If you’ve applied through UCAS before the January deadline, and either not been made any offers, changed your mind, or declined them all — you may be eligible for UCAS Extra.
But what is it, when is it and how does it work?
What?
UCAS Extra is a free service for those who have already applied by the January UCAS deadline. It can help take away the stress of finding a place at university before the Clearing period, allowing you to keep applying for higher education courses following the initial UCAS application deadline.
When?
In 2024, you can apply through UCAS Extra from 28 February until 4 July. If you still don’t have any offers after this point you will still be able to apply for a place at university through Clearing.
How?
If you’re eligible, the “Add Extra Choice” button will automatically appear in the Choices section of your UCAS application. You need to click on this link and enter the details of the university and course — UCAS will then make your application available to them.
Key things to note:
- You can only apply for one course at a time through UCAS Extra. Needless to say, you shouldn’t rush this. You’ll very likely be interested in more than one course at more than one institution, so be sure you’re sure before clicking go on the application.
- If you weren’t successful with any of your previous applications, have a think as to why that might be. Re-reading your personal statement can always be a useful exercise. Although you can't ordinarily change your personal statement, if you decide to apply for a course that is significantly different to the courses you applied to initially — you can contact the university, explain why you have changed your mind, and offer to send a revised personal statement.
- After 21 days, if you’ve not heard back, you can either continue to wait for a decision, or replace it with a different Extra choice. There’s no limit to the number of times you can do this up to the end of the UCAS Extra period.
- As you're only allowed one choice, you will need to either accept it as your firm choice or decline it if you receive an offer. Once you've accepted an offer, you are making a commitment that you're happy to be placed with them if you meet the conditions of your offer. By using Extra, you will not have an insurance choice. If, on results day, you find that you've not met the requirements of your offer, you will automatically become eligible for Clearing.
Is it worth it? Yes, UCAS Extra can be really valuable if you’ve changed your mind about the course you would like to study, or if you’ve not received offers/declined all offers from your original five choices. The whole point of the service is to give you options following the deadline, providing you still need them.
If you’re still a bit confused by the UCAS Extra process, you can read more about the process on the UCAS website, and see the FAQs.
Contextual Admissions
Contextual admissions means that we use additional information to understand and recognise your potential to succeed at UEA. Using this insight, we could provide you with an offer with reduced entry requirements to study at UEA.