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!

@WhisperingAngelisnotbad If he’s applying for Maths, why would Oxford even know that he’s taken/taking the TMUA? TMUA results are only sent automatically to those universities which require it for admissions purposes.

@Marisquita Is that definitely right? Is it possible to check somewhere do you think?

We are also having issues finding his UCAS number. He registered for UCAS at college, apparently, but can't find a welcome email and can't find his UCAS number. He also doesn't want me to contact UCAS to sort out the problem, but has been very slow sorting it out himself.

@WhisperingAngelisnotbad

Straight from the website:

We match to your UCAS application on a course-by-course basis. So, your score will only be visible to an institution if the course to which you are applying requires the test.

https://esat-tmua.ac.uk/test-results/

@WhisperingAngelisnotbad Can he get into UCAS Hub? It’s usually accessible through a username (=email address) and password. Password can be reset if forgotten.

The UCAS number is a 10-digit number which can be found on the right-hand side of the application status page within the Hub.

Hi, going through this university lark for the first time with my daughter. She wants to do a Cyber Security degree, but wants to stay at home. This limits the university choice to a few in the North West. Been to open days in Manchester and Liverpool, and got a couple more coming up in August.

Thanks @planestrainsautomobiles. We’ve been at ds’s sports training where reception isn’t great. Just got home and managed to book his TMUA at our closest test centre at his preferred time. Phew!

I wonder if MAT booking will be this stressful too?! 😬

We're still having problems getting into the TMUA/Pearson website!

I heard that about last years HAT too @Flyswats. Our York dates are just a few years different 😊

I hope everyone struggling to book TMUA today manages to get their DC booked in this evening.

lots of overlap between the universities our DC are considering @Fabfabfab. Durham was in clearing a couple of weeks ago so might be an “aspirational “ option for your daughter? Or if she has another set of mocks before the January submission deadline she might increase her PG. Good luck to her! Grade 8 average at GCSE is fantastic.

Morning all, glad to have some company as UCAS applications draw near! First time through for us. DD1 wants to apply to study religion. Order of choice so far is Bristol, then Edinburgh then Exeter. Not sure if we'll do any more open days next term, but she's very happy with those 3 options.

I have managed to book TMUA at 11pm last night.

Hi, good to see this thread, my DD is applying for 2026 entry. Have been to various open days but her heart's set on Cambridge (niche subject) so will be sending an early application. Fingers crossed for all our DC!

Happy to see this post!

I have two in Y12, but only one planning to apply for a 2026 start. Oxford is her dream, with St. Andrew's a close second. The other three are still fairly open, although she has especially enjoyed visiting both Leeds and Birmingham.

I'm impressed by how independent she's being about this process. She's doing her research, writing her drafts and compiling her spreadsheets. When she wants to discuss it, she approaches me. Otherwise, she asks that I leave her to it and I'm trying to respect that.

Thank you for this thread. My youngest and most academic child is applying this year so it’s my first experience of UCAS since 1989. She wants to study Human Social & Political science at Cambridge so has chosen a college she likes very much confirmed by our visit during their open day in early July.
We visited LSE to rule it out (I was biased against her studying in London) but was blown away by it. Unfortunately due to limited accommodation you can only get a place in their residential halls if you accept an offer from them as the primary not the secondary offer so she’ll have to rule it out if she does get an offer from Cambridge.
We’re going up to visit Durham in Sept for their open day. She’s been to Warwick within school and hated it. Bristol and Liverpool are also options. She was dead set on Edinburgh but so far from us that the travel costs seem to be ruling it out for her.
she has to work out what her Plan B choice will be if something catastrophic happens during her exams as a retake year is not an option for her. She goes to pieces in half term breaks with no school structure and is happiest when studying hard for the next test/exam. She has lofty career ambitions towards law, politics or journalism.
She has a serious boyfriend so where he decides to go might end up being a factor.
Im so excited for her having worked consistently hard since she was two years old but also can’t believe my youngest baby is getting ready to fledge

