Understanding university jargon

An introduction to the most common terms

You’ve got your offer to study at university and you should be excited. One problem - the offer has words in it that make no sense to you. Don’t worry! Universities are aware of this, but they love to continue using “internal language” that benefits their world. 

I’ve listed some of the most common words and phrases below to help you become more confident in your understanding. 

Conditional offer - you have an offer to study at the university you’ve applied for, providing that you are able to meet certain conditions they’ve set. You might have a deadline to meet these conditions by. 

Unconditional offer - your offer to study at the university comes with no extra conditions. This is as good as it’s going to get!

Sandwich year - this is the term used to describe if you take on an undergraduate degree course which will include one year studying abroad, or completing a year long work placement. You would complete two years of your degree, do your “sandwich” year in your third year, and then come back to the university to finish your third and final year. It essentially extends a three year course to four years. 

Find out more about the terms universities use, by having a look at our Jargon buster. 

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