Congratulations on making it this far. You’ve had to make some huge decisions and you’ve put deep thought into your future.
While it may seem like decision after decision, they’re starting to thin out and this could be one of your final ones.
In the next few weeks you’re going to be responding to your offers. (Don’t worry if you haven’t received offers yet, they will vary. Some unis don't respond until June!)
This week, as there is some great information out there already on replying to UCAS offers (which you can find in our useful links section), we’ve summarised the information into a simple, manageable bullet point list.
Where do I start?
- UCAS Track is the place to find your offers and how you can respond.
- You can start responding to your offers once all of the universities you’ve applied for have responded. If you receive an offer from the university you’re set on, you can withdraw any withstanding applications.
- You will have a deadline for replying, so make sure you respond before then. This can be found at the top of the ‘Reply to your offers’ page.
Your options
- Firm acceptance – your first choice, which means the place is yours if you’ve received an unconditional offer (UF). If it’s conditional, the place is all yours as long as you meet their conditions. This is known as … wait for it ... a conditional offer (CF).
- Insurance acceptance – your second choice in case you miss out on the conditions of your firm choice.
- Decline – every other option needs to be declined (or all of your options if you’ve changed your mind).
Take a look at this table of information, explaining what UF, CF, CI etc means.
What if I change my mind?
If you've changed your mind on what you want to study, that's no problem! Our guide on UCAS Extra explains how you can use this process to apply for a different course.
If it's past the 5 July 2023 deadline, there's always Clearing, which we'll go into in a few weeks.
If you've changed your mind on university altogether, that's fine too. Simply decline any offers you've received or, if you've already accepted one, you can contact the university to cancel.
Now that the serious stuff is over, we’re going to end on a controversial, yet important question:
Tasks for this week:
- Sign in to UCAS Track to see how your application is going.
- Apply through UCAS Extra if you need/want to.
- Make your decision on your offers!