Can an unconditional offer be turned back into a conditional offer on UCAS?

Why would you want to change an offer from unconditional to conditional?

I believe the main option would be to just decline the offer, but I'm not sure if you can decline an unconditional offer and still have your insurance offer be valid, as I was under the impression once an offer becomes unconditional all your other offers are declined automatically. @PQ might be able to offer some advice or info?

I believe the main option would be to just decline the offer, but I'm not sure if you can decline an unconditional offer and still have your insurance offer be valid, as I was under the impression once an offer becomes unconditional all your other offers are declined automatically. @PQ might be able to offer some advice or info?

So basically, I firmed a university on UCAS like maybe 4 weeks ago and at the time when I made it my firm it was a conditional offer but it was turned into an unconditional offer (which I didn’t want btw) so I called UCAS to ask if they can turn it back to a conditional but they said I needed to contact the uni since they’re the ones who changed it. But when I contacted the uni they said it would not be possible to change it back.

I feel so stuck and trapped into a choice I didn’t want. What do I do?? How do I get it changed back into the offer that I originally wanted??😢

Would I even be able to go into clearing or adjustment in summer??

No, you won't be able to go into Clearing or Adjustment if you are holding an unconditional offer, which is exactly why the university has done this.
You need @PQ to advise as I'm well out of date on the rules about changing things at this point, although I do wonder why you firmed a choice you didn't really want. Did you perhaps hope you might be able to 'upgrade' through Adjustment? If you meet but don't exceed your conditional offer - or even if you don't but the uni accepts you anyway - you would not be able to go into Clearing on Results Day (or whatever the equivalent will be this year ) without a fair amount of hassle .

@artful_lounger an unconditional offer once firmed cannot be declined, and yes all other offers the applicant may have received will be cancelled automatically once the firm choice has been processed at the UCAS end. You can pick an unconditional offer as your insurance. What we don't know is whether it was clear in this case that the conditional offer the OP was accepting would be made unconditional if it was selected as a firm choice. If it wasn't, then the university is playing an interesting game here.

I honestly didn’t know that it was gonna be turned into an unconditional offer or I wouldn’t have firmed it it was turned unconditional after I made it my firm choice and I also still have my insurance choice there too so I don’t even know what’s going on, I don’t know why they’d do this tbh.

I just feel like there’s a good chance that I will be using adjustment this year and that’s exactly why I need to get this sorted ASAP so that results day runs smoothly but now I know this uni has trapped me

Personally, I never wanted the unconditional offer to begin with it was literally forced onto me and also, I get a feeling that the offer wasn’t given to me purely on merit but because of the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought so it’s not really authentic, but rather a way of this university ensuring that they have enough students for next year. Had everything been normal, I wouldn’t have received to offer

I honestly didn’t know that it was gonna be turned into an unconditional offer or I wouldn’t have firmed it it was turned unconditional after I made it my firm choice and I also still have my insurance choice there too so I don’t even know what’s going on, I don’t know why they’d do this tbh.

I just feel like there’s a good chance that I will be using adjustment this year and that’s exactly why I need to get this sorted ASAP so that results day runs smoothly but now I know this uni has trapped me

OPs only option (To get a conditional firm choice) is to either:
A) try to get the firm and insurance universities to agree to a swap (ask to “change my replies” ). You also need to tell ucas that this is what you want. A university cannot un-confirm an offer to switch it back to conditional.
B) wait until clearing opens in early July and select the option on Track to “decline this offer”. That will place you into clearing (but your insurance is likely to be happy to take you back that way if you want to swap to them).

Your firm choice should ALWAYS be your favourite option.

You can’t use adjustment if they’ve made your offer unconditional before July.

See if you can swap your replies to get your insurance as your firm choice or wait until you have your results and use “decline my place” on track to use clearing (this is very low risk - your firm choice are clearly desperate so if you put yourself in clearing and can’t get any better options then your firm will almost certainly take you back through clearing)

Hi @jo_kxkxx!

As much as I understand your reasoning in the first comment I have quoted, who's to say that you wouldn't have been given an unconditional if the situation was normal? Maybe you would have been offered it from your predicted grades/personal statement etc.

Also in the second comment I quoted, you said that this Uni has trapped you. If this is how you feel then I don't think this Uni is for you as getting an unconditional from your first choice Uni is meant to be a good thing, not being trapped. If this is the case then maybe you should decline the offer and go with your back up choice.

Also if you could get the offer changed back to conditional and you got the grades to get in so you got in, would you be happy with this? If so then what is the difference in that happening and getting an unconditional. Your A-Level grades still count in the long run so still work hard to get the best you can so you could have this on your CV.

I hope this helps.
Erin - Official Student Rep

The reason I say that I wouldn’t have been given the unconditional offer had the situation been different is because they offered me a place in December and they could’ve literally just offered me the unconditional there and then if they wanted to, but why is it that they waited till April to change it. One of my other options just gave me the unconditional back in November when they gave me a place, I just feel like they could’ve done it earlier, do you get me?

Don't get me wrong, it’s not a bad uni but boyy😭 I’m just not getting a good vibe from them at the moment plus they did it in a way that I didn’t even know, that they had changed it till I took a closer look in track. And I feel trapped in a sense that I couldn’t get into adjustment if wanted to, or even clearing but from the advice I’m getting on the thread I’m forming a clearer idea on how I can proceed forward

A few unis do change your offer to unconditional when you firm so it may be because of that.

WAIT YOU CAN'T GET INTO CLEARING IF YOU FIRM AN UNCONDITIONAL!???

Because you can only enter clearing if you dont hold any offers and you can only use adjustment if you exceed your offer. For that to happen you must have conditions to exceed and unconditional offers have no conditions.

The reason I say that I wouldn’t have been given the unconditional offer had the situation been different is because they offered me a place in December and they could’ve literally just offered me the unconditional there and then if they wanted to, but why is it that they waited till April to change it. One of my other options just gave me the unconditional back in November when they gave me a place, I just feel like they could’ve done it earlier, do you get me?

Don't get me wrong, it’s not a bad uni but boyy😭 I’m just not getting a good vibe from them at the moment plus they did it in a way that I didn’t even know, that they had changed it till I took a closer look in track. And I feel trapped in a sense that I couldn’t get into adjustment if wanted to, or even clearing but from the advice I’m getting on the thread I’m forming a clearer idea on how I can proceed forward

you can enter clearing even if you have and meet your offers, you just have to get the university to release you and then you can go into clearing, I'm pretty sure you should be able to with an unconditional too

Yes you can but you would have to give up your offer first. With adjustment you would keep your offer but it cannot be used for adjustment as there is no condition to exceed which is what OP is hoping to use.

Personally, I never wanted the unconditional offer to begin with it was literally forced onto me and also, I get a feeling that the offer wasn’t given to me purely on merit but because of the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought so it’s not really authentic, but rather a way of this university ensuring that they have enough students for next year. Had everything been normal, I wouldn’t have received to offer