Frequently Asked Questions

We understand COVID-19 heavily impacted applicants’ lives and will be reading applications with this understanding. If you wish to discuss how COVID-19 impacted you or your family you may do so in the extenuating circumstances question in the family information section. Please note that your school reference will also have an opportunity to share how COVID-19 impacted your academics and your school as a whole.

We welcome applications from students resitting Year 12. In the application, there is a specific question asking if you are resitting the year and if so, what the reasons behind this are. Please try to give as much contextual information as possible so that we can understand your reasons for resitting when considering your application.

Thank you for your interest in the US Programme. If you are not yet in Year 12, you are a bit ahead of the game for this year’s programme. Please fill out the online survey to register your interest for the programme and to be reminded when applications open in late 2024.

Students must be in Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland or Year 13 in Northern Ireland to be eligible, so programme participants are typically between the ages of 16 – 18.

If your parent attended university as a mature student, whether or not they have yet completed their degree, you are technically not a first generation student, so please tick ‘No’. However, please use the ‘Further Context and Extenuating Circumstances’ section of the ‘Family Information’ form in the application to explain this in the text box provided. Students are not required to be first generation to participate in the programme and we accept applications from students whose parents hold degrees.

Yes, if your school is funded by the government (i.e. not a fee paying school) it meets our eligibility criteria.

No, this programme is intended only for students from state schools, as the Sutton Trust aim to provide support to students who receive the least support from their schools. However, the US-UK Fulbright Commission would be pleased to support your interest in studying in the States in other ways. Visit their website for information about how to apply to American universities and upcoming events.

No, this programme is intended for students who have attended state school only, as the Sutton Trust aim to provide support to students who receive the least support from their schools. That said, the US-UK Fulbright Commission would be pleased in supporting your interest in studying in the States in other ways. Visit their website for information about how to apply to American universities and upcoming events.

Yes, you may apply to both, but if you accept a place on the US Programme then you won’t get a place on the Sutton Trust UK summer school. This is to make sure as many students as possible benefit from the programmes.

No, you can only take part in one Sutton Trust programme. This is to make sure as many students as possible benefit from the programmes.

No. Applicants should agree to participate in all elements of the programme.

If you fall just below the academic criteria or are unsure if you meet the household income criteria, but meet all other criteria and feel your application has other strengths, then you should still apply for the programme. Students are not required to be first generation to participate in the programme and we accept applications from students whose parents hold degrees. We will consider your applications holistically and take all aspects of your application into account. However, we cannot accept applications from students who do not attend state schools, are not in Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland or Year 13 in Northern Ireland.

If you are in doubt, please apply and explain your circumstances in the application form. We look at each student’s application holistically, so if you are worried you may be ineligible but are very interested, you should apply. Each year we receive applications from students with very specific and personal family or financial circumstances, so we have text boxes in the application form to give you the space to explain your situation. This allows us to understand you holistically as an applicant.

If you have been home schooled in your early school years or at GCSE, you can still apply for the programme. Please be sure to fully explain your circumstances in the Academic Profile section of the online application.

Yes, we accept alternative qualifications, such as BTECs, for entry to the programme and welcome your application. However like US universities, we will take rigor of curriculum into account when choosing applicants. Generally speaking, the most highly-competitive US universities will seek applicants who have taken the most rigorous course of study available to them, which is generally considered to be A-levels (which can be taken alongside the BTEC Nationals), IB, Welsh Bacc and Scottish Highers. There is space in the application form to detail and explain any alternative qualifications.

Yes we accept alternative qualifications. There is space in the application form to detail and explain any alternative qualifications so please try to provide as much information as possible.

Generally this will mean a total household income of around £50,000 or less (before taxes). If you are unsure if you meet the household income criteria, or fall slightly above this criteria and feel your application has other strengths, then you should still apply for the programme.

Students interested in all fields and from all backgrounds are welcome to apply. However, please note that law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine are only offered at the postgraduate level.

For all of these fields aside from law, most British students find courses in the UK to be shorter and more affordable and choose to study in the US short-term as part of a UK course or for their postgraduate studies/research. Students interested in law may study a related field at the undergraduate level and then return to the UK to complete a law conversion course, so the programme may still be for them, but they’ll want to consider this before applying.

However, due to the cost and length of a medical school degree, roughly 1.5% of medical school students at US universities are international. For more information, visit the Subject Specific Information page of the Fulbright website.

