Applicant Days

Applicant Days

Four female students with their arms around each other, laughing and smiling for the camera

Get to know us at an Applicant Day!

Our Applicant Days are exclusive offer-holder events that give you the opportunity to tour our campus and accommodation, chat to current students and meet academic staff within your department to get a feel for your course.

Applicant Day dates and programmes will vary between our Colchester and Southend Campus so click on your campus below to find out more.

Not sure which campus your Applicant Day will be on? Head to our Course Finder to find out which campus your course is hosted on, or check the invite email we will send you when you receive an offer from Essex!

We appreciate that traveling to visit universities can be expensive, and with rising costs we want to ensure that as many of our offer-holders are able to visit us. We are therefore offering a travel bursary of up to £150 to help with travel costs. Scroll down for more information and full terms and conditions.

To find out more about our Applicant Days, watch our short video below and then scroll down to discover what to expect on the day. Please feel free to bring parents, guardians, and guests along with you – the more the merrier!

 

Colchester Applicant Days

Booking your place  

Our Applicant Days are exclusively for undergraduate offer-holders for 2023 entry, so attendance is by ‘invite only’. Once you receive your offer email from the University of Essex, we’ll send you an email a few days later inviting you to an Applicant Day, so please look out for this. The invitation will include a rundown of what to expect on the day, a programme for your subject area, and a link to choose a date and book your place.

If you are an overseas offer-holder, you will be invited to attend one of our virtual events. However, you are more than welcome to join us at one of our in-person Applicant Days if you are able to, so if you’d like to book a place, please contact our Applicant Day Team at applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

Applicant Day dates

Our Applicant Days for courses delivered on our Colchester Campus are listed below. Please note, not all departments will feature on each date so please click on the link to the booking form in the invite email we will send you and select your subject area to see a drop-down list of available dates relevant to your department.

  • Wednesday 15 February
  • Saturday 25 February
  • Wednesday 1 March
  • Saturday 11 March
  • Wednesday 5 April
  • Wednesday 26 April 
  • Saturday 29 April
  • Wednesday 10 May

Programme

Our Colchester Campus Applicant Days run from February – 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 10.30am – 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 the Experience Essex session, please arrive by 1pm for the Welcome Talk.


Time Activity 
From 10.30am

Registration opens

Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall

10.30am - 1.00pm Experience Essex:
 

During this optional session you will have the opportunity to:

Take a guided tour of our beautiful Colchester Campus with a current student

View a range of our student accommodation

Find out more about student life at Essex by meeting our Student's Union

Chat to our Student Services and discover how we can support you during your studies

10.45am - Accommodation Talk

This talk will provide an overview of the wide range of accommodation at our Colchester Campus. This will include pricing, facilities and different accommodation options

 Before 1.15pm

 Lunch is on us!

Use your free lunch voucher to grab a bite to eat before the Welcome Talk

 1.15pm

Welcome Talk

ICLH Auditorium

This brief talk will provide an overview of the University of Essex. Following this, you will be split into your individual subject areas and guided to your department's activities by Student Ambassadors

 1.45pm - 3.45pm

Department activities

This is part of the day where you'll spend time with your department, find out more about your course and meet current students

 4.00pm A free coach departs to take visitors back to Colchester Station
 4.00pm - 5.00pm If you haven’t yet had the chance to look around, campus & limited accommodation tours will be available, departing from the ICLH

Travelling to our Colchester Campus

University of Essex

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester

CO4 3SQ (for SatNav purposes please use CO7 9HT)

What3words: magic.violin.frame

By car

If you’re arriving by car, please head to Boundary Road and then take the first right onto Park Road which will take you into the main entrance to the University. Once there, please look out for ‘Applicant Day Visitor Parking’ signs. On weekdays, one of our Traffic Officers will also be hand to direct you. Once you’ve parked, follow ‘Applicant Day Check-In’ signs which will guide you to the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall; the main venue for the Applicant Day. Please note, parking is free for all Applicant Day attendees.

By train

If you’re arriving by train, we have three train stations in Colchester: Colchester Town, Colchester Hythe and Colchester North Station (also referred to as Colchester Main Station). Colchester North Station is the largest and has the best bus and taxi links so we recommend using this station. There is a taxi rank and bus stop at the station. The following buses will lead you to campus:

Further information about bus travel in Colchester can be found on the First Bus website and more information about travelling to our Colchester Campus can be found here.

At the end of the event, we will run a free coach which return visitors to Colchester North Station and depart at 4.00pm.

If you have any questions regarding travelling to our campus, please feel free to chat to one of our team.

