DDs three interviews were in March. She only heard about two in late January and did not have any offers till end March/early April.
We talked a lot about the things she could do in a gap year, and how it would be a great chance to do something different before she started years of training. Not getting a place first time round would not matter.
Yr 13 really ground her down. She found it difficult to lift herself for the A level exams themselves, and performed someway below predictions. (Luckily predictions were high.) She also picked up a nasty virus before her last exam, but had to sit it, even though she was barely capable of getting out of bed.
It was a tough year. (She had been seriously ill at the start as had her dad.) So I was not surprised that once the offer came in, she wrote asking if she could defer.
One surprise advantage is that after a year away from studying she is enjoying being back. In contrast a few or her peers seem to have suffered a first term slump. Yr13 was tough and so having got in, it has been difficult for them to raise their game straight away to cope with new demands of an intensive course.