While we understand that having citizenship does not necessarily mean students have spent significant time in the US, students do have many more opportunities open to them by holding citizenship, e.g. the possibility of federal financial aid and loans that cannot be accessed by international students. Through this programme, we hope to encourage students to consider the US who may have never thought this could be an option for them, and have little resources to help them along the way. Also, our programme works with students through the process of applying for US universities as an international student, rather than the different process of applying as a US citizen.

Unfortunately we will not consider any applicants who hold US citizenship, even if they have never lived in the US. This is so we are able to provide a unique cultural experience to students who otherwise may be unable to experience US culture.

The student application deadline for the 2025 programme is 11:59p.m. on Tuesday, 14th January 2025.

The deadline to submit the school reference form will be a couple of days after the student application deadline.

Yes, when you have created your account you can save your application at any stage and return to it at a time convenient to you. You can do this by clicking ‘save’ at the bottom of each section before leaving the page. You will only be able to submit your application when all sections are fully completed.

The student application form helps us get to know you better and give us a better chance of knowing all of your strengths and accomplishments, and provides us context of your family, school, background and of your successes.

Both the student and school form are based on the US Common Application, an admissions application used by almost 900 American institutions, and CSS Profile financial aid form. By using an application modelled after the Common Application, we will be able to follow the holistic model of admissions used by American universities. This will help inform our decision by allowing us to gain a full view of your academic performance, your successes both inside and outside of the classroom and ability to make the most of this programme. We also hope that students and schools will get in the mindset of US admissions and be able to re-use components of our application if they apply to a US university next autumn.

We want to find out about your family and financial situation to fully understand the context of your achievements, so if your background has somehow limited your opportunities we will take this into account. Likewise, if you have gone to a good school with many opportunities, we want to ensure you’ve taken advantage of these. These questions are also similar to those you will find on US university financial aid forms to give the university a full picture of your family’s financial situation, in order to award you the proper amount of financial aid.

US universities take into account both parents’ financial situations when awarding financial aid and scholarships, and both birth parents are expected to contribute to the student’s educational costs. However, if you are estranged from either of your parents, do not know the whereabouts of one of your parents or if one parent does not support you financially at all, this will be taken into account by US universities. We will follow a similar policy and encourage you be completely honest and to explain any details of your financial situation in the space provided on the application form.

The Parent/Guardian section 1 is required, so if you live completely alone and support yourself, please enter ‘N/A’ for any required fields, or ‘0’ for any boxes requiring a numerical answer, and explain your circumstances fully in the ‘Further Context and Extenuating Circumstances’ section.

If your parent attended university as a mature student, whether or not they have yet completed their degree, you are technically not a first generation student, so please tick ‘No’. However, please use the ‘family and financial information’ section of the application form to explain this in a text box provided. Students are not required to be first generation to participate in the programme and we accept applications from students whose parents hold degrees.

We would like you to complete the application as best you can, and it will be to your benefit to complete the form as fully as you can as we want to get to know each student through their application. If, for example, you do not have 10 extracurricular activities, this is okay. If you skip the essay questions however, this is not OK.

We ask specific questions in the ‘Family Information’ section, including these two questions, so that you can provide as much information about your family circumstances as possible. If there are other very specific issues that are not addressed directly in questions, we have provided an additional information box so you have the opportunity to provide us with any other information you feel is necessary to explain your circumstances.

Ultimately, we are looking for students who will make the most of this excellent opportunity. See the Who Can Apply? page for information on how applicants will be selected.

The Sutton Trust Fulbright US Programme staff will choose participants.

We will be releasing decisions in early March 2025.

Please see the full guidance document that is linked on the application form, as it answers all questions you may have about the video application. We encourage you to reach out to your teachers, family, and friends to see if they might be able to help. The video interview is crucial for staff to get to know you better, so we strongly encourage all applicants to submit one.

We would encourage you to start the application early so you have plenty of time to complete each section. Be sure to read the questions carefully and fill in the form according to the application instructions. Make sure all parts of the application form are filled in and that you submit your application online by the deadline. Be sure to liaise with your school early to give them plenty of time to submit your reference. Double check your reference has been completed and submitted (you can see the status of this in the School Details section).

US universities follow a holistic admissions process and are interested in your activities both inside and outside the classroom that is not required by your school. This can include work experience, school clubs or organisations, voluntary roles, sports, theatre, music, hobbies and interests. Activities like watching a younger sibling after school or acting as a carer for a family member are considered extra-curricular activities as well.

No. You will input the details in your online application of a teacher, head of year/sixth from, careers advisor or other school representative that you feel can best represent you, to fill out the online reference. They will outline your academic achievements, successes outside of the classroom and your potential to succeed as an undergraduate in the US. After you have input their details into your student application, you will select to send an email invitation to this representative. When they receive this email, they will complete the teacher reference form online. Before selecting to send this invitation email, please speak to your chosen school referee to make sure they are able and willing to submit this reference on your behalf.

