Undergraduate

October 2011 – 15 January 2012: Applying for university places through UCAS

Now we have received your application, we will respond to you within four weeks in one of four ways:

• Conditional Offer, which is given when the university would like to have you on the course. However, before they agree to reserve a place on the course you will be required to meet the conditions of the offer. The conditions are usually to achieve certain grades in your A Levels, BTECs, Access Course, Baccalaureate or similar. You may be given an offer expressed in terms of achieving certain grades in the subjects you are studying, e.g. BCC in your A Levels. This could also be expressed as points. If you apply direct to us (not through UCAS) conditions might also include sending in an official copy of your results and an academic reference.
• Unconditional Offer, which is given when the university accepts you without you having to do anything else. These offers are usually made in cases where the candidate has finished school or college and are taking a gap year, although there are sometimes other reasons.
• An invitation, which is offered when the university asks you to attend an interview or audition, or to provide a portfolio of work, an essay or other piece of work. Invitations can be sent for any course. If the university or college sends you an invitation, it will show in UCAS Track, which you can use to accept or decline it, or request an alternative time or date. If you need to change the time or date you will also need to contact us directly. Details will be on the letter of who to contact. We will then update the invitation so that the revised details are shown in UCAS Track. Please try to attend on the date requested as it may be difficult for an alternative to be offered. Once the invitation request has been completed, either you've attended the interview or sent the piece of work, we will update you and UCAS on your offer. (This will also show on UCAS Track.)
• Unsuccessful application, which is when the university is not going to offer you a place on your course of choice. The University can decline an application for many reasons, which might not necessarily be based on the quality of your application. You are welcome to contact us to find out why if you feel it would be useful to know.

Please note that offers are only official once you have received UCAS letter or email, even if you receive an offer direct from us.

Once all the universities you have applied to have responded to your applications and you have received final confirmation on offers from UCAS, it's decision time!

Take your time in making your decisions; the following deadlines apply:

• All offers received by 31 March must be confirmed by 9 May
• All offers received by 10 May must be confirmed by 7 June
• All offers received by 8 June must be confirmed by 28 June
• All offers received by 19 July must be confirmed by 26 July

You will need to respond in one of the three following ways:

• Firm Acceptance, which is your number one choice. Therefore if you firmly accept an unconditional offer, then that means you will definitely attend that university. The university cannot take that place from you, but you cannot change your choice of university either. If you firmly accept a conditional offer and do not meet the conditions of the offer, the university will then have to consider whether or not to accept you as a student.
• Insurance Acceptance, which is your insurance place or fall back choice, in case your first choice doesn’t work out. So, if you don’t meet your firm offer’s conditions and they don’t accept you, then provided you meet this university’s offer you will attend this university instead. Choose carefully,  this university is likely to accept you if your firm choice has said no? Is it really sensible to opt here for a university which requires you to reach higher grades than your firm acceptance?
• Decline - you must decline any offer which you have not accepted as your firm and insurance choice. In essence this is where you turn down these alternative universities and cancel your option to attend them.

This truly is decision time. You must think very carefully about which offers you accept and decline as once your decisions reach UCAS your decision is binding. We recommend that you visit the universities before committing yourself to a final decision.

At the University of Portsmouth we will invite you to our department open days; use this to find out more about your course choice and the university itself.

Apply for financial support as soon as you receive a firm offer of a university place. The deadline for applications is likely to be 31 May 2012.

You need to apply for tuition fee loans, living cost loans and grants, and any bursaries to which you may be entitled. To apply for finance you your national insurance number and an up-to-date passport or copy of your birth certificate. To apply go to www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance.

Apply as soon as possible to make sure your money is paid at the start of the first term.

Get the most up-to-date information from our Student Finance team.

We will invite you to attend your department’s event via email shortly after you receive your offer email. We would advise that you check your email account settings to ensure that the invitation reaches your inbox safely.

Our department open days provide an in-depth look at your chosen course, offering more specialist talks and tours than our Preview Days. We recommend that you take advantage of these days even if you have previously attended one of our Preview Days. This is your opportunity to really get a feel for your course and for the University and city as a whole.

All the information on these events will be included in your e-invitation.

We endeavour to offer University-allocated accommodation to around two thirds of new first-year students who apply for this type of accommodation. Applicants are therefore encouraged to submit their accommodation application form at the earliest opportunity.

Please note that places in University-allocated accommodation will be allocated in line with faculty quotas and based on order of receipt of accommodation application forms. For more information, please visit Student Housing.

If you are unsuccessful in gaining a place within one of our halls of residence, don’t worry. Portsmouth has a wealth of affordable student accommodation around the city and much of it is within easy walking distance of the University.

We offer assistance to students to help them find accommodation in the private rented sector. This help includes house-hunting events, online resources and regular drop-in advice sessions. For more information, please contact Student Housing.