What to do once you’ve applied to uni

Check upcoming open days and book your place

So, you've hit ‘send’ on your UCAS application... Yay! This is a really exciting time, but if you’re already wondering what happens next, we’ve got you covered. Have a read of our guide to what to do once you’ve applied to uni...

Track your application

Once you sent your application out into the ether, a whole new corner of the UCAS website opens up to you, called Hub. Hub is where you can see in real time if your first choice uni has received your application yet, and when it’s been read. Knowing that your lovingly crafted personal statement hasn’t somehow got lost can be a huge weight off your mind.

Track your interviews

Obviously you’re a right clever clogs –you’re here after all! So we bet once you send your application, pretty soon you’re going to start being invited to attend interviews.

Hub will update you when you have a new interview invite and store them all in the same place so you can keep on top of where you need to be and where.

Get prepared

Once you've got some interviews booked in, it's time to do a little pre-interview preparation...

If you can, hunt out your personal statement and familiarise yourself with what you wrote, so you’re ready to expand on anything you mentioned if asked. It's also a good idea to re-read any source materials such as articles or books that you mentioned, plus have a skim of the news to make sure there's been no major developments in your field of interest that have somehow passed you by. It's always good to be knowledgeable about current affairs, you never know what might come up in conversation!

Once you've done that, you might want to browse some sample interview questions, or even print some out and get your parents or friends to give you a mock interview, just to practice your technique.

Go to offer holder days

University isn't just about them picking you - it's about you picking them too! So if you haven't already, get down to some offer holder days, also known as applicant days, so you can check out the facilities, meet some of the staff and take a look around the campus and the surrounding area. You'll be spending three or four years wherever you end up accepting an offer, so it's wise to know in advance if it's the sort of place where you’d like to live.

You might choose to check out all the institutions you apply to, or just the ones that make you offers – either’s fine, just be aware there may be a limit on how long you have to respond to an offer, so make sure you leave yourself enough time.

Learn more about offer holder days and why they're important.

Keep on top of your offers

Back in the bad old days, when a university made you an offer, you had to wait for a letter to arrive in the post before you knew about it – nightmare. Thankfully these days the process is a lot quicker, and as soon as you start receiving offers they’ll pop up in the ‘Offers’ section of your UCAS account.

So not only do you get to hear the exciting news that someone has made the excellent decision to offer you a place right away, but with all your offers in the same place, you can also easily keep on top of your options, compare the grades you need to fulfil for each of your offers and make an informed choice about where to go.

Study, study, study

This might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but in all the excitement about picking a uni, it’s easy to forget you’ve got a few exams to pass first!

You might find it helpful to draw up a revision time table (being sure to leave time for tea breaks – no one can study eight hours a day without a break, nor should you try), set up a study group with some friends, or put in some time at the library where you’ll be free from the distractions of TV and the internet (try to put your phone away for a few hours, too).