What to do after graduation: a checklist for UCL graduates

This catches people every year. You assume your UCL email will keep working. It won't. Your UCL account — email, OneDrive, Teams, Moodle, Portico, remote access — closes 90 days after your official course-completion date. UCL doesn't publish one calendar date for everyone the way some universities do; the clock starts from your own end date, which you already know. If there's a gap of more than 90 days before any reactivation, your old emails won't be recoverable.

The day it closes, every lecture recording you bookmarked, every project file on OneDrive, every email thread with a supervisor or placement contact — all of it is inaccessible. If you've set your UCL email as a recovery address on any external service, change that too. A separate alumni email is available afterwards if you opt in, but your messages and contacts don't carry over to it.

Academic transcript

Your official digital documents — transcript, certificate, and HEAR — are issued through Gradintelligence after your graduation ceremony date, digitally signed and shareable for life. You'll get an email notification when your documents are ready. Use your personal email when registering, not your university one. Save copies. You'll need your transcript for job applications, postgraduate applications, and visa processes.

Library

Return any outstanding library loans before your Portico "Expected end date" — after that, loans stop auto-renewing and can't be manually extended. Check you don't have any fines that could hold up your graduation — a small thing, but the kind of small thing that creates problems at the worst possible time.

The biggest risk facing most new graduates isn't unemployment. It's drift. University gave you structure whether you appreciated it or not — lectures, deadlines, timetables, term dates. All of that disappears overnight. Without it, weeks dissolve into months of "figuring it out" without actually doing anything. You tell yourself you'll start properly after the ceremony, then after summer, then when the graduate schemes open. By November, you've been out of education for months with nothing to show for it, and the first question every recruiter asks is what you've been doing since you finished.

Start applying now

Not after the ceremony. Not after your holiday. Now. The longer the gap on your CV, the harder that first conversation with an employer gets. You don't need to land your dream job immediately — you need momentum. Even a temporary or part-time role keeps you active, builds recent experience, and gives you something concrete to talk about while you search for the right thing. The perfect is the enemy of the started.

UCL Careers doesn't end at graduation

This is the most underused resource available to UCL graduates. UCL Careers remains free for three years after your course-completion date — CV reviews, one-to-one career guidance, interview preparation, job listings, and employer events, through myUCLCareers. Activate it while your student login still works; you'll switch to a graduate login once your account closes.

Graduate schemes and timing

The big structured graduate programmes — finance, consulting, tech, civil service — typically open applications between September and November. If you didn't apply during your final year, you haven't missed the boat. Those cycles come round annually, and many companies recruit on a rolling basis throughout the year. Don't use "applications don't open until autumn" as an excuse to do nothing for months. The preparation — researching sectors, tailoring your CV, practising psychometric tests, preparing for assessment centres — can and should start now.

Internships still count

A common misconception: that internships and work experience are only for students. They're not. Post-graduation internships fill the CV gap, give you commercial experience, and frequently convert into full-time offers. If you're weighing up an internship versus waiting for "a proper job," take the internship. Three months of structured work experience is worth infinitely more than three months of job searching from your childhood bedroom.

LinkedIn — do it this week

Update your LinkedIn profile the week you finish. Add your degree, final-year projects, placements, skills, and any relevant experience. Connect with coursemates, lecturers, dissertation supervisors, and anyone you worked with on placements or group projects. Your network is at its strongest right now — everyone is still in the same place, thinking about the same transition, and open to connecting. That window closes fast. A connection request sent now is worth ten times more than a cold request three years from now when you need a referral and they can't remember your name.

Your UCL alumni network

As of graduation, you're part of a global alumni community of more than 350,000 former UCL students. The UCL Alumni Online Community gives you access to networking events, mentoring programmes, and career opportunities. Library access comes in two tiers — reference membership is free (on-site only), or £50 a year gets you borrowing rights for up to five books at a time. Set up your profile now — not in five years when you need something from it.

"The biggest risk facing most new graduates isn't unemployment. It's drift."

— A&F

The perfect job application doesn't exist. The send button does. Build momentum first; refine later. The CV improves with every revision, the cover letter sharpens with every send, the interviewing gets easier with every conversation. None of that improves while you're waiting.

If you're an international student, this section is the most important thing in this article. Everything else — job search, accommodation, finances — depends on resolving your right to remain in the UK first. If you want to stay, this is where you start.

The Graduate Route visa

The Graduate Route visa allows you to stay and work in the UK after completing your degree. It's an unsponsored route — meaning you don't need a job offer or employer sponsorship. You can work in any role, at any skill level, for any employer.

