How do I get a university to let my application go?

hi. with results day coming up in like a week i’m very worried with this and i couldn’t find a specific answer yet so here it is.
i’ve applied through ucas to 5 unis at the beginning of the year. got a conditional offer from uni 1, in the middle of june i made it a firm choice.
about a month ago, however, i found a uni i’m more interested in, so i applied on their clearing page, and not so long ago got a conditional clearing offer from them.
i’m very happy about this, but now i have no idea how to withdraw from the first uni. on the ucas site, there’s no “decline your place” button. i’ve contacted the uni directly, on the phone they say they don’t sort stuff like this, and to emails they replied after like 2 weeks, with a copy pasted piece of advice that didn’t help anything at all.
i also contacted my clearing uni, and they replied a couple of days later, one of the lines being - “ If you are awaiting exam results, we would have to wait until you can confirm you have met the offer Conditions, before we would be able to process an Unconditional offer in UCAS, so it is possible your current institution is also waiting for you to be in an Unconditional position to be able to release you into Clearing.”

i have no idea how to get the other uni to make my application unsuccessful? i’m scared that on results day they’ll confirm my grades if i get them, and i won’t be able to get into clearing. honestly, the whole thing is so confusing to me. so if anyone has any piece of advice or has been in the same position before, i’d appreciate anything. thank you

hi. with results day coming up in like a week i’m very worried with this and i couldn’t find a specific answer yet so here it is.
i’ve applied through ucas to 5 unis at the beginning of the year. got a conditional offer from uni 1, in the middle of june i made it a firm choice.
about a month ago, however, i found a uni i’m more interested in, so i applied on their clearing page, and not so long ago got a conditional clearing offer from them.
i’m very happy about this, but now i have no idea how to withdraw from the first uni. on the ucas site, there’s no “decline your place” button. i’ve contacted the uni directly, on the phone they say they don’t sort stuff like this, and to emails they replied after like 2 weeks, with a copy pasted piece of advice that didn’t help anything at all.
i also contacted my clearing uni, and they replied a couple of days later, one of the lines being - “ If you are awaiting exam results, we would have to wait until you can confirm you have met the offer Conditions, before we would be able to process an Unconditional offer in UCAS, so it is possible your current institution is also waiting for you to be in an Unconditional position to be able to release you into Clearing.”

i have no idea how to get the other uni to make my application unsuccessful? i’m scared that on results day they’ll confirm my grades if i get them, and i won’t be able to get into clearing. honestly, the whole thing is so confusing to me. so if anyone has any piece of advice or has been in the same position before, i’d appreciate anything. thank you

Do you have your results yet and if so have these been sent to your current Firm choice?

@PQ might know more about the structure of the UCAS application, but my understanding is that now students have a "decline all places" option to enter clearing if they are holding offers currently. Note that even if you are successful in getting your grades, you aren't obliged to attend the uni originally giving you an offer by any means. In years past you would need to then contact the uni to have them release you into clearing, but there is now I understand a button to let you do it without having to ring back and forth to unis.

1) There is no such thing as a Conditional Clearing place - Clearing is only for those who already have their results

2) You cannot enter Clearing and be formally offered a Clearing place until you have your results and you are not holding any other offer/place.

3) You can decline both your Firm and Insurance *now* - in the hope that the Clearing Uni likes your eventual grades on Results Day and makes you a formal Clearing offer then. This is risky as if you dont get the grades you will have no place at all.

4) OR you can wait until Results Day, see what grades you get and then decide what to do - either stick with what you have, or phone the Clearing Uni to see if they will then formalise that offer. Less risky.

What Happens on Results Day - https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/results/a-level/guide-to-a-level-results-day
What is Clearing - https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/clearing-results-day/the-survivors-guide-to-clearing

Decline my place will only appear on Track once you have an unconditional firm.

You will have to wait until the 10 August now unless you can see an option on Track to withdraw “this choice” (do not withdraw your application that takes you out of ucas altogether)

Decline my place will only appear on Track once you have an unconditional firm.

You will have to wait until the 10 August now unless you can see an option on Track to withdraw “this choice” (do not withdraw your application that takes you out of ucas altogether)

so if i get enough points for the first uni, will that make my conditional offer unconditional and therefore give me the “decline place” option after results day? sorry, just want to make sure i’m getting it right

Yes. If you meet your firm offer then you’ll be UF and will be able to use decline my place to put yourself into clearing straight away and add a new clearing choice when that functionality is switched on around 2pm on the 10th.

The problem could be if you slightly miss your offer and your firm choice put your application on their “maybe” pile and therefore haven’t made a decision by the 10th. In that case you’ll need to call them, take names and job titles and explain that you want to go elsewhere in clearing so need them to make a decision on Track asap.