Applicant Days

If you have applied to one of our degrees which requires an interview, you will receive an email inviting you to an interview via Zoom.

Subjects which require interviews are:

• Adult and Mental Health Nursing

• Occupational Therapy

• Physiotherapy

• Speech and Language Therapy

• Social Work

• Oral Health Science
  
  

Please see the section below 'Compulsory Interviews' for more information about the interview process.

You can contact the Applicant Day Team at applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

Applicants applying to a degree which requires a compulsory interview will receive an invite to a Zoom interview via email. 

You will need to accept the Zoom interview and select a time via your myEssex portal to confirm your attendance. You will find instructions for how to do this in your invitation email. If you wish to reschedule or cancel your interview place, you can also do this on your myEssex portal. 

Please note, as the interview is a compulsory element of the application process for the courses listed above, if you decline or do no attend this will result in an unsuccessful application.

You will also be a sent a link to your Interview Guide which will explain things to prepare before your interview, what to expect on the day and what will happen afterwards.

On the day of your interview, at your allotted time, you will be able to use the link from the invite email to join the interview.

If you have any questions regarding your Virtual Applicant Interview, please contact the Applicant Day Team: applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

Firstly, congratulations for reaching the interview stage of your application! You will be invited to attend an interview via email on a prearranged date. You will then be asked to confirm your place and select an interview time from a drop-down list via your myEssex portal under the ‘Applying’ tab. Most interviews run from 9.00am - 4.00pm. Following confirming your place, you will receive a confirmation email which will confirm the date, time and will provide you with the Zoom links for your interview.

Head to your myEssex portal via the website link www.essex.ac.uk/apply and click on the ‘Register with us’ link. Complete the form using your applicant UCAS number and your personal email address. You will then receive an activation email which you will need to click on the link to activate your portal. Login to your myEssex portal to find useful information about the University of Essex and access your application documents. Once you have been emailed asking to book an interview, you will need to select a time to confirm you will attend. You will receive a confirmation email which will contain a Zoom code for your virtual interview. 

Firstly, please check your junk folder – some of our emails may end up there! If the email is not in any of your inbox folders, please email applicantdays@essex.ac.uk and we can get this sent out to you prior to the interview. You will need to check that you have received your Zoom code at least 48 hours prior to your interview. If you contact us on the day of your interview, we may not receive this in time and may need to reschedule your interview.

Please check your programme ahead of your interview as some will require a test you need to undertake, or materials you may need to read ahead of the day. The interview programme can be found on your myEssex Portal under the ‘Applying’ tab.

If the interview date you have been offered does not suit you, you can reschedule to the next available date via your myEssex portal. In the case that the second date option does not work either, then please email applicantdays@essex.ac.uk. Please note, as places are limited, we may be unable to offer applicants more than one alternative interview date.

If you have already accepted your interview time and date and would like to make an amendment to this, please email applicantdays@essex.ac.uk to request a new date/time.

Please ensure any requests are made at least 72 hours prior to your interview.

If you would like to see if an alternative interview time is available, please email applicantdays@essex.ac.uk and our team will see what options might be available to you. Please note, as spaces are limited, we may be unable to offer you a different interview time if you have already booked your place.

Please ensure any requests are made at least 72 hours prior to your interview.

The interview are a compulsory element of the application process for some of our courses. Therefore, if you have been invited to an interview for one of the following subjects and do not attend you will receive an unsuccessful application:

• Adult Nursing
• Mental Health Nursing
• Occupational Therapy
• Oral Health Sciences
• Speech & Language Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Social Work 

After your interview we will let you know the outcome within 3 working days (except Oral Health Science applicants). You will receive notification of the outcome by email, or we will contact you by email if we need any additional information. If you do not receive a response after this period, please feel free to contact our Admissions Team for an update.

Please note, if you have applied for our Oral Health Science course the outcome of your interview will be provided in May, prior to the UCAS deadline.

If you are a UK undergraduate student who has received an offer to study with us in October 2022, you will receive an invitation to attend an on-campus Applicant Day. If you are an EU or Overseas offer-holder, you will be invited to attend a Virtual Applicant Day. However, if you would like to attend an on-campus Applicant Day, we’d love to meet you so please contact the Applicant Day Team to book your visit: applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

What to expect

Our Colchester Campus Applicant Days run from December – May on various Wednesdays and Saturdays, and provide the opportunity to meet your department, tour our campus and accommodation and chat to current students.

