Reapplying to Oxford with a deferred place at Durham

Original post by ZTodd

Hi,
Is it possible to keep my university offer at Durham and also reapply to Oxford this year? I've just finished A levels, and am taking a gap year, so I applied for 2024 and have been offered a place at Durham, which I accepted. I applied to Oxford last year but didn't get in, and want to have another go. UCAS say that if I submit a new application they will reject it because I already have an offer at Durham, but I have read and been told otherwise. I really want to keep my offer at Durham in case I don't get in again, and because I got my top choice of college (St Chad's), and I don't think I would get it again if I went through the process a second time as it's very popular. Do you think UCAS will let me keep my Durham offer and reapply to Oxford? And if not, what's my best course of action?

I haven’t (yet) found any formal advice on the Oxford website that explicitly tells you that you can’t apply with an accepted, deferred offer elsewhere.

Having found a page stating you cannot apply to Oxford whilst studying at elsewhere, I would assume a similar principle applies with those who hold deferred offers that they have accepted elsewhere.

I would imagine your safest course of action is to keep your offer from Durham, as you’ll get your college of choice and you run no risk of rejection again from either university.

If you want to take a risk, apply to both Durham and Oxford in your gap year - just know that gap year applicants tend to be less successful at landing places at Oxford.

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 2

OP

Original post by TypicalNerd

I haven’t (yet) found any formal advice on the Oxford website that explicitly tells you that you can’t apply with an accepted, deferred offer elsewhere.

Having found a page stating you cannot apply to Oxford whilst studying at elsewhere, I would assume a similar principle applies with those who hold deferred offers that they have accepted elsewhere.

I would imagine your safest course of action is to keep your offer from Durham, as you’ll get your college of choice and you run no risk of rejection again from either university.

If you want to take a risk, apply to both Durham and Oxford in your gap year - just know that gap year applicants tend to be less successful at landing places at Oxford.

Why do gap year students tend to be less successful?

Reply 3

Original post by ZTodd

Why do gap year students tend to be less successful?

Not entirely sure - I imagine it’s usually because most of said applicants were rejected previously for a reason (usually related to their thinking style) and said applicants had not adjusted sufficiently between the time of their rejection and their second set of interviews.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by TypicalNerd

Not entirely sure - I imagine it’s usually because most of said applicants were rejected previously for a reason (usually related to their thinking style) and said applicants had not adjusted sufficiently between the time of their rejection and their second set of interviews.

That makes sense, I can see how that could happen a lot

Reply 5

Interea

19

Original post by ZTodd

Hi,
Is it possible to keep my university offer at Durham and also reapply to Oxford this year? I've just finished A levels, and am taking a gap year, so I applied for 2024 and have been offered a place at Durham, which I accepted. I applied to Oxford last year but didn't get in, and want to have another go. UCAS say that if I submit a new application they will reject it because I already have an offer at Durham, but I have read and been told otherwise. I really want to keep my offer at Durham in case I don't get in to Oxford again, and because I got my top choice of college (St Chad's), and I don't think I would get it again if I went through the process a second time as it's very popular. Do you think UCAS will let me keep my Durham offer and reapply to Oxford? And if not, what's my best course of action?

Where have you read that you can apply again through UCAS while holding a deferred offer? Their own website is very clear that you can't (but I'm assuming you found that based on your post), so I'm just wondering what's making you doubt UCAS themselves.

You can generally ask if your deferred uni will give you another offer if you withdraw and reapply, but they don't have to, and I imagine even if Durham did they'd not carry over college allocation. It's up to you whether you feel it's worth the risk, knowing you could be left without an Oxford or Durham place next year.

Reply 6

Original post by ZTodd

That makes sense, I can see how that could happen a lot

Did you request feedback from your last application? If so, you may have an idea of what to work on if you do decide to take the risk.

Reply 7

Original post by Interea

Where have you read that you can apply again through UCAS while holding a deferred offer? Their own website is very clear that you can't (but I'm assuming you found that based on your post), so I'm just wondering what's making you doubt UCAS themselves.

You can generally ask if your deferred uni will give you another offer if you withdraw and reapply, but they don't have to, and I imagine even if Durham did they'd not carry over college allocation. It's up to you whether you feel it's worth the risk, knowing you could be left without an Oxford or Durham place next year.

Note to self, I need to read the right parts of the website. Thanks for clarifying.

Reply 8

lalexm

16

Original post by ZTodd

Why do gap year students tend to be less successful?

An admins tutor at Cambridge said that they have have slightly higher expectations of gap year students, as they have finished their A-levels, rather than being part way through, and they have had an extra year to do their super curriculars. Maybe the higher expectations results in lower success rates. That was for Cambridge, but I suspect it is the same for Oxford.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by Interea

Where have you read that you can apply again through UCAS while holding a deferred offer? Their own website is very clear that you can't (but I'm assuming you found that based on your post), so I'm just wondering what's making you doubt UCAS themselves.

You can generally ask if your deferred uni will give you another offer if you withdraw and reapply, but they don't have to, and I imagine even if Durham did they'd not carry over college allocation. It's up to you whether you feel it's worth the risk, knowing you could be left without an Oxford or Durham place next year.

I've talked to teachers who said I could do it and a university clearing advisor said on one of the Student Room threads that students with an old and new application will be asked to choose between them early next year, and I would know whether I'd received a place at Oxford by then. Although, that was a thread from 2 years ago so it could have been something to do with covid that made that year different...

Reply 10

OP