Tracking your application

Once you have submitted your application through UCAS, they will begin to process your application. If they require any additional information they will contact you directly.

UCAS will send you a welcome letter - this should arrive within one week of submitting your application if you live in the UK, and around three weeks after submitting your application if you live outside of the UK. Check the details carefully and if anything is incorrect, contact UCAS.

Once your application has been processed, we can begin assessing and considering it against the specific entry requirements for the course you’ve applied for.

When you apply through UCAS, you will need to set up a unique username and password, which you can use to track the progress of your application. We'd encourage you to use your personal email address rather than a school/college one to ensure any important emails about your application get through to you. You can change your email address in the 'Profile' section of your UCAS Hub account. You can log in to your UCAS Hub here. We may also contact you via email and myHub to request additional information needed to help us make a decision so please regularly check these for updates.

What happens once your application is submitted?

Decisions on your application

Our offer making will typically be based on your three main graded qualifications, including any required subjects. Additional study may be valuable for breadth of study, and we will look at a range of qualifications and subjects, including the Extended Project Qualification and General Studies, although these may not be part of our offer.

Once we have made a decision on your application, you will receive one of the following:

Unconditional offer - This means you have already met the entry requirements and have been offered a place
Conditional offer - This means you have a place on the course, provided that you meet the requirements laid out in the offer. Usually these will refer to your current qualifications (such as A-levels, or your English language proficiency) and will state what you need to achieve in order to be successful
Rejection - This means that you have not been offered a place on the course.

It is then up to you to reply to our offer. Be aware that there are deadlines associated with replying to offers (see below).

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) and the rest of the application to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will still confirm your place.

Open Days and interviews

Open Days offer you the opportunity to find out more about the course and facilities we have, as well as to speak to academics and current students about their experiences. Open Days are optional to attend and whether you attend or not won’t affect your offer.

For certain courses, you will be asked to attend an interview as part of the selection process, which will have a bearing on the outcome of your application. This isn’t just a chance for us to ask you questions though, it’s also a good opportunity for you to find out more about our course and what it’s like to be a student at BU.

Find out more about interviews for Health & Social Care applicants

Key dates

Application deadlines aren’t the only things you need to be aware of when you’re preparing to go to university. Here are some of the other key dates to make a note of:

November-April - Open Days and interviews at BU
29 January - on-time application deadline (2025 entry)
February - Apply for student finance; UCAS Extra opens 26 February (2025 entry)
May-June - Decision time. Depending on when you received your offers, you’ll need to reply to them or they will be declined automatically by UCAS on your behalf. See UCAS for key dates. Closing date for application through UCAS Extra is 30 June
July - Decision time. This is when you’ll need to reply to any late offers or to any offers you’ve received through UCAS Extra
July - August - Results published. Find out how you’ve done in your exams and whether you’ve achieved the required grades; BU will let you know if your place is secured via email and myHub applicant portal
August - Clearing usually opens in July, with the main focus A-level results day in August.

Results dates

For September 2025 entry:

5 July - International Baccalaureate results day
5 August - SQA results day
14 August - A-level results day
21 August - GCSE results day

If you have received a conditional offer on the basis of achieving one of the below qualifications, you will need to wait until you have achieved your results and your offer has changed to unconditional firm in your UCAS Hub, before you can complete stage 2 of your accommodation booking.

Keeping in touch

Admissions, Complaints & Appeals

If you wish to make an appeal or a complaint about your application, you should review the Recruitment, Selection and Admissions - Appeals and Complaints: Policy and Procedure and follow the process set out in that document. You can only appeal about processes and procedures if there is evidence of bias or if there is relevant new information available which was not included in the original application. You cannot appeal against matters of academic judgement.

Tracking your application

What happens once your application is submitted?

Decisions on your application

Open Days and interviews

Key dates

Results dates

Keeping in touch

Admissions, Complaints & Appeals

When you have an offer

Frequently Asked Questions

I've applied, when will I receive a decision?

Is there anything I need to do before my interview?

How do I reschedule my interview?

How and when do I submit my portfolio?

I don't have a reference/won't have one in time for the deadline

I'd like to change my application/I've made a mistake

What happens if I don't meet the grades?

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