The event will run from 10.30am – 4.00pm. From 10.45am – 12.45pm we run an optional session called ‘Experience Essex’ which features general talks and tours of our campus and accommodation. This is aimed at students who have not visited the Colchester Campus before (on an Open Day for example) or those who would like a second look!

If you do not wish to attend this session, you are welcome to arrive just before 1pm in time for the Welcome Talk.

 Applicant Day Programme

Head to your myEssex portal to view which dates your department will feature on and select your date.

If you are a UK applicant, following your offer from the University of Essex, you will receive an invite to attend an on-campus Applicant Day. You will then need to head to your myEssex Applicant Portal to view details of the event, including the dates your subject area are hosting, a programme for the day, and book your place. Following this, you will receive a confirmation email containing all the information you need ahead of your visit.

 Please feel free to bring parents, guardians, and guests along with you.

To make the most of your day, please arrive at 10.30am. If you don’t want to tour our campus or attend our general talks as part of our Experience Essex session, you can arrive for our 1pm Welcome Talk. Head to our Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall on arrival where our staff will be on hand to register your arrival.

By car

If you are travelling to the campus by car, please use the University’s address below and park in ‘Valley Car Park’ just off of Boundary Road. There will be additional signage to direct you in the correct parking area on the day, and our Traffic Officers will be on hand to guide you to the parking bays which have been allocated for Applicant Day visitors. 

 Please take a look at this handy map of our Colchester Campus for more directions.

The address for our Colchester Campus is:

University of Essex

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester

CO4 3SQ (for SatNav purposes please use CO7 9HT, which will take you to the main Wivenhoe Entrance to access Valley Car Park via Boundary Road).

By train

If you have travelled by train, the following bus routes will take you to our Campus:

From Colchester North Station: S1. You can view the route map here.

The buses run every 15 to 20 minutes from Colchester North Station, taking you through Colchester City Centre, our closest city to campus.

At the end of the Applicant Day, we will be running a free coach service to Colchester North Station which will depart from our Colchester Campus at 4.00pm. You can reserve your place on the free coach when booking your Applicant Day via your myEssex portal. 

It's been a tough year for us all, so to make things a little easier, we'd like to offer you a bursary to cover the costs of your travel to our Colchester Campus event (up to £100). You can view our terms and conditions here and download the reimbursement form to here.

Head over to your myEssex portal and open the ‘Applying’ tab. You’ll find your Applicant Day invitation at the bottom on page. Once you click on this you be able to select your date and book your place.

If you haven’t registered for your myEssex portal yet, you’ll need to do this first. It’s a simple set-up and once you’ve registered, you not only be able to view details of your Applicant Day, but your important application documents (e.g., your offer letter) and your application status.

Experience Essex is an optional session which runs from 10.45am until 12.45pm. Offer holders and their guests can have a tea or coffee in our Welcome Café, go on a campus tour, view accommodation, and attend our talks:

• Accommodation: 10.45am
• Student Finance: 11.30am
• Student Life: 12.15pm

Unlike Open Days, our Applicant Days are ‘invite-only’ for our applicants who hold an offer with Essex. The day is subject focussed, and you’ll spend the afternoon with your academic department. The 'Department Activity’ section of the programme will be focussed on your subject area where you’ll also have the opportunity to meet academic staff, current students, and potential future course mates!

On the morning on the event, we run a session called ‘Experience Essex’ which is aimed at students and their guests who have not visited our Campus previously. It features general talks and tours of the campus and accommodation. The is optional and runs from 10.45am until 12.45pm. If you do not wish to attend the Experience Essex session in the morning of the Applicant Day, you are welcome to arrive by 12.30pm. Please note, you will not be able to view accommodation in the afternoon of the event.

We have allocated parking spaces for our Applicant Day visitors so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a space. When you arrive, please drive to Valley Car Park via Boundary Road where we will have dedicated spaces for Applicant Day attendees. Patrol Officers will also be on hand to direct visitors on the day should you need any help.

The full address of the University is: University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ.

 Please view our handy Colchester Campus map for more directions.

Colchester has 3 train stations: Colchester North, Colchester Town, and Colchester Hythe. We recommend you head to Colchester North; this is the largest station in Colchester and has a more frequent bus service and taxi rank.

The following bus routes will take you to our Campus:
From Colchester North Station: S1. You can view the route map.

The buses run every 15 to 20 minutes from Colchester North Station, taking you through Colchester City Centre, our closest city to campus.

