When will Universities get A Level results this year?

[purplepatricia]

I'm sorry, I know this question is asked every year.. will it be Thursday 10th?

Thank you

Thought it was 17th August at 8am.

They get them a few days before

The UCAS embargo period begins 11 August at 2pm, so I'd assume Universities receive the results at that time.

It is the Friday before results day I believe

Yes, that's correct, @Titsywoo . Universities get them on the Friday before results day on the Thursday. It's a busy time for those of us working in uni admissions!

That's when UCAS embargo ends and you can log in to see where you have got your place (if any). The unis get results nearly a week before so they can decide who to accept and reject.

I bet it is!

Thank you - and hope it goes ok Joan Thursday!

Thanks @purplepatricia!

It's a culmination of a year's work - it's long hours but I really enjoy it. I work in a department, so often there are applicants' names I recognise from queries, visit days etc. When we know they're through the door and starting with us in a few weeks, it's a really nice feeling!

Wow, glad I peeked at the thread, have learned something new.

Thanks for explaining this. So do individual departments make the decisions on near misses or is it a centralised admissions department- or does it I’m guessing vary from department / university? Dd convinced she’s missed her what should have been very achievable firm choice - I’m cautiously keeping everything crossed 🤞🏻.

DD had real trouble deciding between her top 2 choices and her school told her that if she had a change of heart and wanted to accept her insurance rather than her firm on results day, it may be possible by contacting the insurance uni. I’m wondering though would the insurance Uni let her place go before 17 August if she’s met her offer for her firmed uni?

@Waythroughwoods - If her firm choice has confirmed her place, her insurance choice will see this on UCAS and assume that place is now free to be filled by someone else, so they might have accepted people who are just below their offer conditions to fill their places. So she would need to call very early on results day to see whether the insurance choice has places and will take her in preference to Clearing applicants.

What she can't do is just decline her firm choice on results day, as this automatically declines the insurance choice as well and puts her into Clearing. (You probably know that already. I'm just stating it in case anyone else here doesn't.)

@KittyMcKitty - it will vary from university to university.

After we get the exam results on the Friday, where I work, the central admissions team spend the weekend working out who has met the terms of their original offer.

Then, over Monday and Tuesday, the admissions teams in the departments will look at near misses and decide whether to accept. We make a point of revisiting each application once more, comparing actual and predicted grades, checking for any mit circs that may have occurred since we made the offer, and looking for other quals / relevant experience which may top up a slightly slipped grade. For example, we don't include EPQs in any offer we make, but if someone has an epq in a relevant topic, then that's a bonus.

It's very difficult to call it at the moment: we don't know if grades will be pitched higher or lower than a normal pre-covid year. Either of those can have an impact on the number being accepted by their firm choice or, conversely, dropping to their insurance. This is particularly relevant to depts like mine (sciences in RG uni) where specific A level subjects are mandatory.

What I would say though is not to worry too much yet. Even if your DD slips by a grade, she may still get her firm choice. Of course, I can't say that with 100% certainty, but I see the grades other universities accept for applicants holding them as firm choice, where we're the insurance choice. I can tell you for sure that slippage of one grade, for eg, is frequently acceptable.

(Sorry, that was long!)

I agree with this. An early phonecall is prudent, but please don't panic. There is a huge amount of 'churn' on the first day of clearing. Applicants who get their firm choice defer or withdraw completely, some do better than expected and shop around for a different uni, others change their mind on their 1st choice and go back to an institution they previously declined. On top of this, there are many like your DD who wants to go to their insurance choice.

Many clearing applicants collect a small handful of clearing offers and then make their choice over the next 24 hours. Our offer is only verbal, and until we see they've referred themselves through ucas, we don't consider it a done deal!

There is time. And if an applicant was on the phone to me and we had previously made them an offer, I'd be pleased to have them back! (We can see all that info on the applicants record).

Hi Joan.

if someone has mit circumstances, declared to uni and evidenced, and drops a grade, how much weight do mit circumstances carry?

Do universities really look at them seriously?

Again, it depends on the uni. And no doubt also depends on the strength of the application cohort of that particular year. That is, the number of applicants holding firm offers and the general grade profile on results day. Universities will always try and take the best students they can.

At our uni, if an applicant slipped by a grade on one or two subjects (eg AAA to ABB), there are clear mit circs and the application is strong overall (range of subjects relevant to the course, good person statement, good reference), then it's likely we would take this into consideration and make the offer unconditional.

A caveat to this is if the results are below our grade floor: in these circumstances, our hands would be tied. This grade floor can change from year to year, and depends on the strength of the overall applicant pool, how many have chosen us as their firm choice, how many have 'dropped' to us as insurance and so on. The grade floor can change in the run up to exam results day - it all depends on how it all goes.

As you can see, it's all a bit of a dark art with the universities all dancing around each other! It somehow all shakes down though ... and then the cycle starts all over again!

Thanks for coming back to @JoanThursday

Out of interest - how do you get the results from ucas. Do you just logon to each ucas application/ reference number and the results are there for each student?

can the ucas call advisors see the grades too in the few days before results day?

@Thefatbutteredpig - there is an agreement between UCAS and the exam boards whereby the results are sent to UCAS and then on to universities on the Friday before A level results day.

University data systems have a direct link to ucas data and this updates overnight. We can view applicants' data through our own info systems (you may have heard of SITS and e:vision, which most universities use).

I work in a department and can view results in bulk, eg all firm offer holders, all insurance offer holders, all overseas.

We also have a 'back door' directly into UCAS where we can view applicants' data on UCAS's own platform.

UCAS call advisors: you mean those working at UCAS? I don't know, I'm afraid.

As mentioned by a pp, there is an embargo on communicating results until 8am on exam results day. We cannot communicate results - directly or indirectly - to anyone at all. If there is a breach on this agreement, it is taken very seriously and affected universities are hauled over hot coals.

Anyone in universities involved in Confirmation and Clearing (that's the term for the whole week's activities) has to undergo embargo training each year to ensure we understand the importance of staying schtum, ensuring no inadvertent leaks from ill-planned mailings, and making sure our info systems are secure.

@JoanThursday just wanted to say a big thank you for your insights into what goes on, internally within the universities, in the week leading up to results day.

Hear hear! Fascinating to glimpse behind the curtain. Thanks, @JoanThursday.

Chatting to a friend who works in 6th form and she said sometimes students turn up on results day having seen on their UCAS before results day that the university has accepted them but not knowing what grades they have got. Is that common? I haven’t mentioned it to DD as I don’t want her fretting the week before.

@Cathpot yes my ds got a congratulatory email from her uni the night before. She assumed it was a mistake but it wasn't.

And thank you so much @JoanThursday my ds is convinced he hasn't got a grade he needs and has his heart set on that particular course. He also doesn't have GCSEs because he missed school mainly through illness. He now has a database of clearing choices and who he will contact first. Hes very organised!

Sorry my dd got the early email.

I'm wondering whether uni's will drop the advertised clearing entry requirements over that week if that particular course has a 'weaker' cohort that year (can't think of the right word but I mean that intake has lower grades. My ds knows he has an A and B. He needs another B but he's worried it's a C.

Ucas track does not open u til 7 or 8 am and A Level results are often later depending on the school/college system. However you occasionally get unis jumping the gun with their welcome emails.