Astrophysics has a special flavour. With the arrival of space-based instrumentation and gravitational wave detection, some of the most exciting discoveries in your lifetime are likely to come in astrophysics.
We can't conduct experiments on stars or galaxies as they're too far away and too big. Instead, we need to piece together explanations of what we see. This involves understanding the fundamental physics - mechanics, quantum theory, relativity, thermodynamics - and trying to work out what they imply for extra-solar planets, galaxies, stars, and the Universe as a whole.
The course covers the principles of physics and their application to explain astrophysical phenomena. In your first year, you will study the classification of astrophysical objects and how we observe them. During the second year, you will study the solar system and stars in some detail. In the third and fourth years, you can study a range of topics including cosmology, exoplanets, the physics of compact objects (black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs), general relativity, and our Sun.
You will be taught by, mentored by, and work on projects with, our astrophysicists.
Entry requirements
A level typical offer
A*AA to include A in Mathematics (or Further Mathematics) and Physics.
A level contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is AAA including A Level Maths and Physics. See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
International Baccalaureate (IB) typical offer
38 to include 6 in Higher Level Mathematics ('Analysis and Approaches' only) and 6 in Higher Level Physics.
International Baccalaureate (IB) contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is 36 including 6 in Higher Level Mathematics ('Analysis and Approaches' only) and 6 in Higher Level Physics. See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
BTEC
We welcome applications from students taking a BTEC qualification alongside A level Maths and Physics.
We may consider a BTEC qualification in a relevant Science or Engineering subject alongside A level Maths only on an individual basis.
Scotland Advanced Highers
AA in Advanced Higher Mathematics and Advanced Higher Physics and AAA in Highers in 3 further subjects.
Welsh Baccalaureate
A*A at A level including Maths and Physics, plus grade B in one further A level subject and grade C in the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales.
Access to Higher Education Diplomas
We will consider applicants returning to study who are presenting a QAA-recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma on a case-by-case basis.
Typically, we require 45 Credits at Level 3, including Distinction in 33 Level 3 credits and Merit in 12 Level 3 Credits. We may also require subject specific credits or an A level to be studied alongside the Access to Higher Education Diploma to fulfil essential subject requirements.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
Warwick may make differential offers to students in certain circumstances, such as those who have participated in a Widening Participation programme or who meet the University’s contextual data criteria. These offers are usually one or two grades below Warwick’s standard offer.
Do you offer foundation programmes?
All students who successfully complete the Warwick International Foundation Programme (IFP) and apply to Warwick through UCAS will receive a guaranteed conditional offer for a related undergraduate programme, for selected courses only. Further details are available in the standard offer and conditions for the IFP.
Can I take a gap year before starting my course?
Yes, Warwick welcomes applications for deferred (gap year) entry.
Will I need to interview for this course?
Warwick does not typically interview applicants. Offers are made based on the UCAS application, including predicted and achieved grades, the personal statement, and the school reference.
In the first two years, you cover the fundamentals that apply throughout physics, such as mechanics and quantum theory, and meet the major phenomena observed in stars and space. There are also practical classes to develop laboratory and observational skills.
In later years you look more closely at the phenomena that we can observe as well as those we would like to observe. Examples include star and galaxy formation, cosmology (how the universe was formed and where it may be going), the structure of our sun, and the formation of planets and other solar systems.
In the final year, you complete a year-long research project, which can be observational, theoretical, or some combination of these.
Note that the module catalogue is subject to change for future years of study, as we evolve our courses in response to the latest developments in academia and industry.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Fees and funding
Tuition fee
£9,790
On 26 November 2025, the UK government announced that the tuition fee cap for UK undergraduate students for the 2026-27 academic year would increase to £9,790 from the 2025-26 rate of at £9,535.
Students who qualify for government-regulated fees are classed as ‘Home’ students for fees purposes. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government (if permitted by law or government policy).
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
You will repay your loan or loans gradually once you are working and earning above a certain amount. For students starting their course after 1 August 2023 (on Student Finance England’s Plan 5), you will repay when your income is over £25,000 a year.
Repayments will be taken directly from your salary if you are an employee. If your income falls below the earnings threshold or you stop working, your repayments will stop until your income goes back up above this figure.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency Unitemps (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
There are many different funding routes available, including a number of bursaries and scholarships for full-time undergraduates. If you struggle to meet your essential living costs, our Student Funding team will be on hand to offer advice and support.
Provides additional financial support for qualifying Home students from lower income families of up to £2,500 for eligible students
This bursary is paid directly into your bank account in three equal termly instalments to help with the costs of studying
There is no application for this bursary as your details will be provided directly from the student support awarding bodies (Student Finance England, Student Finance Northern Ireland, and Student Awards Agency Scotland)
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award
There are no Departmental scholarships available for our Undergraduate courses, however there are other scholarships which you may be eligible for. Please see our scholarships web pages for more information.
Tuition fee
If you are an overseas student enrolling in 2026-27, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:
Band 1 – £27,870 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
Band 2 – £35,530 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Mathematics, Statistics, Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)
Overseas Tuition fees for 2027-28 academic year have not been set. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with an inflationary uplift. Please check our website for updates about 2027-28 fee rates before you apply.
If you are an EU student and eligible for student finance, you may be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your fees, please visit our Student Funding webpage for guidance for students ordinarily resident outside of England.
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
Eligibility for student finance will depend on certain criteria, such as your nationality, residency status, course, and previous level of study. The information below is based on the package of financial support available to students starting their course in 2026.
