University admissions: How does it work?

By this January's deadline, almost 422,000 people had applied for a place at university. But for those who do not receive an offer, another opportunity for applying will open at the end of February. Here is an outline of how the application system operates.

HOW IT WORKS

Between mid-September and mid-January applications can be submitted by people wanting to find a place at university.

Candidates can make up to five choices. These are submitted online at any point during these months, either individually or together. This means that pupils can send in applications for an early deadline, such as for medicine courses, and then submit other applications later.

The admissions service, Ucas, will forward applications to the relevant universities - which will then reach a decision about whether to reject the applicant or offer a place.

Places offered by a university are either conditional on getting specific exam results or points - or else could be unconditional. Students should have received all these decisions by the end of March.

Once the applicant has received the decisions of the universities, they are allowed to keep two offers - one "firm" and one "insurance place". This selection is usually completed by early May.

When the exam results are published in August, any questions about conditional offers will be resolved and students and universities then move to a firm acceptance.

If exam results do not work out as hoped and no place can be confirmed from the original choices, then an applicant can enter the clearing process, in which people are matched with available places.

DEADLINES

The university application season usually begins from the start of the autumn term the year before a course starts - and with an online application system candidates can apply for most university courses at any point up to mid-January.

There are exceptions. Oxford and Cambridge Universities and a range of courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science have an earlier deadline of 15 October.

There is also a separate timetable for applying for some art and design courses - with later application deadlines. This year, the final deadline is 28 March, but Ucas recommends submission by 7 March.

Overseas students also have a later deadline. Instead of having to send in forms by mid-January, they can apply up to the end of June.

The final date for all students applying through clearing for places for courses starting this autumn is 20 September.

IF NO OFFERS ARRIVE

If by the end of February the applicant has had no offers from the five initial choices, it does not mean the end of trying to get a place. There is the "extra" system, which re-opens the window for applications from people who do not hold any offers.

From the end of February to the end of June, people looking for a place can use the Ucas extra process - which allows applications to be made to one university at a time.

It is almost like starting the clearing process, in which candidates are matched with available places, at an earlier point in the applications cycle. After the end of June, any applications become part of the clearing process.