UCAS TERMINOLOGY
Conditional Offer: If your 12thย grade results have not come out at the time of application, universities can offer you a place subject to conditions, which are usually academic. Therefore, if you are an IB student who has a secured a place at a university before you have written your final examinations, you might receive an offer that could read 37 points with 6 ,6,6 at Higher Level subjects. Conditions might also be imposed on English language requirements. In this case you will have to take an English test recognized by your university that would enable you to meet this condition.
Unconditional Offer: Once you have met all the conditions of your offer, your offer becomes unconditional. You could also receive an unconditional offer if you have your 12thย grade results at the time of application.
Clearing: Clearing is a service that UCAS provides to students who either missed their deadlines or did not meet the conditions of their offer. Depending on the list of vacancies released on the A level results day, you will be able to search for vacancies in different courses.
Adjustment: ย This is applicable to you if you have exceeded the conditions of your offer. So firstly, congratulations! If you feel like you have a shot at a higher ranked course, UCAS gives you the option of considering other courses given that there are vacancies. The up side of Adjustment is that you donโt lose your original offer if you want to consider other options.
Firm acceptance: Making a university your firm choice is essentially making it your first choice. Once you have met the conditions of your offer, the place is yours.
Insurance acceptance: This is a back up choice in the case that you donโt meet the conditions of your firm choice. Therefore, pick a university with lower entry requirements to be your insurance choice. Keep in mind that you cannot choose between your firm and insurance choice if you meet the requirements of both. You can choose your insurance only if you have been unsuccessful with your firm choice.
Note for Parents, Students, Counsellors: The information above was to the best of our knowledge at the time that this article was published. With every application cycle, or sometimes even during it, Colleges and Universities may change dates, policies, available majors and other relevant information. These updates will be reflected on the College and University websites themselves.
Please refer to the official college websites in addition to reading these articles. These articles are written only to provide general guidelines to students, not as a substitute for individual college websites.