Deadlines

When to apply

Many of our postgraduate courses remain open until they are full – see below for exceptions to this.

Popular courses tend to close early – typically from January onwards in the year that your course is due to start – so make sure you apply in good time.

Courses with application rounds

How application rounds work

Some departments have application rounds for their postgraduate taught courses, with fixed application dates throughout the year.

Apply by 23.59 (UK time) on the closing date of an application round, to ensure you receive a response on your application by the relevant decision date.

We recommend applying as early as you can – we cannot guarantee that places will be available, or that courses will remain open, in later rounds.

To see what application dates are relevant to your chosen course, visit our course pages. 

Applying as your second choice

If you apply for a course as a second choice, please note that your application will only be considered if your first choice application is unsuccessful or placed on the waitlist.

Should your first choice application be declined or waitlisted, you will be notified by Central Registry. After this, your second choice application will then be forwarded to the relevant department for review, and you will be notified by Central Registry of this.

The date on which you receive Central Registry’s notification of sending your second choice application to the relevant department will be considered the application date for your second choice course.

Some courses will not consider a second choice application. Please check your desired course page before selecting your second course choice.

References

If you have submitted your application to meet an application round, it is not necessary for us to receive your references by the closing date, although we would expect to receive them shortly afterwards. Please note that the selection committee reserves the right to assess your application on the basis of the documents that have been received at the time of the assessment.

Departments with application rounds

Imperial College Business School

• Business School

Faculty of Engineering

• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering 
• Dyson School of Design Engineering
• Earth Science and Engineering
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Materials 
• Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Medicine

• School of Public Health
• Surgery and Cancer

Faculty of Natural Sciences

• Chemistry
• Life Sciences 
• Mathematics
• Physics

Centres, Institutes and Schools

• Centre for Environmental Policy

Deadline for student visa applicants

As a guide, students who require a student visa to study at Imperial should aim to apply by no later than 30 June in the year that their course is due to start.

This is to ensure we can process your application in time and issue your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS). A CAS is an electronic record that is required for your visa application. 

If you do not require a visa to study at Imperial we recommend you apply by 1 August in the year your course is due to start so we can process your application in good time.

Scholarship deadlines

If you require funding for postgraduate study, you need to be aware of the various closing dates for awards you may be eligible for.

Use our scholarships search tool to see what's currently available and what deadlines apply.