Understanding your statement of descisions letter

As soon as UCAS receives decisions from all the unis and colleges you’ve applied for, they will send you a rather ominous sounding Statement of Decisions letter.

You need to reply to by the date printed in red ink at the
bottom this letter. Screw this up and you’ll lose all your places. Think carefully about your final decision, but make sure you get your reply done and sent in good time.

Conditional offer
This basically means that the uni or college likes you, but they want to be sure they’re not taking on duff goods. You will probably be asked to achieve specific grades to claim your place, for example, ABB. They may even ask for grades in named subjects, such as B in chemistry, C in physics. If you’re doing GCE or VCE A levels or AS exams, Key Skills or Scottish qualifications, you may be asked to get a certain number of points. You can work these points out with the guidelines on the back of the offer letter. If you are taking other qualifications, the offer will be adapted to them.

Unconditional offer
These people love you. You have already met all the entry requirements and the uni or college is prepared to welcome you with open arms. They may still ask for proof of qualifications and you may still have to meet certain financial or medical conditions.

Unsuccessful application
This means you’ve struck out. For one reason or another, the uni or college has decided not to offer you a place. The decision with be marked with a dollar sign “$” on the Statement of Decisions letter.

Withdrawn application
This means the uni or college has told UCAS your application was withdrawn. This happens when either a) you ask them to withdraw it, or b) when you’ve fouled something up, ie. you’ve not answered communications from the institution or you’ve bunked an interview. It’s never an academic decision.

Accepting before all decisions are in
You can accept an offer from a university or college before receiving your Statement of Decisions letter from UCAS, but you are under no obligation to do so and shouldn’t feel rushed into deciding. To accept an offer early, you need to fill out a CNC slip which can be found at the back of the UCAS Advice for Applicants booklet. UCAS will then cancel your other applications and send you a Statement of Decisions letter and reply slip.