UCL must confirm to the Home Office that you've successfully completed your course before you can apply. Apply before your current Student visa expires — not the week before, but with enough time for processing. The Home Office typically makes a decision within eight weeks, and you can stay in the UK on your existing visa conditions while the application is being processed.

The Graduate Route visa cannot be extended, and you can't add new dependants (only existing dependants from your Student visa can apply to extend). If you want to stay beyond the visa period, you'll need to switch to another route — most commonly the Skilled Worker visa — before it expires. Planning that transition early is important.

If you're returning home

Wrap up your UK admin before you leave the country. Close or convert your bank account. Deregister from your GP. Confirm your forwarding address on Portico so your degree certificate reaches you — if it's posted to the wrong address, UCL won't replace it for free. Notify your landlord and handle your tenancy end properly. It's far easier to sort all of this while you're still in the UK than to do it from another country.

Check your tenancy end date. Most student tenancies run until early-to-mid summer. If you're not sure, check your contract now — not the week you're supposed to move out.

If your tenancy ends before your graduation ceremony, you'll need to sort somewhere to stay for the day. Book accommodation early if family or guests are coming — central London hotels fill up during ceremony season.

Trying to recover a deposit from another city, or another country, is significantly harder than handling it face to face before you leave. Sort it before you hand the keys back, not after.

Staying in the UK?

If you're staying on after your course ends, budget for council tax. Your student exemption ends on your official course end date — not your graduation date. From the day after your course finishes, you're liable. If you're in a shared house where all residents were students and some have now graduated, the exemption no longer applies to the property. Contact your local council to update your details and avoid a surprise bill or, worse, a liability order.

Student bank account

Most banks will convert your student account to a graduate account automatically, but the terms vary. Some graduate accounts extend your interest-free overdraft for a year or two, tapering it down gradually. Others don't. Check with your bank before the switch happens — knowing the timeline for your overdraft changing is the difference between planning for it and being caught out by it.

Student loan repayment

This isn't urgent, but it's worth understanding before your first payslip arrives and you wonder where the money went. You only start repaying your student loan once your income exceeds the repayment threshold. Repayments are 9% of everything you earn above the threshold, deducted automatically through payroll. If your income drops below the threshold at any point, repayments pause.

Cancel, update, or switch

Your TOTUM card and UNiDAYS discounts expire once your student status ends. Any subscriptions tied to your UCL email address — cloud storage, software licences, streaming deals — will stop working once your account closes. Update payment methods and email addresses on anything you want to keep. Cancel direct debits for your student accommodation, gym memberships you won't use, and any other recurring payments tied to your time as a student. A quick audit of your bank statements now saves chasing refunds later.

GP and health

If you're leaving the area, deregister from your current GP practice and register with a new one at your next address. NHS registration isn't automatic — you have to do it yourself. Collect any repeat prescriptions before you move, and request copies of your medical records if you want them. If you're staying registered where you are, no action is needed.

If you're attending your ceremony, you'll receive your certificate on the day. Degree-award cutoffs vary by ceremony — your degree must be fully awarded and any outstanding tuition fees settled by the cutoff for your own ceremony, which the graduation website lists.

If you're graduating in absentia, your certificate will be posted to the home address on your Portico record. Make sure that address is correct and up to date before the registration deadline — UCL won't replace a certificate sent to the wrong address for free. If you don't complete the graduation registration process at all, your certificate won't be sent automatically; you'll need to request it separately.

Your certificate, transcript, and HEAR are also available digitally through Gradintelligence after your ceremony date. You won't need these documents often, but when you do — for a job, a visa application, a professional registration — you'll need them immediately.

The people you studied alongside for the past three or four years are about to scatter across the country and, in many cases, across the world. Right now, you're all in the same position — finishing at the same time, navigating the same transition, still within easy reach. That won't last. Within six months, everyone is somewhere different, absorbed in their own next step, and the relationships that felt permanent start to feel distant.

Keep your UCL network alive now, while it's easy. A quick message to a coursemate, a LinkedIn connection with a project partner, a coffee with someone from your seminar group before you all leave. These small gestures compound. The people you studied with end up in your industry, your sector, your city. A relationship maintained is worth infinitely more than a cold reconnection years down the line.

You're part of a 350,000-strong alumni network spread across the world — it's a resource that appreciates in value over time, but only if you actually use it.

Most of what's on this list takes an afternoon. The time-sensitive items — your IT account, your tenancy, your visa — have real deadlines that won't wait for you. The career items don't have a deadline, which is precisely why people put them off. The absence of urgency feels like the absence of importance. It isn't.

Don't be the person who looks up in November and realises they haven't done anything meaningful since May. The gap between finishing your course and getting traction in whatever comes next is normal — but it should be measured in weeks, not months. Start with the urgent stuff. Then start on the important stuff.