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Bristol Uni Gave Me an Unconditional Offer by Mistake

I received an unconditional offer from Bristol for Veterinary Science. Before accepting, I exchanged multiple emails and phone calls with their admissions team to confirm that I did not need to complete my Access to HE Diploma and I assumed this is because of my confirmed grades at A level. I even have written confirmation from them stating that my offer would not be affected as long as I completed the Access to Bristol Outreach Programme.

Based on this, I discontinued my Access course, accepted Bristol’s offer, and rejected my other offers. Now, they’re telling me I don’t meet the entry requirements because they realised I only have two full A Levels and an AS in Chemistry instead of three full A Levels. My UCAS application clearly listed my qualifications, so they had this information when they made the offer.

For reference I applied to Bristol University for Vet Science and received my unconditional offer 2 months into starting my Access to HE course in Veterinary Science and Zoology.

It seems like their mistake, but I’m now in a really difficult position. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? What would be the best way to challenge this?

Reply 1

Original post
by Noemi05
I received an unconditional offer from Bristol for Veterinary Science. Before accepting, I exchanged multiple emails and phone calls with their admissions team to confirm that I did not need to complete my Access to HE Diploma and I assumed this is because of my confirmed grades at A level. I even have written confirmation from them stating that my offer would not be affected as long as I completed the Access to Bristol Outreach Programme.
Based on this, I discontinued my Access course, accepted Bristol’s offer, and rejected my other offers. Now, they’re telling me I don’t meet the entry requirements because they realised I only have two full A Levels and an AS in Chemistry instead of three full A Levels. My UCAS application clearly listed my qualifications, so they had this information when they made the offer.
For reference I applied to Bristol University for Vet Science and received my unconditional offer 2 months into starting my Access to HE course in Veterinary Science and Zoology.
It seems like their mistake, but I’m now in a really difficult position. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? What would be the best way to challenge this?

Please PM me. I am a barrister. I may be able to offer you some pro bono advice, or help you to refer your case to Advocate, the Bar's pro bono unit.

I would need to see all of your correspondence with the university.

Reply 2

Speak to UCAS as I believe if the offer has been made on UCAS they can’t rescind it and UCAS will support you on this

Reply 3

Original post
by Vetmum13
Speak to UCAS as I believe if the offer has been made on UCAS they can’t rescind it and UCAS will support you on this

“An unconditional offer is contractually binding. The only circumstance under which it can be withdrawn is if the course is cancelled or during Clearing, if you decline your place via the UCAS Hub. This means you'd lose your place but would be free to try other universities in Clearing.”
The only other time an offer can be withdrawn is if your application is found to be fraudulent.
(edited 11 months ago)
I had a very similar situation with Edge Hill giving a family member an unconditional offer and then later trying to rescind it when they realised they'd misread a qualification.

Long story short, I visited the uni with them and spoke to admissions about what had gone wrong, (working in admissions myself obvs helped). They were a bit reluctant but did back down and admitted them onto the original course. As above, it is a binding offer and the error was theirs and not yours.

If it had been caught early enough to not affect your quals and other offers, yes you might mutually agree to a course swap or something. But at this stage I would be pushing back quite hard, explaining the situation this has put you in.

Reply 5

Yep, will definitely try to push back as much as I can. It is just a shame that with Bristol Uni this whole process has to be done through emails because their admissions office is a “faceless department” and don’t have a phone line either. Let’s hope their response provides some sort of solution.

Reply 6

Original post
by Noemi05
Yep, will definitely try to push back as much as I can. It is just a shame that with Bristol Uni this whole process has to be done through emails because their admissions office is a “faceless department” and don’t have a phone line either. Let’s hope their response provides some sort of solution.

Reach out to UCAS - they will help you and talk to Bristol

Reply 7

Please note than an offer only gives rise to a contract when the offer is accepted, but in this case the OP accepted the offer.

Reply 8

Original post
by Noemi05
Yep, will definitely try to push back as much as I can. It is just a shame that with Bristol Uni this whole process has to be done through emails because their admissions office is a “faceless department” and don’t have a phone line either. Let’s hope their response provides some sort of solution.

Bristol's admissions team list a phone number at https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/contacts/

Bear in mind that emails have the advantage of being a written record of your discussions.

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