How soon to expect replies from Uni applications?

[SleepQuest33]

DS completed his UCAS application during the first week of October. He received his first offer a few days later but nothing yet from the others.

He has applied for Engineering, two of his choices are Bath and Bristol. For those of you who have already gone through this, how long did it take for those 2 unis get back with a reply? I am wondering if it will be months or waiting or is it common for them to reply sooner?

Thank you!

Varies, some universities start making offers this side of Christmas whereas some wait until after the deadline in January before they even look at them

The equal consideration deadline isn't until January. In the meantime some unis are creating piles of definite yes, maybes and probably nos but they keep adding to the piles and probably rejecting some candidates. Some colleges prioritise their early entry candidates so applicants shouldn't be treated unfairly because staff aren't fast enough signing off all the applications and getting in teacher references. If a course is oversubscribed then that definite pile needs sorting through, not a first come first served.

Some universities will say don't expect to hear from us until March or whatever unless in a rare circumstance we contact you before then. Warwick said this to Ds1 but he got an offer in November.

Ds1 had 4 offers in by mid November, that was Durham, Warwick, Manchester, Leeds and then Cambridge interview in December. Ds2 had two offers by the end of October, one in March and April then Warwick, his first choice, 2nd May! He couldn't attend his offer holder day as he wanted to revise for his A levels and due to distance it would have been about a 9 hour day.

This isn't just about grades, it is about their whole personal statement and who they are up against application wise. There is a comedian who said for his Oxford application he quoted Malala Yousafzai and at the same time Malala Yousafzai was applying to Oxford.

I don’t think it’s the predicted grades. My DD has 4 A*s predicted, eight 9s and three 8s at GCSE. She was very quickly told that she was evaluated as adequate and put on hold. I don’t think that they would have had time to have read her personal statement.

OP you’re being way too impatient. Waiting doesn’t mean no, it simply means you’re waiting … as some said they waited ages for offers from B and B. Friends’ dc went right up to the wire with Bath in many cases. I had a dc get an offer from Bristol very fast but not for engineering . You can’t read anything into anything until the last possible acceptance date . good luck to your ds

I don’t understand why you don’t all read what the unis say about personal statements, GCSEs and A levels! Lots of guessing and schools not being accurate.

For many courses at Bristol, they give weighting to both A levels and GCSEs. Often 80/20. Bristol often say they read the PS to determine who gets offers if candidates are similar. So it’s not the case that Bristol do not rad the PS at all. The maybes are read. Weighting for GCSEs will put some dc into the maybe pile too.

Im amazed anyone is already getting worried about offers! In October?!

You are amazed because your children are in their 40’s now and you are completely out of touch with how quickly things happen in the modern world.

Bristol and Bath can both be very late to offer. Try not to read too much into it. Remember that the majority of students haven’t even submitted their applications yet. I’ve had plenty of students get offers from them in the spring.

I get as frustrated as the next person with that poster constantly singing the praises of Bristol but your post is inaccurate and unfair since this is actually a thread where knowledge of Bristol is useful. Her children are not in their 40s as I understand it - but they did leave some time ago. She is completely right though, it’s October. Even oxbridge and medicine applicants only had to submit by Monday. There is absolutely no need to worry since it could be months before you hear back (and i have a child in year 2 at university and one in year 13 who has just submitted plus I work with universities so I am not out of touch with the modern world)

@user8754387 That's fair enough. I have a child who has applied this year. We had a flurry of emails from Bristol about 2 wks ago, about various things (fee status, certificates etc) and then again on Monday. In the meantime, offers have come in from York & Edinburgh. Bristol 20 years ago is not the same as Bristol in 2024. None of these universities are.

DD applied to Bath a few years back as an early applicant and had an offer by the end of October which she went on to accept and has had an amazing couple of years there. I think out of all of us on the Oxbridge thread that year she was a lucky one as others waited right until the deadline. They all had fab grades so you really do wonder how they make the decisions (only the PS could have swung it).

Exactly this. Uni I work for does this. To give everyone a chance. And look at all the applications together

No, but her daughter was presumably there about 6 years ago since she’s now a newly qualified family law barrister.

It's stressful isn't it OP! DS got his first offer (Leeds) within a couple of days of submitting his form, but had to wait until the end of February to hear from Durham.

Last year.
DS submitted his application for Engineering to 5 unis before Christmas, including Bath and received offers from all 5 choices on A*AA predictions. He's now at his first choice uni

What type of Engineering ? Aeronautical and Mechanical have a much higher number of applications than Civil (anecdotally)

Sorry should have said - he'd heard from all 5 by early Feb

DD got law offers from Nottingham & Sheffield yesterday. She's so excited.
It's a huge confidence boost to have a couple in the bag, feel more relaxed about the others now. They can take their time.

@TizerorFizz is right to be amazed. Modern technology doesn’t hugely change the way offers are awarded. The system is unpredictable and there are loads of variables but I’d say before Christmas is too early - much as I’d like my dc to hear ASAP

I agree with everyone else about Bristol and their "on hold" to see if anyone better comes along. It would be so much better if they didn't say anything at all! It's quite off-putting.

I wish staff from Bristol would read MN and see this feedback and change the way they do things as they are damaging the perception of Bristol by sending these unnecessary emails.

@youheard Thank you. Not quite sure why I was attacked above. I cannot see how much has changed in terms of waiting for offers either. My. DCs aren’t in their 40s either. However my general point was that Bristol say how they use the PS and it’s not true to say it’s not read as a PP said earlier. I was merely correcting that assumption. I cannot see how I’m wrong in quoting their position on their current web site. Waiting time varies but most know that and often it’s April. DD2 still hadn’t heard from one in May.

@FiveFoxes How does fair access work? Don’t most unis hold applications? As I said above, DD2 still hasn’t heard in May. Not Bristol. Is that fair?

Bristol told my dd at the open day they didn't read the PS and then when a friend of hers emailed to clarify they said it again. BUT this may be one department only. Ditto a friend who asked the admin people at the Edinburgh Open Day - they actually laughed at the idea. BUT AGAIN possibly that just department. There are variables within every university and department - someone above said they already had an offer from Edinburgh, possibly that's grades in hand but it's very unusual to hear from them so early - they're usually in the very late gang.

I am not entirely sure of your question!

However, I am not against Universities waiting until they have all applications before offering, that's fine and completely fair. Many universities say they won't offer until after the January deadline.

However, Bristol would appear to be the only one that does "On hold" status. But not for everyone - some get accepted straight away, some rejected and some put on hold to see if they get any better applications: www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/after-you-apply/your-application/decision/#:~:text=Putting%20an%20application%20on%20hold,to%20make%20a%20final%20decision.

By telling students they're put in a second choice pile leads to a bad impression of the university.

I suspect Bristol doesn't actually mean it to sound like this, but that is how it comes across. Not just to DS, or me, or MN, but across the internet forums for years.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your experience! It has been very very helpful.

Fingers crossed we don't have to wait until the very last day, but for now, I think I will chill as no point stressing :)

Yes, but your Bristol DD had already left before my DC went to University. Given DC is in his late 20s she must be in her 30s at least.

Bristol has changed a lot since then. My DC2, who was taking a six year course, left 18 months ago and there were some quite significant changes even during her time.

Bristol was end March for my Ds - 2 years ago, and he applied in October.

We're still waiting to heat from Edinburgh lol, and Durham waited until late April