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?

How long did the offers take for Newcastle and Lancaster? Ds waiting to hear from them.
Congrats to your dd .

Congrats on the Durham maths offers! DS has Durham on his application for history. I don’t think he has heard yet.

It is so far from home and we didn’t go to the open day as it was a late inclusion. If he gets an offer hopefully he can go to the offer holders day and get an idea of the feel of the place. I think he liked the idea of the college system although I don’t see how it can work when everyone lives out from year 2 anyway.

Thanks, I didn't even know there were colleges.

DS has been given a DDD offer for NTU! The course grades on ucas were BBC and hes predicted ABB. He really liked NTU but the offer has weirdly put him off a bit! His teacher said it may be because he also did a debating qualification, as did his friend who also got that offer. They dont know anyone else who applied. Has anyone else had a weirdly low offer? Is there any reason to be concerned about it?

Sorry I was misinformed by DS! Its CCC. Still lower than Ucas but not as odd I suppose!

@RainbowBagels it's nice to have one that gives you a buffer but it does give off the whiff of desperation from the University.

I suppose it depends on how keen they were but if he liked it, it will be a great insurance choice.

Just a couple of days

He loved the university and the city but was a bit concerned about the 'party' reputation as he's more a lunch out and home by 10 kind of guy!

Does anyone’s DC have English lit offer from Edinburgh yet? I know Edinburgh are often very slow with their offers so not panicking yet, just curious!

low offers usually mean that they want the student for whatever reason.

But also, double check, some unis offer lower to certain postcodes.
We fall into one of those postcodes and all 3 of my kids have had lower offers because of it. It is an attempt to redress that balance with private schools etc.
dd's Sussex off is low because of postcodes.

They are called contextual offers I think

My dd hasn’t heard anything about eng lit, but I am a teacher and Edinburgh is notoriously late to give offers.

No we checked the contextual offers before and we're not in the postcode area for contextual offers. It may be because of the debating qualification as hes applied for politics. In any case, he has 3 offers, just waiting on his two favourites though!

DD has just received an offer from Durham (geography), which she’s delighted about. That’s 4/5 now and just Edinburgh left to hear from (which no doubt will be ages).
I think she’s going to find it really hard to narrow down her choices, but for now at least it’s a big relief.

@Suffolker great news! Is Edinburgh one of the favourites?

DS is waiting for Durham so it's good to hear offers are coming out.

We're based in London and some of his friends have gone for all London universities whereas my DS only has one London uni in his UCAS choices. I think because of this he has a hankering for UCL which we are still waiting for. But the chances of getting in are pretty low and I'm not convinced it's the best course.

If he is lucky to get offers from all then i agree picking a firm and particularly an insurance will be tough.

Sent off to UCAS Monday, confirmations Tuesday, first offer last night from Nottingham. BBB if he firms for environmental science, which he is pleased about. Waiting for Lancaster, Cardiff, Exeter and RHUL. Actually would be very happy with notts as firm and don’t know whether the others would be lower, if he gets them.

To be honest she’s a bit hot and cold about Edinburgh. She loved the sound of the course and the department, but is a bit concerned about the cost (travel, accommodation, an extra year of fees) plus the distance. Although it’s not that much further from us than Durham! I actually studied at Edinburgh and really loved my time there, but I’m not fully convinced it would be the right place for her. So tricky!

@MoreMaths - thanks to MN, i was well primed that Durham applicants often don’t get their preferred colleges but are very happy where they are. That was our experience. DD wanted Bailey and catered and was provisionally given hill and self-catering. The college was something like no 11 on her list. Took her a day or so to adjust but she quickly got used to the idea; her college was confirmed shortly after results day and she has had a great time.

@Dery Do you mind me asking which college your DD is at? Mine is very keen to be self catered and seems to think one of the hill colleges would be best, but I’m completely clueless!

@SuffolkerAs Derry said, I gather the first thing to get your head around is that it’s a preference rather than a choice.

My DC definitely prefers Hill to Bailey based on the location. Not at all bothered whether they do gowned formals but would prefer catered over self-catered.

Is therefore choosing, in some sort of order…
Hill (Catered)
Hill (Self Catered)
Bailey (Catered)
Bailey (Self Catered)

I think they’ll then split them in terms of sport/shared rooms. It does feel like there must be a better way though!

@Suffolker - DD is at John Snow. She has pre-uni friends at South and JoBo - none there by initial choice; all really loving them now. I will say that of the Hill Colleges, DD loved Trevs (catered) and had them 4th in her list so we had thought she would get that if not Bailey as it seemed less popular than many others on the Hill. But that didn’t work either! But it’s all turned out well anyway.

Btw: elder DD is at Edinburgh and loving it. She’s doing history + a lang and currently on her 3rd year abroad and loving that, too. But it’s a very long way to go if your DD is not completely feeling it!

We’re in London so both E and D are long journeys for us.

My son submitted his UCAS last Sunday, his tutor uploaded his reference and predicted grades on Tuesday. He got an offer from both Manchester (his first choice) and Cardiff on Wednesday evening.

We are waiting now to hear from Southampton, York and Queen Mary.

Thanks @Dery and @MoreMaths for the helpful info. Dd has already mentioned John Snow as being one she’d like to choose, but I’m aware there’s very little guarantee of getting her first choice. If she has a preference for a Hill college and self catered, do you think she’s at least likely to get that, if not a specific college?

My son's final two Bath engineering offers arrived last night, can't believe it after all the previous years threads complaining about Bath being so slow!

Now he will wait until after his mocks before confirming his firm and insurance but unless something drastic happens I think he's already decided.

@Suffolker - you’re welcome!

Actually, I think there is a reasonable chance of your DD getting John Snow if she puts it first. My DD’s first 3 colleges listed were all particularly popular ones on the Bailey.

I do think that if your DD’s preferences are for the Hill and self-catering, then she has a very good chance of getting one of the colleges that meets that description. I could be wrong, but I think there is greater demand for catered colleges generally. Fingers crossed!

Also, I can’t remember if I said it on this thread or not, bear in mind that an offer of the college is not the same as an offer of accommodation at that college. Some time after provisional allocation of colleges, the college will send out an accommodation form for the student to fill in to indicate their accommodation preferences. Make sure that your DD looks out for that at the relevant time. From memory, DD’s college was provisionally allocated in May and the form came out sometime in June and needed to be returned by early July.

Ahh that's great! My DC has applied for Engineering at Bath too (mechanical) but no offer yet. He did get one through from Durham yesterday though, which has given him a big confidence boost