how do over subscription criteria’s work for sixth forms

I just got my outcomes back from a school and they said “at the moment we are unable to confirm a conditional offer and we will hold your offer pending until official results are published and numbers are confirmed” (the school was oversubscribed with 1500+ applicants)
The school said that if I’m still interested when results day comes I have to email them.
However I want to know if this will now put me at a disadvantage for getting a place at this school. Does that mean that some applicants HAVE in fact gotten an offer from the school or do all people who have applied have a pending offer status??. Because it wouldn’t be fair if ppl were accepted on a first come first server basis, and my application was sent a bit late because my teacher literally forgot to do my reference until I reminded him. My grades definitely weren’t bad at all.
Idk because I only applied to 3 sixth forms which idek is enough compared to other ppl who have applied like 6. This school that I’m talking is a well known grammar school if you live in my area but it’s definitely NOT on the same level as schools like brampton or dartford. I only live 3.6 miles from this school. I’m just tryna figure out how I didn’t even manage to get in and yet meanwhile these are the same type of schools that will be accepting ppl that live like all the way chatham

Hi Y 13 here he delt with all of this 2 years ago, I was really lucky to get 3 offers from the 4 grammer sixth forms i applied to (moving from a very under performing state school). I had friends who were told the same thing as you (waitlist), and flat out rejected, but come reults day the sixth form is almost certianly going to have students who had offers not do as well as they should have, and will have some extra spaces. I'd say apply to other sixthforms you like so you defo have somewhere to go, and on gcse results day email / call / drive there with your results and ask if they have any spare spaces, its worth a try !

Isn’t it too late to apply to more schools now? I applied to 3 schools and I had gotten 2 successful offers so I was lowkey just hoping that id get into this said school since they’re all located very close to each in my area. I think I’ll just stick with the offers I have now and wait until results day