Information surrounding post-GCSE results advice and enrolment will be regularly communicated, as well as being updated and displayed on this page where applicable. Please use the menu below to find the information you need.
What happens after I apply?
Once your application has been submitted our admissions team will complete some data checks
Once you have submitted your application form, a member of the Admissions team will check all of your details and your predicted (or actual) grades, including checking that you meet the published entry criteria for your chosen subject. They might email you to ask for more information.
Once your application has been checked, for most programmes you will receive an email asking you to log in to your account and book your interview. The interview is to determine that you have applied for the most suitable programme of study.
Make sure you check your emails regularly or you may miss your interview slot.
If you have applied for Music or Performing Arts we will email you with a date and time for an audition.
All communications will be sent by email, so please check them regularly or you may miss your opportunity to come in for your interview.
Interviews could be in person or they could be on the phone. This will be confirmed in the email, so please check your emails regularly so that you don’t miss important information about your interview.
When do interviews start?
Interviews for those who we have received an application from will start to take place after our Autumn Open Events. The earlier in the academic year an application is made, the earlier an interview can take place.
What happens at my telephone interview?
What happens at my telephone interview?
You will be asked to book a pre-arranged timeslot and you will need to be ready to answer your phones between the times stated. The call will come from either an 01206 number or it might show as withheld or unknown.
The interview is designed to let out teaching staff find out about you and your interest in the course. To prepare you might want to think about what you enjoy doing, why you have applied for this course, what subjects you expect to do well in (if you are still at school/college) and how you will manage your revision in readiness for any exams.
How will I know if have been offered a place?
Once you have had your interview / audition we will email you to let you know if you have an offer. Offers will be subject to you meeting the published entry requirements of the chosen programme, once GCSE results have been published and provided to the College.
If you are not offered a place on your chosen programme, we will do our best to support you in finding an appropriate alternative.
Your offer
After your interview you will be sent an email to confirm whether you have been offered a place. Please remember to keep checking your email account so that you don’t miss this as it will include important information on your next steps.
Got another question?
For any further questions relating to the post-application process please see our application and enrolment FAQ.
If your chosen course involves contact with children or vulnerable adults, you will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check once you are enrolled.
In September, the Admissions team will send you a link to eSafeguarding, which is an online DBS checking service where you must complete your DBS check. The DBS check costs approximately £50. For students with an identified low household income, there may be financial support available. For further information on our student bursary, please click here:
Applicants should not complete a DBS Check until they are enrolled on their chosen course and receive communication from the College on how to do this.
Welcome and Induction Days
We hold Welcome and Induction Days at the beginning of July to give you a chance to come into the College to meet your tutors and other students on your course. We keep this page regularly updated for applicants and parents/carers throughout the year and further information will be posted on here as we head further into the application cycle.
Welcome and Induction days for 2025
For applicants for September 2025, Welcome and Induction Days will be held in July 2025.
Colchester Campus:
Monday 30th June 2025
Tuesday 1st July 2025
Braintree Campus:
Tuesday 1st July 2025
You will receive further information about this nearer the time, so keep checking your emails as we will send out more information about this, and other updates, throughout the academic year.
Applicants will be sent an email inviting you to your Welcome Day. This email explains where to report to on arrival, what you will be doing and what you may need to bring with you.
If you cannot see your email please double check your junk/promotions folders in case the email has gone into there.
If you do not think that you have received your email then you can view all associated email and SMS correspondence sent to you as part of the application process by logging in to your application using the link below.
If you cannot remember your password then you will be able to reset it using the link below. The email will be sent to the one used to create the account with originally, and again, please double check your junk/promotions folders in case the email has gone into there should you not receive one into your inbox.
If you have any questions, or you know that you will be unable to make your date, then please email us on information.centre@colchester.ac.uk / admissions@colchester.ac.uk or call 01206 814000 (for Braintree Campus) or 01206 712777 (for Colchester Campus).
One of the most exciting – and scary – days of all is when you receive your exam results.
Learners studying GCSEs will receive their results on Thursday 21st August 2025. Applicants will receive an email communication from the College on Thursday 21st August with your enrolment information. We have also recreated the email on our website here as well.
Dear Applicant
STAGE 1
Welcome to stage 1 of your enrolment to Colchester Institute. To start you must sign in to your application account using the link below and upload these important items:
- Evidence of your exam results, This will include any results you are getting today, as well as any from previous years.
If you are getting exams results today please wait until you have got them and then take a photo or screenshot of all the information, subjects and grades. You may need to take more than one photo/screenshot and make sure that your name and your grades are clearly visible.
Even if you have been a student with us in the past you must upload your exam results. Your application will not be reviewed unless this is done.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To complete your enrolment you must be able to sign into your application account – we recommend that you try to log in now.
You must complete stage 1 by 2pm Friday 22nd August to meet the priority deadline. (If you miss this time you may not secure your place on your preferred course.)
Note: If you have studied with us before, or you have already uploaded your ID photo and evidence of your Identity, you do not need to do items B and C again, but you will need to upload exam results.
- Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)
You are strongly advised to prepare for this by selecting a suitable photo now and saving it on the phone/device that you will use to start your enrolment.
This photo must show your face looking into the camera, with no face covering, hat or hood, and close enough to take up most of the image, see the examples below:
3 Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)
This should be a photograph of one of the following documents:
- Passport (please take a photo of the photo page)
- Driving Licence
- National Insurance Card/Official Letter confirming NI number
- National ID card
- Birth/Adoption Certificate
This link will take you to guidance notes on how to upload your information:
https://www.colchester.ac.uk/enrolment/online-enrolment-upload-guidance/
When you have successfully uploaded all of the above, a member of the teaching team will review these against the published entry criteria for your course and you will receive notification of their decision and your next steps by email. In some cases, teaching staff may need to call you to discuss your grades, so please keep your phone with you and be ready to answer any calls (this may come from a withheld number, or No Caller ID or it will start with 01206 712***).
