UCAS application: what happens next?

Students smiling; student working on a laptop

So, you have already applied and are waiting for a response from your chosen university.

If you’re unsure on what happens next, let us explain to you with our simple step by step guide.

1. Be patient: UCAS will be in touch

Universities receive large volume of applications for UK, EU and international students. When you apply, you will be given a UCAS Personal ID which is unique to you, and you should quote this in any correspondence with the institutions that you’ve applied for.

UCAS will process your application, and will send you a welcome email confirming your personal details and choices (usually within 14 days).

2. Tracking your UCAS application

Once UCAS has provided you with your personal ID, you will be able to register and log into UCAS Hub. When each course provider makes a decision UCAS will let you know that something has changed within your application, prompting you to log into your UCAS Hub.

If you get an offer from one of our chosen courses/universities you can log in and read your offer letter.  You can also use UCAS Hub to accept or decline offers (we’ll go into this in more detail below), as well as to change personal details like your address, phone number and email.

3. Applicant Visiting Days

Your five choices will already have informed you on the upcoming Applicant Visiting Days. It’s important that you consider re-visiting the University that you’ve applied for, even if you have already been there for an Open Day. The Applicant Visiting Day will give you another opportunity to see the department, lecturers and other like-minded students. 

4. Interviews

Some courses and certain universities conduct interviews before providing you with a response to your application. Find out how to deal with university interviews here.

5. Conditional, Unconditional, Rejected

These are the types of responses that you will receive from your chosen universities:

  • Conditional: This means that the university is asking you to meet certain grades in your exams or portfolio work. Failure to achieve what they have asked for may result in your application being declined;
  • Unconditional: The University is sufficiently happy with the information that you have provided and feels that you are academically ready to start your degree;
  • Rejected: Don’t take this personally, it happens! There are many reasons why certain applications are rejected but you can narrow it down to the fact that perhaps you did not demonstrate how you can achieve the university’s predicted grades or that the competition in your year of entry was exceptionally high. You will still have other choices to consider.

6. Responding to your University (Firm/Insurance)

This will be another big life-changing decision that you will make. Visit our dedicated page for more information.