If your school referee does not receive the email, please take the following steps:

1. Check you have entered their email address correctly. If you have not, you should delete your reference request from your application and submit the correct details instead.
2. Make sure they check their junk mail folder. The email will have been sent from the Sutton Trust Fulbright US Programme from [email protected] with the subject line “Reference request.”
3. If you have entered the email address correctly and they cannot find the email in their junk mail folder then it is likely that the security blocks on the school email system have filtered out the invitation email. In this instance, you should ask your teacher to contact us at [email protected] and we will provide them with a link to the reference form.

The reference will be in support of your application and can be completed by any member of staff at your current school who knows you well enough to comment on your academic performance and personal contribution to your school. This is likely to be a current teacher, head of year, guidance counsellor, careers advisor, head teacher or deputy head, but it is up to you who you would like to select. If you feel like a teacher at your previous school would be better placed to write your reference, it is okay for your current school to collaborate with your previous school and combine these into one reference. Your current school would still be the main point of contact and the person who submits the online reference. The school reference must not be written by a family member or family friend.

If you have entered the referee email address incorrectly or you decide to change your referee before you have completed and submitted your student application, you will need to delete your request in the School Details section and click the button to “+ New Request” in order to enter your teacher details again.

If you choose to change your referee, please make sure you have communicated this with both your previous and new school referee.

Due to the volume of applications we receive, it is not possible to comment on individual applications.

Don’t worry! Even if you are not selected for the programme, help from the EducationUSA team at Fulbright is still available. Take advantage of the information posted on the Fulbright website, attend an Undergraduate Study in the US seminar or webinar and come to our USA College Day event.

The form can be found online, similar to the student application. School representatives will be invited by email to complete the form when the student enters their details into the student application.

Yes. We require a teacher reference form to gain a greater insight into the academic and personal achievements that make you suitable for this programme. The student’s application will not be considered without the school reference form.

The student is fully responsible for ensuring this teacher completes the online form after they receive their invitation email. The student should ensure the teacher has completed the form by the deadline.

If you do not receive the email, please take the following steps:
1. Ask your student if they have entered your email address correctly. If they have not, they should delete their reference request from their application and submit the correct details instead.
2. Make sure you check your junk mail folder. The email will have been sent from the Sutton Trust Fulbright US Programme from [email protected] with the subject line “Reference request.”
3. If they have entered the email address correctly and you cannot find the email in your junk mail folder then it is likely that the security blocks on your school email system have filtered out the invitation email. In this instance, you should contact us at [email protected] and we will provide you with a link to the reference form.

No. The reference will be in support of your application and can be completed by any member of staff at your current school who knows you well enough to comment on your academic performance and personal contribution to your school. This is likely to be a current teacher, head of year, guidance counsellor, careers advisor, head teacher or deputy head, but it is up to you who you would like to select. If you feel like a teacher at your previous school would be better placed to write your reference, it is okay for your current school to collaborate with your previous school and combine these into one reference. Your current school would still be the main point of contact. The school reference must not be written by a family member or family friend.

The reference must be submitted and in the name of a sixth form school representative. We understand that students may feel a GCSE teacher would be better placed to write this reference, so it is okay for their current school to collaborate with their previous school and combine these into one reference. The current sixth form school would still be the main point of contact, and responsible for completing and submitting the reference online. The school reference must not be written by a family member or family friend.

GCSE teachers should not complete the school reference. The school reference should only be completed and submitted by a school representative from the student’s current sixth form. Saying that, we understand that students may feel a GCSE teacher would be better placed to write this reference, so it is okay for their current school to collaborate with their previous school and combine these into one reference. However, the current sixth form school would still be the main point of contact and the person who completes and submits the reference online.

Yes. The School Reference form must be completed in one sitting. It is not possible to save answers and return to this form due to software constraints. The online version of the School Reference form must be completed and submitted online by the deadline.

Yes, that’s absolutely fine. If you are supporting more than one applicant, then please ensure you are completing each reference form for the correct student.

For the school reference, you will need to verify that, to the best of your knowledge, the student meets our programme eligibility criteria on our Who Can Apply page and confirm that you are willing to support them with their applications to US universities.

All school representatives must be truthful in their assessment of the student. If you are not comfortable doing so, please bear in mind that a Student Application will not be considered for the programme without the School Reference form. Therefore, if you are unable to supply this reference for your student, please inform them immediately so that the student can arrange for another referee to complete the form.