Is applying closer to the deadline reducing the chance of you getting an offer?

A few friends applying to the UK told me this as if it was common knowledge.

But, after interacting with a senior member, I was told that this is completely untrue.

Would there be any difference in the offers relieved by a candidate who applied on Nov 1 to a candidate who is applying on Jan 1?

What are your experiences?

This is not the case at all. Universities have months after the deadline to make decisions, so many of them will hold onto borderline applications until after the deadline and consider them all together. People who get offers and rejections early in the application cycle would have got offers and rejections whenever they applied. Don't forget most universities over offer quite significantly, as they know a lot of offers may not be taken up. This means they will have a lot more offers to give out than there are places on the course.

However, the offers recieved could theoretically change. These could go up or down. The offer advertised on the university's website is usually a "standard offer" which means they can give offers higher or lower than this. If a university is asking for say, AAA, someone who applies with AAB predicted grades may get a rejection early in the cycle. However, if, in a particular year, not many AAA candidates apply, towards the end of the application cycle, some lower offers may be given out to fill places. Equally if a university gets lots of applications for good candidates early in the application cycle, they may give out higher offers to people who applied a bit later.

Whilst the first may occur, the last is one of UCAS's few hanging offences. You can't up your offers once lower comparable offers have been made. You can, however, trap early applicants by increasing your offers after they have applied but before decisions have been made because that is still equal consideration.

How easy is this to prove though? I thought it was possible for universities to get around this by saying the offers aren't "comparable" as people have slightly different grades/educational backgrounds. I'm not doubting you, only asking as something along these lines happened to me.

Very hard to prove if its the course staff running the show but if it is an admin team, they are unlikely to go out on a limb for academics and increasingly admissions are professionalised.

Thanks Vort for asking this... So I just add up to the question... Does the situation change at the postgraduate level (you often have year-round applications)?

A few friends applying to the UK told me this as if it was common knowledge.

But, after interacting with a senior member, I was told that this is completely untrue.

Would there be any difference in the offers relieved by a candidate who applied on Nov 1 to a candidate who is applying on Jan 1?

What are your experiences?

Is this the moment for me to say I told you so?

I even mentioned that I interacted with a senior member who told me that this is untrue!
It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion, especially since this is a forum.


But, thank you again for being the one for clearing my misconceptions.