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It’s a special moment when you receive a university offer. After months of preparation, coupled with even more months of waiting, to finally receive an offer can feel like a big weight lifted off your shoulders.
What happens next, though, is what’s critically important. Don’t just leave your offer sitting there gathering dust. Go through these steps before choosing whether to accept or decline.
Conditional and unconditional offers – what do they mean?
Your offer will be one of two types – either a conditional offer or an unconditional offer. Depending on the nature of the offer, there may be a few requirements you have to fulfil before officially getting your university place.
An unconditional offer means they want you no matter what – so all you need to do is log in to your UCAS Hub account and officially accept the offer. There will be instructions on how to do this on Hub.
If you’ve been given a conditional offer, this means you must achieve a particular grade in whatever qualification you’re studying. You’ve got a place reserved on the course you’ve applied for, but you need to keep working hard in order to secure it.
Missing out on the grade you need on results day will feel disheartening, but it isn't the end of the world. You'll have options. Each year Clearing provides several courses that still have places available for students to apply for. Another option is to chat to the admissions team of the course you missed out getting a place on. If you've worked your socks off, and you can demonstrate your enthusiasm for the uni and its course, it's worth seeing if they'll still accept you.
Have another look
Chances are you've probably already scoped out the university, its campus and the course itself in person. But now you've been given an official offer, it’s worth revisiting this.
Book an open day, even if you’ve already attended one, in order to get that extra reassurance that both the university and the course, are the right fit. Revisiting it with a more relaxed and less anxious viewpoint means you’ll be more aware of the pros and cons you might have previously ignored when you initially applied.
We suggest also reading student reviews to gain that added insight into what you can expect from the student experience. Attending open days are an effective tool in scoping out the university itself, but reading what both current and past students have said about their experience on the course you're set to study and the university itself can help illuminate the intricacies of what may lie ahead – from the accommodation and student support to local life.
Student finance
Before accepting any offer, be sure that you know how you'll be funding your degree. Ensuring that you have your student finance sorted will give you peace of mind going forward.
The sooner you contact Student Finance and fill out all of the necessary forms, the sooner you can relax and start thinking about how you’ll design your new room.
University interviews
University interviews won’t occur for every course you apply for, but you may be asked to attend one before your place is secured. If you’re applying for any Oxbridge course, and are shortlisted, you will be required to attend an interview to prove that you are an ideal candidate.
If you are required to interview, it will generally be because the university might want to interview you just to confirm that you're really sure of your decision. Try not to think of this as a big deal. This is standard practice for a lot of universities. Just remember they're already keen to offer you a place, so this just serves as a confirmation for both parties.
How to accept a university offer on UCAS
If you’ve decided to accept your university offer, great! When you log in to your UCAS Hub, you'll be able to see any outstanding offers you have. You'll be able to reply to the offer, saying that you would like to accept.
If you are replying to an unconditional offer, then accepting the offer will confirm your place on the course. If you are replying to a conditional offer, then accepting the offer will confirm your place, provided that you meet the necessary grade requirements.
How to decline UCAS offer after accepting
You don’t have to accept an offer if you don’t want to. If you've applied for numerous places and this is simply the first one to get back to you, don't feel pressured to accept right away. If you want to wait a little longer, or are having second thoughts, that’s completely normal.
You can always change your mind if another uni offers you a place. Remember, the only person you have to be 100% loyal to is yourself and your best interests! Do note, however, that the deadline for accepting or declining your choices is 6 June 2024 if you received all your offers by 16 May 2024.
If you do decide that you want to decline your offer, even if you accepted it initially but have now decided to change your mind, you can do so through UCAS Hub. This can be done by logging in to your UCAS Hub account and clicking the ‘decline my place’ button.
If you do decide that you want to decline your place, be absolutely sure. Before declining, speak to the university or college first. If you wish to stay at the same university, but do a different course, speaking to the university or college first will allow you to easily facilitate this switch and confirm that there is a place for you on the course you wish to switch to.
Declining your place will also allow you to release yourself into Clearing. This can provide another opportunity to find hundreds of courses with places still vacant.
NEXT:
Find out what other students think of your chosen university
Start thinking about accommodation and finance
