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?

Yes he went to the open day @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo- he said it was like a theme park. He did enjoy the lectures.

Warwick does seem to be very marmite.

I’m glad your son loved it. I wish mine did. It ticks so many boxes. I will keep working on him 😊

She is predicted 3 A* so higher that what Manchester are looking for. Plus several of her mates who have been predicted slightly lower have got their offers.

Durham offer through for DC this evening Politics and IR

Brilliant @Themillandbakery

College submitted DDs application on Tuesday and she hasn't heard anything... thinking nothing is likely to come through now tol January..?

DD submitted hers about 3 weeks ago. Have had an offer back from Birmingham which is confusing us - this is for Biological Science, which on their website says it would need an A in Biology, but on the offer it doesn't say that. I guess we should try to phone them to clarify?

This looks like a contextual offer. Did you go to university or do you live in a poor postcode?

I agree with @KellySeveride. It says it’s based on an A in EPQ and firming Birmingham.

DS got a similar offer from Exeter - ABB instead of AAB if he firmed (no EPQ offered at his school).

Not contextual no - I didn't 'go' to uni in the traditional sense but did a degree years later at night s hool while working full-time, so we ticked 'yes' on the box that asked if either parent had a degree. We also don't live in a poor postcode (I've checked). I think I will try to contact the uni. Would hate to firm it and then find it was a mistake.

Well done to your DC! Do you mind sharing their PGs and whether it was a contextual offer?

Should clarify here that poor postcode is probably not my best wording! If anyone takes offence I apologise. If it helps I live in a one of these postcodes I just can’t remember the official term.

UCAS site down this weekend. Am a little annoyed as DD submitted form to school 10 days ago - would have been sooner but various tutors wanted to review and support and kept sitting on it for a few days at a time - and now his tutor has not done the onward submission bit.

Was really hoping it would just get caught by the unis before Christmas, but realistically am thinking he’ll not hear until the second week of January now. If his college does their bit at the start of term, that is.

I notice the UCAS deadline is mid-Jan and not end-of-Jan this year too, so it feels a bit ‘last minute’.

PG A star A A and got contextual

Thank you. Interesting that they are still giving out offers so close to Christmas. Congratulations to your DC!

DD just got an offer from Newcastle tonight. So they are definitely still working!

@Wisperley sine schools/colleges are on some contextual offer lists.

Thank you @Hamsterdamn - I did look but Birmingham don't publish a list of schools/colleges like other unis do so I can't tell. But her college (although a state college) doesn't appear on any other unis' contextual lists unfortunately so I'd be surprised - it's ranked highly consistently (despite what I might think of it!). I'm going to try and call Birmingham this coming week to check. Equally she doesn't want to end up on a course where everyone else is much cleverer than her and she struggles...

@Wisperley my DS also got a contextual offer for one of his - we can't work out why either. But the contextual offers are not greatly different from the standard - just one subject drops by one grade. Still it's most welcome!

They use data maps like POLAR quintiles to identify children in under performing postcodes. They are usually based on GCSE results. Where I live, due to being a small rural community, GCSE results aren’t bad, but there is a huge drop out rate among sixth former kids, because of the challenges with accessing sixth form education. This, however, isn’t taken into account.

She can contact them and check whether they have processed her application. I suspect that there is a random element to it and some kids slip through the net for no good reason. But there are still months ahead for them to process her application, so she shouldn’t lose hope.

DD has got offers from three of her universities. Another has offered her an interview and another wants her to submit her portfolio by March.

Early hours of this morning one of the conditional offers emailed asking her to submit her portfolio within 2 weeks! The plan was to start pulling it together in the first couple of weeks of the new year - the other uni have said to take her time and get it in by March! She’s currently unwell with flu and then it’s Christmas and we are away the first few days of the new year. She’s going to see if they will extend the deadline as we are hoping it’s an automated email with it being sent in the early hours and expecting her to have it done over Christmas and new year!

Although I’m also preparing her to have to do it in case they say the deadline is non negotiable - not ideal without input from her college tutors tho 😖

Has anyone had any luck getting an extension on submitting a portfolio?

Does the portfolio request have any information about extensions? I am sure it is worth asking anyway to see what they say. Is the portfolio part of the conditions in the offer? Maybe having the offer already is an advantage in this situation.

Has she done the artwork and it is a question of choosing it, photographing it and arranging it in the correct format? Is all the art at home or is some locked away at school? Hopefully they will be understanding and give her the extension. Good luck.

I’ve rung and spoken to them this morning they said it’s a ‘soft’ deadline and won’t affected offer if she submits after but to do as soon as she can. They said if she wants piece of mind she can email and they will confirm this in writing - phew!

That’s a relief @imtiredandiwanttogotobed.

Moving over to this thread with an update on DD. She added Cardiff and got an offer from them last week so now has two offers she would be happy with (Sheffield came in a few weeks ago). Still no news from Edinburgh but they are known to be slow. Not sure if she will use her 5th slot. I think it will either be Edinburgh and Sheffield or Sheffield and Cardiff as firm and insurance so maybe no need but also perhaps a good idea to keep her options open.

She is cracking on with mocks revision, Art coursework and EPQ work now. Not a restful Christmas break for the year 13s.

We heard from Edinburgh last week (engineering) but my son says he thinks most of the programs have not made offers yet, I know of others still waiting and their UCAS went in a couple weeks ahead of his. He’s applying with Highers which might change timelines compared to A-levels given it’s a different funding model.