University offers for 2023 from Bristol and Warwick already?

[Blancheduport]

DD has just told me that a couple of the DC at her school who have sent their UCAS forms in because they’re applying to Oxbridge have received offers already. I’m slightly surprised as I know the deadline for applications is January. DD is planning on getting hers in in November but is now worried all the places will be taken. Can anyone reassure us?

Yep don't worry! Unis know how many offers to make, and what the profile of their applicants is.

I posted about this the other day - seems to me that if unis are offering this early that places will run out. But I have been assured this isn't the case....

It is really difficult to hold your nerve when everyone is getting offers especially before you’ve even applied but yes there should be enough places left for the later applicants.

Ds has friends with offers already from those plus other places. Don’t worry though it doesn’t affect the chances of those who apply later.

They offer quickly to the dead certs! My DD had 2 very quick offers when she applied (early application). A few days! They won’t have that many dead certs to run out of places! Wholly depends on course too. They are desperate for linguists so DD was offered quickly.

It depends on the course too. Highly competitive courses are likely to hold back

DD has offers from Bristol and Warwick within 48 hours of her application going in. Durham on the other hand took months.

DS had an offer for engineering at Bristol very quickly last year (Oxbridge candidate), but Durham took months. I think that as someone upthread said, it may be that they offer firm places to those that they really want, to try and tempt them away from Oxbridge/Imperial etc. Didn't work in DS's case 😉. Some of DS's friends didn't get their forms in until much later - they all got to good unis and onto good courses.

DD is applying this year and has only just got her PS how she wanted it, and confirmed the courses she wants to take - hopefully it will go in imminently, but she's not got the grade profile of DS, so I suspect it may be a slower burn - but as the deadline isn't until next year, and lots of candidates won't have submitted yet, they can't fill the courses up completely. Good luck to all of this year's applicants!

Don't know if there's any real pattern. DD had a STEM offer from Durham quite early on, and another two by the end of November, and it was Bristol who were at the tail end of things. She'd already discounted them by then.

I don’t think it’s worth discounting anyone until the end of March I think April/May offers are too late! It’s not a personal slight. It’s maybe that they are doing due diligence. If you really want somewhere, you hang on. Getting offers quickly doesn’t mean you have won a race.

How does the admissions process work anyway, does anyone know? I mean if they give out a lot of offers early on how do they know they are not going to get ‘better’ applications later? Or do they only offer to the ‘best of the best’ early?

Some departments start sifting and offering / rejecting as applications come in. Others wait. It’s variable, both between departments and universities.

seems to me that if unis are offering this early that places will run out.

They are legally required to give equal consideration to any home student applying before the January deadline.

Quite a high proportion of the early applicants will be strong as presumably most will be applying to Oxbridge. The Universities will be confident that regardless of who else applies these would be acceptances.

The same will happen the other way round. If a candidate is very weak they might get an early rejection. On very oversubscribed courses the rest will be held over till January and then places are offered according to the strength of each application. Universities presumably have some way of estimating what their acceptance rate will be per offer.

My dd submitted her application around half term and had offers from all units within a week (including Warwick)
I guess that they have the expertise to predict how many offers to give out based on previous years.

They know that most applications received now really want Oxbridge.
So they put their bid in for someone they know is theoretically capable of getting an offer from Oxford or Cambridge.
DD applied last year and received an offer from one of her choices within 48 hours. It was a low offer too.

Dd carefully didn’t put her application in until after the Oxbridge deadline so it was clear she wanted to go the the universities she applied to, they weren’t back ups.

Is that really a thing - don't apply too early in case they think you've applied to Oxbridge? Why would universities be put off by that? Most people who apply to Oxbridge don't get an offer, so there's a big pool of talented people looking for somewhere to study. It would be very weird for other universities to try and avoid them, surely?

Bristol are more often one of the last to offer...I've had two DC apply in recent years and one didn't get an offer until late, the other had an offer within a week (not Oxbridge).

In the early 1980s I had been interviewed in three different universities and received offers from all five by the end of October. If some people apply early and some late it spreads the load.

God it's a bloody minefield. Don't apply too early in case they think you've applied to Oxford/Cambridge, don't apply too late because all the places will have gone. Is there a perfect time?

(I also would've thought they'd snap up the early ones as they know they're good enough for Oxbridge).

DC has submitted 4 choices, accidentally clicked substitute choice then came out of the menu-all 4 original choices are saved, but on each there is now a message "actions" to click to substitute or permanently withdraw -HELP!!!!!!!!!😱

Some of the universities set aside early applications and consider them with later applications. I don’t see why that’s wrong. I also think early applicants seem to expect early responses because they are better than other applicants, which isn’t necessarily true. It’s no real hardship to wait until March. You aren’t starting until September. There really isn’t a race.

And yet my DS was accepted by Cambridge, eventually being turned down (in March!) by Durham. While his sister was quickly snapped up by Durham yet eventually turned down by Oxford. No rhyme or reason!

Oh no. Can you contact UCAS?

I'll have to phone, what a nightmare -unless they all say that once you're past the 25 oct deadline for Oxbridge?