How UCAS Applications Work: A Secondary School Parent's Guide

UCAS is the central service through which students in the UK apply to full-time undergraduate university courses. Most students apply during Year 13, submitting one application listing up to five course choices alongside a personal statement and a school reference. The process has several key deadlines, and knowing them early makes everything far less stressful for students and parents alike.

What is UCAS?

UCAS — the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service — is the organisation that manages applications to higher education in the UK. It acts as a single gateway: instead of applying separately to each university, a student fills in one UCAS application and it is sent to all the institutions they choose. Universities then respond to UCAS with their decisions, and the student accepts or declines through the same system.

UCAS handles applications for full-time undergraduate degree courses (and some foundation years and HNDs). Part-time degrees, postgraduate study, and most apprenticeships are applied for directly with the provider, not through UCAS.

When does a student apply through UCAS?

The application cycle runs from September of Year 13 (age 17–18) through to the following autumn. The table below shows the key dates; exact deadlines vary slightly each year and should be checked at ucas.com.

Date | What happens
Early September (Year 13) | UCAS Hub opens for new applications
15 October | Deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses
Mid-January | Main equal-consideration deadline — all applications received by this date treated equally by universities
February–May | Universities send decisions; students receive offers
May (typically mid-May) | Deadline to reply to offers (choose Firm and Insurance)
End of June | UCAS Extra closes (for students with no offers who want one more choice)
Mid-August (Results Day) | A-level results released; Confirmation or Clearing begins
September | Clearing continues for remaining places; new academic year begins

The application itself is usually written and submitted from October to January of Year 13, though the school's reference — written by a teacher — must be added before the application can be submitted.

How does the UCAS application work?

A UCAS application contains five main sections:

Personal details — name, address, nationality and other administrative information.

Course choices — up to five choices, each specifying a university and a course. Students can apply to Oxford or Cambridge, but not both in the same cycle. Medicine applicants are limited to four medical school choices.

Education — a record of qualifications already held and those being studied, including predicted grades.

Personal statement — a written section explaining why the student wants to study their chosen subject (see below).

Reference — submitted by a teacher or adviser at the school or college; includes a prediction of the student's final grades.

All five sections are submitted together as a single application. Universities only see the choices relevant to them; they do not see which other universities a student has applied to.

What is the UCAS personal statement?

The personal statement is where the student explains their enthusiasm for the subject and demonstrates they are ready for undergraduate study. From the 2026 entry cycle onwards, UCAS replaced the traditional single essay (up to 4,000 characters) with a structured three-question format:

Question 1: Why do you want to study this subject?

Question 2: How have your experiences prepared you for undergraduate study?

Question 3: What are your future plans and how does this course fit them?

Each question has its own character limit. The new format is designed to make it clearer for both students and universities what the statement should contain.

Parents can support the personal statement process by helping their child gather and reflect on their experiences — work experience, relevant reading, projects, competitions and extracurricular activities — but the writing must be the student's own. Schools have plagiarism checks in place before submission.

How are offers made and what do Firm and Insurance mean?

Universities respond to applications with one of the following:

Conditional offer: a place is offered if the student achieves specific grades (e.g. AAB at A-level).

Unconditional offer: a place is offered regardless of results.

Unsuccessful / withdrawn: no offer is made.

Once all decisions are in, the student must reply to their offers by a set deadline. They choose:

Firm choice (CF): the first-choice university they plan to attend if they meet the conditions.

Insurance choice (CI): a backup with a lower grade requirement, held in case conditions for the Firm choice are not met.

If a student receives no offers, they can enter UCAS Extra, which allows them to add one additional choice at a time until a place is found.

What happens on A-level Results Day?

Results Day is the pivotal moment the whole application process has been building towards.

If a student meets the conditions of their Firm offer, their place is confirmed automatically — this is called Confirmation.

If a student misses the conditions for both their Firm and Insurance offers, they enter Clearing — an open matching service where remaining university places are listed and students can call universities directly to secure a place.

If a student does better than expected and their Firm offer is released, they can enter Adjustment — a brief window to trade up to a higher-ranking course or university.

Clearing can feel stressful, but it matches hundreds of thousands of students to places each year. Many excellent courses have places in Clearing, particularly in subjects with high capacity.

Frequently asked questions

How many university choices can a student list on UCAS?

Up to five, though there are restrictions: applicants cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same cycle, and medicine applicants are limited to four medical school choices (with the fifth choice available for a non-medical course if they wish).

What is UCAS Clearing?

Clearing is a service that opens each August when A-level results are published. Any student who is not placed at a university — whether because they missed their offer conditions or because they did not receive any offers — can use Clearing to find a remaining place at any participating university. Universities with unfilled places list them on the UCAS Clearing search tool, and students can contact them directly to apply.

Can a student apply to Oxford or Cambridge and other universities?

Yes, but not to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same UCAS cycle. A student may apply to Oxford or Cambridge as one of their five choices and use the remaining four choices for other universities. Oxbridge applications have a 15 October deadline and typically require additional written work and an interview.

What is the UCAS tariff and how is it used?

The UCAS tariff is a points system that converts grades from different qualifications into a common numerical score. For example, an A at A-level = 48 points, an A* = 56 points; a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma at DDD* = 168 points. Some universities set entry requirements as a minimum tariff (e.g. 112 points) rather than in terms of specific grades, which makes it easier to combine qualifications from different programmes.

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