Take a year out | Undergraduate study | The University of Edinburgh

How to apply if you want to take a year out of study before starting university.

If you are planning to take a year out, you can:

apply for deferred entry in your final year at school or college, or
make an application for immediate entry during your year out

If you would like to apply for deferred entry, you should do so no later than the UCAS equal consideration deadline in January. We can only consider requests for deferred entry after this date where there are exceptional circumstances.

As we need to ensure that there are sufficient places available for applicants who apply next year, we are only able to make a limited number of offers for deferred entry.

You should make clear on your UCAS application your reasons for wishing to defer entry and how you intend to use the time. If we have more applications for deferred entry to a particular degree programme than we can accommodate, we will use this information to decide who will receive a deferred offer.

Competition for places is extremely high. If you apply during your year out having already achieved your qualifications, you may be in a stronger position than those who apply for deferred entry with predicted grades.

Before you submit your application, please contact us for advice on your degree programme choice. Not all degree programmes accept deferred entry applications.

Medicine and veterinary medicine

If you are an applicant to veterinary medicine or medicine and you want to take a year out, you will not be considered for deferred entry and you should instead apply during your year out.

If however you are applying to medicine or veterinary medicine and have to take mandatory national service or a similar obligation in your home country or region, we may consider your application to defer for one year only. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to grant your request to defer.

We only consider deferral requests after offer where there are extreme extenuating circumstances, so these are very rare.

Personal statement

You should include in your personal statement details of how you intend to spend, or have spent, your year out.

This is particularly important if you are applying for deferred entry to medicine or veterinary medicine, where you must clearly state if you are undertaking National Service or a similar commitment in your home country.

Where you are applying to medicine or veterinary medicine during a gap year, you must explain the activities or further study you did over the course of your year out.

To best prepare for mathematics or language degree programmes, we recommend that you use your year out to do work that will maintain your mathematics or language skills.

This article was published on 2025-03-03