UK and US applications

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey CC, </p>

<p>After hearing back from all my schools on April 1st and receiving my financial aid package yesterday, I narrowed down my choices and decided to submit my deposit to the University of Pennsylvania, and accept conditional offers from Oxford and a joint UCL-LSE program as back-ups in case my acceptance from Penn is rescinded (i.e. poor grades or expulsion from school). </p>

<p>When I visited the UCAS website to confirm my two offers, I was given the option of giving a firm or insurance acceptance. From the UCAS website, </p>

<p>"Firm acceptance</p>

<p>Your firm acceptance is your first choice - this is your preferred choice out of all the offers you have received. You can only have one firm acceptance.</p>

<p>If you accept a conditional offer, you are agreeing that you will attend the course at that university or college if you meet the conditions of the offer. You can accept another offer as an insurance choice.</p>

<p>Insurance acceptance</p>

<p>If your firm choice is a conditional offer, you can accept another offer as an insurance choice. Your insurance choice can be conditional or unconditional and acts as a back-up, so if you don't meet the conditions for your firm choice but meet the conditions for your insurance, you will be committed to the insurance choice. You can only have one insurance choice."</p>

<p>Does this mean that if I do accept an offer from an UK college, I must attend that university if I meet the conditions of my offer? And therefore, if the US is my target destination, I cannot accept any of the offers from my UK schools?</p>

2

<p>Well, that is the general idea, but it’s not actually binding. Firming means that IF you meet your conditional offer, you cannot attend any other university in the UK. However, you can still choose to decline your spot later on in the summer without any penalties or anything like that; you just won’t be able to matriculate at a British university this year.</p>

<p>But because Oxford doesn’t usually get this sort of email (thanks but no thanks), expect them to be curious about it and perhaps ask questions (like where are you going? why aren’t you coming here? etc.). They like to know where the few students who decline their offers end up going.</p>