Alanah
When I first received my unconditional offer I wasn’t as happy as you would imagine. This year I am hoping to do English Literature BA as an undergraduate. I began my UCAS application in October last year and the offers started arriving within a week of submitting and my final offer arrived a month later. Disclaimer: don’t worry if your offers don’t arrive as quickly as mine, I was just lucky and you should remember that it can vary based on what course you apply for and the universities you choose to apply to. You should also note that the process of offering a place varies, some places may wish to interview or see a portfolio before accepting you onto a course.
Anyway, by my fourth week of receiving offers I had been given conditional offers from 4 out of the 5 that I had applied to (Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff and Exeter).Then I received my final offer from Birmingham. An unconditional. I had heard about unconditional offers before and knew they were rare, I was in no way sure I would get one but I had been hopeful, they were a stressed student’s dream come true and I don’t know anyone who would have complained about getting one.
But, there I was after receiving it, silenced.
Why was I not dancing around and breathing a sigh of relief that university wasn’t riding on my performance in the exam hall?
I was beaming when I was given the offer from the University of Nottingham with entry requirements of AAA. It was the only town and university I had visited and I had decided then and there that I was going there and that was that.
I hadn’t even looked at Birmingham or any of the others when it came to applying- I had done a little research on rankings and the best institutions for English and had chosen the other places purely based on that.
I had applied to the University of Birmingham just like the majority of the others, without visiting, and now I was facing this choice.
Since then I have done my research on Birmingham and discovered its a brilliant university that is so much more than it’s position on a table. The city has great shops and nightlife and the university has a great student union, a range of clubs and brilliant facilities. I’ve visited the city now and went to the university applicant visit day and I feel it’s a great fit for me. It has been a happy ending for me however it got me thinking about how many students will visit one university, set their heart on it and not bother to look around others. I seriously urge all of you whether you believe you will receive an unconditional offer or not to look around as many universities as you can so that when you make your decision you have gained the best possible information about where the best place for you is.
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