This might not be on the same day as your grades are uploaded as it will be very busy with lots of results coming in for staff to look at, so please don’t worry if you don’t hear straight away – keep checking this email account. If you have met the priority deadline this will be done on or by Tuesday 26th August. Later uploads will be checked on or by Friday 29th August.
What if you haven’t met the entry criteria for your chosen course?
Firstly, please do not panic! You are strongly advised to still upload your results by the guaranteed deadline of 2pm on Friday 22nd August as some courses have different levels available. These will still be reviewed by teaching staff who will email you with information about your next steps.
Good luck and we look forward to receiving your results, ID photo and proof of Identity. Please remember to keep checking this email address, including in spam or other folders (such as Promotions/Important) for your next steps.
For learners looking to study a further education qualification with an A-level pre-requisite with us, the results day for A Level exams is on Thursday 14th August 2025. Applicants for the UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design will receive an email communication from the College on Thursday 14th August with your enrolment information. We have also recreated the email on our website here as well.
Dear Applicant
STAGE 1
Welcome to stage 1 of your enrolment to Colchester Institute. To start you must sign in to your application account using the link below and upload these important items:
- Evidence of your exam results, This will include any results you are getting today, as well as any from previous years. Please don’t forget to include GCSE results as well as any A Level or Level 3 results.
If you are getting exams results today please wait until you have got them and then take a photo or screenshot of all the information, subjects and grades. You may need to take more than one photo/screenshot and make sure that your name and your grades are clearly visible.
Even if you have been a student with us in the past you must upload your exam results. Your application will not be reviewed unless this is done.
https://apply.colchester.ac.uk/Page/U_UploadResults
IMPORTANT NOTE: To complete your enrolment you must be able to sign into your application account – we recommend that you try to log in now.
You must complete stage 1 by 2pm Friday 15th August to meet the priority deadline.
Note: If you have studied with us before, or you have already uploaded your ID photo and evidence of your Identity, you do not need to do items B and C again, but you will need to upload exam results.
- Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)
You are strongly advised to prepare for this by selecting a suitable photo now and saving it on the phone/device that you will use to start your enrolment.
This photo must show your face looking into the camera, with no face covering, hat or hood, and close enough to take up most of the image, see the examples below:
3 Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)
This should be a photograph of one of the following documents:
- Passport (please take a photo of the photo page)
- Driving Licence
- National Insurance Card/Official Letter confirming NI number
- National ID card
- Birth/Adoption Certificate
This link will take you to guidance notes on how to upload your information:
https://www.colchester.ac.uk/enrolment/online-enrolment-upload-guidance/
When you have successfully uploaded all of the above, a member of the teaching team will review these against the published entry criteria for your course and you will receive notification of their decision and your next steps by email. In some cases, teaching staff may need to call you to discuss your grades, so please keep your phone with you and be ready to answer any calls (this may come from a withheld number, or No Caller ID or it will start with 01206 712***).
This might not be on the same day as your grades are uploaded as it will be very busy with lots of results coming in for staff to look at, so please don’t worry if you don’t hear straight away – keep checking this email account.
What if you haven’t met the entry criteria for your chosen course?
Firstly, please do not panic! You are strongly advised to still upload your results, which will still be reviewed by teaching staff who will email you with information about your next steps.
Good luck and we look forward to receiving your results, ID photo and proof of Identity. Please remember to keep checking this email address, including in spam or other folders (such as Promotions/Important) for your next steps.
August Advice Days
Now that the new academic year is well underway it is no longer possible to join a course for this current year.
Applications for courses starting in September 2025 will open on 1st October and we look forward to receiving your application.
Enrolment Information 2025
All communications regarding enrolment are sent to the email address used throughout the application process. It is essential that all applicants are able to access their emails easily, and that they are checking them regularly.
Please note: In previous years we have found that some Colchester Institute emails went into spam or other email folders, to avoid this, applicants are advised to add us to their contact list and to keep checking spam folders. This is particularly the case for Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Hotmail.
We know that enrolment can be an anxious time for some, and there will be staff from our admissions team on hand to help throughout, either by phone on 01206 712777, email at admissions@colchester.ac.uk or our online chat function. We don’t close over the summer.
Enrolment consists of a few separate steps, but for the vast majority of applicants, it is quite a straightforward process. Information about each enrolment step will be published in due course as we head further into the application cycle and will be accessible from this page.
Online Enrolment Current Step – Step 1
Once you have your offer you will be asked to upload two photos. One to give official proof of your identity, and the other a photo for your ID card.
Applicants for full-time study programmes will begin to receive email instructions for Stage 1 of enrolment as we head further into the application cycle. If you have received your offer and are yet to complete stage 1 please follow the link below and proceed to our online enrolment section, where you will find instructions on how to do this.
Confirmation of a new student’s first day at college will be notified to them by email, along with any required kit or equipment needed. You will receive your actual start date and first day information shortly after your enrolment has been completed – so look out for the information when it comes.
When is the start of term?
Wednesday 3rd September 2025, but start dates are staggered across the Wednesday and Thursday of that week.
Term Dates for both 2024-25 and 2025-26 can be found here:
When will timetables be issued?
In most cases, timetables cannot be confirmed until after enrolment is concluded and students are sorted into groups. Actual timetables are usually shared on the first day of term.
