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?

My DD is waiting on St Andrews for chemistry with French, anyone heard from St Andrews?

Also waiting for St A for languages... Annoying, as it's in theory DC's first choice, but he's also very keen on Durham and would happily commit to that offer if he knew it was a no from St A. I do wonder whether unis lose a few acceptances by offering late, because students have already gone to offer days elsewhere and emotionally committed.

Oh well, he just needs to be patient and stay open minded, I guess!

Yes, we're waiting for Theology too! DD has had an offer from St Andrews but not heard from Edinburgh

St Andrews is my dd’s first choice. She has offers from her 4 other choices , York is her second choice and she liked York when she did the open day. She is not that hopeful about an offer from St Andrews.

I think that’s definitely an issue. DD has all but written off Edinburgh, having had x4 offers from elsewhere pretty quickly after submitting her application in November. She’d like to know if Edinburgh will make her an offer but I feel like she’s already discounted it (not purely on the delay of course, but I don’t think it helps!)

DD is also waiting to hear from Edinburgh, but she's had offers from other places she prefers already, so she's also pretty much discounted it.

Scottish universities make a lot of late offers in the admissions cycle because they are subject to funding information that they only receive late in the cycle. So it's really not the fault of the universities and applicants should just hang in there.

Scottish system is very frustrating (we are in Scotland)
DD has had offers from Warwick and Durham but nothing from St A’s, Edinburgh or glasgow

We are waiting for Edinburgh as well. Has you been attending the online talks the last few weeks?

No we haven't. Anything interesting?

Just talking about accommodation, electives, student Q&A, and subject based talk. Interesting, but frustrating as waiting for an offer!

Attended the offer holders’ open day at Warwick today with DS. We both really liked the campus feel – everything seemed very functional and thoughtfully laid out, and just a genuinely lovely vibe. Came away impressed and more importantly DS left feeling much more confident and happy about it all.

Still waiting for Warwick and Glasgow here. Annoying as we know quite a few people with the same grades who have had offers already from similar courses. I wish we just knew either way. Warwick is the top choice, and was always a stretch, but whether or not an offer is forthcoming would dictate whether a subject is dropped now or not. (We’re in Scotland, so three advanced Highers currently being studied, but don’t need to continue with all three if not required).

Dd will be @Blueskiesnotgrey - I do get very nervous as no one seems to mention it on here! And no one from school is interested either. But it’s a good course with a good reputation.

What subject was that for? As far as I know, DS has had an offer, but not a specific invite to an open day yet.

@nutella8 did Warwick have much to say about accommodation for 1st years - for those making it their first choice and as insurance?

We’re going to one of their OHDs soon and I’m trying to convince DS to stay overnight to get a better idea of Coventry and Leamington Spa for places to live in subsequent years. That seems to be one of his biggest stumbling blocks on going there.

Maths, but there were offer holders for chemistry and I think Economics-at least that’s what I think I heard the students say at the start of the campus tour. If I hadn’t asked DC to check his emails we may have missed it although there were 2-3 dates offered in Feb/March. Keep checking spam, delete folder etc for emails or just call the admissions office to clarify.

Nothing more than what’s already on the website, that they guarantee university accommodation on or off campus for 1st year students.

We did the OHD at York today. Wandered around both campus sites (shuttle bus between the East and West campus and looked at a few accommodation options in the morning. YP then split from parents. The Q&A for parents was useful.

Nobody seemed to mix much but the students we spoke to were really friendly and happy to answer Qs. My YP swapped socials with one person she got on with in the taster session (there were only 16 of them) but none of the parents really chatted (an observation not a criticism). .

Our first OHD so nothing to bench mark against yet. We do Warwick in a few weeks time and Loughborough this weekend.

Am a little frustrated with the OHDs. We got the offer for Warwick a day or two ago and an email has arrived inviting to book to the OHD… but the Physics dedicated one was in January and the rest of them are fully booked for physics. DS attended one of the open days, so not sure what the point is of attending what would effectively be the same again. He has NO interest in any of the accommodation tours [‘yeah, so long as I have a room with a bed, I’m fine’ 🤦🏽‍♀️]. And they are on Wednesdays, so he’d have to miss a day of college and DH would have to take a day off work. Why not a Saturday?!!

So… we’re not booking Warwick after all.

My DD got a strange email from Bristol (law) saying her application is 'on hold' - she meets the criteria for the course, but they will make a decision later on.
Has anyone else had this, or heard of this? She applied in early November after the autumn open day. She also found out that she did well on the LNAT.

It feels like, you're OK but we'll see if anyone better comes along!

The Bristol ‘on hold’ thing is v common - been cropping up on Reddit 6th form subs since last Oct and doesn’t seem to be anything to do with ‘we’ll wait and see if we prefer others’, more just a bottleneck in the system so letting you know it’s not a no and they’ll get back to you. Arguably they could say nothing but it’s nothing personal or bad, just literally on hold like a phone call and they’ll get back to you asap.

Thank you, that's reassuring!

Ds finally heard from Manchester, his main choice for PPE, but was offered Liberal Arts instead.

He’s really disappointed as didn’t want to go down that route - the LA course just didn’t interest him. He’s already emailed to query it but is getting his head round a change of plan.

He has offers from York, Southampton and Liverpool, waiting on Exeter.

Those that have already heard from Warwick, have any been for PPE?