Hello. Joining from the other thread. This is round 2 for us as DD1 has done two years of her degree and is currently on her industry placement year and thankfully earning a salary this year and getting experience that will help with graduate job applications.
DD2 is unsure what she wants to do. Like DD1 she is very arty and will hopefully do an art foundation year from next September so will apply for university with known grades the following year. She was looking at psychology but I'm not sure her heart is in it. Much more enthused by a history of art degree but if she does that it will need to be at a university with good academic credentials so that it will be a "door opening" degree if she decides not to go into the art world. She has looked at Warwick but discounted there because I, my BIL and SIL all studied there and are far too enthusiastic about it and she wants to be somewhere different. York seems to be a contender and we have an open day booked. Lots will be horrified at a history of art degree yet not be horrified by an English Literature or a history degree which is odd to me as the transferrable skills learned are similar. I'm biased as my cousin, many years ago, did a history of art degree and has been very successful in her career not related to art; she was awarded an MBE a couple of years ago so success and a mortgage paying job can can follow a niche degree if you have the ability and drive.

@TalkedTooMuchStayedTooLong there was a very useful thread about applying for arty degrees three years ago which is still jogging along. It is more complicated with practical art related degrees as it's not as simple as looking at the usual listing for prestige universities, it's more course specific.

@Philandbillthanks… will have a look for that…

@TalkedTooMuchStayedTooLong if you find it can you post the link? My DD also looking at Arts Universities and Fine Art. Thanks!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4626697-2023-uni-applications-for-those-pursuing-art-and-creative-routes?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Nice to see new joiners to this thread, including some from the year 12 support thread.

I think History of Art is fascinating @Philandbill Applying with grades in hand seems to much less stressful and allows our YP to concentrate on year 13 without other distractions.

Thank you! Will have a read!

Does anyone know how accurate the UCAS Historical Entry Grade data is? I know it’s beta.

Looking at LSE history this says 51% offer rate but the university website says the offer rate is 1:9.

Also what does the sentence “using your top three grades 100% of students with the grades you entered who received an offer were accepted”? This is in the “How do you compare” section.

The required published grades are AAA whereas the most common grades are stated as A star A star A. Lowest accepted is AAA.

I can’t work out if this is telling me anything helpful.

Surely what would be more helpful would be the offer rate based on PG?

@Ventress I haven’t looked at your specific example, but from what I have seen the information can be taken across a range of courses rather than a specific course. So in a notional institution with a wide range of courses the History numbers may be combined with History/French, History/Economics, History/Art History, History/Ancient History, History/Politics which might have very varying levels of competitiveness.

I’d be very surprised if only 1 in 9 History applicants to LSE even gets an offer. Can that really be right? Economics, on the other hand, yes.

Thanks for the thread. Dd is really keen on Nottingham after the Open Day, but she’s also looking at a few others in the Autumn. It suddenly hit me that it’s not long until they start applying!

Ventress, that’s a good question which I would also like to know the answer to! Interesting that dd’s subject has a 90% offer rate, so I guess it’s just not as popular. Makes it much easier for dd - she is predicted AAA which is the same as the offer grades

“Surely what would be more helpful would be the offer rate based on PG?”

@Ventress That may well be helpful (if it’s ever published) for the most competitive courses where the offer decision is the real pinch point. So: Oxbridge, and the most competitive Maths, Engineering, CompSci, Economics, Law etc courses where offers are really hard to come by. Not so much for Medicine, as there’s so much more to that than PG.

For the majority of courses at most universities, though, (and certainly for a subject like History) admissions tutors manage the supply and demand of places by fine-tuning the terms of their offers and then making decisions on near-misses and clearing applicants when results come through. Hence the UCAS attempt to give some transparency as to what the A level achievements were of students actually enrolling on the course.

I remember seeing one course listed that said BBC was the average grade and also that the highest grade of a student on the course was....BBC. Which seems extremely unlikely!!

I think its useful information to give a general idea of relative popularity but perhaps not to be taken too literally.

It's a small intake @Marisquita BA History - LSE The website says in 2024 there were 503 applications, 58 offers, ratio 9:1

Economics says 3731 applications, 225 offers, 17:1

UCAS page says it's just for "this course" and has different figures for History and Politics. HistPol is 20% on UCAS for "this course" whereas the LSE page says 412 applications, 25 offers, ration 16:1. It just doesn't seem very accurate.

DS's school have said that whilst the regularly get a decent number into Oxbridge they almost never get people into LSE.

LSE only have a small intake each year and, according to Wikipedia, foreign students account for over 60% of the total number of students.

@GrowingUpNow that figure for Nottingham seems more appropriate to me. I get similar percentages if I look at Exeter, Warwick and KCL.