University Applications 2026 - Support Thread

[Ventress]

DS is applying to start university in Autumn 2026. He's done several open days and has a reasonable idea of where and what he wants to wants to study - History or History & Politics.

He loved UCL and Exeter, liked Warwick, didn't like Bristol. He's also talking about early application but can't decide whether to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. He's also muttering about Durham, which he didn't visit but others in his History class did and loved it.

Anyone join me for a thread to support our DC as they navigate this process? DS is my only child so this is all new to me!

No that's very true @Muchtoomuchtodo

Durham wasn’t that late this year - as evidenced by its first offer holder day in February. The other really late one was Bath - but even then some people got offers earlier.

That’s good to hear. I think Edinburgh are also notoriously late. St Andrews have one offer holder day in early April. I remember DS’s rejection came about 2 days before that date and hearing lots of people still hadn’t heard by the time. They must have made some offers though or it would have been a quiet day! Still it was a few years ago and things change.

@ArchitectureMum That’s good to know about Extra on UCAS. I am on similar boat as few others. Hoping everything goes well, but need a plan B, as the course is very competitive, so not going to be in clearing as far as I know. Or may be I don’t know this well enough and listening to DD saying this!
Also what happens with Bristol / Southampton and the like if the predictions are not met, so A instead of A*.
I have seen people discussing getting offer as they have gone through the process, but it’s never on the courses we are looking for or Unis.

This is the first time that we’ve done this. What happens at an offer holders day? Is it like an open day but less people and more tailored for the course that you have an offer for?

@Newlease Re "Also what happens with Bristol / Southampton and the like if the predictions are not met, so A instead of A*."

Really depends on how many applicants have not met the offer. A Uni/course may, and probably would, still accept (actuals) AAA if the offer was AStar,A,A. Some may do AStar,A,B or AAB even. Or they may reject them and try to get people trading up, i.e. predicted AAA/AAB and getting AStar,A,A/AAA.
I'd guess a Uni/course would want to accept as many as it reasonably can pre results day (as the applicants are already known to them) so the clearing process is as small as possible.

Yes, essentially it is. It means that you can usually prebook appointments with the disability team or meet more people in the department. Often there are sample lectures (not talks about the course, but an example of a lecture you might attend). Obviously they try to present their best lecturers so it is still very much a PR/marketing exercise but you can usually speak directly to department staff about things like overseas placements/field trips, likelihood of crucial modules still running when your DC is in their 3rd years etc - all the stuff that may be driving your DC’s application.

In our house one parent does the bulk of the general open days (DH will do most for our DS as he is a science/physics bod), and the other will do the Offer days (as I will be interested in things like how many days teaching, the accommodation/laundry practicalities, autism support… and will have FOMO!!) For my eldest, we did this the other way round and DH went to the Offer Days.

Interesting about UCAS Extra, thanks. I’d heard of it but didn’t really know what it was for.

@Muchtoomuchtodo- this is a support thread for the support staff 😂 Your friend’s FOI sounds interesting. With the Oxford and Cambridge collleges DS and I went through their published data and identified the colleges with the largest intake in his subject and the highest state school intake. Took those and then looked at other areas DS is interested in - his sports, location, ethos. Having spent hours and hours putting all of this into a spreadsheet he still doesn’t even know if he wants to apply to O or C. Oh well, eventually he will have to just make a decision and apply.

Regarding late offers - bear in mind that UCAS have put in place a 31 March “advisory deadline” for unis to make their offers from this year. It’s not a binding deadline but should have an impact on the timing of decisions.

DD took the exact opposite approach. She deliberately applied to a college with one of the highest private school % in the hope that they would be looking to increase their state school numbers!

An interesting way of looking at it by your daughter @Dodonutty . I hope it worked out for her In the end I suspect DS will just go with gut feeling.

It certainly did!

Cambridge open day program is out for 12th September. It’s strange how the different colleges do different amounts of talks etc. But then I wonder if the ones doing the most talks will have the most applicants. Impossible to say I guess.

That’s exactly it. With tailored content from the target department. At Durham the morning gave another opportunity to look at colleges with the afternoon in the department. For parents with students in morning and then targeted talks or a tour of Durham (or a quiet coffee)) in the afternoon.

Wrong thread!

@stubiff That makes sense. Thank you. @Ventress so far we haven’t decided on collage to apply, so your post gave me a new direction.
On offers holders day, then you have a second look knowing you will be going there or is it more like we go for all offers day ( assuming one will have more than one) and decide which is best? How do we do all this when kids are in school and exams and other things going on. I really need to think of one step at a time. I thought buying house is madness after seeing it for 10minutes. This is all new level

Sometimes they help remove any ideas of imposter syndrome and make it feel a bit more real before their A levels, giving them that final push

@Newlease
I wouldn't worry about the offer holder days at this point.
First job is to choose the (up to) five and then hope there are offers!

I would see the offer days as - see one for the first time (if applied blind, no open day, which quite a few do), confirm it is (still) the firm choice, confirm it is (still) the insurance choice, narrow down accom choices. But I think a lot can change in that period.
As you say, getting to them (if not in hols/weekend) may be tricky.

Can I join, my child in currently attending a private school and will be applying this year.

On comments between private vs state school, there is indeed known pressure to private school kids that they need to perform better to be able to be into the same treatment as state school’s kids(including grammar, super grammar and some other very selective 6th form college). It feels wrong though. It should have been purely based on merit regardless of secondary school, sex, background, locations. If University wants to judge a child based on their background, why not follow US in their University selection approach(based so much more on the application info such as personality, extra curriculumn, personal statements, essays etc.)

@Greenleave the universities are not seeking to exclude students from the independent sector. They want to get the best students, those most likely to thrive in their studies, regardless of their background. That can mean making contextual adjustments to get as near to a level playing field as possible.

Let’s not take the thread into combative state-versus-private territory. Every year supportive threads fall apart for exactly that reason. I hope you will stick around to share the journey.

My DD is at sixth form college now but was as private school and my DS was at private for sixth form. There are less offers coming out to independent schools than they were used to from the most competitive universities but widening access is a good thing and the stats were probably skewed too far in favour of the independents before. Lots of independent schools have been encouraging students to apply to America instead, but I guess that is not going to work so well with Trump’s new Visa restrictions and I imagine it costs a fortune.

I do worry slightly when I see lots of casual comments on here about avoiding universities or accommodation with lots of private school kids in them. There are lots of lovely kids that go through private school and through the state system and lots of difficult characters in both too. Hopefully once they all arrive, they will mix happily and forget about each other’s backgrounds.

Well said @Marisquita

Agreed @Marisquita and @ArchitectureMum .

We are all here to support our young people in their next steps to the best of our abilities, and help them achieve their goals.

I'd also like this thread to be more varied in terms of discussion about the universities applied for and the grades predicted. It's in danger of turning into a triple A star predicted thread. There is useful life beyond Oxbridge and R group universities...

@Philandbill
Which ones is your DC looking at. Are they set on them or do they need any input from the group?