About mitigating circumstances for undergraduate applicants

We understand that sometimes our applicants can underperform due to mitigating circumstances. If your studies or performance have been significantly disrupted by circumstances beyond your control, you should complete our mitigating circumstances form via your Bath Application Tracker.

Your UCAS referee can also provide details of any mitigating circumstances you have experienced in your UCAS reference. Any circumstances shared in a reference will be considered the same as information you share yourself, even if you do not also submit a mitigating circumstances form.

If you submit a mitigating circumstances form, it does not guarantee that we will make you an offer or that we will be able to confirm your place if you do not meet the conditions of your offer.

We will not make a lower offer based on the information you provide. However, we will thoroughly consider 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 that you provide in the strictest confidence.

How 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 made an offer and select Bath as your Firm or Insurance choice, the only way to guarantee entry to any course is to meet the conditions of the offer. Consideration of applicants who have not met their offer conditions is always contingent on space available on the course and how far off an applicant’s grades are from meeting their offer.

However, if you do not meet the conditions of your offer and we have space available, our specialist Admissions Progression Team will consider your mitigating circumstances very carefully when we are deciding whether or not we can confirm your place.

Examples of mitigating circumstances

Any mitigating circumstances which have had a serious or specific impact which may go onto affect, or have affected, your performance can be considered by our Admissions Progression Team.

You will need to show how the circumstances have affected your studies. 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 (estrangement)*
• 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 declared a disability or long-term health condition in the ‘Disability’ section of the UCAS form, this section is used by our Disability Service should you enrol so that support can be provided.

If your disability or long-term health condition has impacted on your studies, and should be considered as mitigating circumstances, please complete the form.

However, 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 mitigating circumstances form after making your UCAS application, via a webtask on your Bath Application Tracker.

If your mitigating circumstances have impacted on your previous performance or predicted grades, you should submit the form within 3 weeks of submitting your application so that we can take your circumstances into consideration when we assess your application.

If you are not able to submit the form within 3 weeks of submitting your application, please email us to let us know so that we may make note of this on your application.

If there are any circumstances that may affect your final exam performance, please submit your form BEFORE 31 July.

If you do not submit your form before the results have been released, we may not be able to take your circumstances into consideration should you not meet the conditions of your offer.

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.

If you have already submitted a form

If you have already submitted a form via the webtask on your Bath Application Tracker, you can also go back and add any additional information or updates, especially if you believe your final exam performance could be, or has been, impacted by your circumstances.

If you applied to the University in a previous year and provided mitigating circumstances documentation then, this personal data will be retained for 1 year following the date on which your course would begin.

If you submitted a mitigating circumstance in a previous cycle and your circumstances are continuing to have impact on your previous or ongoing studies, please complete and submit a new form via the webtask on your Bath Application Tracker.

If you are re-taking and there are any circumstances that may affect your final exam performance, please complete or update the form via the webtask on your Bath Application Tracker as soon as possible after your exams. This means we can take your circumstances into consideration when we receive your final exam results, if needed.

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.

You will be asked as part of the Webtask, to confirm your consent for the information you have provided to be to shared with Student Support, or you will be able to opt out.

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 can be made 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 enrol and 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

We understand that in come circumstances, it is very difficult for an applicant to submit mitigating circumstances. If you are submitting mitigating circumstances on behalf of an applicant, please email ugadmissions-confidential@bath.ac.uk. However, you will need to ensure that the applicant is aware of how their personal data will be shared.