Best case scenario...offers!

[AimsRJ]

Hi guys,

can someone clarify things with me...its all so long ago I applied through UCAS the 1st time round i've forgotten how it works.

I am being very optomistic here but I'm wondering what happens when you get an offer or offers for a place. Due to different personal reasons I am still unsure which of the uni's I am applying to would be my 1st choice. I know there is quite a time difference between when the different unis offer places. What happens if you accept your 1st offer and can you not confirm an offer until all your unis have considered you?
ie. if you accept the 1st offer, will the other unis take you off their lists and not consider you or if somewhere offers you a place early (specifically Oxford) can you wait to see what other offers you get before you accept?
I realise this is being very optomistic but hey I'm looking on the positive side!!

[469er]

You are not required to reply to any offers until you have a response from all of your choices. You then get given a deadline by which you have to reply. The earliest this will be is the beginning of May, but it may be later because it has to be a certain number of days after your last offer/rejection (about a month). If any of your offers is reissued, e.g. because the conditions are altered, the period for consideration is extended further accordingly. After you have replied to your offers, you have a 14-day cooling-off period, in which you can change your mind. In practice, it is also possible to reverse your firm and insurance acceptances later in the cycle, with the permission of both admissions departments. The earlier you attempt this, the more likely it is to be successful, i.e. not after A level results come out (it depends also on how many offers a school made and how many acceptances they've had). HTH.

[469er]

I should add that I have no experience of Oxbridge. It's possible that they might want you to accept their offer direct with themselves earlier, on the assumption (!) that they will have been your first choice, irrespective of your 'rights' in the UCAS system. I'm sure there would be a way round this, possibly just as simple as writing and saying you're not ready to make a decision yet. I'm equally sure someone here who knows the answer will be along shortly!

[AimsRJ]

thanks! that has made it clearer!
I assume as I hold all my qualifications and do not have to wait for results later in the year I dont make firm or insurance choices..just the one acceptance and I must presumably get 'unconditional' offers if I get any.

[469er]

thanks! that has made it clearer!
I assume as I hold all my qualifications and do not have to wait for results later in the year I dont make firm or insurance choices..just the one acceptance and I must presumably get 'unconditional' offers if I get any.

That's a good question. If your offers are conditional, as mine were this year, there is nothing to stop you making firm and insurance choices that have the same condition attached. In theory, this is nonsensical, but in practice you may have a sense that one may be more flexible than the other if you miss your conditions, or feel so undecided about which to pick that you just can't bear to turn down the one you're not making firm, in the hope that you can keep your options open for a reversal later on. I don't know whether the UCAS system would prevent you doing this if all your offers are unconditional. Maybe the UCAS helpline could clarify?

[AimsRJ]

yeah maybe...its a long way off and maybe not even a problem (although I have my fingers crossed that I do have this particular problem!!)

[Pammy]

I can't remember exactly anymore how it worked...But as far as I do remember, I had to cancel the offers that I didn't want to accept first until only the one that I did want was left (but I think that may have been because I cancelled one of them before I went to interview, and one that hadn't come up on UCAS yet...so they were still in progress). It was quite nerve-wrecking as I kept worrying that I would press the wrong button and suddenly delete all the choices...In any case it is definitely true that if it's unconditional, you just get the one. So for me, as I had to cancel the other choices first, this really was it!
It is definitely possible to wait though until you know all your options...Some people make their choice as late as June, including Oxford offers...Although they do urge you to reply to them personally within a few weeks of getting the offer in case you want to decline it (this is for the GEP, I am not sure about 6-year med there), but I guess some people just ignore that and cancel the offer later if they don't want to take it up.

[AimsRJ]

So if you do accept it personally within a few weeks they other unis arent aware and will continue to consider you?

[Pammy]

So if you do accept it personally within a few weeks they other unis arent aware and will continue to consider you?

Yes, basically...Although Oxford probably prefer if you make a firm choice (though they have a "waiting list" for cases like these: some people get a place without a college which they will be assigned when someone drops out, and some people will be offered later interviews in case more people drop out - that's how I understood it)...

[AimsRJ]

thanks for this. It is probably academic- I think in the unlikely circumstance that I get offered a place at Oxford I think I will jump at the chance!!