Applicant Day Travel Bursary

A helping hand with your travel costs

 

We appreciate that traveling to university events can be expensive, and with rising costs we want to ensure that as many of our offer-holders are able to visit us. We are therefore offering a bursary of up to £150 to reimburse your travel costs to visit us.

You can view our terms and conditions here and download the reimbursement form 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
  • an attendee of an Applicant Day
  • we must receive your application and receipts within 30 days of your Applicant Day date

Contact us

Please get in touch with our friendly Recruitment Events Team if you have any questions ahead of your visit.

Southend Applicant Days

Booking your place

Our Applicant Days are exclusively for undergraduate offer-holders for 2023 entry, so attendance is by ‘invite only’. Once you receive your offer email from the University of Essex, we’ll send you an email a few days later inviting you to an Applicant Day, so please look out for this. The invitation will include a rundown of what to expect on the day, a programme for your subject area, and a link to choose a date and book your place.

If you are an overseas offer-holder, you will be invited to attend one of our virtual events. However, you are more than welcome to join us at one of our in-person Applicant Days if you are able to, so if you’d like to book a place, please contact our Applicant Day Team at applicantdays@essex.ac.uk.

Applicant Day dates

Applicant Days for courses delivered on our Southend Campus are planned for:

  • Wednesday 15 March - Essex Business School, Adult Nursing and Mental Health Nursing
  • Wednesday 19 April - Social Work
  • Saturday 13 May - Essex Business School, Social Work
  • Wednesday 24 May - Social Work, Oral Health Science
  • Thursday 01 June - Adult Nursing and Mental Health Nursing

Programme

Our Southend Campus Applicant Days run from March – June on various weekdays and Saturdays, and provide the opportunity to meet your department, tour our campus and accommodation and chat to current students.

The event is planned to run from 10.30am – 2.30pm. From 10.45am – 11.45am 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 Southend 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 11.45am in time for the Welcome Talk.

Time
Activity
From 10.30am

Registration opens

The Forum

10.45am - 11.45am Experience Essex:
 

During this optional session you will have the opportunity to:

Take a guided tour of our beautiful Southend Campus with a current student

View our en-suite student accommodation, unfortunately, studio flats will not be available to view

Find out more about student life at Essex by meeting our Student's Union Lounge

Chat to our Student Services and discover how we can support you during your studies

 10.45am

Accommodation Talk

This talk will provide an overview of our University Square accommodation at our Southend Campus. This will include pricing, facilities and different accommodation options. You will also have the option to go straight on an accommodation tour after this talk.

The Forum

 11.15am

Student Life Talk

The Forum

Delivered by one of our Student Ambassadors, this talk will provide an insight into the Southend student experience. You will have the chance to discover more about life as an Essex student and have your questions answered.

 11.45am

Welcome Talk

The Forum

This brief talk will provide an overview of the University of Essex. Following this, you will be split into your individual subject areas and guided to your department's activities by Student Ambassadors

 12.30pm - 2.30pm

Lunch and department activities

This is the part of the day where you'll spend time with your department, find out more about your course and meet current students

Please note the programme may vary on on Saturday 13 May as our Student's Union will not be open and our Student Services will not be available.


Travelling to Southend Campus

The address of our Southend Campus is:

University of Essex
Elmer Approach
Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1LW
United Kingdom

Car

For SatNav purposes please use SS1 1LW.

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. There will be signage displayed from University Square car park to the Applicant Day.

Blue badge holders with Southend on Sea issued blue badges can park for free. Badge holders with badges issued by other authorities will need to pay the appropriate car park charges, however on street parking bays remain available and free of charge to all badge holders. 

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.

Bus, Coach or Taxi

  • National Express operate services to Southend Bus Station from all over the UK.

  • As the campus is located in the city centre, most local buses stop nearby. Buses are run by Arrivabus and tickets can be bought online or via their app. Take advantage of their Student Saver tickets, available to anyone in full-time education.

  • There are also a number of local taxi services based in Southend. Below are some of those available:

    • 333444 Taxis

    • Southend Airport taxi transfer, call 07427 095060

    • Steve's Radio Cars, call 01702 559519

Applicant Day Travel Bursary

We appreciate that traveling to university events can be expensive, and with rising costs we want to ensure that as many of our offer-holders are able to visit us. We are therefore offering a bursary of up to £150 to reimburse your travel costs to visit us.

You can view our terms and conditions here and download the reimbursement form 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
  • an attendee of an Applicant Day
  • we must receive your application and receipts within 30 days of your Applicant Day date

Contact us

Please get in touch with our friendly Recruitment Events Team if you have any questions ahead of your visit.

Person sat with their back to camera, in a black tshirt that says 'impatient to ask a question?' on the back
Get in touch
Our Applicant Days Team
Telephone: Colchester: 01206 873272
Telephone: Southend: 01206 876818