Considering applying to St George's? We offer flexible and personalised campus visits for prospective care leaver students. These visits aim to answer any questions you may have, show you around the university and offer you a deeper insight to your course of interest and university life. If you would like to book a visit please email us, please feel free to come on your own, with your support worker or bring along a friend!
Contextual Admissions
As the UK’s specialist health university, we select applicants based on their potential for success in their chosen course and, where relevant, profession. We are committed to ensuring people from all walks of life are represented as part of our university community and the future health workforce. St George's has a comprehensive Contextual Admissions policy, and Care Leavers are eligible for pre-application support, contextual offers and post-application support. Full information is available on our Contextual Admissions webpage.
Named contact
Care leavers have a named contact at St George’s. This makes things simpler for you, especially when you are just starting a course, and assists us in coordinating your financial and pastoral support. We can also let you know about external organisations who can help you during your studies.
Your named contact can also help with general information and can point you in the direction of any academic advice or support you might need once you are at St George’s. All students are also assigned a personal tutor who can help with this.
Our Student Welfare Officer is currently our point of contact for care leavers. You can contact the Student Welfare Ofice at welfare@sgul.ac.uk.
Financial support and advice
Care leavers are often designated as ‘independent students’ by Student Finance. This means that if you are eligible for student finance and don’t live with a partner or spouse you will usually be entitled to the maximum income assessed support. If you are unsure about anything to do with your student funding, please don’t hesitate to contact our Student Funding Adviser, Helen Williams, at studentfinance@sgul.ac.uk.
Care leavers who are undertaking their first undergraduate course can also be considered for the St George’s Opportunity Fund Grant (our bursary).
Care leavers are also a priority group for our Access to Learning Fund (hardship fund for home students) and may be eligible for an additional £1,000 grant from this Fund. You can apply to to the ALF once you are fully registered and enrolled on your course.
Accommodation
Care leavers studying an undergraduate course are given priority for housing in the St George’s Horton Halls of Residence and are eligible for year-round 365 day accommodation contracts if they need them. It may also be possible to accommodate postgraduate care leaver students. You can find further information and take a virtual tour of Horton Halls on our accommodation webpages.
A team of Resident Advisers live at Horton Halls and are available outside of usual office hours to provide support and to answer any questions you might have.
Counselling
The Student Union’s Counselling Service provides a non-judgemental, confidential setting in which to work things through in your own way. It is free of charge and available to all St George’s undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The Counselling Service is confidential and is separate from teaching and assessment processes. You can find further details on the Counselling Service’s webpages.
Academic support
The Academic Success Centre team provide one-to-one support with a range of study issues, including effective study strategies, writing academic assignments and English language help. They offer appointments in person and online.
Enrolled students can visit the ASC Canvas page for more details, including opening hours and how to book an appointment.
St George’s Student Ambassador Scheme
Once you are enrolled you might wish to consider making an application to be a St George’s Student Ambassador. This is a paid role where you will represent St George’s in the community, and meet other students and staff. For more details please contact the Student Ambassador Scheme at ambassadors@sgul.ac.uk. Please mention in your email that you are a care leaver.
Careers support
All students are encouraged to engage with Careers Support at St George’s. The Careers Adviser is available to support you at all stages of your career thinking: from planning your next steps, exploring opportunities, building and using your network, to making applications and impressing at interview. They offer one-to-one support in person and by phone, plus online information, and skills workshops delivered as part of your course.
Once you are enrolled with us, you can book appointments and access information online. For any other questions about careers support, please email careers@sgul.ac.uk
Further information
For more details about other support services at St George’s please visit the Student Support page. Enrolled students can visit the Student Life Centre.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Student Welfare Officer, Kelly Sebetka, at welfare@sgul.ac.uk.