how likely are unis to give offers in December or before January 31st deadline?

The average decision time is around 7 weeks. COMPSCI in general and the first three listed unis are likely to be longer than that, potentially quite a bit longer. The other two you may hear back from relatively quickly, accepting that decision making will slow down in December as admin staff start to take leave and offices to close completely for a week or two. Then the big rush of apps before the deadline in Jan.

UCL very likely to be late April or in May in my experience applying to a different course and based on what other people have said the last couple years.

The others hard to say although I think Durham was somewhat slow in previous years.

Ultimately unis have until late May if I recall to make decisions, and your "timer" for accepting offers doesn't begin until you receive the last decision from your choices.

In general would not expect to get any decisions in the next month, as unis in the UK basically shut down during the Christmas-New Year period (even for admin/non-academic staff), and it's probably unlikely you'll get a decision in the next week or two before that.

Durham is usually slow?

I can’t speak for Durham specifically, but COMPSCI is often well subscribed and Durham is well ranked so I would expect them to be slower than average.

How slow is Durham? Also, if you're a better-than-most student, is it true you would be more likely to receive your offer faster than others?

Ah ok thanks, also, if you're a good student with high predicted, is it true that they would usually give you offer early?

For a subject like CS I think honestly most students probably have very strong credentials on paper so I don't think having good academics in that regard are likely to change the timeline.

Not really familiar with Durham in general although I seem to recall there being threads about them being slow to confirm offers after results day so wouldn't be surprised if they were slow to give offers in the first place. I think they often interview as well (although maybe not all subjects?) which probably makes things slower too?

I see, I heard being an international help though. Also, are you sure they give interview? I would be extremely surprised if they have interviews for computer science

Durham is notorious for putting students on hold. CS is extremely popular at the moment. My son waited 4 months for Maths years ago and still didnt hear so he withdrew his application. He was predicted and achieved very high grades. They tend to reject no hopers and leave the others to work through after the equal consideration deadline. Many of their applicants also apply for Oxbridge so the standard and competition is very high. It is unlikely they will interview.

A couple of years ago Kings had thousands they hadnt replied to by May and UCAS ended up auto rejecting them. CS was one of the main subjects it happened.

Durham is notorious for putting students on hold. CS is extremely popular at the moment. My son waited 4 months for Maths years ago and still didnt hear so he withdrew his application. He was predicted and achieved very high grades. They tend to reject no hopers and leave the others to work through after the equal consideration deadline. Many of their applicants also apply for Oxbridge so the standard and competition is very high. It is unlikely they will interview.

UCL very likely to be late April or in May in my experience applying to a different course and based on what other people have said the last couple years.

The others hard to say although I think Durham was somewhat slow in previous years.

Ultimately unis have until late May if I recall to make decisions, and your "timer" for accepting offers doesn't begin until you receive the last decision from your choices.

In general would not expect to get any decisions in the next month, as unis in the UK basically shut down during the Christmas-New Year period (even for admin/non-academic staff), and it's probably unlikely you'll get a decision in the next week or two before that.

do you know exactly when they close and re-open? I was thinking of submitting my application next week but if they are closed I might as well wait

Honestly kings admissions have such a bad rep, I never even considered applying for them as if they can't even sort out applications, what's to say they will give you a good education. Regardless, it puts them in a bad light and was out of the question either way for me

Maybe this year is different - I got an offer from Kings for CS a few days ago