Entry requirements

• Applicants must have either completed a high school qualification or be in their final year of high school at the point of application
• Applicants must be at least 17 years old at the start of their studies
• We accept students from a wide range of national and international educational systems, the International Baccalaureate (IB), the European Baccalaureate, Advanced Placements (APs), and some outside of the EU. Find out if your grades meet our academic entry requirements here.
• We accept students from different subject-backgrounds, whether they’ve studied scientific, humanities or social sciences streams. Please note that for some degrees, Mathematics will be a required subject at high school
• We take into consideration academic abilities as well as personal background, individual accomplishments and merit

Academic transcripts

Forward College programmes are challenging so we expect applicants to be able to demonstrate excellent academic abilities. 

You will have to provide transcripts of your previous 2 years of high school or university. If you are applying in your last year of high school or have not yet completed your first year of university, you should provide transcripts for the last 2 years as well as the term(s) completed so far in your current year.

For some degrees, Mathematics is a required subject at high school. See below for more information.

Find out if your national high school qualifications and grades meet our academic entry requirements here.

English language requirements

All Forward programmes are taught in English. You must have a very good overall level in English before you apply.

• If you have studied and been assessed in English or have been living in an English environment for most of your student life and can demonstrate your fluency, we will consider your high school grades or qualification. Typically, we will expect all Forward students to have the equivalent level of an English CEFR Advanced Level (C1) or IELTS 6.5 to 7.0 overall.
• If you have not studied or only partially studied in English and do not have a valid English language qualification, we will ask you to provide an English language certificate as part of your application. We accept the following English language qualifications:

– IELTS with minimum 6.5 to 7.0 overall.
– TOEFL with minimum 95 overall
– Pearson PTE with minimum overall 67.
– Duolinguo with minimum 110 to 120.
The qualifications must have been taken no less than 2 years from your application.

If you have completed a different qualification or wish to ask any question about the qualifications above, please get in touch with the Admissions team.

Proof of personal accomplishments

As well as your academic transcripts and English language level, we will consider your engagement in past or present extracurricular activities (sports, civic engagement, arts and cultural interests, community service, entrepreneurship, etc).

We will assess this at 2 stages of your application:

1. You will have to present a selection of documents of your choice (worded documents, pictures, short video or audio files) which illustrate one personal accomplishment that you wish to share with us and that you consider will support your application. On the Application Form, you will be asked to upload up to 2 documents relating to this accomplishment and you will have to add a short description explaining what you have decided to include and why (max. 500 words).
2. If you are selected for an interview, you will be invited to talk about the documents you shared. The Admissions officer will challenge you to self-reflect further upon your achievement(s), your journey, and the learnings you have gained through this experience.

Motivation letter

Submitting a motivation letter, in addition to the documents above, is optional for students who wish to do so.

Maths entry requirements (for some degrees only)

Applicants who wish to apply to the following degrees will be expected to have studied Maths in high school with the following equivalences:

• for Data Science and  Economics, applicants will be expected to have the following equivalence: A at  A-level equivalent
• Economics and Politics and Business and Managament, applicants will be expected to have the following equivalence: B at A-level equivalent.

Data Science and Economics BSc’s only:

After the interview stage, successful applicants to these degrees will be asked to pass a Mathematics assessment so we can better determine their abilities. The assessment will be sent via email and includes a brief online interview with one of our Mathematics tutors. If you fail to meet the pass grade, the Admissions team will get in touch to discuss your application and advise you on your degree aim and options.

Applicants for Psychology:

For applications to Psychology, the following subjects in high school or university are recommended: Biology*, Mathematics*, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology.

*Biology and Mathematics preferred. Get in touch with the Admissions team for more information.

If you are selected after you have completed your Application Form, you will be invited for an interview with one of our Admissions officers. We will expect you to have had your Student Conversation before the interview.

Interviews last approximately 20-30 minutes and are conducted online via Google Meet. 

The aim is to get to know you better, hear about your academic and non-academic interests, your personal journey, the successes and/or challenges you have had and/or faced, and your plans. The interview is also the opportunity for us to see whether you have a good understanding of what Forward College stands for, of our pedagogy and aims. 

You will be invited to develop on the documents you added to your Application Form and to ask questions.

If you have any special needs or require adjustments for the interview (for instance, you do not have a laptop or appropriate space or connection), please let us know so we can make reasonable adjustments or reschedule.

We will inform you of our final decision by the date indicated, within 4-5 weeks of your interview.

Contact the Admissions team here for any questions.