Eligible European Union (EU) Undergraduates can apply for a loan to help with the cost of Tuition Fees. Eligible EU students who meet additional residency criteria may also be eligible for a loan to assist with living costs.For more information please see Student Finance for Undergraduates - EU StudentsLink opens in a new window.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency Unitemps (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
If you are an international student, you may be eligible for financial help from your own government, from the British Council or from other funding agencies. You can usually request information on scholarships from the Ministry of Education in your home country, or from the local British Council office.
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award.
As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.
For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue.
Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2025/26 year of study). Information about module specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:
Core text books
Printer credits
Dissertation binding
Robe hire for your degree ceremony
Are there any course specific costs?
Please check with the department.
Teaching and learning
Lectures
Laboratory classes
Time on telescopes
Skills classes
Lecture size will naturally vary from module to module. The first year core modules may have up to 350 students in a session, whilst the more specialist modules in the later years will have fewer than 100.
The core modules in the first year are supported by weekly classes, at which you and your fellow students meet in small groups with a member of the research staff or a postgraduate student.
Tutorials with your personal tutor are normally in groups of 5 students.
You should expect to attend around 12 lectures a week and spend 7 hours on supervised practical (mainly laboratory and computing) work.
For each 1-hour lecture, you should expect to put in a further 1-2 hours of private study.
In any year, about 30% of the overall mark is assigned to coursework.
The weighting for each year's contribution to your final mark is 10:30:60 for the BSc course and 10:20:30:40 for the MPhys course.
We support student mobility through study abroad programmes. BSc students can apply for an intercalated year abroad at one of our partner universities.
The Study Abroad Team offers support for these activities. The Department's Study Abroad Co-ordinator can provide more specific information and assistance.
Careers
Graduates from this course have gone on to work for employers including:
Deloitte Digital
Brunei Shell Petroleum
British Red Cross
EDF Energy
Civil Service
Deutsche Bank
They have pursued roles such as:
IT Professionals
Finance and investment analysts
Scientists
Researchers
Our department has a dedicated Careers Consultant. They offer impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:
Career options with a Physics Degree
Careers in Science
Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
Physics Alumni Evening
Careers and Employer networking event for Physics students
Our Student Opportunity (Careers) department offer a wide range of workshops, from developing confidence and interview techniques to learning how to articulate what you have to offer in order to impress potential employers. Online resources are also available, including training in drafting CVs and covering letters, practice aptitude and psychometric tests, practice online interviews, and other resources to help you research job opportunities. The myAdvantage databaseLink opens in a new window also advertises job, placement and internship vacancies that are from employers who are targeting Warwick students for their recruitment.
Summer placements and projects are encouraged. All students can apply for research vacation projects - small research projects supervised by a member of academic staff.
Life at Warwick
This is where your journey begins. Our campus is the heart of it all. It’s more than just a campus - it's the places you visit, the people you meet, the fun that you have; the experiences you have here will be transformative.
Within a close-knit community of staff and students from all over the world, discover a campus alive with possibilities.
Our campus is where all the elements of your student experience come together in one place. You won't be short of ways to spend your time on campus - whether it's visiting Warwick Arts Centre, using our incredible sports facilities, socialising in our bars, nightclub and cafés, or enjoying an open-air event. Or if you need some peace and quiet, you can explore lakes, woodland and green spaces just a few minutes’ walk from central campus
Follow our students around campus on our social channels to see their experiences first-hand.
Teaching facilities
Our campus is designed to cater for all of your learning needs. You will benefit from a variety of flexible, well-equipped study spaces and teaching facilities across the University.
Oculus, our outstanding learning hub, houses state-of-the-art lecture theatres and innovative social learning and network areas
Different study spaces offering you flexible individual and group study spaces, computers, printing and scanning facilities, multimedia resources and more
Supporting you
Our continuous support network is here to help you adjust to student life and to ensure you can easily access advice on many different issues. These may include managing your finances and workload, and settling into shared accommodation. We also have specialist disability and mental health support teams.
Whether you live in a campus residence or in partnership accommodation off campus, you’ll be part of a community to get the most from your experience at Warwick.
Societies and sports play a huge part in community life at Warwick. With over 300 to choose from, getting involved is one of the easiest ways to make friends and share in experiences. Whether you’re into films, martial arts, astronomy, gaming or musical theatre, you can instantly connect with people with similar interests.
Your university experience is defined by far more than your course or the career path you follow. At Warwick, it’s where you discover who you could become.
74th
Warwick is ranked 74th in the world and top 10 in all major UK league tables
Our alumni community still call Warwick home. From a few hundred in 1965 to more than 310,000 alumni, and it's ever-growing.
As Warwick graduates, our students have access to employability support for two years after graduation, including access to careers appointments, job vacancies and professional networks.
Physics is about beautiful ideas and deep questions.
Physics aims to observe and explain the behaviour of the physical universe. It looks for laws which apply everywhere and to everything. One of the joys of physics is seeing how a simple principle, established after studying one problem, can go on to explain seemingly unrelated phenomena.
Our flexible courses offer excellent teaching informed by our research. You can tailor your course to your interests with optional modules in your later years of study.
These courses share the same core as the three-year versions. They then let you dig deeper with specialised modules. You'll undertake a dedicated research project as well.
This information is applicable for 2027 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our web page 'Important information to consider before making an application' in advance of applying to Warwick.
Next steps
Experience campus at an Open Day. Can't visit? Receive regular email updates or ask current students and staff questions about life at Warwick.
