Visiting Student Office

Eligibility and enrolment

Information on our general prerequisites for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year courses.

There are a few subject areas where courses are very popular and spaces are limited on courses:  Art, Design, English Literature, History, History of Art, Law, Philosophy, Politics and Psychology.

Since the courses offered and spaces available vary year to year, enrolments in popular courses will take place in mid-summer.  Students who are eligible for these courses will be contacted by email when enrolments open.  Students can pre-enrol for one or two courses only (depending on the subject) and invited to fill any remaining spaces on a first-come, first-serve basis, on arrival in Edinburgh with the VSO.

Course Pre-requisites 

Find out more about our Course Pre-requisites:

1st- and 2nd-year courses

  • Students can take a variety of 1st- and 2nd-year courses, although there are a few where places are limited or not open to visiting students. We can advise you of these courses.
  • In general, there are no requirements for 1st-year courses.
  • Any student requesting a 2nd-year course should have completed an introductory course in the subject area. For example, entry to a 2nd-year Business Studies or Economics course is strictly on the basis of completion of an introductory course in those subjects at grade B or above.
  • Entry to language courses above introductory level are subject to a language test on arrival, or during the first class meeting.

3rd-year courses

  • For entry to 3rd-year courses, students need an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above (or equivalent) and must be in their 3rd year of university study while at Edinburgh.
  • In order to be considered for entry, students must have completed 3 courses in that subject area, having achieved grade B or above (we will only consider college/university courses).  Please refer to the Course Finder for the detailed pre-requisites.
  • To be eligible for 3rd-year ECONOMICS courses, students must have completed the equivalent of at least 4 semester-long Economics courses at grade B or above . However, each course will also have specific entry requirements. Please refer to the Course Finder for the detailed Economics pre-requisites.
  • To be eligible for 3rd-year POLITICS courses, students must have completed 4 courses in Politics or International Relations, having achieved grade B or above (we will only consider college/university courses).
  • To be eligible for 3rd-year ENGLISH LITERATURE courses, students must have completed 4 courses in English Literature, having achieved grade B or above (we will only consider college/university courses). We do not consider Freshman Year Seminars, Creative Writing, Composition, Civilisation or other interdisciplinary courses as meeting this prerequisite.
  • To be eligible for 3rd-year Psychology courses, students must have completed 3 courses in PSYCHOLOGY, having achieved grade B or above (we will only consider college/university courses) and many courses also require you to be studying Psychology as your major at your home university.
  • PLEASE NOTE: meeting these requirements does not guarantee admission to any course.
  • For more information about the English language requirements, please contact the CAHSS Visiting Student Office (VSO) at CAHSSvisitingstudents@ed.ac.uk.  

The following courses are generally NOT open to visiting students:

 

  • Edinburgh College of Art studio-based
  • Education
  • Sport Science
  • College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
  • 4th-year undergraduate level (exceptions like Psychology are allowed)
  • Postgraduate level