We offer a free coach service back to Colchester North Station (COL) from the University of Essex after your Applicant Day finishes at 4:00pm. Student Ambassadors and staff will be directing you and your guests to the coach from the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall should you wish to use this service. When booking your Applicant Day, you’ll will be asked what method of transport you’ll be using on the day. Please choose Train (with shuttle service), to ensure you are booked on.

Most of our Applicant Days fall on a Wednesday due to the availability of our academic staff. No lectures take place on a Wednesday afternoon, which means we can provide a better experience as you’ll be able to meet current students and teaching staff from your subject area. We do realise however that this sometimes clashes with student’s teaching schedules, and while some colleges are happy to permit time off in order to attend university Applicant Days, we appreciate that this is not the case for all.

We are therefore running an additional Applicant Day during the February half term. If your subject area does not feature on this day, or if you cannot attend any of the scheduled dates, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help: applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

We love to meet our applicants, and we appreciate that travel can be expensive, so we offer a bursary to cover travel expenses up to the value of £100. You must meet the criteria below and return your reimbursement form and receipts (if applicable) within 30 days of your Applicant Day to be eligible for the travel bursary. These can be scanned and emailed to us at applicantbursary@essex.ac.uk or posted (the address can be found on the form and in the T&Cs).

To receive our Applicant Day Bursary, you'll need to meet all the following criteria:

 • an undergraduate applicant

• travelled over 30 miles (as the crow flies) to the Applicant Day

 • an attendee of an Applicant Day

• we must receive your application and receipts within 30 days of your Applicant Day date

Full terms and conditions and further information on travelling to our Colchester Campus can be found under the ‘Applicant Day Travel Bursary’ section of this webpage.

The Applicant Day Programme can be found on your invitation email, and on your myEssex Portal.

You are welcome to arrive from 10.30am to check-in if you would like to take part in the Experience Essex session (10.45am - 12.45pm). If you do not wish to attend Experience Essex, we advise all attendees to no later than 12.30pm so you can check-in before the Welcome Talk at 1.00pm.

To keep our staff, students and visitors safe, we have a number of additional measures on campus to protect our community from COVID-19. Visitors are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings at all times whilst inside the venue, and take a Lateral Flow Test (FLT) on the morning of the Applicant Day. Please do not travel to our Colchester Campus if you have symptoms of COVID-19, or should be isolating based on NHS/government guidance.

Hand sanitiser stations will be available in all main locations, as well as toilets and hand washing facilities.

Our Southend Applicant Days run on selected dates from March to June and provide the opportunity to meet your department, chat to undergraduate students and go on optional tours of our campus and accommodation. During the accommodation section of the tour, you will have the opportunity to view a standard en-suite room.

To make the most of your day, please arrive at 11.00am. Head to our Gateway Building on arrival where our friendly staff will be on hand to register your arrival.

Travelling by car 

Southend is just half an hour from the M25 via the A13 or A127. For sat navs, postcode SS1 1LW provides the correct route directions. 

There is plenty of city centre parking in public car parks. The closest car park is located underneath University Square student accommodation which accessed via College Way and is payable by phone only

Travelling by train

There are frequent trains from London to Southend which is served by two different rail lines, with journey times of 45 minutes to one hour:

• Southend Victoria (0.3 miles from our campus) to London Liverpool Street - operated by Abellio Greater Anglia
• Southend Central (0.2 miles from our campus) to London Fenchurch Street - operated by c2c

Both London Liverpool Street and Fenchurch have Underground and bus connections available for connections with Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow Airport.

Find out more about travelling to our Southend Campus.

It's been a tough year for us all, so to make things a little easier, we'd like to offer you a bursary to cover the costs of your travel to our Southend Campus event (up to £100). You can view our terms and conditions here and download the reimbursement form to here.

You must meet the criteria below and return your reimbursement form and receipts (if applicable) within 30 days of your Applicant Day to be eligible for the travel bursary. These can be scanned and emailed to us at applicantbursary@essex.ac.uk or posted (the address can be found on the form and in the T&Cs).

To receive our Applicant Day Bursary, you'll need to meet all the following criteria:

 • an undergraduate applicant

• travelled over 30 miles (as the crow flies) to the Applicant Day

 • an attendee of an Applicant Day

• we must receive your application and receipts within 30 days of your Applicant Day date

You can view the full terms and conditions.

Our Experience Essex Online events are the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about doing a degree at Essex. These events are for anyone who is interested in studying an undergraduate or postgraduate degree at Essex. Whether you've applied to study with us already or if you're just beginning your research to find the right university for you, our virtual events will give you more information and will hopefully help you make your next decision.