Who is eligible for a contextual offer at University of Exeter?

To be considered for a contextual offer from University of Exeter you need one of the following: (a POLAR4 quintile 1-2 area and a UK state-school education), (a TUNDRA quintile 1-2 area and a UK state-school education), (an IMD quintile 1-2 area and a UK state-school education), a non-selective state school or college in the South West or Wales on Exeter's list, (free school meals and a UK state-school education), an Elephant Group school, a widening-access programme, care experience, caring responsibilities, estrangement from your parents or (refugee or asylum-seeker status and a UK state-school education).

How much lower is University of Exeter's contextual offer?

Across the 194 University of Exeter courses where we have both offers, the contextual offer is most often two grades lower (105 courses; for example ABB becomes BBC), and between one and three grades lower overall. Where the standard offer is a range (84 courses), we compare with the top of the range.

← All contextual offers

University of Exeter contextual offer checker

University of Exeter makes contextual offers for 2027 entry: lower-grade offers for applicants from backgrounds that are underrepresented at university. It looks at POLAR4, TUNDRA, IMD, your school and more. A typical offer drops from ABB to BBC (two grades lower).

Enter your postcode and school and our free checker automatically looks up POLAR4, TUNDRA and IMD for you, then asks a few quick questions to work out whether you qualify for a contextual offer from University of Exeter for 2027 entry.

Roughly two minutes with no sign-up to check your circumstances against every university's scheme.

Check if you qualify →

Real offers posted by University of Exeter applicants for 2027 entry, including how many were contextual.

Who qualifies

You need any one of these

Guaranteed offers and other routes

A three-grade adjustment instead of two if you have care experience.
Up to a three-grade adjustment if you have refugee or asylum-seeker status and a UK state-school education.
Up to a three-grade adjustment if you're registered on an Exeter progression programme: Exeter Scholars, Realising Opportunities, Sutton Trust Pathways to Law or to Banking & Finance, or the Mature Access Pathway.

The checker tells you which of these your answers meet, except routes that depend on completing a programme.

How much lower is the offer?

Typically ABB → BBC (two grades lower).

Across the 194 University of Exeter courses where we have both offers, the contextual offer is most often two grades lower (105 courses), and between one and three grades lower overall. Where the standard offer is a range (84 courses), we compare with the top of the range.

Contextual offer for every University of Exeter course (194)

