Offer day invitation but no offer received

[TheNativityDonkey]

DS submitted his UCAS at the beginning of last week. Quite surprised at the speed of responses but guess tgey need to get interviews arranged. So far he has had replies from 3 inviting him to interview.
However, his first choice uni is yet to respond. It's the only one on his list that does not interview and offers places based on their application. I guess there is no rush to respond as no hurry to set up an interview date.
Today he has received an invitation to an offer day for his first choice, despite not having received an offer. The invite say "As an offer holder you are invited to attend an offer day..... blah we blah" and to confirm attendance.

Just wondering what to make of this. I dont know whether to be cautiously optimistic. I am also concerned as he was told typically over 700 people apply for 100 places, so the odds are against him). I just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation and how it panned out.

DS is currently sat refreshing his UCAS and e-mail every few minutes hoping to see if an offer drops in. Obviously the Xmas break is looming and I suspect some academic staff may already have finished for xmas but when would be wise to email the uni explaining you havnt had an offer and only an invite to the offer holders day?

I am also concerned as he was told typically over 700 people apply for 100 places, so the odds are against him).

Not necessarily. They may only have 100 places, but - depending on the course - they may make several times the number of offers. There are some courses where I work (Russell Group) where you’d make 400 offers if you wanted to recruit 100 students.

Sounds like a time lag between UCAS updating Track and the Uni sending out their emails. Nowadays everything is instant but the systems at UCAS remain antideluvian. People are always amazed at how long it can take to be released into Clearing. If Track isn't updated by lunchtime tomorrow I'd contact the Uni.

Presumably the offer holders day is well into next term? Just accept! No harm done. He just goes to the interviews and then they decide yes or no. He ends up with a choice, hopefully. A week would be a quick response from any university. Also nearly all applicants have applied to several universities. So it’s not 700 wanting to go there specifically. (Although for Oxbridge it usually is). In normal circumstances it might be third or fourth choice for some and they will withdraw when other offers appear that they prefer.

Thank you for your input. I will suggest he contacts the uni tomorrow if nothing else comes through.

Update...an offer has just come through so all smiles here this evening.

I suspect some academic staff may already have finished for xmas but when would be wise to email the uni explaining you havnt had an offer and only an invite to the offer holders day?

Academic staff will be busy catching up on research and management, after a busy semester of teaching. But in any case the UCAS administration does not usually get done by academic staff, but by admissions teams. It sounds as if there is a mismatch between offer passing through UCAS and follow up offer holders day - the admissions team administrators would have no problems clarifying the situation. They should be responding up to Friday this week.

but the systems at UCAS remain antideluvian.

at this! They are most certainly not! The delay is virtually always at the institution end - they have to physically import the applicant file, then input the offers, then bulk upload to UCAS. Only then can they update Track.

*but the systems at UCAS remain antideluvian.

shockshockshock at this! They are most certainly not! The delay is virtually always at the institution end - they have to physically import the applicant file, then input the offers, then bulk upload to UCAS. Only then can they update Track.*

OKayyyyy ... happy to be corrected! Sorry, did not mean to shock anyone!

Fun fact - the UCAS website in the morning of the third Thursday is August has more hits per second than any other website in the world.

Which university was this? My son had some weird invitations where he was told they were going to offer but invited him to an optional interview.

DD2 had an invitation to an offer holder's interview, but had not received an offer. She went with DH and had a great time. The offer then came though as Unconditional if Firmed but quite gettable if placed as the insurance. A couple of days later, she received a lovely letter from them saying what a great candidate she was blah blah and that was the reason for the UiF