Education Eye: UCAS done. Now’s the time to think carefully

UCAS application submitted - what next?
Catherine StokerCatherine Stoker
Catherine Stoker

You can keep tabs on your University applications using the log in details for UCAS Track from the letter or email you received after applying.

Details of offers will appear here, as and when they’re made. They are in no particular order and may take a bit of time to come through. Be patient, even if your friends have heard and you haven’t.

If you gave a valid email address on your application, you’ll receive an email when universities have made a decision and you’ll need to log in to Track for details.

Once you’ve received replies from all of your choices, you can make your decisions and reply through UCAS Track. If an offer is un-conditional, acceptance confirms your place, so you need to be certain this is what you want. If offers are conditional on exam results or other factors, you can accept two. One of your choices must be a firm acceptance, in other words first choice and you can also choose an insurance acceptance or back-up.

Think carefully. Your first choice really does need to be just that. Be ambitious but realistic and listen to the advice of your teachers when deciding whether you can attain the grade requirements of the offer. Your back-up, whilst being conditional upon lower grades in case of a hiccup on results day, must still be on a course which inspires you towards your future career ambitions, at a university that you would be happy to attend.

Once you have decided on offers to accept, you need to decline any others. If you don’t receive any offers or decide to decline all those you receive, you may be able to use Extra to add more course choices, usually if you haven’t already made applications to five. If this option is available to you, a button will appear when you log in to track your application. You also have the option to wait and see which courses become available in Clearing later on.

Instead of an immediate offer, you may be invited for interview in which case prepare well. Some tips for this will appear next time.

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