Think carefully when you reply to your offers

Replying to your offers is a big decision and one you need to think about carefully. You could be spending at least the next three years of your life at whichever university you accept, so you should weigh up all the pros and cons before rushing a decision. Here are five important things to consider before replying…

1. Accept your favourite choice as your firm choice
Think carefully about which choice is your favourite - think back to which one wowed you at an open day and offers the course you’ve dreamed of. Take the same approach with your insurance choice, because if you don’t meet the conditions of your firm, but you do meet the conditions of your insurance, then that’s the uni you’ll be going to. Remember, you can’t choose between your firm and insurance when you get your results.

2. Once you accept a place, you’ve entered a contract with that university
When you accept an offer you’re entering a contract – the university agrees to accept you if you meet their conditions (if there are any) and you agree to attend the course. This is why you need to be happy with the choices you accept.

Sometimes a uni might state in the conditions of their offer that they’ll change it to unconditional as soon as you accept it as your firm choice, and they may also offer incentives such as guaranteed accommodation. Although this may sound reassuring, only make it your firm choice if it’s the course you really want to accept, because you’re making a commitment to the university.

3. If you accept an unconditional offer, even if you don’t have your exam results yet, you won’t have an insurance choice
Some universities will make unconditional offers to applicants even before they have their exam results. Amongst other things, accepting an unconditional offer means you won’t have an insurance choice. Find out what else you should consider if you’re accepting an offer like this in our blog post ‘Accepting an unconditional offer’.

4. Read the conditions of your offer carefully
Before you reply to a conditional offer, make sure you have a clear understanding of what the university requires from you. If uncertain about anything, get in touch with the university and ask them to clarify the conditions.

5. Talk through your decision 
If you’re trying to decide which offers to accept, speak to your tutors and careers advisers. It’s good to speak to family and friends as they can offer alternative perspectives you might not have considered. Check out blogs from current students too, as they share what it’s really like to be part of their student community.    

If you need some help replying to your offers then head on over to our website or ask our friendly advisers on Facebook and Twitter.

Replying to offers - your questions answered

We’re approaching the time of year when lots of you will be replying to your offers. For some, this
can be a tough decision and a nerve-wracking experience. We’ll try to put your mind at ease by answering some of the top questions we get asked at this important time of year:

1. I’m in Track but I don’t have an option to reply to my offers. What’s going on?

This is usually because you haven’t had a decision from all of your choices yet. However, if you’re ready to reply and don’t want to wait for the other choices to make a decision, you can choose to cancel them. To do this, click on 'view' for each outstanding choice and then you’ll have the option to 'permanently withdraw from this choice.' Once you’ve done this, the ‘reply to offers’ button will be available in the ‘Your choices’ section of Track.  

If you’ve been offered an interview, you’ll need to decline it first and then cancel the choice before you can reply to your offers. If it's an interview you've already accepted, you'll need to call us so we can help you.

2. What do ‘firm’ and ‘insurance’ mean?

Firm: this is your first choice – the place you most want to go to. If you accept a conditional offer and meet the conditions, you’ll have a confirmed place here.

Insurance: this is the choice you’d want if you didn't meet the conditions of your firm choice. If this is a conditional offer, you’d need to meet the conditions for your place to be confirmed.

3. Can I reply to more than two offers?

You can accept a maximum of two choices – one firm and one insurance. You can only have an insurance choice if your firm choice is a conditional offer. If you accept an unconditional offer as your firm choice then the place is guaranteed, so you cannot have an insurance choice.

4. Do you have to reply to all your offers at the same time?

Yes, you have to reply to all your offers at the same time. But that doesn’t mean you need to rush to make a decision as soon as you’re in a position to reply. As long as you reply before the deadline date then your replies will be recorded. That said, it’s not a good idea to wait until the last minute on your reply deadline day – so do give yourself enough time to reply carefully. 

5. I've made a mistake with my replies. Can I change them?

You may change your replies once within seven days of initially making them. To do this, give us a quick call with your Personal ID and one of your advisers will be able to help.

