enrol at Bath

Then the information provided by you or a relevant third party about your mitigating circumstances will be shared with Student Support unless you do not give your consent.

If you do not consent to this information being shared with Student Support, then you must complete the opt out section of the ‘Applicant declaration’ section of the mitigating circumstances form.

The University has a number of specialist Student Support services to aid students and enable them to fulfil their potential. We strongly encourage students to pro-actively engage with support services, should help be required.

The information about your circumstances will only be seen by a small number of individuals in our Student Support Team. Sharing this information with Student Support will allow your circumstances to be referred to the most relevant team and they will contact you so that you are aware of available support prior to the start of the course. This will help to ensure any support required has been discussed with you directly and is in place should you join the university so that you have the best possible start.

This information will not be shared with any other department in the university unless you provide consent directly to Student Support.

If you do not make the University of Bath your firm or insurance choice or do not ultimately enrol as a student as a result of your application, then the information about your mitigating circumstances will be retained for 1 year following the date on which your course would begin.

Submitting your form

Please submit your completed form and any supporting evidence to ugadmissions-confidential@bath.ac.uk

You should submit your form by 31 July 2024.

If you submit your form after this date, or after your final exam results have been released, we may not take your circumstances into account.

Please note if you are a current University of Bath student experiencing Individual Mitigating Circumstances then you will need to complete an IMC report form and forward it to the Academic Registry.

Submitting mitigating circumstances on behalf of an applicant

We understand that in some circumstances it is very difficult for an applicant to complete the ‘applicant statement’ section of the form. If you are submitting mitigating circumstances on behalf of an applicant, you can do so by completing the ‘supporting statement’ section of the form. However, you will need to ensure that the applicant is aware of how their personal data will be shared.