Apply to the Academy

For most courses, the closing date for submitting your application in UCAS Conservatoires is 2 October 2024, 18:00 (UK time). There are exceptions to this, all the Academy deadlines are shown in the table below.
For Academy deadlines after 2 October, please disregard the default 2 October UCAS deadline seen in UCAS Conservatoires.

These details are for students applying to start their studies at the Academy in September 2025.

Applications for 2025 entry are open in UCAS Conservatoires and you can find a direct link to UCAS Conservatoires through the 'Courses' page for your Department.

International candidates are welcome to audition either in London or by video. We also offer in-person auditions for most principal studies/specialisms in New York. Please see the section above for application deadlines.

For more information about New York auditions, see the International Auditions section of our Auditions page.

Musical Theatre department recalls are in-person.

If you have missed the deadline specified for your course, please contact our admissions team before submitting a late application.

References should be submitted through the Acceptd portal, we regret we are unable to accept paper references.

• Please put your referee details (including their email address) into your Acceptd profile application. Acceptd will contact them directly when you submit the application; then they can upload a reference document, or they can type the reference directly into the Acceptd system.

• We ask that the referee responses for video applications and our December auditions are in Acceptd by the end of November.
  
  For Orchestral Conducting, Musical Direction and Coaching, Choral Conducting, Research Degree, Repetiteur, CPD Diploma, Musical Theatre and New York auditions we ask that the referee responses are in Acceptd before the recall/second round.
• Your profile will show as 'Pending' until both referees have responded; your application will still be processed by the Academy while Acceptd is on Pending status.

Guidelines for new candidates

• You will need two references, each from a separate referee
• Referees cannot be family, relatives or close friends
• Referees should not send references by email or post to the Academy (please only use the Acceptd portal)
• See the UCAS Conservatoires guidance for information on suitable referees, and the contents of a reference. There is also UCAS guidance for mature students.
• Because we use Acceptd for your references, you do not need to have the references in your UCAS Conservatoires application.
  In the UCAS Conservatoires application you can tick the box to say that the references are being sent separately. You will need to complete the referee details boxes, but UCAS will not contact them and you will be able to submit your application.
• If your referees have already put references into UCAS Conservatoires, or are doing so because you are also applying to other conservatoires in UCAS, when they get the Acceptd request they only need to write "In UCAS".

Guidelines for existing Academy students (excluding exchange and study abroad students)

If you are currently enrolled at the Academy and are applying for a new course with the same principal study (specialism):

• You will need one academic reference from either your current academic Tutor (postgraduates) or current Head of Year (undergraduates) - please refer to your course handbook.
• The referee should not be your Head of Department or your Principal Study professor.
• Input your academic referee's details into both of the fields in Acceptd. The referee only needs to respond once.
• You do not need a practical (music) reference from your Principal Study teacher.

However, if you are applying for a new course with a different Principal Study, we will need the academic reference from your Tutor/Head of Year and also a practical reference from your professor.

• If you are a Postgraduate Vocal Studies student at the Academy applying for Royal Academy Opera we do not require a reference in your Opera profile. In the Acceptd reference fields you can put your own details.

Payment

• The Academy assessment fee payable directly to UCAS Conservatoires is £100 and you also will need to pay the £28.50 UCAS Conservatoires registration fee. Payment is made online to UCAS when you submit the application.
• Assessment fees do not apply to Répétiteur candidates
• Fees are payable by credit/debit card in the UCAS Conservatoires online payment system when submitting your application.
• If you experience problems with the payment system please contact UCAS directly for assistance and guidance about other possible payment methods.

Refunds

• If you withdraw your Academy application before your entrance assessment, you won’t be entitled to a refund of the Academy fee unless you withdraw within 14 days of submitting the application to UCAS; the Academy will notify UCAS and you should receive the Academy fee from UCAS Conservatoires.
• If you completely withdraw your whole UCAS Conservatoires application within 14 days of submitting it, UCAS Conservatoires will refund your payment directly to you, including the UCAS registration fee.

There are two waiver schemes available.

UCAS Application and Assessment Fee Waiver Scheme
You can apply for a place through UCAS Conservatoires without needing to pay the UCAS fee or a Conservatoire application fee (assessment fee), if you currently receive UK government funded Free School Meals or have been in receipt of them in the last six years.

What do I need to do?
In the “More About You” section of your UCAS Conservatoires application, please confirm that you currently receive UK government funded Free School Meals or have been in receipt of them in the last six years. This will qualify you for the Application and Assessment Fee Waiver Scheme and UCAS will contact you by email with additional instructions.
Please get in touch with UCAS Conservatoires if you’re not sure if you qualify for the scheme.

If, by mistake, you tick the box to indicate that you have been in receipt of government funded Free School Meals, you must ensure that you change your response to this question before you submit your application.

Then:
Complete the remaining sections of your application.
Go to the payment page, select “Pay using a different method” and submit your application. Then look out for the UCAS Conservatoires welcome email, check your junk mail as well as your In box.
After you’ve received the welcome email, contact UCAS Conservatoires by emailing casadmin@ucas.ac.uk from the email address you have used for your application. Please include the following details in your email:

• Full Name
• Date of Birth
• UCAS Personal ID Number
• Address and Postcode

Please see below for information about support with travel costs.

Royal Academy of Music Application Fee Waiver Scheme
Application fee waivers may be granted when candidates (or their parent or legal guardian if the candidate is under 28) are in receipt of the following UK government benefits:

• 16-19 Bursary Fund
• EMA
• Disabled Students Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Income Support
• Job Seeker’s Allowance
• Tax Credits

Please note, with these waivers the UCAS Conservatoires £28.50 registration fee cannot be waived and must be paid.

Please submit up-to-date documentary evidence of the benefit (scanned and attached to an email) to admissions@ram.ac.uk, quoting your UCAS Conservatoires personal ID number.
If the benefit recipient is your parent or legal guardian, please also send a document confirming their relationship to you (for example, a scan of your longform birth certificate including parent names).
If the documentation is not in English, we must also receive an English translation certified by an official translator.

• Please do not send bank statements, tax documents, or wage slips, and please do not post paper documents to us.

You will need to start your UCAS Conservatoires application in order to generate your ID number and you will need to pay the £28.50 UCAS registration fee, but do not pay the Academy fee.

More information about submitting your application and only paying the UCAS application charge can be found on the UCAS website here.

We will process your waiver request as soon as we can, but please allow at least five working days. We regret that assessments for our application fee waivers cannot be made after the panel assessment has taken place.

Please see below for information about support with travel costs.

Travel Costs

The Academy will be pleased to support audition travel costs for students receiving the UCAS or the Academy application fee waiver.
This is available for UK domiciled students under 27 years old up to the cost of £100 for one person’s standard-class public transport return travel, from their home to the Academy.

We expect to publish audition (or composition interview) date notifications by email at the following times, please check your junk mailbox in case the message is caught in your spam filter:

There is no separate application process for entrance scholarships. These are awarded on merit, after audition (or composition interview).

For more details, see Fees, Scholarships and Bursaries.

Results will be issued through your UCAS Conservatoires Hub after the Academy’s Selection Board has finalised their decision. For most studies, this is usually before Christmas in December.

Results for Exchange/Study Abroad applications are usually issued in May via your coordinator.

Read Understanding your result for more information.