UCAS applications - can you add more courses later?

[MouldyFridge]

DS having a bit of a wobble, I have a whole other thread about his uni choices which I will update in the next few days, but needed to prioritise this question help reassure him and get him a bit more settled.

He has 2 unis he definitely wants to apply to (Cambridge and St Andrews) and 4 others he can’t decide between.

As part of settling him down, reassuring him and taking some of the pressure off:

• Can he apply for just Cambridge and St Andrews by the October deadline and then add 3 more before the January deadline?

• Are there any time constraints on adding additional courses once the application is submitted in October?

Absolutely.

Best to apply for two as soon as then add the others.

Get that Cambridge application in and handle back-up plans after Xmas.

Thank you so much!

Glad he can do that.

That has reassured him a lot and his face showed that so much weight had lifted off his shoulders when I told him. (And from a selfish point of view, that also makes me a lot happier).

^^yes as Lizzie says above it’s not only possible but I found it very helpful for YP to stagger the applications. You’ll know by Christmas if he’s secured an interview for C which can help calibrate the other 3 options, and iirc you’d have the C offer or not well before the UCAS deadline for adding the other courses at end January. Unfortunately I do remember seeing that StA is quite late in making offers but that’s just my recollection as YP didn’t apply there.

Yes, it’s a great idea.
like others say St Andrew’s take their time usually and the other university notorious for late offers is Durham.

Oh, just to add that his school may not like the strategy but stick to your guns. We did and it worked perfectly (Cambridge wasn’t in the mix but even so).

Yes definitely. DS did this as he was doing a course that some universties requires TMUA for. He applied early for Cambridge and put 2 other unis down. Did the TMUA in October, got results back in November and decided based on the results which other 2 universities to add to his application. His school were very reticent about it but worked out really well.

As others have said, yes, of course you can do that.
Some universities sit on a pile of applications and take forever to make offers, and others act more quickly, and some vary between departments.

I was told last year that Bristol and Edinburgh take an age, but my DD applied in mid Sept and had offers within a couple of weeks from both of those, as well as York, where she is going in a few weeks time.

York were within 48hrs with an alternate & standard offer. So she just kept her top 2 universities & didn’t add any others. School didn’t like it but she saw no point in adding more as she had a firm & an insurance.

Sorry I should have said - the offers were all unconditional as my DD had grades in hand. That may have been why they all came through so fast.

Durham was fine this year - the very late one was Bath. So late for my DD that she didn’t really consider it as she had a good offer in hand.

Absolutely. DD only ever put 3 unis in her form - Oxbridge plus 2 more. Had offers from the other 2 before her Oxbridge offer came through. Firmed the latter, insured her favourite of the other 2.

This is excellent. Thank you everyone for your responses and I’m very happy to hear that this is a perfectly normal thing to do.

We shall certainly stick to our guns regardless of what school thinks or says. Hearing these experiences has really helped DS feel a lot better and more positive about everything.

This has been possible on UCAS for years, and even easier now one pays a single fee for 'up to five' choices, rather than having to pay extra before adding more, if only the 'single choice' fee had been paid initially. Some schools discourage it, however (I can't believe that anyone tasked with being a 'UCAS advisor' in a school doesn't know that it's possible, as some parents claim their DC have been told), in case the student slips in a university choice which the school wouldn't approve of.

(And before anyone says, That doesn't happen, when I hadn't been on MN very long a few years back, someone literally posted that their DD's school had a list of 'acceptable' universities, which didn't even stretch to all of the Russell Group).

DD’s tutor at 6th form college didn’t know this was possible, so it does happen - she messaged me in a panic one day asking for a link so that she could show him the relevant bit of the UCAS website. He went off to check with a colleague and came back saying yes, it was possible and was known as “early clearing” (this was in October) but not advisable because it was more expensive to do it that way. They did not have a clue. I was furious and wanted to complain but she asked me not to because he taught her one of her A level subjects and she was frightened of annoying him 😠

Luckily for her we had been through UCAS before and she had a lot of support but there were many kids there who didn’t.

You can also change choices, there is a limited time after getting to the full 5. You shouldn’t be able to replace a choice that has “rejected you”, but if it’s in the time period and they offer you an “alternative” you can - my DD did this this year. The Uni she is going to was one of her original choices but her insurance was the result of a late swap

DD added her unis in three different lots, and her school actually encourages them to do this, especially if they're certain about one or two unis early on but haven't quite decided on the others yet.

Be aware that the equal consideration day for 2026 is 14th Jan. Oxford say decisions will be 13th Jan so very tight! I don't think Cam have confirmed their day yet? But historically it's been the very end of Jan.

I don’t think he will be adding courses that late. He just needs that little bit extra time and pressure removed of having to have all the decisions made by October. He is likely to add extra courses towards the end of this calendar year once we’ve done a couple of repeat visits and he’s had a chance to speak to the uni departments and lecturers about the courses. This isn’t a “wait for C offer or St A offer and if I don’t get it/them I’ll add more” this is a “ahhhhh, too much happening, need more time to ask more questions” kind of thing. He wants to concentrate on getting C and St A applied for and the C exam done while really considering the 4 remaining ones.

Three remaining. 😉

Of course….
I can count, I promise 😂

You can do this, both dc have - also don't worry about the notion that early applications will get speedier replies or late applications will miss the boat, it doesn't necessarily work that way LOTS of unis, especially the "top" ones don't do anything until after the equal consideration deadline. Good luck OP

I mean it won't be tight at all since the ox deadline is mid october

The 'tight' bit, though, being that of the applicant is keeping their last slot back to add or not according to the response from Oxford, they will only have 24 hours in which to add that application if Oxford is a No - 13th January refers to the date on which those who got as far as an interview will be informed re an offer or not. Yes, they'll have jad weeks and weeks in which to decide on where their last application might be, but they do then have to get round to adding it, when other things (the Oxford rejection) might be taking up too much room in theor thoughts.