Heriot-Watt University makes contextual offers (lower entry requirements) to applicants whose background may have limited their opportunities. Here's who qualifies for 2027 entry and how much lower the offer is.
Find out in about two minutes whether you could get a contextual offer from Heriot-Watt University, and from every other university with a published scheme.
Check if you qualify →To be considered for a contextual offer from Heriot-Watt University you need 'home' fee status, plus one of the following: an SIMD40 area, a POLAR4 quintile 1-2 area, care experience, a widening-participation school, caring responsibilities, estrangement from your parents, being 21 or over (a mature student), an armed-forces background, a widening-access programme or refugee or asylum-seeker status.
Everyone must:
Then you need any one of these:
Criteria based on where you live are worked out from your home postcode, which the checker looks up for you. Each link above explains what the criterion means.
Of the 71 Heriot-Watt University courses where we have both offers, 47 are one grade lower, 23 are two grades lower and 1 is three grades lower. The most common change is BBC to BCC.
See every Heriot-Watt University course for the full entry requirements.
This page summarises Heriot-Watt University's published contextual offer policy. Meeting the criteria means Heriot-Watt University may make you a contextual offer; it doesn't guarantee one, and some courses (often medicine, dentistry and other heavily oversubscribed courses) can have their own rules. Always check the university's own policy before relying on it.
Check whether your postcode, school and circumstances meet Heriot-Watt University's criteria.
Check your eligibility →