Gap year/ UCAS reapplication

Due to a pretty late application, I didn’t get into my preferred universities. So i’ve decided i’m going to reapply for 2026 entry. However, I was wondering how a conditional offer would work for me? As I wouldn’t be continuing any form of study and I would’ve attained all of my qualifications from school. My grades are pretty good, but if I received a conditional offer, would I have to decline it. Furthermore, i’m trying to get into Law, so the LNAT could be in the conditional, but i’m only applying to one uni where that’s applicable. What would happen??

Are you going to apply for 2026 entry with achieved grades, and not re-taking any A-Level? Then in your UCAS application you won't have any qualifications pending and unis would only give unconditional offers or rejection.
All the LNAT law schools require sitting LNAT in January the latest, which is earlier than the equal consideration deadline. They probably won't process your application until they receive your LNAT results. So LNAT results would unlikely be a condition.

I applied to unis this year during a gap year and all the offers were unconditional, as you've already got the grades you can't get a conditional offer. I'm not sure what the LNAT is but if you've already gotten the results from that then it shouldn't be conditional.

Well I would’ve finished my last year of school. I’m in Scotland so I don’t do A-levels but Advanced Highers which are the equivalent. But (as i’d have graduated) I wouldn’t be able to go back to school so what would happen?? Would I have to go to college??
Also, would it be likely to get unconditionals for a place like Edinburgh Uni for Law?

You just get an unconditional offer if you meet their requirements (among other factors like ur PS). Obviously it’s not worth applying anywhere that needs higher than what you achieve this year, although I did get an unconditional this year from Liverpool, despite being a grade below. Worth emailing first so u don’t waste an option

Thank you!! I was wondering because i’ve got good grades and if I applied late November, I probably would’ve got into places like Strath because I was well above the requirements, it was just the timing.

Due to a pretty late application, I didn’t get into my preferred universities. So i’ve decided i’m going to reapply for 2026 entry. However, I was wondering how a conditional offer would work for me? As I wouldn’t be continuing any form of study and I would’ve attained all of my qualifications from school. My grades are pretty good, but if I received a conditional offer, would I have to decline it. Furthermore, i’m trying to get into Law, so the LNAT could be in the conditional, but i’m only applying to one uni where that’s applicable. What would happen??

I’ve taken a gap year this year to re- apply for law too.
Any law school that has a good selection system( almost any Russell group uni) will give you an unconditional if they feel you’ve met their requirements( this was York for me this year).
However, one thing to note is that Glasgow( and only Glasgow), think it’s a good idea to make conditional offers to people who already have their grades and sat their LNAT- then can take them away once they’ve decided their cut off score if yours doesn’t meet it, even if they gave you an offer.
So you’ll get unconditionals from any normal uni, and I’d advise you to stay away from applying to Glasgow on a gap year, as their system is horrendously bad.

note that it's possible to get a conditional offer even if you've completed your qualifications. The conditions will usually be to provide proof of your qualifications (scans of certificates etc). If your results have been verified by UCAS and passed to universities then they may not require this but sometimes one or more grades get missed by the exam boards/UCAS and so you will be asked to provide the proof of quals directly as a condition of your offer.

Thanks, I have all my exam results at home. However, in Scotland, we have this thing called a Scottish Candidate Number, and (assuming you’re english, sorry) we write it on every exam we do and have ever done. So, surely that will have all my results on a database somewhere, right?

Universities wouldn't necessarily have access to that database.
It's no problem just make sure you've got copies/scans/photos of your certificates backed up on a cloud account somewhere you can access wherever you are....that's generally a good idea anyway!

Universities wouldn't necessarily have access to that database.
It's no problem just make sure you've got copies/scans/photos of your certificates backed up on a cloud account somewhere you can access wherever you are....that's generally a good idea anyway!

Thank you, if I could ask a question. I initially planned to resit two of my a levels this year, but then happened to get an unconditional from a favourable university for me, and now have 2 very good apprenticeship offers, and I really don’t think it’s worth the extra stress of putting myself through sitting a levels again (and would give me an extra month inter railing). Will no longer re-sitting have any impact on my unconditional/apprenticeship offers where I already meet the entry reqs? Doesn’t change the fact I’ve spent the past 4 months getting content up to an A* standard.

Ahh no fair enough, but if i get below the grade requirements (for example, i got AAAAB at my first sitting at higher while the requirements are AAAAA) is there any point applying? Or should I just leave it? I mean, it’s dependant on my exam results this year, but what do you think?

Thank you, if I could ask a question. I initially planned to resit two of my a levels this year, but then happened to get an unconditional from a favourable university for me, and now have 2 very good apprenticeship offers, and I really don’t think it’s worth the extra stress of putting myself through sitting a levels again (and would give me an extra month inter railing). Will no longer re-sitting have any impact on my unconditional/apprenticeship offers where I already meet the entry reqs? Doesn’t change the fact I’ve spent the past 4 months getting content up to an A* standard.

Your university offers were made on the basis that the information on your UCAS application was complete and accurate - that included the pending resits.
If you change your qualifications then universities can change or withdraw their offers.
If you're thinking of cancelling the resits then it's vital that you get confirmation in writing from your universities that not resitting will not impact your offer.

That’s interesting, as Glasgow is one of the main ones for me as i’m so local to it. Edinburgh is probably my first choice though.