Are you still waiting for Track to update?

While most of you will have heard from your university and college choices by now, there will be some who are still yet to have their place confirmed on Track. There's always a certain degree of confusion as to why this might be and when Track will change. I've put together a few points to help clarify matters if you find yourself in this situation.

Why haven't the university confirmed my place on Track yet?
 
The reason will normally be one of the following:

• You didn't meet the conditions but they still want to consider you. 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 didn't meet the conditions they were set they may then offer places to those who were just below getting the required grades

• The university hasn't got your exam results. You should check the exam results that we handle and pass on to your university choices. If your exam isn't included in the list then you'll need to make sure you pass the results on to your university choices yourself. Remember, that if the conditions of your offer included getting a certain grade at GCSE, the results for GCSEs won't be out until 23 August. You'll need to give your results to your university choices once you have them

• They've made their decision on Track but it hasn't updated yet. For the majority of universities, if they make a decision on Track it will update instantly. However, if they're using their own internal systems to update Track there can sometimes be a delay of around 24 hours (maximum) before it updates. Usually it will update sooner than that though

• They're still trying to process your decisions. Very simply it could be the case that they haven't yet managed to process all their decisions and they're working through the backlog

In any of the above cases, if you've got a query about the delay then you'd need to contact the university to ask them for more information on it. 

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.

5 things you need to know about A Level results day!

As you can imagine there are lots of questions and comments flying around right now about A level results day and Clearing.We'll be sending out advice based on your queries in the run-up to results day, as indeed we've done for the past few weeks. We've also got a handy video to help you prepare for getting those all-important grades. However, many students often have concerns and expectations that go unnoticed because they never ask us a question about them. Fortunately we're a vigilant lot, so with all this in mind, here are 5 things you need to know about A Level results day!

1. Track doesn't go live at midnight! It'll start updating at 08:00 (UK time) on 15 August. So from that time you'll be able to check the decisions made by your university choices.

2.  The vast majority of universities will update their decisions on Track on results day... but not all of them will. We've got lots of information about this on our 'Still Waiting' page, but in a nutshell it'll usually be for one of the following reasons:

• You've narrowly missed meeting the conditions of the offer and the university are still giving your application consideration. They'll usually wait to see how other applicants for the course have done and then make a decision then.
• They've not got your exam results. If their conditions included a qualification for which we don't pass on the results then they'll need you to send them the results. Details of exam results we handle can be found here
• If you've been asked to achieve a certain grade in a GCSE, the university won't be able to confirm your place until the results for those are out on 23 August. You'd need to pass the results to them.

3. Track has had some BIG improvements since last year. All of our technology has been through thorough testing to make sure that all our attention can be focused on helping students through the Clearing process on results day.

4. We'll be sending emails to you to let you know the universities' decisions.These won't be the standard Track updates you usually get telling you that there's been a change to the status. These emails will be telling you whether or not you've got into your chosen university. 

5. You won't be able to add a Clearing choice until the afternoon on 15 August. This gives you time to research your options and make informed decisions before potentially adding a choice. Check our Clearing guidance for what to do if you're using Clearing.

Emails we'll send you on A Level results day and beyond!

There's been quite a lot of interest in the fact that this year we'll be emailing students with news on whether or not they've got into their chosen university or college. However, in almost equal measure, there's been confusion as to when we'll send them and who we'll send them to! Hopefully this will clear things up a bit:

When will the email be sent?

Emails were sent out on 7 August for anyone whose university place had been confirmed between 1-7 August. As Scottish exam results were published on 7 August, the emails were mainly sent to Scottish students although some BTEC students also got an email.

No further emails will be sent now until 16 August when A Level results are published. They'll then be sent at regular intervals every day up until 31 August. 

Who will get sent an email?
You'd be sent an email if:

• you've been accepted by either your firm or insurance choice university on Track
• you're eligible for Clearing because you've not been successful in meeting the conditions of your firm and/or insurance choice university

What does it mean if I don't receive an email?

Try not to worry as not everyone is going to be sent one. You won't be sent an email if:

• Your place was already unconditional
• Your chosen university hasn't yet made a decision
• Your chosen university are making you an offer on a different course or different start date

If in doubt about the status of your application, remember you can check Track for the latest updates!