2026 UCAS - Offers, Rejections and Waiting to Hear

[EducatingRosemary]

For those whose DC have submitted their UCAS application without having yet taken the A-level (or equivalent) exams…

How are your DC getting on with hearing back from the universities?

DS has just received an offer for Bath 🙌🏼. Just Birmingham and Warwick to go. Wouldn’t mind but the last two are his most preferred 🙄.

@KellySeveride what subject has your DS applied for? It’s a tough wait when some subjects have made offers when others haven’t in the same university.

@Muchtoomuchtodo he applied for Robotics Engineering (the integrated masters course I believe)

DS would too tbh. It’s his top choice. But because we haven’t heard, we’re now going to a few offer days which involves travel, accommodation and time off work, because of the options he’s considering if he doesn’t get an offer.

Exams start at the end of April here (Scotland) so offers or rejections in May have the potential to be disruptive.

And….Birmingham are obviously using their snow day wisely! We have an offer for UoB! It’s not contextual though which is surprising as every other offer he has had have been contextual.

Only Warwick to go!

@KellySeveride that’s great news! Just out of interest when was the application submitted ? Appreciate might be different for different courses but just trying to get an idea how long Birmingham are taking to process

@iwonttaketheeasyroad he submitted the 11/12 December if I remember right. Certainly a couple weeks before Christmas. However I suspect with the current snow storm the applications team haven’t much else to do so i think there should be a few offers going out today.

And Warwick too…that’s 5 for 5 people we have a full house. 😆

Offer for History at Durham arrived today

Applied to 3. Offers from 3. Has accepted a firm and an insurance and rejected the third. Also filled in form to request accommodation at her firm....

DS got his Durham offer this afternoon too @saintbernadettes. Standard offer Astar, AA.

has anyone's DC been invited to Durham's post-offer visit days? I think it would be good if DS went to his, as we didn't make it there for a normal open day. Their website just says "March/April" ...
www.durham.ac.uk/visit-us/open-days/undergraduate-povd/

Does anyone know whenLSE start offering? Top choice for DS. I know it’s traditionally late, but how late?

Standard offer here too. Wish it was a bit lower!

We are also waiting to hear about Durham OHD as we didn’t make it to an open day. Hoping to hear very soon as we’ve not yet booked any others in case they clash. Also need to potentially book time off, travel/hotel etc so it would be helpful to know.

DD submitted 3 before Christmas and got good offers from two, and standard offer from the third. Just submitted the last two at the weekend - these two are more aspirational so hoping for a nice offer soon!

DD submitted her form today. Now she's got a whole lot of making to do in as short a time a possible ready for portfolio requests.

Me too @saintbernadettes. Will Durham be your dc’s firm so you think?

We haven’t heard about offer day either. DS didn’t get to the open day so we’d like to go to the offer day. It’s about 7 hours travel each way for us so we’ll need to build in a few days.

I know it’s only been 2 weeks or so since college finally submitted DS’s application to UCAS, but have to admit to becoming anxious that we’ve heard nothing yet. My sensible head says: they are all popular unis, popular courses, highly subscribed, and most have a reputation for not offering within a few days for the courses he applied for so I know we should expect to wait a bit… but he had really mediocre GCSEs (late ASD diagnosis and recurrent chronic covid infections plus glandular fever during y9-11) which he has countered with amazing AS Levels/100% attendance and amazing PGs.

Am really nervous those aren’t enough to balance it out. He has worked so hard to turn things around and I know his tutors will have drafted a great reference BUT… is it too early for gin?

My daughter ended up with GCSEs between 4-6s (first year after covid the bands went up). She did her A Levels/BTECs last year and has unconditional offers from Durham, Exeter, Hartpury and Bath - still waiting for York so try not to overthink the GCSEs.
Popular courses at popular unis are going to take time to sort through but as its before the deadline all applications have to be considered.
I will say its so much easier going through the application with her grades already in hand.

What has he applied for @CautiousLurker2 ?

We’re in a similar boat @CautiousLurker2 as DD was floored by a nasty bout of covid bang in the middle of GCSEs and missed some exams which obviously affected her results. She got a mix of 5/6/7 so we were just happy she could get into 6 th form and has decent predicted grades ( 3 As) but we’re still waiting too and I’m now wondering if her results are good enough. It has only been a couple of weeks so hopefully something will come through soon for them! Where is waiting to hear from?

How funny - we got an offer!! Southampton A**AA for Physics MPhys. He is over the moon as it’s a great course, lovely place to study, so if no-one else offers he’ll happily go there.

I wonder if the admissions teams are lurking on these threads 🤣

@TodayIsatrickyone am hoping that these colleges understand that some kids were very seriously impacted by covid itself and understand that GCSEs might not be indicative of ability. DS got mainly 6s (in the STEM subjects) but a 3, 4 and 5 in History, Geog and Eng Lang, respectively, so he was devastated [understatement]. If he can get an offer from Southampton, though, it bodes well for your DD. I will keep fingers and toes crossed for you.

Will put the gin away now…

All 4 year physics degrees. Eek.

He has set his cap quite high with only one uni that is mid table and lower grades because we saw quite a lot of good unis were in clearing last year so thought if worst comes to worst we’ll go that route.

His preference is Manchester or Warwick, but we know they are very competitive so his grades could have an impact, but and really heartened to read @aCatCalledFawkes post too. Those are great unis!

I think I worry that it is all automated and AI filtered, but I am beginning to see that there may still be empathetic human beings behind the scenes!

@CautiousLurker2 Fabulous! That’s great news that he’s got an offer at Southampton and he’s happy! Hopefully some more offers will begin to trickle through.
DD has an offer from Brighton and Manchester met that both came through very quickly but they were insurance choices really. She has her heart set on Manchester uni too but would be happy with any of the others ( Cardiff or Leeds) I just hope she gets one more offer that she’s happy with to help motivate her through the next few months of hard work!