When we initially assess your application, we can make one of the following decisions:

• make you an offer;
• make your application unsuccessful;
• or invite you to interview (for certain courses only).

Sometimes we may put your application on hold, pending one of these three outcomes.

When an application is put on hold

Putting an application on hold means that we have assessed the application and decided that the applicant meets the entry requirements for our offer, but we are unable to make a final decision.

We may need to hold off on making a final decision or issuing an invitation so that:

• we can assess more applications;
• we know how many offers we can make to fill the available places;
• we know how many interview invitations to issue to ensure fairness;
• we can interview more applicants to ensure fairness across the entire interview period.

We often put applications on hold until after the UCAS application deadline so that we can consider all applications fairly. Making too many offers early in the cycle might mean that we have too many students to fit into our teaching space or accommodation.

We may put applications on hold until we know how many of our offers are being accepted. This gives us the best chance to get the right number of students on each course, ultimately to provide our students with the best university experience.

Effect on other applications

Putting your application on hold won't affect your other applications. You can only reply to your offers when you have received all your decisions. If another university has made you an offer, they won’t withdraw it or change it just because you haven’t had a decision on one of your other applications.

UCAS’s key dates timeline explains when you have to reply to your offers, depending on when you received all your decisions. The UCAS website also has more information about replying to your offers.

When to expect a final decision

When you receive a decision will depend on when you applied in the UCAS cycle and how many applications we need to assess for your course. We appreciate that waiting for a decision can be frustrating, but we do our best not to make any applications unsuccessful until we are certain that we cannot make an offer.

Successful applications

If we make you an offer, it will either be a conditional offer or an unconditional offer. Find out about the types of offers we make, and how to accept your offer.

Alternative offers

If we are unable to make you an offer for the course you applied to originally, we may send you an email offering alternative courses for you to consider. 

Choosing an alternative offer course does not guarantee that you will receive an offer but we do guarantee to assess your application for the alternative course. Find out more by watching our video What is an alternative offer?

Unsuccessful applications

If your application is unsuccessful, we will tell you why on your UCAS application. For further information about our feedback procedures, please refer to our Feedback policy.