@Capricancer1 I have been trying to find the Good Guide and kept hitting the Times paywall. Thanks for sharing!
^ The Guardian is still paywall-free though!
Daughters application is in! now the fun wait. How long did everyone wait for offers?
My daughter applied quite early, almost three months ago. She had her first offer after about three weeks, another about a week later, the third after about 9 weeks and a rejection just after that. She’s still waiting to hear anything from her final choice. The first one to reply was her safety but she was even phone by a lecturer just see if she had any questions, which was a nice touch. The time taken to reply seems to vary hugely by both university and department.
Similar story here. First responses in 3-4 weeks, one a bit later, and one still outstanding. Good luck!
well I hope she gets at least one response before Christmas break, that would ease some apprehension. She had all 5 acknowledgements within 3 days.
who knew this wait could be so stressful on our kids…and us!
oops
It is stressful – but far less than the American admissions process. We found the straightforward qualifications and timely UCAS process made the overall experience much better.
Am I right though in saying that in the states there are dates for certain schools when the announcements are made?
My daughter’s friends got Stanford offers (she knew the date was last Friday) and Barnard (she knew the day was Tuesday) am wondering if they all have a certain date to make offers/rejections? The problem with the UK it can be any day up until end of April!
In the States, it depends if you are applying Early Action, Early Decision (sometimes ED 1 and 2), or Regular Admissions. Some schools publish precise notification dates. Others leave it a bit more vague. It sounds like Stanford and Barnard are precise!
@Funniestgirl The schools all have their own patterns but these are usually consistent for each school from year to year. At this point, most of the top schools (UCL, Durham, etc) have released their results although certain courses such as medicine and dental always release later in the winter due to their more extensive application process. Oxbridge announces within a day of each other in mid-January and the Scottish schools usually announce later, with some exceptions. I hope this helps!
She applied on the 6th Dec and has had just one response so far - conditional offer for Birmingham, though it’s not in her top 3 so the wait continues, I expect until after the xmas break now. 
^ I meant to clarify - for kids that applied for Oxbridge (15/10 application deadlines) they should have heard back by now from most schools other than medicine/dental, Oxbridge (15/1) and Scottish Unis.
My daughter applied 5UK schools at end of November, only received unconditional offer from Exeter for Neuroscience major. Anyone has idea about how long to receive decision from UCL, Edinburgh, Kings and St. Andrewes？ any thought (pros/cons) about Exeter? Many thanks!
Congrats on a good fallback option. You probably won’t hear anything new now until into January because of the Christmas shutdown.
Exeter is a solid uni choice. I know a couple of really committed profs there. I’m not sure why more US students don’t look at it, tbh.
Exeter has become much more popular with my kids’ friends. It is a great University, in a great city that is close (but not too close!) to London and the weather can be a bit milder than the typical large UK city. Also, when the weather get warmer, it is easier to head out the coastal areas of Devon and Cornwall.
@Conformist1688 @collegemom3717 @londondad Thanks all
My daughter had 2 more responses on Monday - interview invite from York (skype) and a really great offer from Bristol which she is over the moon about. Just Durham and Sussex now, at least she can relax a little over Christmas!