Course	Standard	Contextual
Accounting and Business	AAB	BBB
Accounting and Finance	AAB	BBB
Adult Nursing	BBB	BCC
Ancient History	ABB	BBC
Ancient History and Archaeology	ABB	BBC
Animal Behaviour	ABB	BBC
Animal Behaviour	ABB	BBC
Anthropology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Applied Psychology (Clinical)	AAA	ABB
Arab and Islamic Studies	ABB	BCC
Arabic and Politics	ABB	BBC
Archaeological Science	ABB–BBB	BCC
Archaeology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Archaeology and Anthropology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Archaeology with Forensic Science	ABB–BBB	BCC
Art History & Visual Culture	ABB	BBC
Art History & Visual Culture and Classical Studies	ABB	BBC
Art History & Visual Culture and Drama	ABB	BBC
Art History & Visual Culture and English	ABB	ACC
Art History & Visual Culture and Film & Television Studies	ABB	BBC
Art History & Visual Culture and History	ABB	BBC
Art History & Visual Culture and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Artificial Intelligence	AAA–AAB	BBB
Artificial Intelligence	AAA–AAB	BBB
Artificial Intelligence (Defence)	AAA–AAB	BBB
Bachelor of Business and Laws (Cornwall)	AAB–ABB	BBC
Biochemistry	ABB	BBC
Biochemistry	AAA	AAC
Biological Sciences	ABB	BBC
Biological Sciences	AAA	AAC
Biomedical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Biomedical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Biomedical Sciences	ABB	BBC
Business (Cornwall)	ABB–BBB	BCC
Business Analytics	AAB	BBB
Business Economics	A*AA–AAA	ABB
Business and Environment (Cornwall)	ABB–BBB	BCC
Business and Management	AAB	BBB
Chemical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Chemical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Civil Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Civil Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Classical Studies	ABB	BBC
Classical Studies and English	AAB	BBB
Classical Studies and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Classical Studies and Philosophy	AAB	BBB
Classical Studies and Religion	ABB	BBC
Classics	ABB	BBC
Comparative Literatures and Cultures	ABB	BBC
Comparative Literatures and Cultures and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Computer Science	AAA–AAB	BBB
Computer Science	AAA–AAB	BBB
Computer Science (Defence)	AAA–AAB	BBB
Computer Science and Mathematics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Computer Science and Mathematics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Conservation Biology and Ecology	ABB	BBC
Conservation Biology and Ecology	ABB	BBC
Criminology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Data Science	AAA–AAB	BBB
Data Science	AAA–AAB	BBB
Data Science (Defence)	AAA–AAB	BBB
Drama	ABB	BBC
Drama and Film & Television Studies	ABB	BBC
Economics	A*AA–AAA	ABB
Economics and Finance	A*AA–AAA	ABB
Economics and Politics	A*AA–AAA	ABB
Electrical and Electronic Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Electrical and Electronic Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering Geology and Geotechnics	ABB	BBC
Engineering Geology and Geotechnics	ABB	BBC
Engineering and Entrepreneurship	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering and Entrepreneurship	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering and Management	AAB–ABB	BBC
Engineering and Management	AAB–ABB	BBC
English	AAB	BBB
English Law and French Law/Master 1 (Maîtrise en Droit)	AAA	ABB
English and Creative Writing	AAB	BBB
English and Drama	AAB–ABB	BBC
English and Film & Television Studies	AAB–ABB	BBC
English and History	AAB	BBB
English and Media & Communications	AAB–ABB	ABC
English and Modern Languages	AAB–ABB	ABC
English with Study in North America	A*AA	AAB
Environmental Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Environmental Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Environmental Geoscience	ABB	BBC
Environmental Geoscience	ABB	BBC
Environmental Humanities	ABB	BBC
Environmental Science	AAB–ABB	BBC
Evolutionary Biology	ABB	BBC
Evolutionary Biology	ABB	BBC
Exercise and Sport Sciences	AAB–ABB	BBC
Film & Television Studies	ABB	BBC
Film & Television Studies and Media & Communications	ABB	BBC
Film & Television Studies and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Finance	AAB	BBB
Finance: Business Management	AAB	BBB
Finance: Data Science	AAB	BBB
Finance: Investment Banking	AAB	BBB
Geography	AAA–AAB	BBB
Geography	AAA–AAB	BBB
Geography with Applied GIS	AAA–AAB	BBB
Geology	ABB	BBC
Geology	ABB	BBC
Global Politics (Cornwall)	ABB	BBC
Global Sustainability	ABB	BBC
History	AAB	BBB
History (Cornwall)	AAB–ABB	BBC
History and Ancient History	AAB	BBB
History and Archaeology	ABB	BBC
History and Business	AAB	BBC
History and International Relations	AAB–ABB	BBC
History and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
History and Politics	AAB–ABB	BBC
International Business and Modern Languages	AAB	BBB
International Relations	AAB	BBB
International Relations and Modern Languages	AAB–ABB	BBC
Law	AAA	ABB
Law with Business (Cornwall)	AAB–ABB	BBC
Law with European Study	AAA	ABB
Law with Politics (Cornwall)	AAB–ABB	BBC
Law with Professional Placement	AAA	ABB
Liberal Arts	AAB	ABC
Marine Biology	ABB	BBC
Marine Biology	ABB	BBC
Marketing and Management	AAB	BBB
Mathematics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics and Data Science	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics and Data Science	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics with Economics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics with Economics	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics with Finance	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mathematics with Finance	AAA–AAB	ABC
Mechanical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Mechanical Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Media & Communications and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Media and Communications	ABB	BBC
Medical Imaging (Diagnostic Radiography)	ABB	BBC
Medicine	A*AA	AAB
Middle East Studies	ABB–BBB	BCC
Mining Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Mining Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Modern Languages	ABB–BBB	BCC
Modern Languages and Arabic	ABB–BBB	BCC
Modern Languages and Latin	ABB–BBB	BCC
Natural Sciences	AAA	AAC
Neuroscience	ABB	ABC
Nursing (Adult or combined Adult and Mental Health)	BBB	BCC
Oceanography	ABB–BBB	BCC
Philosophy	AAB	BBB
Philosophy and History	AAB	BBB
Philosophy and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Philosophy and Politics	AAB	BBB
Philosophy and Sociology	AAB–ABB	BBC
Philosophy, Religion and Ethics	ABB	BBC
Physics	AAA	ABB
Physics	AAA	ABB
Physics with Astrophysics	AAA	ABB
Physics with Astrophysics	AAA	ABB
Physics with Biophysics	AAA	ABB
Physics with Biophysics	AAA	ABB
Physics with Quantum Technology	AAA	ABB
Physics with Quantum Technology	AAA	ABB
Politics	AAB	BBB
Politics and International Relations	AAB	BBB
Politics and International Relations (Cornwall)	ABB	BBC
Politics and Law (Cornwall)	AAB–ABB	BBC
Politics and Modern Languages	AAB–ABB	BBC
Politics and Sociology	AAB–ABB	BBC
Politics, Philosophy and Economics	AAA	ABB
Psychology	AAA	ABB
Religion, Culture and Society	ABB	BBC
Renewable Energy Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBB
Renewable Energy Engineering	AAB–ABB	BBC
Resource and Exploration Geology	ABB	BBC
Resource and Exploration Geology	ABB	BBC
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence	AAB–ABB	BBC
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence	AAB–ABB	BBC
Sociology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Sociology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Sociology and Anthropology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Sociology and Criminology	ABB–BBB	BCC
Sociology and Modern Languages	ABB	BBC
Sport Business Management	ABB	BBC
Systems Engineering	AAB	BBC
Systems Engineering	AAB	BBC
Theology and Religion	ABB	BBC
Theoretical Physics	AAA	ABB
Theoretical Physics	AAA	ABB
Zoology	ABB	BBC
Zoology	ABB	BBC

See every University of Exeter course for the full entry requirements.

Other universities' contextual offers (99)

Compare every university's contextual offer in one table →

Summarised from University of Exeter's published contextual offer policy. Meeting the criteria means University of Exeter may make you a contextual offer, not that it will, and some courses (often medicine, dentistry and other heavily oversubscribed courses) have their own rules. Always check the university's own policy before relying on it. Data updated 5 November 2026.