Confident Futures at Cardiff University: eligibility, deadline and what it gives you
Confident Futures is Cardiff University's programme for care-experienced, adopted and estranged young people and young carers aged 14 and over. It runs free one-day campus visits, booked individually or through a school, with talks from students with lived experience, a campus scavenger hunt and sessions on wellbeing and budgeting, plus training for the professionals who support them. Taking part makes you a contextual applicant at Cardiff, which gives extra consideration when Medicine and Dentistry interviews are allocated.
- Closes
- Not published
- For
- Age 14 and over students, medicine and dentistry
- Where
- Anywhere in the UK
- Gives you
- Contextual flag
What you get
Completing Confident Futures gives you a contextual flag for medicine and dentistry at Cardiff University.
- Counts as a Cardiff contextual applicant in the year you take part and the year after
- Extra consideration in the scoring used to select Medicine (A100) and Dentistry (A200) applicants for interview, and possibly an offer within the lower end of the grade range
- No guaranteed interview: at Cardiff that is reserved for Step Up, Sutton Trust, Doctoriaid Yfory and the North Wales Dentistry Scheme
- Campus days are free, with lunch provided and travel support on request
Who can apply
You need to
- Live anywhere in the UK and be able to travel to Cardiff for a campus day
- Be care-experienced, adopted, estranged or a young carer, aged 14 or over
Plus at least one of
- Care-experienced
- Estranged from parents
- Young carer
What it involves
- Attend a Confident Futures campus day
Dates
- Applications open
- Not published, sign up for each campus day as it is announced
- Applications close
- No 2026/27 campus days listed yet; the last were 25 March and 20 May 2026
- Programme runs
- One-day campus visits, in past years in Dec, Mar and May
- Apply to university
- UCAS deadline 15 October 2027 for 2028 entry
How to apply
Apply through the Confident Futures campus days page. It is run by Cardiff University Widening Participation team. Questions go to outreach@cardiff.ac.uk.
Frequently asked questions
Does Confident Futures guarantee an interview?
No. Confident Futures gives a contextual flag rather than a guaranteed interview. Counts as a Cardiff contextual applicant in the year you take part and the year after.
Who is eligible for Confident Futures?
Live anywhere in the UK and be able to travel to Cardiff for a campus day. You need to be care-experienced, adopted, estranged or a young carer, aged 14 or over, and meet at least one of its widening participation criteria, such as care-experienced, estranged from parents, young carer.
When is the Confident Futures deadline?
This cycle's closing date has not been published. No 2026/27 campus days listed yet; the last were 25 March and 20 May 2026. Applications not published, sign up for each campus day as it is announced.
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