University Applications ........

[mummyofteens]

Can someone please explain to me how university place offers are already been given to some young people when the closing date for applications is not until the middle of January. Most of my son's friends haven't even submitted their application yet :/

I believe that university admissions departments go through applications on a regular basis during the application period and do not "run out" of offers before the closing date.
When DS1 applied, in October a few years ago, he received two offers within the first week, two more within the first month and had to wait for the last two, which were the ones he was most interested in, until January.

Thank you for your reply and this sounds very stupid but with everyone saying there is going to be so much demand for places this year, how do they know that they won't run out of places and are the students who don't apply until January going to be disadvantaged in any way?

Yes, I think they will. It must be a tricky balancing act because if they allot all their places now they might find they don't have room for an outstanding candidate who applies later. Do they start by making the surefire offers and decide on the next level down later in the year?

I suggested that early applications were advantageous on a thread a year or two back and got a response from an admissions tutor that there was no advantage and all applications were treated equally whether they arrived in September or January.

I don't think that applies to all departments in all universities, Lilymaid. Will soon find out as our daughter has just put in her UCAS application!

Lilymaid, the same sequence happened to my DD last year.

ds is 16 and just started a levels when should he apply - january?

It can depend on the course, for medicine they need to get the applications in in October of A2 year.

sorry do you mean when has finished his first academic year at college then?

thanks it never stops does it

ugh it won't happen if i don't drive it

DS didn't get his form in till after Christmas, but got offers from all six of his chosen universities -one almost by return of post, but Warwick, where he eventually went, didn't offer until nearly the end of March, and apparently that is quite normal for them.

Because most of the early applicants are Oxbridge hopefuls that are snapped up by other universities who want them as their reserve choice. They will know by January whether the Oxbridge hopefuls are coming or not as firm choices, because once you have your Oxbridge result you choose your uni - Oxbridge or otherwise - and the likelihood is you've applied to your 6 unis, all of which want to be in with a chance of getting you. So on that basis 80% of early applications/offers will receive a 'no' result by the end of January.

There was an interesting report about what percentage of offers taken up were made at what point in the year were taken up, if that makes sense? Universities seemed to come in different tiers - the top ranked ones made more early offers but also risked higher rejection rates.

Also I remember from applying I had offers from half the universities about 2 weeks after handing the application in - my two 'worst case' insurance offers and York, whereas Birmingham replied in December, Cambridge was January and Edinburgh didn't reply until March, which was a bit pointless from my POV as they'd kinda lost my interest by then.

So if you get an offer straight after applying does that mean before an interview? Sorry this is quite new to me.

There are different phases of entry. We release some places in September, then see how things are going, then release a few more in January. However people with 3-4 A*s in things like Maths and Science and Foreign Languages will almost always be squeezed in, even if they roll up after clearing - there is a major internal scuffle for spare places to be transferred to particular courses if this happens.

In my university, there does seem to be an advantage to applying early, and I have certainly told my Admissions team that we are closed in the past. So if you get your application in now, you might just have an edge. Given our applications seemed to double last year, the early bird may catch the worm.

We don't interview many people, by the way - only really overseas students and people with non-standard backgrounds.

Boffin, when do you interview in the process?

Cross post, that's interesting. Reckon DD will have to have interviews for her chosen course Medicine.

All the way through. When their applications arrive.

Yes, things like Pharmacy and Medicine and so on always interview.