6. When do I need to reply?

Once you’ve had decisions back from all your choices, you’ll be given a date in Track by which you need to reply. This handy little table will also give you an idea of when you need to reply…

Last decision by	Your reply date is
31 March 2015	6 May 2015
7 May 2015	4 June 2015
4 June 2015	25 June 2015
16 July 2015	23 July 2015

As soon as you’ve replied it’s worth double-checking the information in Track to make sure everything is as you intended. If you notice anything that doesn’t seem quite right after you’ve replied then give us a call as soon as possible so we can look into it for you.

Our step-by-step video guide also shows you how to reply to your offers in Track. 

If you have any other questions about replying, get in touch with our advisers on Facebook or Twitter.

Replying to offers: give yourself enough time

You’ve waited anxiously for your university choices to make their decisions. You’ve logged in to Track to check thousands of times and now you’ve finally received all your offers. You’re probably thinking “What a relief, the wait is over!” but don’t relax just yet, as once you get to this stage there’s a big decision to make: which offers will you accept?

Know your reply deadline
Although you might still be weighing up your different offers, there’s one thing that’s certain, and that’s the deadline you need to reply by. If you’re wondering when it is, it all depends on when you received the universities’ decisions. The first deadline is 7 May, which is for those who received all decisions by 31 March, but Track will display the right deadline for you so make sure you check.

Reply sooner rather than later
Whether you’re one of the people whose deadline is 7 May or not, once you’ve had decisions from all of your choices then it’s a good idea to reply to your offers sooner rather than later. That’s not to say you should rush your replies though – it’s really important to think carefully until you know which you’d like to make your firm and insurance choices. But once you’ve made your decision it’s best not to wait until the last minute.

You might think you’ve got plenty of time but don’t let the reply deadline creep up on you. The unavoidable truth is that if you leave it until deadline day to reply to your offers in Track, you’ll be feeling the pressure – even panicking. When you’re rushing it’s more likely that you’ll make a mistake, which could mean selecting the wrong replies. Just imagine – you’ve spent months perfecting your application and working towards meeting the conditions of your dream offer and you accidently select ‘decline’ instead of ‘firm’!

Now that’s not to say this doesn’t happen to even the most prepared applicants. You may be able to change your replies within seven days of making them – if you call us then we'll be able to let you know if this is possible.

Avoid unnecessary stress
If you miss the reply deadline altogether you’ll end up lumbered with unnecessary stress, as the offers you received will be automatically declined. We call it ‘declined by default’ and if you find yourself in this situation you should contact our customer service advisers straight away – they’ll be able to accept your chosen offers, but only if you get in touch within seven days.

So the most important piece of advice is to give yourself enough time to reply before the deadline. Here are just some of the benefits of replying in good time:

1. You’ll get peace of mind –  your replies will be done and dusted and out of the way, so you can begin enjoying your summer
2. You’ll avoid last minute problems – you’ll have the chance to ask for help from your teachers and UCAS, should you need it. 
3. You’ll be able to make plans – universities and colleges will often wait until you’ve replied before they let you apply for accommodation. 

For help replying to your offers, take a look at our post Replying to university offers: the big questions or watch our video guide.

Your questions about Clearing answered!

The Contact Centre at UCAS

Being the seasoned Clearing veterans that we are on the social media team, we've put together some answers to the questions that get asked a lot each year and which will most definitely be being asked right now.

Take a look over them and if your question isn't answered, don't forget we're all only a few keystrokes away on Facebook and Twitter to help you out! You can also get comprehensive information in the Clearing section of our website.

Why doesn't the 'Add Clearing choice' button work on Track?
It will usually be for one of the following reasons:

• You've already got a confirmed place with a university. If that's the case, you’ll need to ask them whether they’d be willing to allow you into Clearing. Any decision to do so would be at their discretion. If they allow you into Clearing, you’ll then be able to add a choice on Track. If allowed into Clearing, Track will usually update immediately with their decision. However, if they're using their own internal systems there can sometimes be a delay of up to 24 hours before it appears on Track

• You've been unsuccessful with one of your original choices but they've given you a 'changed course' offer rather than saying you're unsuccessful. In this instance, you’ll need to make the appropriate reply before being allowed into Clearing.  As your reply depends on the status of your application, it’d be best to check our guidance on replying to changed course offers. 

