Our role in the process

We provide a central application service for full-time and some part-time undergraduate courses in the UK. Our process, tools and guidelines are designed to make applying easy, accurate and timely for your students and for staff at universities and colleges.

For all courses, except Route B art and design courses, we send applications to each of the chosen universities or colleges at the same time. The copy that they receive only shows the course(s) chosen at their university. Institutions can only see the other choices made by the applicant after replies have been made or they have no live choices (ie they are not waiting for any decisions and are not holding offers, whichever comes first). This ensures that each university or college decides independently whether to offer a place. If an applicant adds further choices after they have had no live choices, invisibility does not apply.

Supporting decision-making

Whilst we do not have any involvement with making offers or declining applications, we do support decision-making through our application process and online tools.

The time taken by universities and colleges to make a decision varies. Sometimes your students will have to take an admissions test or attend an interview. The universities and colleges then send their decisions to us and we inform your students by letter or by email (if they provided a valid email address on their application. All decisions will be displayed on our Track system.

We send students a letter which explains how to reply to their offers. We explain that if they accept an unconditional offer, they are committed to it. However, if they accept a conditional offer, they may also accept a second offer, which is an insurance choice if they do not meet the conditions for their first choice. They can use our Track system to review, decline or accept their offers.

Occasionally, a university or college might change their offer. If your student is offered an alternative to the course they applied to, for example, a different course or a deferred entry, we will write to them explaining their options.

Exam results, confirmation and fraud

When universities and colleges receive exam results, they decide if they can confirm any conditional offers. When a firmly accepted offer is confirmed, your student is committed to it and any insurance choice they have made is discarded. Alternatively, if the first choice is not confirmed but the insurance place is confirmed, your student is committed to taking that place instead.

We also have a verification unit working to identify fraudulent applications. If any of your students are found to have provided false or misleading information, their application could be cancelled. In order to check if their application is complete and accurate, we may, at any time, ask you, the student, their referee or employer for more information.

Extra and Clearing

Students without offers, or who decline their offers, can try to find a suitable place through Extra. After the entire process has finished, Clearing helps any students who have paid the full £17 fee and hold no offers to find a suitable course which still has places available.