UCAS - Making decisions

An outline of the decisions your institution can make

Your institution can make a number of different decisions: unconditional offer; conditional offer; unsuccessful (reject); and withdrawal. All of these decisions must be communicated to the applicant through us. Any additional letter you want to send should make it clear that the formal offer has been sent through us and that the applicant's reply to the offer must also be made through us.

Offers can be made for courses not listed by the applicant. These changed-course offers should only be made with the prior consent of the applicant.

Please note that applicants must not be informed that their names are being held on a waiting list as there is no provision for this within the scheme.

Guide to offer making (Word)

Grades and marks (PDF)

Subject codes (PDF)

Summary of conditions (PDF)

Invitation

You are able to send invitations to applicants asking them to attend for interview or audition, or to provide a portfolio of work, an essay or other piece of work. The invitations can be for any course. The applicant will receive the invitation on Track and will be able to accept or decline it online. If they need to change the time or date they need to do this off-line directly with you. You can then update the details of the invitation using the link-products so that the revised details are shown in Track.

Unconditional offer

This is used when you are satisfied that the applicant has fulfilled all the entry requirements (except those to be met at registration) and are prepared to admit the applicant in the year indicated. An unconditional offer is binding upon you.

Examples of unconditional decisions (PDF)

Abbreviations for unconditional decisions (PDF)

If firmly accepted, offers are also binding upon applicants. This means that they cannot then continue to seek admission to any other course in the scheme.

Conditional offer

This is the usual type of offer made to applicants who have not yet fulfilled the academic or other entry requirements for the course. This offer is binding upon you if the applicant meets the conditions set. If the applicant satisfies the conditions you specify (which may include non-academic ones), you must confirm the place and admit the applicant in the year indicated.

The standard text of the offer letters sent by us states that:

All applicants must be able to satisfy the minimum entry requirements for the course.

The offer of a place can be withdrawn or amended if the information given on the application is incorrect or if it changes materially (for example, if an applicant changes the list of examinations to be taken).

The following points should be noted.

The offer should be set out in such a way that the applicant can understand what is required in order to be able to claim a place.
If the applicant fails to satisfy the conditions, you may still decide to confirm the offer of a place.
The conditions must be satisfied by 31 August unless an earlier date is specified by you. After 31 August, the awarding of the place is at your discretion.

Examples of conditional decisions by qualification
Access and foundation course (PDF)	GCE (PDF)
Baccalaureate (PDF)	General Tariff (PDF)
BTEC (PDF)	HND and RSA (PDF)
CACHE (PDF)	Irish Leaving Certificate (PDF)
Degrees (PDF)	SQA (PDF)
Diploma in Foundation Studies (PDF)

Abbreviations for conditional decisions (PDF)

Unsuccessful (reject)

You may give a reason for not making an offer either at the time of your original decision or later.

Examples of unsuccessful decisions (PDF)

Withdrawal from choice

You may withdraw any application if, for example, an applicant fails to attend an interview or does not send information required. A reason for withdrawing must be given.

Examples of withdrawal decisions (PDF)

Contextual data

Many institutions already use the contextual information that is available within the data supplied as part of the UCAS application - such as whether an applicant has been in care. Some institutions go further and use significant resources collecting other, relevant contextual data; others do not use any additional data.

From the 2012 application cycle, additional contextual data has been made available to universities and colleges who wish to use it. This is one of a number of shared services being developed by UCAS for the benefit of the HE sector, and comes in response to a number of requests from institutions to provide such information.

The 'basket of data' that will be made available has been agreed through consultation with Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) and the institutions that currently use such data, together with agreement from the administrations of the UK.

The information that will be available is:

the school performance of students achieving:
- five A*-C GCSE including English or Welsh and mathematics or equivalent in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- five or more SCQF level 4 Scottish Standard grade including English and mathematics or equivalent in Scotland
the school performance relating to the:
- average QCA points for the best eight GCSEs in England and Wales¹
- average points for the best eight Scottish Standard grades or equivalent in Scotland
the school performance relating to the:
- average QCA points per A level entry (or equivalent) in England and Wales¹
- average UCAS Tariff points per Scottish Highers entry in Scotland
the school performance relating to the:
- average QCA points per A level student (or equivalent) in England and Wales¹
- average UCAS Tariff points per Scottish Highers student in Scotland
the percentage of students at the school:
- entitled to free school meals *England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- registered for free school meals in Scotland
the percentage of students at the school:
- entitled to educational maintenance allowance in England, Wales, Northern Ireland (note this information will not be available for England after the 2010 academic year as this data was no longer collected in England. It will be available for other administrations if still available from them)
- registered for educational maintenance allowance in Scotland
Lives in a low progression to higher education neighbourhood (Polar 2)

¹ We are unable to provide this information for Northern Ireland.

The information will be linked to the applicant or can be made available as generic data sets. It will initially be available for the 2009 and 2010 academic years.