• You've already added a Clearing choice. If you've done this and don’t want that choice any longer, you’ll need to contact the university to ask if they can put you back into Clearing.

Where can I find my Clearing number?

You'll only see a Clearing number if you're eligible for Clearing. This can be found on the Welcome page and Choices page in Track. However, if you've already added a Clearing choice, the number will be removed. 

What's a changed course offer? 

This will appear as 'UCC' on Track. This means that you haven’t been successful for your original course choice but that the university are making you an alternative offer.  This could be an offer for a different course or it could be a change to the start date or point of entry. Once we’ve had decisions from both your firm and insurance choice, you’d then have five days in which to reply. As your response depends on the status of your application, it’d be best to check our guidance on replying to changed course offers.

Why hasn't Track changed? It still shows I have a conditional offer!

This will usually mean that the university hasn’t yet made a decision.  If you’ve narrowly missed meeting the conditions of the offer, they may be waiting to see what the general trend is with the rest of their applicants before deciding. If a significant amount failed to meet the conditions they may then offer places to those who were just below getting the required grades. You may also want to check that the university has definitely received your results and that there are no other conditions that you need to meet - for example, a GCSE result which won't be available until the Thursday after A Level results day. Also bear in mind that if universities are using their own internal systems there may be a delay to decisions appearing on Track. *UPDATE: On 16 August the systems were running slower than usual at certain points which will have caused a delay to some decisions being made*

I don't want my university place any more. Can I go into Clearing?
Whether you've been accepted at your original firm choice or been accepted by your insurance choice, you need to ask the university if they’d be willing to allow you into Clearing. As you’ve got a confirmed place with them you’d be expected to go there, in much the same way that they’d be expected to honour their agreement in giving you the place. Any decision to allow you into Clearing would be at their discretion and they’d be under no obligation to do this.

I've got into my firm choice but I want my insurance choice instead. Can I do that?
When your place was confirmed at the firm choice, the insurance choice would've been made aware of this. Therefore, they'd no longer be expected to hold a place for you. If you want to go to the insurance choice, you'll need to call them to ask if there's still a vacancy and whether they'd be willing to offer you it through Clearing. If they can, you'll then need to ask the firm choice whether they'd be happy to allow you into Clearing. This would be at their discretion and they’d be under no obligation to do it.

If that all gets agreed and processed, you'll then be able to add them as a Clearing choice on Track.

How do I reply to a Clearing offer?
You wouldn’t need to reply to a Clearing offer. If a university has provisionally offered you a place which you want to accept, you’ll need to go to the ‘Choices’ section of Track, click on the 'Add Clearing choice' button and the enter the details of your course. It’ll then be up to the university to confirm your place on Track. When they've confirmed your place it will say 'Clearing Accept' next to the choice.

I got better results than expected. Can I use Adjustment?

To be eligible to use Adjustment:

• your results must have met and exceeded the conditions of your conditional firm (CF) choice;

and

• you need to have paid the full application fee (£22 for 2012).

If you have paid the single application fee (£11 for 2012) and want to use Adjustment, you need to pay an additional £11.

You are not eligible to use Adjustment if:

• you are confirmed (UF) at your firm choice but did not exceed the conditions of the offer
• you have a confirmed place on a changed course offer

your original offer was unconditional.

Why am I unable to register for Adjustment?
The option to register will be displayed on Track for all applicants whose firm choice has gone from being 'conditional firm' to 'unconditional firm'. However, it is then up to the universities you contact to make sure you're eligible to use Adjustment. In order to be eligible, you need to have met and exceeded the conditions of your original firm choice's offer. So you'd need to make sure you meet this requirement.

Also, Adjustment is available from 16 August until 31 August, with your individual Adjustment period beginning on 16 August or when your conditional firm choice changes to unconditional (whichever is later). So you need to make sure you're trying to register within that date range.

You should visit our website for full details of how Adjustment works.