Applicants can now sign in to Track to see if they have been accepted or are eligible for Clearing – they’ll be able to add a Clearing choice from 15:00 (UK time) today.
Commenting on the day, Clare Marchant, UCAS’ Chief Executive, said:
‘Congratulations to everyone who has received good news today. On behalf of everyone at UCAS, well done and best of luck for your studies.
‘If you have not done as well as you had hoped, try not to worry – you have plenty of options, and every year many people who have missed out on their grades find high quality and rewarding courses through Clearing.
‘Make sure you take some time to think about what you want to do next, and seek advice from those who know you best – parents, teachers, and friends.
‘If you decide you want to start a degree this year, UCAS can offer all the support you need. You can search around 45,000 courses with Clearing vacancies on ucas.com – you’ll need to contact universities and colleges directly to discuss the courses you’re interested in before deciding if you want to accept an offer.
‘To all those who do secure a place, remember you are embarking on a fantastic, life-enriching stage of your education. You will make friends and memories that will last a lifetime, and have the chance to learn in a world-leading education sector. Take all the opportunities that come your way, and enjoy the experience.’
Everything students need to navigate Clearing and make the right choices about their next steps is on the UCAS website – www.ucas.com – and our advisers are ready to help on Twitter – @ucas_online.
The number of students accepted on A level results day is down 2% compared to 2016, but is the second highest number recorded. This decrease is driven by a fall in acceptances from older students, and fewer students from the European Union.
The number of UK 18 year olds gaining a place is 201,270, a similar level to last year, and the highest number recorded on A level results day.
The percentage of 18 year olds in the population securing a place in university and college in England is 27.5%, with the rate in Northern Ireland 28.3%, Scotland 24.9%, and Wales 24.8%.
A record number, 21,470, of UK 18 year olds from the least advantaged backgrounds have been placed. However, the most advantaged young people are still 2.4 times more likely to be accepted.
The number of EU students placed is 26,090, a fall of 3% compared to 2016, but still the second highest recorded, while the number of international students accepted has increased by 4% to 30,350.
Commenting on the figures, Clare Marchant said: ‘The overall numbers of students being accepted onto courses is lower, but it is a complicated picture. We are seeing a growing proportion of 18 year olds going into higher education, and greater numbers of students from our most deprived communities are securing places.
‘At the same time, we are seeing fewer older students taking places, and a fall in numbers from the EU. Higher education is still a hugely popular life choice, which has a transformational impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year.’
UCAS figures released this morning are contained in our statistical release.
Notes to editors
For more information please contact communications@ucas.ac.uk or call the External Relations Team on 01242 545 469.
About UCAS
UCAS is a charity and is the UK's shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications from around 700,000 applicants each year, for full-time undergraduate courses at over 380 universities and colleges across the UK.
Our statistical releases are published each day between 17 August – 1 September 2017, providing the key numbers for the current cycle, comparison data over five cycles, and graphical illustrations of key trends, including acceptances by country of domicile, UK region, age, sex, subject POLAR3, SIMD, and Tariff group.
The final applicant and acceptance totals for the cycle will be published in December, in our UCAS Undergraduate End of Cycle 2017 report.
In Scotland, there is a substantial section of provision that is not included in UCAS' figures. This is mostly full-time higher education provided in further education colleges, which represents around one third of young full-time undergraduate study in Scotland – this proportion varies by geography and background.
Accordingly, the statistics on UCAS acceptances in these data resources reflect only that majority of full-time undergraduate study that uses the UCAS Undergraduate scheme.
From the 2015 cycle onwards, applications to postgraduate teacher training programmes in Scotland were included in the UCAS Undergraduate admissions scheme – previously, these were recruited for through UCAS Teacher Training. In 2015, around 120 courses at providers in Scotland moved into the UCAS Undergraduate scheme, estimated to represent around 2,000 acceptances, mostly aged 21 or over. Comparisons between 2016 and 2014 (or earlier cycles) will be affected by this change.