how to withdraw from a deferred place to apply for a different course

[itsallunclearnow]

lovely mners, does anyone know the definitive answer to this question?

If dstudent currently has a deferred place for 2020 but has now decided s/he wants to apply for a different course/university starting in 2020, what's the procedure? Obviously dstudent can't submit another UCAS form while still holding the current place - but does s/he have to be formally released from that place by the university or can s/he withdraw 'without consent'? And if so how?
Not finding the info on the UCAS website at the moment. PS yes I am backpacking - I know!

Can your DC phone UCAS? That might be the quickest solution.

Actually...
www.ucas.com/corporate/application-cancellation-request-form

"To cancel a deferred application, please contact the university/college directly."

Thanks so much for your reply Millicentmartha (and in fact it turns out dc has contacted the uni so my backpacking wasn't even necessary - possibly the worst sort!).

When dd cancelled her place for 2019 the uni had to release her and she is reapplying now for 2020.

Thanks LIZS, do you remember how long it took the university to release dd? I realise the process is presumably just pressing a button, but....

(although in your dd's case of course there wasn't a UCU strike on - not sure how that will affect things!)

My DD did this. She emailed the uni and they released her within 48 hrs. She is applying to 4 new universities and for a totally different course.

Less than a day iirc.

I think she may be able to self-release via UCAS from this year, but at this time of the year I would say any university would release her within a couple of hours.

Thanks again - dc not yet heard that been released, and it looks as though you can't self-release. (I know you could from insurance offers last August but that doesn't seem to apply where you've accepted a deferred place.)

Not sure whether the strike will be affecting reply times - from what I can gather students are still receiving offers from striking universities, so I don't think the admissions people have just stopped for the strike period! I wouldn't have thought it would be a difficult decision for the univ - another case like Cranmer's of a dc now wanting to do a completely different course (which current univ doesn't offer).

Check his UCAS Track and if he is not yet released he needs to send an email formally requesting to cancel his aplicación with (insert name of university)

Thanks Idiot, that is so useful - and yes I think it's time to chase it up. It's been 5.75 working days since the request was made, so...

Hopefully you get it resolved soon, itsallunclearnow. DD is still waiting for her old school to attach a reference. They have her UCAS form since the end of October. It should be a cut and paste job, so I have no idea why they are dragging their feet. Grrrrr...

Again, chase the school... a UCAS application without a reference won’t be considered by any university (and it is proper faff to check and chase with each uni that the reference has been received and uploaded in time)

Thanks to all you lovely mners for your moral support - and dc is now free to submit a new application!

(So I have now started a new thread on HE raising an interesting (!) issue about whether you may be identified as plagiarising if your personal statement has some similarities to last year's. Although obviously most of it will be very different, there are some relevant extra curricular things which dc will want to refer to again! And the registration number is new, though dob/name the same, so i suppose UCAS should be able to identify that it is the same person.)